Does anyone send their kid to public school but also work through some type of homeschooling plan after school? My DD is in K but due to issues with her school building it’s been closed the past 2 weeks, next week is vacation, and though they will be open after that it will be mostly babysitting and not full learning for a few more weeks at least because of issues with the building / teachers needing time to set up new classrooms. DD is super bright, reading at a 2nd grade level and was doing awesome at school. Her teacher was doing an awesome job keeping her interested, but now with all the school craziness things are going to be different. In an ideal world I’d just pull her out and homeschool her the rest of the year, but we can’t afford for me to not work. Is it crazy to send her to school and then work through some kind of curriculum ourselves after school? We get her off the bus at 3 everyday so have 2 hours alone with her before her siblings get home! Any suggestions on what type of things to do are much appreciated!
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I wouldn’t worry about a theme/curriculum but would just do a ton of reading - at her level and above if you read to her - and then focus on other activities that will hold her interest (and yours) that are quasi-academic - crafting, basic robotics, art, writing and illustrating stories, more complex board and card games, whatever you both would like to do. With that kind of time you can actually plan bigger projects to do over time too. I’m so used to doing preschool stuff that when I do have 1-1 time with my 7yo (rare) it’s so much fun to do more complicated things with her! And if she’s mentally engaged those are all things she can learn a lot from, eg math with crafting and many games, etc.
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Bumping this as first grade is not shaping up so great and I’m thinking about this again! She’s been coming home upset saying how boring and easy the classroom work is. I finally emailed her teacher this week and she basically told me their class is just below where they need to be academically so she’s trying to catch them up and doesn’t have time to differentiate right now.
She said in a few weeks they will start more independent work so it will get better, but in the meantime I feel like we are sending her school for lunch, recess and the extra activities she likes like Library and Art. DD loves to learn and on one hand I don’t think it’s fair to try to do more after a long day at school, but on the other she seems desperate for learning!
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Is there a particular subject she’s bored with? I’m wondering if the school would let a few students bounce up to a 2nd grade classroom during reading time? If they are at that level.
If not I would definitely talk to the principal about getting her help during this time. Either a teachers aide or parent volunteers.
We go to a private with small class sizes, but they do a really good job splitting the kids by level. During English class one group has totally different books, spelling words, etc. and the more advanced group works together on their assignments while the teacher works with the group that’s farther behind. If your teacher has a curriculum it might be possible for parent volunteers to help the advanced group? Or you could volunteer to develop/buy a curriculum that is more appropriate?
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@JCCovi: thanks for the response! It’s mostly reading and math she is bored with because most of her class still can’t read and are working on number recognition, they admittedly are way behind I think in large part because last year K was a mess with building and personnel issues. That’s a great idea to see if she could just go with another class during those subjects, unfortunately she’s the only one in her classroom that is ahead of the curve right now. And good idea about volunteering, I was considering offering to help just to be a fly on the wall and see how it really is!
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My daughter sounds similar to yours, but in K. She makes the cutoff by a day so she's the youngest in her class, but she's still bored. She does enjoy the social element of school and loves the few friends she's made so far, so we're just kind of going with it for now. I've volunteered in class a few times and I highly recommend it to get a better sense of what's going on. I found that the things they were working on in class she's been doing since 2 or 3 years old, and that my daughter was completely checked out. She'd roll around, play with her hair, barely pay attention (but still do everything perfectly) and basically do just enough to not get in trouble. She never participated or raised her hand because she said she never gets called on anyway. We've thought about homeschooling, private school, and pursuing a grade skip. I'm a little wary of the last option since my daughter is the youngest in the class already, but is a grade skip something that might work for your child?
You might also want to join some homeschooling groups on FB and specifically look into after-schooling, which it sounds like your daughter might be craving.
For now, we don't do anything academic at home, but a lot of the activities we do are ones that can be adjusted to be more at "her level", e.g., logic puzzles, mazes, board games, Snap Circuits that are for kids 8+.
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@HappyBaker: it can't hurt to do stuff at home. We have a variety of workbooks/lesson books at home. We don't do them very often, because my 1st grade is so busy this year (fairy tale theater, chess, soccer, and she's in a production of Frozen Jr).
But just as an FYI--our 1st grade is pretty academic. Very different from what you've described. I don't know how *all* this kids in my daughters class are doing, but the ones we socialize with are all reading and have been for some time, they all do double digit addition/subtraction/number line stuff. They have homework every single night and it's about 20 minutes long (I'm getting to the point where I think it's too much) plus independent reading for 20 minutes. So that's 40 minutes of school related homework assignments each night and it's a lot when we're really trying to offer our kids enrichment activities too.
So I would keep pushing. A teacher is absolutely supposed to be differentiating, and even if issues in the building are creating an overwhelming situation for teachers (and it sounds like it is), how hard would it be for a teacher to print out some 2nd grade worksheets, or send your kiddo to the library during Language Arts time, so she can pick up new books for independent reading? My 1st grade is just starting to read chapter books, but she's loving all the beginner series like Magic Tree house, etc.
Speaking of that, when I was in K-1st grade, I was already a good reader. So when other kids were making flashcards of sight words to practice at home, I got to go to the library every day and I would sit where the librarian could see me and I would get to read any free choice book I felt like reading. So even something as simple as that would be differentiating.
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I'm also surprised that the district doesn't have some online programs where the kids log in and work on concepts--the online format makes it so easy to differentiate, because kids have to master one concept/module before they move on, but they work at their own pace and can move through modules as fast as they want (it also helps kids who need more time). Last year, our district was doing IXL and something else. This year they switched to ConnectEd, which is a Mcgraw-Hill product. I'm not as familiar with it, since it's new to us this year--but my daughter has a log in, and we're allowed to log in and check in on her progress as needed.
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Any chance her teacher would let her do a Kumon or similar math workbook and read a chapter book during those lessons? I could give you some reading response journal prompts to go with her books.
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@Anagram: yea our first grade is basically kindergarten all over again! From talking to other parents though it sounds like each classroom is different in terms of what they are working on, possibly because other classes aren't so far behind as a whole? DD's class is doing basic fill in the missing number type worksheets and adding single numbers. They have done no subtraction at all yet, and are reading/writing just 3 letter words. Meanwhile DD can basically read anything at this point, and is voracious about it. They also have no homework (which is fine because I'd hate to make her sit even longer doing that level work!)
I think sending in different workbooks she could work on is a great idea @MrsSRS, if you don't mind sending the journal prompts that would be great!
@hony bologna: DH and I have been talking about an eventual grade skip if this doesn't improve. Ideally I'd love for her to just move up a grade while they do reading/math and stay with her peers for everything else, but we are just beginning the conversation with her teacher so I want to give her a chance to figure it out. But at the same time, its the middle of October and nothing has been done yet.
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Thanks for the responses, these have been super helpful!
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My rising first grader did these over the summer. I got a composition notebook and wrote the prompts at the top of the pages. I told him he didn't have to go in order and was welcome to illustrate, but to try to use complete sentences and to use his "best guess" spelling. Some pages I left blank for free writing. I will attach examples. Somewhere I have some book report type questions that she could do in response to what she's reading. I'll look.
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@MrsSRS: This is perfect, thank you so much! She'll love this idea!
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Not sure about what state you are in, but can you contact the IEP coordinator and/or gifted coordinator. They can assess her ability to determine if pull out, alternative placement, or differentiation might be helpful.
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@Pollywog: oh interesting I didn’t know IEPs could be used that way! I’ll definitely look into that!
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@HappyBaker: It depends on the state, but often gifted ed is part of special Ed. The angle I would take is that bored kids cause problems in school. One behavior modification technique is to provide challenging work.
With this there are so many easy fixes, I'd definitely keep gently nudging.
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