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Family From The Heart Podcast
Educational Options
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In this episode, Stephanie and I have a discussion about what, if anything, we need to do about a recent development in our home. Our son has not been doing well on his spelling tests. Matthew’s birthday meant that we had two options of when to enroll him into school. Questions like “Did we put him in school too early?” and “Should we hold him back a grade?” have come up in the discussion. Of course there is an option of homeschooling Matthew while leaving Meagan in the school system, as she is thriving there.
We just briefly touch on different learning styles. We also talk about the fact that it may not be a bad thing that he’s just not great at “test taking.” I share some of my past educational experiences when thinking about the subject.
Some things have happened since we recorded this discussion. I’m sure we’ll bring this up again somewhere in upcoming discussions on Family From The Heart.
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I just finished listening to ep. 76 and I feel for you with your problems with your son. I am a high school teacher with a 9-year-old in the third grade myself. My son has ADHD and has trouble sitting still and focusing for long periods of time. I usually do homework with him and he too finds it hard to sit through long periods of spelling.
Kinesthetic learners are probably the hardest to deal with in a large group setting. I know, I am one. I too hate to learn by reading the manual or listening to someone speak or present on the topic. I'm the one who is always playing with the software while the presenter is showing us how to use it.
Most teachers have a hard time dealing with Kinesthetic learners since they themselves are usually visual or auditory learners. They also see the students as impulsive and not able to control themselves. Home schooling may help, but it can still be a challenge to find ways to keep Kinesthetic learners engaged with text based activities such as spelling, math, history, geography and reading. Even computer based learning has its limits with Kinesthetic students. They literally need to move.
As your son will be in public school until the end of the year anyway, I would suggest giving him tools to help him. You say that he is not being taught the rules of spelling, like the I before C rule. Then teach him yourself. A child's first and best teacher is often, and should be their parent. Supplement those areas where you see the teacher is leaving holes. When my daughter was taking Algebra I, I showed her methods that I was taught for solving specific problems. I made sure she showed her work and I also made sure I knew how to solve the problem. It didn't wait for the teacher to do it. I am also not a math teacher.
I suggest patience and try to find ways to make homework fun for him. Maybe he can get his DSi back for 30 min or 1 hour a day if he completes his homework without complaint and under supervision. This will give him a reason to do it. You can't control the testing, but you can control the conditions of the homework.
Also DSi = Dual Screen Internet. Just saying. I hope some of this helps. Every kid is different and sometimes you just have to try different things until you find what works. And I would try to get the teacher involved too. She/he must know that you son is struggling in spelling. You would think that she/he would want him to do better. I would if he was my student.
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