Is anyone doing "extra" work over the summer? Why does it take him over an hour to copy ten words five times? Why isn't he reading yet? Why does guess at words and not sound them out?
Why doesn't he want to go live with gypsies? Why are chocolate chip cookies so fucking awesome? Why is it 80 degrees outside and yet seem hot enough to go swimming? Why's my house so dark in summer and so awesomely full of light in the winter? Why is my basement still a mess? Why doesn't Kansas City have an 80's radio station anymore? Why do I have itty-bitty little swimming creatures in the frog bit and pond water I got at the park and what are they called? Why I am procrastinating at making dinner? Why do my children insist on wrestling even after the continuously hurt each other?
22 comments:
I can't answer most of those, but if he hates to sound out the words, he may be like my daughter (who, BTW, reads very very well). She's a visual spacial learner. She hated to sound things out and once I stopped quizzing her on words (and making her sound them out) and just told her what they were, it only took 2 or 3 times before she had them memorized.
Good luck with figuring the rest out.
dude. you are a waaaaay better mom than me. the girls read. i read to parker. that's the end of our summer learning. i'm toast. he'll get it. my middle daughter was more like wendy's. i bet that is griff's deal too.
I am actually in the process of teaching my little cousin how to do math (estimation) right now b/c her school has a learning program over the summer. Blah!! What happened to our summer FUN? Now all they want them to do is learn and have no summer. It sucks!!!
That's a lot o' questions.
Maybe you have baby mosquitoes in your pond water.
-kinda.
-handwriting is HARD for a lot of kids and it's boring.
-could be anything, including lack of interest.
-maybe because his school isn't teaching him phonics - a lot of schools use whole-language (sucks!).
-maybe you've made gypsies seem appealing?
-because of the brown sugar + the salt.
-because of the humidity.
-because of the rotation of the earth.
-aaron's stuff?
-because they're smart.
-um, dunno.
-because i hate making dinner, too.
-boys.
My 16 year old hated (still hates) phonics. It just doesn't work for some people (especially smart people who realize that it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense most of the time). He'll read eventually, trust me. In the meantime, he'll worry you to death that he'll never read. Oh, and lucky you, you'll never stop worrying!
As for the rest of the questions? I don't know. But I'd love a chocolate chip cookie right now. Do you have any?
Extra work? Oh Yeah...why is it that I don't have a minute to myself to do anything and when I do I can't remember what it is that I needed to do so I just sit and stare off into space? Or, I just sit and eat M&M's and try to get my energy back? (like that ever works)
yes, of course. because the attention span of a six year old is short. because he's not quite ready. (but don't worry- he'll make AMAZING progress in first grade.) because all kids do that. because you're cooler and they'd feed him wheat and then he'd get a belly ache. because chocolate rules and milk is lonely. because it IS hot enough. because the sun is so high in the sky in the summer. because that's a huge job and who wants to clean the basement instead of going to the pool?! did we ever? because nature is so cool and diverse. because we all secretly hope someone will come home with take-out. because wresting rocks.
you didn't know I had all the answers, did you?
;)
don't worry too much...sounds like he would rather be playing than doing his schoolwork, which is exactly what my 6yr old is like!
I think the answer to most of your questions is Tequilla!
Good questions all. I have one of my own: Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?
Sea monkeys?!
Tequila works for me as well. Didn't know I liked that much until I started drinking margharitas. And hey, my daughter didn't utter a single word until she was 18 mos old and now you can't shut the damn kid up. She'll talk until she literally falls asleep! And it probably takes your son an hour to write the words because that's how long writing shit by hand takes. BORRIIIING! That's why we all are using computers to do our writing for us now!! The most writing I do by hand is when I put together a grocery list.
These are the questions of the ages, Grasshopper.
Aidin was struggling to read - especially those sight words - at the end of montessori kindergarten and at the end of 1st grade she's reading at a 4th grade level. When it kicks in, it kicks in. And once it is easier for them to read, there are more interesting things too read which only makes them want to read more.
I can't get her head out of a book this summer.
Everyone has covered most of these questions very well. As for the swimming-around-things, they may be Daphnia or some other little bugger.
-no effing way.
-focus is hard.
-cause he doesnt really want to.
-see above.
-b/c you have made the mistake of not befriending any. cause then he totally would.
-b/c i just made some too (for our 9 hr cartrip to legoland - i mean, san diego) and it is teh brown sugar+butter.
-humidity.
-b/c you are one lucky fuck.
-motivation issues.
-b/c 80's music is embarrassing to us all.
-planaria
-motivation issues.
-focus is hard on the memory.
ps - you have smart friends!
We always did work in the summer. My kid is in college so it must have been good, right? RIGHT???
Good luck. I remember after about $5k in reading tutors the place finally just said you know, some kids just never get phonics. Uh, could you not have mentioned this about $4500 ago?
But again, kid in college!!! You can do it.
Damn good questions.
My kid takes hours over ten minute home work too and also preferred the guess method to sounding words out but now he will randomly read things and he'll sound them out in his head, I can see him mouthing it to himself. Give it time.
I want cookies too.
I can answer the first couple... your son may be dyslexic. I am currently HSing a dyslexic 7 year old and all of those things are WAY too familiar. You can get info at: http://www.dys-add.com/index.html (this has tons of dyslexia info)
I can answer the first couple... your son may be dyslexic. I am currently HSing a dyslexic 7 year old and all of those things are WAY too familiar. You can get info at: http://www.dys-add.com/index.html (this has tons of dyslexia info)
i remember having to copy down maths exercises when i was about 6 or 7 and it was hell to me! to my mum too, probably, because i was copying down number by number, she must have thought i was not up to it... and i wasn't a stupid kid or anything, i just didn't see the point of it, i would have written down the results in a matter of minutes because the actual adding and subtracting was fun, to work out the solution to a riddle, but copying down stuff that was already printed in the book...
i couldn't concentrate on it because i didn't want to be there. i wanted to go out and play, i hated homework, i didn't see why i had to do it if i'd already learned about it in the morning in school.
on the other hand if i thought something was a game i didn't mind if it really was school work! one of the games we played, with no encouragement from grown ups, was setting the oven timer and trying to make as many words as we could with the letters of one word that one of us would pick. for fun!
i wonder would it help to make the copying of words look less like a chore for griffin, either as a game, or as an important task you need help with, like writing a shopping list. (and reading the shopping list at the market or shop!) reading the names of exotic animals in the zoo, reading the weather forecast for the day, that kind of thing? writing a postcard (or some important words on the postcard) to granny? not sure if he'd entirely fall for "we don't have time for academics today because we need to make a plan of the plants in the garden and write down which plants we have" but he might?
we are reading real books (Jurassic Park, Earth Abides) and taking a truck load of "creative classes and starting a blog and learning to write a great essay.
The middle school equivalent of copying words. That's why I am reading 7 of your posts at a time.
No internets for the evil summer demon mom.
But I swear to god, this very verbal kid will eventually get decent grades on his writing assignments, so help me. somebody please help me.
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