Homeschool failure worried about 1st grade.... - Page 2

[MamaMonica]

Moved to Learning at School

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I would definitely check with your local school or district for specifics about the schools in your area. I know our public school district has a great website with all of this listed in real detail.

If you want to get her used to more classic "school work" over the summer, check for teacher or education supply stores in your area. Ours carry several lines of "bridge" workbooks (e.g. K to 1st grade bridge) that are designed for review over the summer to keep kids from loosing too much from year to year. A page or two a day might be really helpful either to pinpoint weaknesses or to make you realize you are further along than you think.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by zeldamomma

Can you call the school and ask for a list of expected skills?

Every school is different, so asking is probably the best way to be sure.

Agreed. Our school's K grade card has a list of skills they kids work on (the teacher just marks how they are doing on each skill). If you lived here, a blank grade card would tell you everything you needed to know.

Here the kids are reading, writing, and doing math by the end of K. Because some of the kids won't have those skills reinforced over the summer, if your DD works over the summer, she could easily start on track next year.

Originally Posted by pigpokey

You could always put her in Kumon for the summer.

agreed. We homeschooled in a relaxed way until they kids were 10 and 12 and they spent a few months at a math tutoring center before starting school. It was GREAT for them and made the transition to school much easier.

If homeschooling isn't working, then doing more of the same to get caught up doesn't make a lot of sense.

[beanma]

I wouldn't stress about it that much. Kids come in from all over (move into the district) at different levels. Your dd will be no different. Do you know any Kindergarteners in your area? You could ask their parents.

My dd2 is in K and is fairly advanced, but she's mainly self-taught trying to keep up with dd1. Dd2 can read simple chapter books like "Henry and Mudge" and can write with lots of invented spellings (sometimes I can't even decode), can do simple math (single digit addition and subtraction), etc. However, Dd1 could do none of that after K. She's a bright kid, too, but she was not highly motivated like dd2. Dd1 did know the alphabet and could maybe do a little math. She knew her numbers. She refused to even try to read.

hth

[Polliwog]

Originally Posted by tammyw

Oh my. I am really surprised about the thought that kids are able to fail kindergarten Makes me sad. I do think sometimes if you push kids too early (those who aren't ready), they will start to dislike school. I was reading a book recently called Boys Adrift, and specifically it talks about boys typically not being ready for stuff as early as girls, but how in other countries they don't really "do" school until age 7 (when they are more ready) and yet they are much more advanced than we are. It seems they are onto something?!

My son is just finishing kindergarten and will repeat it next year. I don't see it as failing. He's the youngest in his class and is pretty far behind the other children. He's also got some special learning needs that affect his ability to focus. He doesn't have any sight words yet which is not a big deal since he's just turning six this summer. NC has a new cutoff date which is six weeks after his birthday.

I could have had him move on to first grade but what's the point? He can't do a lot of the things the other children can do. There's a lot less "pressure" in kindergarten and more opportunities to learn through play. First grade will still be there the following year.

[binxsmom]

don't worry too much mama. over the summer, i would just read, read, read and focus on handwriting. if a child is ready, an amazing amount of progress can be made in two months.

not sure if it's an option but there are huge advantages to holding back a child for a year. just something to think about.

[lach]

Originally Posted by Polliwog

My son is just finishing kindergarten and will repeat it next year. I don't see it as failing. He's the youngest in his class and is pretty far behind the other children. He's also got some special learning needs that affect his ability to focus. He doesn't have any sight words yet which is not a big deal since he's just turning six this summer. NC has a new cutoff date which is six weeks after his birthday.

I could have had him move on to first grade but what's the point? He can't do a lot of the things the other children can do. There's a lot less "pressure" in kindergarten and more opportunities to learn through play. First grade will still be there the following year.

I just wanted to add to this that it's becoming pretty common to repeat kindergarten, with no stigma that I've personally seen. So many schools are cracking down on "redshirting," where people hold back their kids hoping for a competitive advantage just from being a year older. They would much rather have the child be not ready for kindergarten and have to repeat it, then have a bored out of his skull 7 year old in kindergarten. I know 2 children who repeated kindergarten, and it definitely wasn't "failing." They just weren't ready. One is in 1st grade now and one is in 4th grade now and they're both doing very well academically and socially.

[aslyn]

Our district has this on sight words for K:

High Frequency Sight Words
Grade Kindergarten


Redblacklikeyou
Bluebrownmylook
Yellowpurpleitme
Greenorangeonwe
Ipinkisand
Awhiteinhave
toat
seecan
thego


For Math DS did time (by the hour and 1/2 hour), Money..Coins and adding money, and basic addition/subtraction. Science was mainly the 5 senses and animal/plant life, social studies isnt required in Ohio except to know your name address & phone number, they also learned to call 911 in an emergency..My son was reading before K, and knew pretty much everything through the year..so I would say your gonna be fine even the kids that have some issues at the beginning of 1st do alright because its all review anyway for the first month or so of school since the kids forget stuff through the summer.

[Peony]

We homeschooled and then put DD1 into 1st grade this school year. She went in at a pre-school level, she is dyslexic so reading obviously wasn't happening but at all other subjects were not anywhere near grade level as well. She did wonderful. She went from not doing any math to doing fractions, double digits addition and subtraction. I was SOO stressed all last summer about it and honestly it hasn't been an issue at all.