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High school and the struggling learner
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I have graduated one homeschooler from high school, have another mid-high school and have one starting in the fall. Homeschooling high school itself is not intimidating to me any more.
I have a child that will be in the 7th grade this fall (deliberately held back in the beginning, but age-wise would be in 8th grade) who is very young for his age and a struggling learner (no official diagnoses and we are making a slow, but steady progress, but he is “behind”). No academics have come easy to him–reading took a long time (comprehension as well) and so did almost all areas of math. I am not worried about where he currently is academically because he is making steady progress.
I am wondering how those of you who have had struggling learners have approached (and, to a lesser extent, maybe, documented) high school. I’ve tailored high school to different personalities 3 times, now, but the academics were on a similar level than I think we will be able to do this time. I can’t see us getting to the same starting point the others were, and while I am confident we will see learning progress through high school, unless a “switch” happens, we will not be able to take a university-prep level course.
My mindset for my struggling learner was to first calculate his age at graduation and decide if an extra year would be a help to him. I decided no.
My mindset was that I could tutor him through the typical high school courses, and he would be fine. One of the main reasons for our local public school standards is to produce adults with basic skills, who will be an asset to employers. There is much local debate about a diploma vs. certificate of completion for special needs students. Diploma equals employable in my definition.
The child I am talking about graduates Saturday. He has far exceeded my expectations. We struggled through algebra and geometry, and switched curriculum when needed, but he has a good basic knowledge of both.
His reading has improved, and he read and applied the methods of a speed reading book from the library this year, which has been very helpful.
He is even fluent in sign language.
He has no interest or plans for college, but it wouldn’t be impossible for him if he changed his mind later.
Hope this helps!
Carla – I also have a struggling learner yet he’s not. Like right now he’s reading through the Percy Jackson books and loves them. Math has always been tough for him. He will be in 10th grade this coming school year and will start the year at 15 turning 16 in December. Even drivers ed is tough for him. Reading to learn is not his learning style. So even though with drivers ed he is not doing well on the lesson tests I know once he’s done and sits up front with me to do a LOT of watching and learning it will all click. Now I know that wont be at 16 but that’s ok. Math – he’s in Zeta (MUS), so yes he’s behind you will say. But he makes great progress daily and he keeps working hard. After really thinking it all through with my dh we decided that addition, subtractions, multiplying, division and fractions will be the ‘main’ goal. Then we will switch to more practical math. Building, business, and accounting. Things he can say yes I will need that seem to work better with this son then things he sees no point in. This child also is not college bound. He will be a hands on learner. I’m totally ok with that, as is his dad. I think what’s more important is that we keep encouraging him and cheering him on. I have no worries if he’s motivated and willing he will go far. This son is also a great artist so maybe he’ll be doing something wonderful with that. I told my dh – if he could do math as well as he draws he’d be in advanced math. So it’s all about moving forward for this son with us.
Good luck I know it’s not easy, my 1st born was and is an over achiever so this was a BIG learning curve for me.
I have several struggling learners. One is graduating college this semester.
I encourage you to have him evaluated. With appropriate accommodations, my struggling learners can fulfill the requirements of our expectations for highschool. Without accommodations, modifications would be necessary.
With appropriate documentation, accommodations must be provided at college and graduate school. My graduating child had 1.5 time on exams in a distraction free environment and a note taking service. This meant the difference between barely passing to making A’s. Due to her LDs, she reads and writes extremely slow which made taking notes and exams nearly impossible. She also used Dragon Dictation to do narrations of all her reading for her notes.
My current 8th grader also has several LDs including dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. Without accommodations, highschool/college would likely not be possible for him since he would spend so much time reading, attempting to write legibly, and remembering basic math facts. However, with a few accommodations- Learning ally, Dragon Dictation, and a calculator- he can not only complete a normal program, he can excel at it.
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