When DS was still in public K, I tried to do some afterschooling with him but I felt like I was punishing him for something that wasn't his fault. Why make him do school at school and then again when he gets home just so he can have that level of education he needs? I do keep track of where public school is at and now that he's homeschooled we only spend about 30 - 60 minutes / day with school activity and he's still where he should be for the most part. Except for writing. I completely pulled back on writing knowing his fine motor skills were really behind and he spends a lot of time during the day just drawing freehand. Anything he wants. He needed that extra time to learn to use the pencil properly. He's now on his own starting to do a little bit of writing here and there without any prompting from us
This is how I feel too! Which is why I'm still considering homeschooling. If I'm just teaching him afterschool what I feel he should learn in school, why waste those 6 hours per day?
Our problem before was a lack of knowledge on my part with what the schools required, that he was behind and I was doing remediation, and that we were planning on homeschooling a year but stopped after only a limited time. Therefore, the time I had allotted for him to get on pace with the other students was non-existent. DS also needs a lot of writing practice but I've stopped focusing on that because the teacher flat out said if he can't read at the correct level, he will fail. Writing is not as pressured.
I'm hoping our summer homeschooling is nice and progressive. It will either help solidify that homeschooling would be easier/better, or even if he's just on level/above other students for 1st grade and then doesn't need remediation anymore that would be wonderful. It's hard to guess what the schools aren't going to teach in the future. Will I find myself teaching spelling because he just comes home with spelling lists every week without guidance on how to spell? Will I teach cursive because the school won't?
