Parents w/ kids w/ LD's...

[SandraDumas]

DO you do school on weekends to lessen the difficulties?

My son has dysgraphia and Mondays are a horror for him. Every Monday is like this. Every letter backwards, a's are written like U's, backwards c's, backwards d's, in Hooked on Phonics he couldn't read the page at all. (however on Friday we was whizzing through the lesson!!) On Fridays we have no backwards letters, fantastic reading, excellent math, and good focus.

Mondays come around and it's like I've just picked up some kid from the local LD class and put him there instead of the kid I had on Friday.

Has anyone considered having kids like this do school-lite on weekends whenever possible?

[Sue G in PA]

I'm lucky to get a workbook page out of him during the week right now. He's on an academic strike as my previous posts have explained. Some Saturdays and Sundays when he's bored, he'll put out a workbook and just do a few pages. I'm thrilled. We do read everyday, but if the mood strikes him to do a page or 2, regardless of the day or time...I let him go for it! I'd say...go for it!

[Cadam]

We do school on Saturdays for other reasons but do what works for you. I think there are plenty of people who school 6 days a week.

[chiguirre]

We do at least a little bit everyday, especially reading. Saturday is a regular work day for us because we have a free hour of 1 on 1 time with a table while ds and dd take turns at ballet class. Friday is usually light, just a bit of reading and either some math or phonics worksheets because they have co-op.

Do what works for you, but IMHO, it's easy to squeeze in 15 minutes of school even on weekends and every little bit helps to keep them on track.

[Lorna]

Does he have a pen pal? Weekends are a great time to write letters. You can also write to your friends at the same time so that it doesn't feel like school. Ease the change of pace in with writing a few postcards to relatives.
Perhaps he could be writing your shopping list too.

[Wendy]

Hi Sandra: I believe my 5 yo dd has dysgraphia, though we've not had a formal evaluation/diagnosis. I'm with you on the failure to retain. I don't know that weekends would help us, though. Oftentimes, she forgets day-to-day things. She'll "learn" a letter one day, and the next when we sit down to review and reinforce, it's like the first time she's seen it. Maybe the failure to comprehend is tandem with dysgraphia. Who made the diagnosis of dysgraphia in your son? I'm finding this to be almost insurmountable. I have cried myself to sleep endlessly. I'm so worried about her.

[Stacy in NJ]

Nothing to terribly involved, but enough to keep him on track for the coming week. Most ps kids have homework. Explain that now is the time to introduce homework into his life.

[SandraDumas]

I'm no doctor, therapist or educator. But my ds has all the "symptoms."

Many people, here on WTM and elsewhere have said that letter reversals are very normal, especially at age five.

My dh has some kind of dyslexia or dysgraphia, but I was always convinced that with proper education that he would not have those problems either.

I was using Mott Media's Classic Curriculum for about 3-4 months last year with my son and during that time I saw very few letter reversal/forgetfulness issues because the curriculum reviews everything, everyday, and there is tons, and I mean TONS of writing involved.

This is one BIG part of the reason that we are moving back to Covenant Home next year. CHC is designed for constant review and repetition, and entirely re-teaches all K phonics in first grade.

If my son doesn't really have an LD, then CHC will be good because it'll undo any effects of inconsistency on my part. If my son doesn't really have this LD then it'll be good because we can be sure to drill the basics very thoroughly and do our best to lessen the effects of the LD.

I see you have older kids so you obviously have plenty of people to compare her to. But if she's your first homeschool child, then I would suggest that you perhaps think about getting a really repetitious curriculum (and Mott Media's Classic CUrriculum is cheap, easy to implement, and phonetically based similar to SWR)

I would encourage you to post on the special needs board, too.

In my research there can be lots of other issues such as vision problems, or just plain old maturity issues. We are taking my son to an optometrist because I'm convinced that he has vision problems in addition to some mild dysgraphia.

I'd like to hear more about what's going on with your dd. Have you posted about her here? I know you can get a lot of info on where to start, whether to back off or get more consistent, and lots of stuff like that.

[SandraDumas]

Thanks, that is what I'm going to try to do. maybe I can find some inexpensive workbooks at Walmart to help with that, so I don't have to plan it all out!

[Sugarfoot]

Sandra, my son has dyslexia, and we struggle with this kind of thing, too. It's much better now that he's older, but when he was younger, we did something similar to what Stacy suggested. I bought some inexpensive, "extra" workbooks that covered what he needed and he and I did them together on his bed at bedtime. It took about 10-15 minutes, and he looked forward to his time with me alone. It was easy and painless, and it really helped.:)

[SandraDumas]

what I have on hand and if nothing I will go ahead and run out to walmart and see what I can find inexpensively.