Homeschool Co-op Classes - 09/15/10 02:49 PM
I enrolled my 12-year-old 2E son with dysgraphia and dyspraxia in two homeschool co-op classes--ancient history and writing composition. He told me he wasn't happy about it and reminded me that all of my other attempts to help him meet other kids like him failed. He said he likes learning at home and having some control over what he learns. It is the first time he has been in a class with other kids (except for musical theater) since kindergarten. Since classes are only once a week I thought he could handle it.
My son did not like the fact that the co-op classes required parent volunteers in each class and nobody had yet volunteered for this position, so I have to stay in the classes he is in. I agreed to stay in the back of the room.
His first class was ancient history for 4th through 8th graders. It was the only class available before lunch and I hoped he would meet other kids after that class in the lunch room. My son likes history so I thought it would be a good class for him. I could see I had made a mistake the minute the teacher brought out the coloring sheets for them to put in order according to the order of creation in the book of Genesis. He will be tested next week to see if he remembers the correct order of creation and he will have to turn in his finished book of coloring sheets. After the class someone asked him if he liked the class and he politely said it was okay, then told me he could not go into the lunchroom, which was very noisy, because he had a really bad headache and he had just discovered that he had ADD. He said he could not force himself to pay attention, he was daydreaming, he had difficulty following instructions and stopped coloring long before class time was up, and he couldn't remember what happened on some of the days of creation because he just couldn't focus on memorizing it, especially when the teacher started singing the songs she uses to help preschoolers remember the order. At that point he almost couldn't tolerate sitting in the class any longer. He looked at me and I mouthed the word sorry.
We ate lunch in the car. I promised a trip to McDonald's if he went to the second class, writing composition, the one I worried about him having trouble in because of his dysgraphia.
He was glad he stayed. The teacher was young and pretty and talked to the kids like they were young adults. She gave them tips on taking notes in class. She also gave them suggestions on how to come up with ideas for writing stories and how to use the free writing technique. She had them try this in class. I was surprised to see that he wouldn't use his iPad to type notes. He decided to write with pencil and paper like all the other kids. He was slower to write than all the other kids, but he did it. The teacher told him to take his time and finish writing while she talked. He wrote more in that hour than he writes at home in a week. He had to copy notes from the board and they were legible. His dad could read them. I only saw one misspelled word. He never misspells words when he types and he has won spelling bees. It is the same with punctuation. If he types, his punctuation is very good, if he writes by hand he either forgets or is so busy trying to write fast enough to keep up that he just can't do it all. But he knows this is okay for taking notes--the teacher even said so. Most of his writing assignments can be typed and turned in the next week. He is excited about this class and I am so happy we did this, even though he didn't meet any other kids that he would fit in with. His "ADD" was only temporary. He was very focused in the writing class.
He told his grandfather about the classes the next day. Grandpa told him he should have listened to the teacher and colored all of the coloring pages.
My son did not like the fact that the co-op classes required parent volunteers in each class and nobody had yet volunteered for this position, so I have to stay in the classes he is in. I agreed to stay in the back of the room.
His first class was ancient history for 4th through 8th graders. It was the only class available before lunch and I hoped he would meet other kids after that class in the lunch room. My son likes history so I thought it would be a good class for him. I could see I had made a mistake the minute the teacher brought out the coloring sheets for them to put in order according to the order of creation in the book of Genesis. He will be tested next week to see if he remembers the correct order of creation and he will have to turn in his finished book of coloring sheets. After the class someone asked him if he liked the class and he politely said it was okay, then told me he could not go into the lunchroom, which was very noisy, because he had a really bad headache and he had just discovered that he had ADD. He said he could not force himself to pay attention, he was daydreaming, he had difficulty following instructions and stopped coloring long before class time was up, and he couldn't remember what happened on some of the days of creation because he just couldn't focus on memorizing it, especially when the teacher started singing the songs she uses to help preschoolers remember the order. At that point he almost couldn't tolerate sitting in the class any longer. He looked at me and I mouthed the word sorry.
We ate lunch in the car. I promised a trip to McDonald's if he went to the second class, writing composition, the one I worried about him having trouble in because of his dysgraphia.
He was glad he stayed. The teacher was young and pretty and talked to the kids like they were young adults. She gave them tips on taking notes in class. She also gave them suggestions on how to come up with ideas for writing stories and how to use the free writing technique. She had them try this in class. I was surprised to see that he wouldn't use his iPad to type notes. He decided to write with pencil and paper like all the other kids. He was slower to write than all the other kids, but he did it. The teacher told him to take his time and finish writing while she talked. He wrote more in that hour than he writes at home in a week. He had to copy notes from the board and they were legible. His dad could read them. I only saw one misspelled word. He never misspells words when he types and he has won spelling bees. It is the same with punctuation. If he types, his punctuation is very good, if he writes by hand he either forgets or is so busy trying to write fast enough to keep up that he just can't do it all. But he knows this is okay for taking notes--the teacher even said so. Most of his writing assignments can be typed and turned in the next week. He is excited about this class and I am so happy we did this, even though he didn't meet any other kids that he would fit in with. His "ADD" was only temporary. He was very focused in the writing class.
He told his grandfather about the classes the next day. Grandpa told him he should have listened to the teacher and colored all of the coloring pages.