Sep. 22, 2008 - Settling In
We have had an interesting start to our homeschool time. Jonathan has obviously had a lot of stress in school. When I would try to do flashcards with him to help him with the math he never got back in first grade (he is in third), he would almost go into a panic. I used a number of methods with him to calm him down. I took the pressure off him to know the math facts and "gave" him the answers for awhile. I let him know with a calm tone of voice that it was ok to not know them yet and that I was here to help him. He is much calmer now and is learning his doubles. He would even panic over addition facts that I was sure he could figure out very easily. He was totally dependant on using his fingers. I have been taking that away from him and he is learning that he can do it without them.
He struggles with writing. We are slowly progressing with this. I try to make sure that my subjects that require writing aren't all bunched together. With handwriting practice, I am just taking it slow. I found a blog with information on dysgraphia. Jonathan has most of the symptoms of this. We know of one of the programs that was recommended for this problem. We just aren't at a point of being able to do this right now.
He has certainly been his RAD self in our homeschooling. It has been a challenge and I have really been worn down a few times. Last week, I ended up taking a different approach to homeschooling. It was the school of learning to obey, work hard on chores and fill mom's energy tank back up. I gave him the task to try to please me rather than annoy me constantly. By Friday, he was asking to homeschool. But, alas, he still wasn't real fun in homeschooling today. On we march in the RAD world.
