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Not sure which direction to go this year…
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Brief info: I have 4 children – 9, 7, 5, and 3. I just can’t seem to find my rhythm, and I am getting discouraged at this point. I have gained a lot of confidence as I tried different things, I know when I first tried SCM I second guessed my abilities and panicked, going to something a bit “safer” (MFW). I better understand the gentle approach now, and am able to sit back and relax and watch them learn, not stress about what others are doing in public school, or what my in laws think we should be doing. I want them to love learning, but at this point I have an almost 9 year old that already hates school. I know part of that is a lazy spirit (that we are working on), and his desire to do what he wants, and only what HE wants… but I also know part of it is my poor choice of curriculum this past year.
Now that you know a little bit of the backstory, here’s my long ramble on what I am mulling over right now…
We started school back last week – I don’t handle heat well so I figured since we were inside anyway we would get a jump start and take things slower come fall when the weather is gorgeous. I had shelved MFW’s ECC last year because I felt it was too much for my 8 year old. I ended up going polar opposite with Christian Light Ed. – all workbooks. What was I thinking?? It was a nice break for planning, but by the end we were all D.O.N.E. with it. We did keep the reading books, those have been enjoyed as their daily read-a-louds (the skill progression is nice for my early readers).
Anyway, we started back with ECC and I am just not feeling it. I know we’re just two weeks in, but I can’t say anyone is enjoying it and I am not confident that will be changing as we progress. CM makes total sense for my family… and I thought that was going to be more what we were doing, but so far everything is very textbook-ish and drrryyyyy. I did get what I could from the book list, but it’s not as rich as I had hoped it would be. DH has given me his blessing to go whatever route I want to go, he’s behind me all the way. I am finishing of “A Charlotte Mason Companion” and have renewed my desire for CM (not that I ever really lost it, I just got overwhelmed with life I guess). I just don’t know which way to go at this point. I have looked at Beautiful Feet time and time again (Geography, Early American, and/or Horses, just for fun 😉 Maybe my almost 9 year old could enjoy school again). Then, of course, SCM stuff.
Currently we are doing, and plan on continuing, Spelling You See, Writing and Rhetoric, and Singapore Math. (W&R is a wild card because my oldest is a very poor speller so writing is painful at this point, I see it being done more orally than written, at least for this year). Maybe not CM, but the kids are enjoying it and I can see it working (my oldest is testing at 9th grade level in math. Not that test scores matter, I know they don’t, it’s just reassuring when you are second guessing yourself. I wouldn’t even bother with them if it weren’t required). Oh, and we do CBS (Community Bible Study) so that’s their Bible for the year as well.
I want to try one of the Artist studies, and do more with composers – those are givens. I also have Risas y Sonrisas for Spanish – we’ll see how that goes (it was an impulse buy two years ago when I went to my first convention). And nature study of course – I need to do better with notebooks for that. They love doing it so it’s more my fault than it is theirs, I just haven’t been consistent.
So History and Science are up in the air. My oldest LOVES American History, it’s just not something we have been able to do thoroughly (the year we did Adventures was the year my youngest was born and was in and out of the hospital with health issues). I would like to start there no matter which route we go. I do have “All Through the Ages” but have been sorely disappointed with what our library carries (and that’s even with inter-library loan throughout the whole county! 6 different libraries!).
Any suggestions? Suck it up and continue on with ECC? I did a quick search on here and it looks like I am not the only one feeling that way about it, but maybe someone else has more positive things to say about it?
Comparisons between BFB and SCM for History? Particularly Early American, but also Creation to Modern. I will continue to search around here, but I would love any input you might have.
I have used both SCM and BF guides for American History. Our first time was with the BF Early Elementary. We LOVED it. Both guides use the d’Aulaire biographies. BF had them each child keep a notebook and color a black and white picture from the book and do copywork from the book. They also had some Bible verses and character study. It was a nice relaxed pace. After that, we moved into SCM and LOVED Stories of America and the books that went with it, grades 1-3 mostly.
Although we loved them both, next year I am going to try Five in a Row with my 9 yo. It is for ages 4-8, but I think ages 3-9 is fine. The more I plan our year, the more excited I get about it. It is really a very full curriculum, using lots of great literature titles. We are just adding math (CLE Sunrise), copywork, & reading aloud a Pathway reader once a week. She will do oral narrations of her books also. It is really unit studies, but we will be using some CM methods with it. There is much on language arts and science in these guides. I think it will be a very special year for us and I hope she will enjoy learning in school like she used to. It is worth checking out anyways. I think you could use it with all four of your children together, expecting more writing and oral narrations from your oldest.
Renee-I was going to recommend Truthquest history but if your library is lacking, that wouldn’t be a good choice.
I definitely think that you should go with U.S. history since your son loves it and you are trying to help him enjoy his history studies. Beautiful Feet and SCM are both wonderful programs so you can’t go wrong either way. You could always start with one and then do the other as Holly did.
First of all, many prayers and blessings for you.
Here is my take-away from your post – you sound as though you are trying to convince yourself that you believe the Charlotte Mason method will work. Almost as though you need to hear someone’s affirmation that Charlotte Mason is right for you. So, here it is: I think you should let go and trust the method 🙂 And for the record, I’ve been right where you are. All of it (minus a couple kids, I only have two, but my youngest has medical issues).
We too fell into the CLE trap last year because we were on the road so much with medical appointments and I didn’t trust myself to be able to do a CM education, I thought it would be easier. And we too, got burned out on it. By the time my son (then 8) completed Math, LA and Reading, we had already hit the two hour mark, and both he and I were too burned out to do anything else. So we got nothing (and I mean nothing) done last year for science, history, geography, art, music, etc…
I have also previously owned and looked through ECC because my son has a huge interest in other countries of the world, but, I shelved it because there were (many) parts of it that felt dry and forced.
Honestly, my advice for you is – avoid ANY premade curriculum this year – that includes Beautiful Feet. One thing I’ve learned is that a Charlotte Mason education is exceptionally easy to do – it’s just we that make it too difficult.
So, my thoughts and ideas based on what you’ve said, and based on things that I learned myself after last year, subject by subject:
Spelling/Grammar: in all honesty – you don’t need to do anything yet. Spelling/Grammar really aren’t necessary until age 10/grade 5. All you need to do is copywork and dictation. So, feel free to cut back here. If you want to keep Spelling you See then do so, but feel free to let it go. I wouldn’t do Writing & Rhetoric, not yet, not even orally. Start working on narrations with your oldest this year – that is the best lesson in composition (aka writing) you can give him. Let him do them all orally, and then eventually by the time he’s 10, have him doing one written narration a week.
Math – Singapore is a great program, so keep with it!
Composer, Picture and Poetry Study – I’m working on the assumption that things will always be a bit hectic with your child’s health issues, so don’t try and do all of these at the same time. I would “block schedule” them, so that one term you do composer study, one term you do picture study and one term you do poetry study. That way you’re more likely to get them done on a consistent basis. Find 5 minutes a day to read a little about the composer or artist, or listen/look at their work, or to read a poem. I would suggest doing this around the breakfast table when you’re all sitting down/gathered together.
Spanish – I’m not sure what your state requirements are, but the CM approach is basically just to hear it and speak it at this grade. Look for a CD of Spanish songs, a book of Spanish rhymes & fingerplays for kids, and just let them start hearing the language more. This approach would only need to take 5-10 minutes a day, and could be anytime – even in the car while driving!
Science/Nature Study: The beautiful thing is – at these ages, nature study IS science, so that’s all you need to do. Just go outside, take walks, learn to observe what’s around you. Take notice of what you see and then go home and talk about it. I would highly recommend investing in The Handbook of Nature Study. That, and a good quality journal is all you will need for “science”. When you get home from your walk, choose something you saw, read about it in the Handbook, then have the children draw what they saw, and perhaps compose a sentence or two to add to the journal (for the younger ones, work together to compose a sentence, write it out for them and then let them copy it into their journal, have your oldest write his sentence by himself directly into his journal without correction). Ideally, try to do this a couple times a week, but once a week is better than nothing!
Also, the other thing you can do is just read living books. Do your kids like animals? This would be a great year to read Thornton Burgess books, or James Herriot’s Animal Treasury for Children. They’re great stories that kids love, and they’re living books on nature and animals, and they’ll learn quite a bit. Just sit and read a chapter and have them narrate what they heard/learned about the animals. That’s all you need to do.
History: Again, I would steer clear of programs. Because I think you’re the kind (like me) who will put pressure on themselves or stress out when it’s not getting done, and there will always be something about it that doesn’t completely resonate with you. So again, just read. If your oldest is interested in American History – then start there! Have you considered the Little House books? They’re great living books about the pioneer era in history, and while their main characters are girls, there’s lots to appeal to boys in the books – Natives, hunting, animals etc…
Also, this book would be an excellent purchase:
This beautiful book tells the history of the United States through children’s folk tales, folk songs, poems etc… You could just read through it, savor it, and perhaps create a timeline to go with it. It would be a phenomenal springboard – use it as standalone, but then perhaps when you come to a person or event that piques your interest, add in some additional reading.
Geography: go to the link I put below and download the free copies of Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography and Long’s Home Geography. They’re old texts and they’re excellent. Just once read a chapter. They both could double as Earth Science. Here is a guide from Ambleside Online on how to schedule the books in sequence.
Free Downloads of Charlotte Mason
Bible: Just continue doing what’s working
I think we make a Charlotte Mason curriculum more complicated than it needs to be. At it’s very core – it is reading excellent literature and discussing the ideas. Very simple and easy to put into place. And I don’t there is anything more flexible and able to work around hospital visits and doctor’s appointments. If you miss a day, you just pick up and carry on the next day. There’s no checklist to make you feel like you’re falling behind. Or, take the book with you – you can easily read a chapter from a living book while sitting in a waiting room. Narration (discussion) can easily happen there, as well. Learn Spanish from cds of songs (etc…) while driving to/from appointments, errands etc…
You can do this!
I meant to add, you could also look at block scheduling Science, History and Geography to make it easier. So do a semester of science every day, then history then geography. I really like block scheduling for the extras, I find it makes the day to day schedule more simplified and not feel as overwhelming, like there’s as much to get done. And again, I find it more forgiving of appointments etc…
I think I’d go with 2Corin57’s suggestions! I’d make sure we were keeping up with math, reading, and copywork. The rest can be added in as time allows. I love the idea of having a different focus each term…we can never get to everything either! After having tried many history & science curriculums, I don’t think they are super important at this age. Even a gentle curriculum can get to be one more thing that you feel you must muddle through each day. At the ages of your DC, it’s not essential. Pick a couple books of interest and go from there.
During our more busy times, we often stick with 3Rs, plus one arts subject (picture study, poem, nature study, etc) and one content subject (history, science, Bible, etc.). It’s a simple formula, and with younger ones can be completed in as little as an hour.
Another possibility…Can you “pick and choose” which parts of ECC to use? Is there any of it that they are enjoying? I’ve used all-in-one programs a time or two and found that skipping books or projects that we aren’t interested in can make a huge difference in the entire program. Look at it as a list of possibilities and not a checklist where every last thing must be completed. I’m not familiar with MFW, but I would think you could pick and choose from each day’s activities.
Thank you all… it is such a relief! I have no one IRL I can talk this through with, and it’s (obviously) been building to the point of total collapse last night. I have felt my anxiety welling up, so many little things all at once I think. I was up until after midnight last night reading and reading here on the forums… then restless the rest of the night.
2Corin57 – thank you for such a thorough reply – it’s just what I needed. I am going to try and organize my reply, but it’s probably going to be all over the place.
Overall you pinpointed me quite well 🙂 I have loved the CM method ever since I first learned about it… it’s what I keep coming back to. I just don’t have the confidence in myself to make it work I guess. I am getting there though! I see little bits and pieces shining through. The kids LOVE to just sit and read, they were gung ho and heading to town yesterday but I wanted to sneak at least one shorter book in before we left. 5 books later they begrudgingly got their shoes on… And I also saw the opposite with workbooks – they drained us all. And, like you, we ended up doing just the basics… nothing else. Even then, I ditched LA 3/4 of the way through because the whole “schwa” thing was grating on my last nerve, and it thoroughly confused my already phonetically challenged ODS.
(Oh, and thankfully my youngest is clear of major health issues – so thankful for that!)
I am not at all opposed to shelving W&R, but I will need to go ahead and invest in a fables book – he is really enjoying the stories 😉 I feel like he does need at least basic spelling – even being a voracious reader, he can’t spell the simplest of words (“was” = “wos” every.single.time). I think he might have some auditory issues and he truly can’t hear the individual sounds, especially vowels. DH is the same way (we joke about him being a tone deaf choir director). I am hoping SYS will help (my older two are starting at the same level) – even DH is working through level E! He is in upper level management and gets so frustrated and embarrassed when he misspells things on the white board in front of the a large group of people. He said the color coded vowel groupings have already helped him see words differently.
For History I feel like I need something to guide me, but maybe not? I am terrible to second guess myself. I do have “All Through Ages” and already have a number of books reserved for it. Just trying to figure out the best way to use it. I need to sit down and read through the intro again, it’s been a while. I already have ECC on CL – I posted it a little while after I did my mental purge on here 😛 . I just can’t do it. I’ve tried two years in a row now it’s just not working for us. I flipped through the manual as it got further in and… nope. I actually thought about buying this: http://homeschoolradioshows.net/ It seems like it would be a neat addition to Am. History. Something for in the car or during rest time (I think my iPod nano has room).
My kids do love animals and the Burgess books are favorites. It has probably been long enough I could go back and pull them out again. We also have read through a number of the Little House books (and my oldest read the rest on his own, although I am sure there are details that he missed along the way). I do have the Handbook of Nature Study on reserve at the library (I was SHOCKED that they had it!). I hope to pick it and the first round of Am History books up today. Monday starts fresh – for all of us!
I probably missed something, but I know I will be coming back to this thread multiple times. Thank you again!
I think 2corin57’s and Holly’s suggestions are great. I have a 9, 5, 2, and 8 month old. A lot of the time, it is just hard to squeeze in everything I imagine doing without feeling overwhelmed or burnt out. One thing that has helped us is doing a loop schedule with subjects other than the three Rs. It is probably similar to what Holly suggested and essentially has the same goal in mind: less stress, effective, enjoyable. Basically, each day we alternate doing either history, science, or geography. (We usually do bible or scripture memory and our literature read aloud everyday partly because the kids really enjoy those, and sometimes I count our read aloud as history in my mind depending on what it is). So each day we just do the next subject in the loop, and you can put in whatever subjects you want however often you want them to occur. If we have a day where only the basics get done because of life, then we just do it the next day rather than try to stick to a certain subject on a certain day type schedule (though that may work for some which is cool).
You can even do a loop schedule with enrichment/art subjects as well.
This is what is working for us right now at least. I have done a lot of different things to see what works and sometimes we have to tweak something here and there because life changes. So I think trying to find a rhythm is normal and at times evolving.
Hope that helps. Good ideas and encouragement here already from the other ladies!
A bit off your topic, but have you ever had your oldest tested for dyslexia? Several of the things you mentioned about him sound like dyslexia (phonetically challenged, misspelling even simple words, hates writing). It tends to run in families and sounds like your DH has some symptoms too. There’s a good list of symptoms and info at http://www.dys-add.com. School is just harder in general for kids with dyslexia, even aside from the reading, and there are often related issues like dyscalculia (problems with math) or dysgraphia (trouble with the physical act of writing) so a lot of his dislike of school might have to do with that rather than your curriculum choices. (Not to discourage you for switching to CM, just mentioning another possible perspective.)
I have a 10 yo and 7 yo who are likely dyslexic. SYS methods helped the 10 yo a lot last year. Not so much with common words like was, but with other words, more complicated words.
caedmyn – I wondered, but then convinced myself he didn’t because he doesn’t show the “typical” signs like writing letters or numbers backwards or upside down… but maybe that is incorrect assumptions on my part. He used to mix them up when he was younger, but someone I was talking to said it was typical for his age (5 or 6, if I remember correctly). My MIL at one time said that she thought DH’s spelling issues stemmed from the year in elementary school that his class was the guinea pig group for spelling phonetically – if they spelled it like it should sound, then it was considered “correct” for the class. So “inkorekt” would actually be correct 😛 It was the only year they did it, and she thinks that it really messed him up. I will look into it further… I would hate for their to be an underlying issue that I am missing that could be making that big of a difference for him. He doesn’t mind copy work, and actually has beautiful handwriting, it’s trying to write anything from memory that he struggles so at this point I don’t require any of it from him. If there’s something he wants to write – be it a letter, or a caption, or just a note for himself – he will dictate it to me, I will write it down on a scrap piece of paper, and then he will copy it from there. Some days I am A-OK with that route, then other times I wonder if I should push him a bit more to start trying to spell and write on his own. I don’t want him to dislike it even more than he already does though so I just let it ride like it is. I think it was in Ms. Andreola’s (sp?) book that she mentions spelling isn’t really an issue until around 12 which made me feel a bit better. I have to keep reminding myself that that’s why we HS, so we can tailor it to each child. He was a later reader, not really “getting it” until he was 7, but he has really taken off. I just have to remind him to slow down his brain and look, really look, at the letters (especially for new words).
you might find some serious soul soothing in Sarah MacKenzie’s book: Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace.
It was life changing for me, and I am not exaggerating.
You have been given fabulous suggestions, so I cannot improve upon them. I will say, however, that I do love SCM materials, so if you are not feeling ready to just sort of walk away from some kind of guide, you may thoroughly enjoy the gentle guidance of Sonya’s materials.
Best wishes!
Hmmmm… watching the video on signs of dyslexia I am definitely going to have to keep an eye on my YDD (5)! It would explain a lot of things going on with her. And my youngest is showing some speech signs as well. Oh boy… this could change things for us! Now I am trying to think back through the last few years…
One thing that is jumping out for ODS is whenever he reads he starts rubbing his eyes. I noticed it a while ago and called his opthalmologist thinking maybe he was having some vision issues (his younger sister has glasses for reading), but it’s only when he reads. Hmmmm….
Aaaannnnd – the spelling (or lack there of), the copying one letter at a time, weird spacing, the pencil grip… cursive he does well with though, and overall his handwriting is really nice when he has lines. I am kind of curious now…
So I’ve been getting caught up on your replies, and I just copied your posts and pasted them here, and I’ll just reply to parts in bold, so I don’t have to keep going back up and reading through 🙂
Thank you all… it is such a relief! I have no one IRL I can talk this through with, and it’s (obviously) been building to the point of total collapse last night. I have felt my anxiety welling up, so many little things all at once I think. I was up until after midnight last night reading and reading here on the forums… then restless the rest of the night.
You are not the only one that struggles with this, trust me. Never feel alone that way. The reason I pinpointed you so well, is because I can see much of myself in what you’ve written – complete with this anxiety over what to do. I put so, so much pressure on myself to get it right. And even though I convince myself that this path is right – it’s nourishing for my children, that it’s wonderful to let them develop at a more natural pace academically… I still struggle with falling prey to the pressure of keeping up with the public school. For myself, it’s because I was raised in public school and also because we have several public school teachers in our family (including my mother) so I think sometimes I feel like I need to “prove” it’s working. In my heart, I truly believe that later is better. My anxiety is what pushes me to push my kids however.
The kids LOVE to just sit and read, they were gung ho and heading to town yesterday but I wanted to sneak at least one shorter book in before we left. 5 books later they begrudgingly got their shoes on… And I also saw the opposite with workbooks – they drained us all. And, like you, we ended up doing just the basics… nothing else. Even then, I ditched LA 3/4 of the way through because the whole “schwa” thing was grating on my last nerve, and it thoroughly confused my already phonetically challenged ODS.
This is a wonderful start! My son will read for hours. My daughter (with ASD) not so much, but it’s coming. It really does sound that Charlotte Mason is an excellent choice for you guys. And I hear you on the schwa. CLE is a solid program, no doubt about it – but we’d sit there for 2 hours doing seat work, very little engaging with each other really, and I thought, “This isn’t what I wanted for our homeschool.” My other problem with CLE was it doesn’t take regional dialect into consideration with their phonics lesson. It was all very black and white, this is how it sounds. That’s it.
I am not at all opposed to shelving W&R, but I will need to go ahead and invest in a fables book – he is really enjoying the stories
Easily done. You’ll find endless options for books on Fables on Amazon, normally as low as $0.01 with $3.99 shipping. Aesop’s Fables are a wonderful classic that every family should have. You could also look into Native American fables and fables from around the world. “Around the World in 80 Tales” is a wonderful book.
I feel like he does need at least basic spelling – even being a voracious reader, he can’t spell the simplest of words (“was” = “wos” every.single.time). I think he might have some auditory issues and he truly can’t hear the individual sounds, especially vowels. it’s trying to write anything from memory that he struggles so at this point I don’t require any of it from him. If there’s something he wants to write – be it a letter, or a caption, or just a note for himself – he will dictate it to me, I will write it down on a scrap piece of paper, and then he will copy it from there.
He doesn’t mind copy work, and actually has beautiful handwriting,
He was a later reader, not really “getting it” until he was 7, but he has really taken off. I just have to remind him to slow down his brain and look, really look, at the letters (especially for new words).
One thing that is jumping out for ODS is whenever he reads he starts rubbing his eyes. I noticed it a while ago and called his opthalmologist thinking maybe he was having some vision issues (his younger sister has glasses for reading), but it’s only when he reads. Hmmmm….
Aaaannnnd – the spelling (or lack there of), the copying one letter at a time, weird spacing, the pencil grip… cursive he does well with though, and overall his handwriting is really nice when he has lines. I am kind of curious now…
Reading through your responses I’m actually not getting the feeling of dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalcula etc… What I do see as being potentials (take my two cents for what they’re worth, I have a son with Sensory Processing Disorder, which has a co-morbid diagnosis of dyspraxia, he also underwent testing for Auditory Processing Disorder etc…, Between the two children’s issues, we’ve spent 4 years now working with OT, ST, PT among many others) are Auditory Processing issues. The keys for this are the fact that he can’t hear sounds well, he struggles working from auditory input. Now, the inability to work from auditory input can also be a working memory issue, too.
The other thing that is sticking out to me, is that he may have visual processing issues. The keys here sticking out to me are: needing to slow down his reading to really look at the letters, the eye rubbing (does he ever complain his eyes hurt), copying one letter at a time, weird spacing etc… They are all extremely common with visual processing issues.
My suggestion to you would be to find an Occupational Therapist, and schedule an assessment. Now, OTs cannot officially diagnose learning disorders like a psychologist can, so if you want/need the label, you’ll need to pursue other means, BUT occupational therapist’s are fully capable of doing assessments that can tell you that – yes, he’s struggling with auditory processing so I think you should have a full evaluation done (that is done with an auditory specialist); or, yes, he definitely has visual processing issues. OT’s can and will work with you on both issues, and they are far cheaper than a psychologist and typically have shorter wait lists to get in. In fact, typically all that happens with many of the aforementioned learning disorders is that a psychologist diagnoses them…. and then sends you to an OT to get help.
And, then of course – there could be nothing wrong with him, and it’s just him, kwim? You have to factor in learning styles, and he may be a highly visual learner for somethings, especially spelling etc… But, I do think there’s enough that an OT assessment would be prudent, and certainly not an “over reaction”.
Also, as for his reading age – perfectly normal. The range of “normal” for learning to read is very broad, set as ages 4-10, with the overall “average” being 6-7 years old. In a Waldorf school, phonics instruction isn’t even started until age 7, and real reading work doesn’t start until age 8. So, he was just fine. Even children who have not learned to read until age 11 or 12, typically go on to become very fluent readers. In fact, all studies show that children that learn to read early (as young as 4-5) show absolutely no benefit over children that do not learn to read until they’re older, 7-8 etc… Same with arithmetic – children that start formal arithmetic at a young age, typically end up scoring worse, than children who do not start formal math until age 9 or 10 (formal meaning written work, as in sitting down and doing math questions etc…). So… we should all learn to relax a bit in that regard.
For History I feel like I need something to guide me, but maybe not? I am terrible to second guess myself. I do have “All Through Ages” and already have a number of books reserved for it. Just trying to figure out the best way to use it. I need to sit down and read through the intro again, it’s been a while.
I’m not familiar with All Through The Ages at all. My “theory” has become… if you need to spend time and energy figuring out how to use a resource, how to make it work for your family, then it’s probably not the best resource for you. I mean, yes, all things take some figuring out to some extent, but I think if the “figuring out” goes beyond your typical lesson planning, if it’s stressing you out, then it’s best to skip it. I understand the need for hand holding, I’ve been there. I’m still recovering, lol, every now and then that urge really creeps up on me. But, I find it’s when I step out and let go of the pre-made guides and just sit down and read something, that some of our best learning happens. I also wholly believe that in the early years (elementary up to grade 5 or 6), that interest-led studies are best for science and social studies. Children retain the knowledge the best, from that which they are interested in. I am more of a believer in: use their interests to get them interested in learning, to teach them how to learn. I’m not a big fan of forcing them to learn stuff they’re not interested in, at a young age – the exception being of course math and reading, since those are crucial skills that they’ll need later on. But, in no way is it crucial for an 8 year old child to know Medieval History. There’s is plenty of time for them to learn things like that, later on. The most crucial things in the early years are learning to read, write and “figure”, and learning to observe the world around them. Here’s a great article you might enjoy reading:
10 Things to Do with Your Child Before Age 10
(Trivium Pursuit is a classical education approach, however their trivium is based on the real historical approach to classical education, not the modern one we have being sold to us today by curriculum companies. In true classical education, real academics did not start until children were older, around age 9 or 10. The first years were foundational skills only. It meshes very well with the CM approach. You’ll notice there’s no math on that list, that’s because in historical classical education, true arithmetic didn’t start until age 9 or 10, and in fact, most studies show that formal math is best withheld until later ages (they have other articles on math). The early years instead were spent on living math).
I wondered, but then convinced myself he didn’t because he doesn’t show the “typical” signs like writing letters or numbers backwards or upside down… but maybe that is incorrect assumptions on my part. He used to mix them up when he was younger, but someone I was talking to said it was typical for his age (5 or 6, if I remember correctly).
Definitely normal, I believe up until age 7.
I think it can be hard to figure out what exactly is going on without some sort of professional assessment since different learning issues can have similar symptoms. Some of it does sound like possible vision processing issues, but all that could be dyslexia too. Like having to look closely/slow down to read the word properly (my 10 YO needs do this…she reads well overall but makes common dyslexic errors like missing or adding a or the, mixing up through/though/thorough, changing a word slightly like leaving off the ending), or rubbing eyes when reading (some kids with dyslexia say the letters seem to move…seems to be different than actual vision issues from what I’ve read). Working memory problems are pretty common with dyslexia (that might explain why he has trouble writing things down…trying to remember it + write it + spell taxes working memory). Auditory discrimination problems can go along with dyslexia also…that is different than auditory processing problems. Kids are all idividual so some of the “classic” dylsexia symptoms may not be present for every kid. My 10 YO never reversed letters or numbers and was reading fluently at 4.5 YO. I didn’t realize something was going on with her until she was in 2nd grade and could not sound out unfamiliar multi-syllable words. My 7 YO had struggles with reading from the start, but has super neat handwriting.
It may depend on the OT as to what they can screen for. I took my 7 YO to one with 20+ years of experience for sensory issues. She suggested a developmental vision screening with an optometrist to rule out vision processing issues, which is what I’ve commonly seen recommended if those are suspected.
I have a LOT of the signs/symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder, actually. When I first learned about it I read through the adult list and light bulbs went off left and right – it explained so much about me! (I think I had majority of the symptoms at some point in time). I am 99% sure my 5 year old has some sensory issues (we have a whole host of issues we are working through with her, thankfully a lot of it is linked to diet), and I have seen some signs of it in him (at least when I looked a could years ago).
It is interesting “talking” this out because so many times I think we, as homeschooling moms, have a hard time deciphering what’s “normal” and what’s not since there aren’t as many routes for direct comparison (or outside eyes). Sometimes I think it’s my fault he’s struggling so much. I remember when we first started with phonics we both ended up so frustrated with it and each other. I finally just threw up my hands and said it wasn’t worth it, so we took a break. Lo and behold, he learned to read shortly after, during that break. Then, when we tried picking back up and his younger sister was “getting it” where as he still wasn’t, I thought maybe it was because of that “break” and I had totally failed him. It wasn’t until I was talking it out with DH one night that he said he was the same way… He doesn’t see it as a major issue though since he turned out OK. Not sure how on board he will be for OT, although I can see it being helpful (especially for me, helping figure out the best way to reach him!).
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