Need a tutor for material.

Hello everyone! This is our first year homeschooling (chose to because of Covid) and we are having a VERY difficult time supporting our almost 9 year old with the 7-9 curriculum. She is a strong reader and enjoys math, but is struggling significantly with writing. She at baseline likes to push limits and seize control wherever she can and most days struggles with starting school participating with the assignments. I'm wondering if any other parents are experiencing this and if there are any suggestions on tutoring services. I think that she would do much better to have someone other than her parents directing her education.

I think it is normal to have some push back from your child with this. This is a huge transition during an uncertain time in history and we are all feeling it. Often when my child start to push back, I find that finding a way to give them some more autonomy often helps (even in areas of life that are not just school). Giving her control of the schedule or when she does which lessons, when to take breaks for snacks and fresh air, etc. My best suggestion is to create some routine and expectations. She may need to understand when you are the parent and when you are the teacher and respect those roles as well. You can do this but it may simply take patience, time, and flexibility.

im in a similar situation with my son, constantly making excuses as to why the day is challenging. I was fighting back with him on it and have decided to use a different approach that seems to be working. I take whatever his excuse is and flip it back on him. ie: "Oh you're too tired today? it sounds like we need to set an earlier bed time. Lets try it tonight and see how you feel tomorrow". We still go along our day as usual but by the next day the excuse is out the door because he doesnt want to go to bed at an earlier time.
Im having trouble feeling like im an effective teacher to my son as i don't feel confident in what im teaching. Im more than capable of being able to do it. I feel like the guides given are lacking a bit. This is new territory for those of us who have never done this before. I think it takes time to get everyone used to new roles.

I fought this very thing over the years, and the best thing we ever did was create tangible daily expectations. I feel like being on my 6th year of this with three kids, I can speak pretty confidently on it.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in the freedom of homeschooling that we forget how much kids need structure and boundaries. I get my kids to do their school work the same way I make them do a few chores and teach them act respectfully of others. I've created a FEW hard stop expectations.

All three know that Monday-Friday from 9:00-3:00 is blocked out school time. (With an hour break for lunch and to run around/whatever and needed breaks throughout) Unless they've finished EVERYTHING they needed to do for that day, they're not gaming or playing or virtually anything else during that time. I have an Alexa alarm that goes off every 1.5 hours as a cue to maybe move on to another subject for my child who needs that. I do my work in the same room as everyone else, so I'm accessible to them for questions. Also, I feel like it models for them that I have to spend my work time during the day taking care of my business, they must do the same. If they do zero school work that day, they have appropriate consequences. Maybe they need to start going to bed earlier or have less screen time or need to spend some time catching up on Saturday.

I allow them to decide what subjects they work on and in what order. One size does NOT fit all, and I try not to impose my preferred organization style on them. It gives them some actual control within their boundaries. I also allow them to tweak activities to something that suits their interest or personality better. I allow them to take off on projects/subjects that they become intensely interested in, and we might move quickly through lessons they find less interesting. That all fosters a bit of trust and independence between you that makes it more enjoyable for everyone. Often times, kids fight for control just to fight for control. Let go of the reigns, but keep them in the fence. You know?

I temper the schedule that may seem strict with a healthy dose of grace for mental health days, headaches, math frustration, family fun days, a novel they just want to read through, etc. We take a lot of breaks during the year and basically homeschool year round, so we work hard but play hard as well.

Now it's just second nature, and we really don't have any big fights or struggles. They just know that's the expectation.

Thank you for the suggestion of giving her more control with the sequence of assignments. That seemed to help a little bit this week.

I do agree with you that I find the guides lacking in the foundational building blocks of how to teach writing. I think that since it is made more for gifted students it assumes that the student is comfortable with writing. My daughter is struggling with writing most of all. I really have liked the math curriculum however.

I have always felt that the curriculum does a good job of teaching how to write. Of course, I moved my children back a grade when I moved to this curriculum because I knew they needed to catch up a bit on their writing skills. It is recommended that you place your child first based on their writing ability. Is it possible that your child is using too high of a level for their writing ability?

Prior to Covid, my daughter felt more confident about writing. I think since school went to online and didn't really focus on writing she is out of practice as well as the assignments being challenging. Are there any suggestions on programs or exercises we can do to catch her up? I've never been a teacher before and I feel a little like I'm not giving her the tools to help her be successful. She is about to turn 9 and so I really don't want to go to the 5-7 curriculum.

If you are looking for a teacher to walk your child through writing and give great feedback, you may want to look into a program called Write at Home. They offer semester, full year and 6 week courses.

I have a 9 year old with anxiety, advanced intelligence, mild dyslexia, but pretty significant dysgraphia. We recently had him retested and he qualified for an IEP due to his writing and his anxiety. He has no difficulty at all with the reading assignments but was completely overwhelmed by the amount of writing due to hand cramping and the extensive amount of time it takes him to write out his thoughts vs verbally stating his thoughts.

The EC teacher and school psychologist had some amazing ideas. We now use SeeSaw as an accommodation for many of the assignments. It allows me to post his assignments from Moving Beyond the Page curriculum and he can then type, voice to text or even make a video recording of him stating his answers. This gives him some autonomy and control and helps with his confidence. We also have him do lessons on Typing Club as he really struggles with typing and this is something that will benefit him later in life as well.

We do Wilson "Just Words" for tutoring to help with decoding and spelling and he does have to write on paper for these sessions. This has helped with his anxiety over how to spell words although he still hates to write.

We do meditation at the start of each day geared to help with his anxiety and we practice coping skills like deep breathing while tracing his hand with his finger on a regular basis to help him regain composure when he gets overwhelmed by writing or the amount of work. We have a marble jar and he gets a marble when he can make it through the entire day by picking coping skills from a list instead of complaining. Each marble can then be traded in for 15 minutes of video time or 25 cents to add towards the purchase of a book that he wants.

The EC teacher also told me to find what he loves and let him use that in creative ways for his answers. This was really helpful advice for me! In place of writing a report on the Bahamas, he made a salt dough map of the Bahamas and recorded a video stating his report of what he had learned about the environment and the original people that lived on the islands when Christopher Columbus first landed there. The detail he gave in his report was amazing and way better than he would have written on paper. Most importantly, we had an absolute blast and he loved learning!

I was afraid to diverge and make accommodations for him at first because I tend to be a very black and white, follow the rules kind of person. I did not have the confidence needed to branch out and make accommodations for his disabilities. After seeking help and hearing a lot of great suggestions from others, I think we are now both in a place of enjoying homeschooling.

This is fantastic information! Thank you for sharing.

You are most welcome. I am so happy to share and so grateful for those who have shared ideas that work for them. I hope some of what I shared can help others in similar situations. Parenting is the hardest job ever and getting ideas and suggestions from others has been a lifesaver for both me and my son.

I love these suggestions for accommodations. I have a 10 year old with dyslexia, ADHD who is also most likely gifted. It is so hard to give him the meaty ideas that he thrives on, when his reading level is closer to a 3rd grade reading level. His writing and spelling are lower than that. I am really interested in this curriculum, but was racking my brain around how to accommodate his weaknesses. I had forgotten about SeeSaw and definitely need to check it out again!. Thanks!