Hi, I have a 9 y.o. who has a real difficulty reading. She has had the basics for years now but it's just not coming together for her. I've never pushed her, she's very bristly about me teaching her, and very independent, and very easily frustrated by the effort of reading.
She will sometimes voluntarily and privately spend time with a book that's like 2nd grade or 3rd grade level, but she says she doesn't really understand much of it, I suspect because it's so laborious for her.
She had her evaluation today and the evaluator, a homeschooling friend who respects our unschooling, said she thinks this is a reading disability, that it's something in the wiring of her brain, not a lack of effort on her part or mine.
She is encouraging me to sit down with dd and do phonics, sight words, get computer programs (which would be very difficult to buy for me, we have serious money troubles), help her get more practice so she can gain confidence.
Heretofore dd has been averse to my direct efforts (which have not been significant in time), and it has not helped our relationship, or even her reading. I had felt that my best role was to stay out of her way and let her do it her way, take her time. But now I'm realizing that although that may be perfect for most kids, it may be necessary for me to intervene somewhat.
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Last year after her evaluation, I talked to her about what her goals might be for the next year, hoping that would provide a little crack in the door for me to edge in with some "support". But she didn't really want to talk about it.
She's always been effortless in math, she's behind on written computation because she always does things in her head and doesn't sit down with workbooks. She's also always been very very into language arts, dictating long novels, making and illustrating books, she has a large vocabulary, etc. So it's not just that she's more mathy than reading-y. By temperament she's a natural for both, but the decoding itself seems to be a block for her. she has an incredible memory, and some have suggested this is her compensation for not being able to reference things in writing.
Anyway, curious if there are any unschoolers out there with experience with serious lags like this and/or learning disabilities.
Just trying to figure out what to do here.
THANK YOU!
She will sometimes voluntarily and privately spend time with a book that's like 2nd grade or 3rd grade level, but she says she doesn't really understand much of it, I suspect because it's so laborious for her.
She had her evaluation today and the evaluator, a homeschooling friend who respects our unschooling, said she thinks this is a reading disability, that it's something in the wiring of her brain, not a lack of effort on her part or mine.
She is encouraging me to sit down with dd and do phonics, sight words, get computer programs (which would be very difficult to buy for me, we have serious money troubles), help her get more practice so she can gain confidence.
Heretofore dd has been averse to my direct efforts (which have not been significant in time), and it has not helped our relationship, or even her reading. I had felt that my best role was to stay out of her way and let her do it her way, take her time. But now I'm realizing that although that may be perfect for most kids, it may be necessary for me to intervene somewhat.
\
Last year after her evaluation, I talked to her about what her goals might be for the next year, hoping that would provide a little crack in the door for me to edge in with some "support". But she didn't really want to talk about it.
She's always been effortless in math, she's behind on written computation because she always does things in her head and doesn't sit down with workbooks. She's also always been very very into language arts, dictating long novels, making and illustrating books, she has a large vocabulary, etc. So it's not just that she's more mathy than reading-y. By temperament she's a natural for both, but the decoding itself seems to be a block for her. she has an incredible memory, and some have suggested this is her compensation for not being able to reference things in writing.
Anyway, curious if there are any unschoolers out there with experience with serious lags like this and/or learning disabilities.
Just trying to figure out what to do here.
THANK YOU!