katalyst
05-07-2008, 02:18 PM
This is my first post this this chat so I'm not up on all the short-hand.
I have a ds 11, 5th grade. He has ADD and possible something called hyper sensitivity (not exactly sure what that means - still looking into it). We have been hs since mid-3rd grade. He is very bright but only remembers things he likes no matter what methods used to get the non-liked facts to stick but my biggest problem is his dislike of doing anything that requires him to pick up a pencil and write. It isn't just writing assignments (like writing a story, outline a passage, write a sentence) that sends him into a fall on the floor, pull your hair out, crying fit. Any worksheet that has more then 10 questions and requires more than a single charater for the answer will send him spiralling out of control. To date we have not gotten beyond 4 sentences at a time for any writing assignments and we rarely do this more than once a month. Early this week he had to write four sentences describing something. It took him two days to complete. Almost nothing else got finished because of his temper tandrum over the assignment. This response also happens on math assignment that have more than 15 problems and grammer worksheets what require diagraming.
The only way to keep some order and calm during school time is to do almost everything orally. For math we usually review the math concepts and do problems together (I'm doing the writing, he describs the process). Once, maybe twice a week he has a math worksheet that has 20 problems on it. Grammar is the same way if the worksheets require more than minimal writing. Writing assignments almost never occur because of the stress it causes both of us. We have tried to do written assignment on the computer but it doesn't make it much better.
We have been trying to follow the plan described in The Well-Trained Mind but if I tried to get him to do all the work described in the book my son's head would explode. I'm starting to feel like I'm doing him a disservice by not forcing writing more often but the stress and anxiety it causes him is unbearable for him and me. As a consequence my son does not write cursive, his hand writing still looks like a kindergardeners and he has a difficult time coming up with what to write when I do force a writing assignment.
The possitive side is he loves to read (would do nothing else if I let him). He is doing well in Latin and has started Japanese on his own. He is really good at math and grammar as long as he doen't have to write. He loves history and knows more about ancient history than most adults. He enjoys the logic puzzles we do and is better at figuring them out than me.
Am I stressing too much about the writing? If you have experienced this what have you done to over come the situation? Any advice would be much appreciated.
I have a ds 11, 5th grade. He has ADD and possible something called hyper sensitivity (not exactly sure what that means - still looking into it). We have been hs since mid-3rd grade. He is very bright but only remembers things he likes no matter what methods used to get the non-liked facts to stick but my biggest problem is his dislike of doing anything that requires him to pick up a pencil and write. It isn't just writing assignments (like writing a story, outline a passage, write a sentence) that sends him into a fall on the floor, pull your hair out, crying fit. Any worksheet that has more then 10 questions and requires more than a single charater for the answer will send him spiralling out of control. To date we have not gotten beyond 4 sentences at a time for any writing assignments and we rarely do this more than once a month. Early this week he had to write four sentences describing something. It took him two days to complete. Almost nothing else got finished because of his temper tandrum over the assignment. This response also happens on math assignment that have more than 15 problems and grammer worksheets what require diagraming.
The only way to keep some order and calm during school time is to do almost everything orally. For math we usually review the math concepts and do problems together (I'm doing the writing, he describs the process). Once, maybe twice a week he has a math worksheet that has 20 problems on it. Grammar is the same way if the worksheets require more than minimal writing. Writing assignments almost never occur because of the stress it causes both of us. We have tried to do written assignment on the computer but it doesn't make it much better.
We have been trying to follow the plan described in The Well-Trained Mind but if I tried to get him to do all the work described in the book my son's head would explode. I'm starting to feel like I'm doing him a disservice by not forcing writing more often but the stress and anxiety it causes him is unbearable for him and me. As a consequence my son does not write cursive, his hand writing still looks like a kindergardeners and he has a difficult time coming up with what to write when I do force a writing assignment.
The possitive side is he loves to read (would do nothing else if I let him). He is doing well in Latin and has started Japanese on his own. He is really good at math and grammar as long as he doen't have to write. He loves history and knows more about ancient history than most adults. He enjoys the logic puzzles we do and is better at figuring them out than me.
Am I stressing too much about the writing? If you have experienced this what have you done to over come the situation? Any advice would be much appreciated.