Guilt and FrustrationFebruary 26th, 2010 @ 5:49 pm
On my desk sits a little dalmatian puppy beanie baby. Around his neck is a turquoise scrunchy and his dark little eyes seem to be staring at me sadly. “Why were you mean to my little girl?” he seems to ask.
I love my children with every fiber of my being. I’m not the most patient person on the planet. I have always sworn I would never homeschool my kids. But here I find myself home with Rowan day after day and while much of it is rewarding, the perfectionist in me beats myself up for the areas that aren’t as rewarding.
The shortcomings I see in myself have made me even less patient with Rowan.
My youngest has perplexed me roughly from the age of three. She’s unlike her older sister and brother in so many ways. She’s my wild child, she’s funny, she’s wonderful in so many respects and she’s definitely smart. But, this homeschooling thing… while she can tell you the major exports of Brazil, name all her continents and the two major rivers in China… she can’t read. She knows her alphabet but really only recognizes maybe 2/3 of the letters.
Do I think she has a learning disability?
No. I think she has an issue with selective learning. That which interests her she soaks up like a dried out sponge. Phonics and reading holds no interest. It’s a chore and she hates every second of it. Science, Art, History, Music, Math – not a problem. She whizzes through happily and rarely makes a mistake. But, Phonics is creeping along at a snail’s pace and I’m nearing the end of my rope.
Typically by the time we are done with a lesson she’s in tears and I’m threatening to make her to go “regular” school. It’s a nightmare. My other children were reading avidly by this age and usually books that were far above their grade level.
I’m tired. It’s been a loooong week. I’m discouraged and frustrated.
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Confessions of a Simply Mad Mother
February 26, 2010 at 8:01 pm
She will eventually “get it”. She may not like it but she’ll learn.
Sweety and BB used to have some awful confrontations when the kid was in grades 1-2 over reading. BB would get so frustrated that he’d punch himself in the head if he didn’t understand something.
And you’re not being mean. You’re doing what you should.
February 26, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I was that way, except with math and geography. I loved biology because I got to learn to make things go BOOM.
She will most likely out grow it, when she learns that if she does well in those classes she can advance herself in the others ones.
Wait her out. And maybe have a few nights that end like
March 1, 2010 at 8:25 am
Dylan was like that. They threatened to hold him back in Kindergarten because he didn’t know his alphabet by sight. When he saw an F he knew what sound it made but he could not tell you that it was an F.
Fortunately, his first grade teacher said she would take a reader anyway she could get one. Eventually it just clicked with him and he started doing good with reading.
Maybe try letting her do the reading on her time. Find something she really wants to do and tell her that reading will be done when she wants to do it but she can’t do X until she has done her reading.