[email protected]

My 9 yo son reads a little but not what most people expect of a 9 yo. I'm
wondering if those of you with "late" readers have ever "prepared" adults who
work with your kids. How have you let them know not to expect reading and
writing and helped them to deal with your child sensitively? Words, I'm looking
for words to use. My son is about to start a junior naturalist program that I
think is likely to become very important to him. It' a morning a week and
involves overnights with the same tight knit group of people for years to come.
It's more time away from us than he's spent with non-homeschoolers so far. (My
baby......waaa!) I doubt there's much reading and writing involved, but I
worry about how he'll handle it if there is any and especially about reactions
from other kids. So it occurs to me to say _something_ to the rangers in
charge but I'm not sure it's a good idea and if it is, I'm not sure what to say.
Any thoughts appreciated.

Pam T.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Tia Leschke

> My 9 yo son reads a little but not what most people expect of a 9 yo. I'm
> wondering if those of you with "late" readers have ever "prepared" adults
who
> work with your kids. How have you let them know not to expect reading and
> writing and helped them to deal with your child sensitively? Words, I'm
looking
> for words to use. My son is about to start a junior naturalist program
that I
> think is likely to become very important to him. It' a morning a week and
> involves overnights with the same tight knit group of people for years to
come.
> It's more time away from us than he's spent with non-homeschoolers so far.
(My
> baby......waaa!) I doubt there's much reading and writing involved, but
I
> worry about how he'll handle it if there is any and especially about
reactions
> from other kids. So it occurs to me to say _something_ to the rangers in
> charge but I'm not sure it's a good idea and if it is, I'm not sure what
to say.
> Any thoughts appreciated.

My son wasn't really reading when he started scouts at 11. It happened that
the scout master was a friend, and we spoke to him about it. (In scouts
they start expecting the kids to copy stuff off the board into their books,
etc.) He was fine with it and mentioned that he gets a fair number of
school kids who have trouble. I would let the rangers know that there's a
problem with reading and writing. They'll likely chalk it up to learning
disability, and I don't think it would hurt to let them think that in this
case. They might be more sensitive to his feelings about it.
Tia
leschke@...

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where
there is no path and leave a trail."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Heidi

Hi Pam

This is right up my alley. My katie is nine and ONLY THIS YEAR started
getting interested in reading. So far, she has explained herself, with
a little sigh of regret "Sigh...I'm not reading yet" ... I think that
little "regret" thing might be a reflection of my own worry about it.
I've tried, but man, it's tough.

anyway. Ask your boy if he would like to explain, or would he rather
you did? And if you are the one...Maybe it would be best not to
"prepare" the instructors with him present? Their reaction could give
him a negative concept of his "late starting reader" status.

As for words...I dunno. Katie has always just handled it her own self,
in Sunday school and other places where a child is expected to be
fluent by age 7 (arggghhhhh)

hope that helps

blessings, HeidiC


--- In [email protected], warblwarbl@a... wrote:
> My 9 yo son reads a little but not what most people expect of a 9
yo. I'm
> wondering if those of you with "late" readers have ever "prepared"
adults who
> work with your kids. How have you let them know not to expect
reading and
> writing and helped them to deal with your child sensitively? Words,
I'm looking
> for words to use. My son is about to start a junior naturalist
program that I
> think is likely to become very important to him. It' a morning a
week and
> involves overnights with the same tight knit group of people for
years to come.
> It's more time away from us than he's spent with non-homeschoolers
so far. (My
> baby......waaa!) I doubt there's much reading and writing
involved, but I
> worry about how he'll handle it if there is any and especially about
reactions
> from other kids. So it occurs to me to say _something_ to the
rangers in
> charge but I'm not sure it's a good idea and if it is, I'm not sure
what to say.
> Any thoughts appreciated.
>
> Pam T.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 9/25/03 1:26:40 AM, warblwarbl@... writes:

<< So it occurs to me to say _something_ to the rangers in
charge but I'm not sure it's a good idea and if it is, I'm not sure what to
say.
Any thoughts appreciated. >>

I wrote a letter to the acting school Holly was going to for a while and said
she wasn't reading yet, and so please not to put her on the spot in class. I
enclosed some information on unschooling and the web addresses of
unschooling.com and my page. I figured if they DID look they would understand, and if
they didn't bother to look, they would have homework to do if they DID question
the situation. Easy to say "Didn't you even read what I sent?

And now I remember there was such a moment. She got a new teacher who said
in front of the others "You have to be able to read to act" or some "have to"
statement. Holly wasn't too hurt by it, because she/Holly said as soon as it
was spoken she knew they take really little kids in the classes who totally
can't read, and being a Shirley Temple fan, she knew Shirley Temple acted before
she could read, so her thought was "wrong."

I called the school and told them to pass Holly's file to that teacher before
the next class, and next time I was in there she came and apologized to me.

When Kirby was ten and was handed a clipboard to fill out the forms for a
karate advancement test, I leaned over to write and the sensei said "He has to do
it himself."

I said "Well he can't do it himself, I'll help him."

Had he said "NO you CAN'T help him" then I would have said "He can't do it by
himself. Is he doing his karate okay? You can help him or I can help him,
but this isnt a writing class, and he's not writing yet."

What I did that day was just to keep helping, and the next time I came in I
brought a copy of the interview Home Education Magazine published of me, and
said if he wanted to read that he'd get an idea of my homeschooling philosophy
and how we do things.

I just didn't give him the idea that he could dictate what Kirby had to do
outside of karate business.

And as it all turns out, Kirby's one of the favorites at that school and has
judged other advancements, with forms, on clipboards, where he has to put his
comments down pretty quickly. His writing isn't standard--it's tiny, for one
thing (something school kids don't do because they get credit for filling up
pages), and printed, but it's always legible.

Sandra

Robyn Coburn

<<His writing isn't standard--it's tiny, for one
thing (something school kids don't do because they get credit for
filling up
pages), and printed, but it's always legible.>>



This made me think of what happened when I attended a school, for
academically gifted kids in fifth and part of sixth grade (1971-72).
When we began we had to get ink cartridge pens with special calligraphic
squared off nibs. We were all taught to write in "italics" (I guess that
is the calligraphy designation) in ink, rather than ballpoint or any
felt tip pen, for all of our class work and assignments. After a while
we were given speed tests, and neatness counted - a type of writing
seemingly diametrically opposed to writing fast in speed tests that were
also spelling dictation. I recall being middling at it - my writing was
never as beautiful or as fast as many others in the class. However to
this day I am totally mystified as to the purpose of it - other I
suppose than legibility - but then why the fountain pens? I found out
later, when some of my former classmates turned up at my high school,
that in the last term of sixth grade, the entire class was moved on to
"Chancellery", a more curvy and leaning version of the other calligraphy
- which seemed to me to be moving backwards if the purpose was
legibility. These classes were experiments in "free" learning
supposedly, but the odd handwriting obsession of the staff was hardly in
line with that thinking.

Robyn Coburn




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]