Is it possible to cover curriculum whilst homeschooling at weekends only ?

[Babieseverywhere]

We have a bright 6yo DS, who is not doing well academically and the latest email from school says he is doing as well as they expect from him....which is no progress in the last two terms on phonics wise.

We will be asking school to help but doubt they will do anything as he is "fine".

DS is a brilliant child who has some social communication difficulties (not seen at school) and OT needs to overcome as he struggles with his balance/handwriting (not seen at school) and is very hard to keep him sat down and concentrating.

DH and I are looking at whether, we could teach him enough at weekends, so he could catch up at school.

How many hours a week would have to be done to cover maths, reading, spelling and phonics ?

We haven't managed to sort out releasing DS for two hours a week to attend an weekly OT session.... the school need to discuss our 'request' with the governers...I like the idea of flexi schooling to get him caught up but doubt it would be allowed.

Another option is to put him down a year, so he is the oldest in the year and that would give him a second chance to pick up the work. But I know another mother tried to do this with her child and they refused.

The OT report is yet to arrive.

Ed Psyc did not diagnosis anything as they can't but she was told he was academically fine. I am going to ring her this morning to tell her he is far behind and ask her advice.

School are implying he is naturally behind due to low intelligence...I. E. DS is exactly where they expected him to be.

What do you think you can do for him home schooling that the school isn't?

Genuine question, there seems to be a disconnect somewhere over his abilities. If you think it's the school, switch schools. If it's his ability, then he won't make much difference if you can't keep up the extra support throughout his academic career.

Following with interest...

My 7yo boy has been struggling with Y2 reading and writing. V good in maths. Now diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and wearing glasses for his behaviour ! Engaging in OT and it's all very curious but we shall see.

As school is tricky for him, our GP has suggested home schooling. But I need to be at work. Tricky.

After reading this thread I'm thinking that maybe I could reduce my hours and at least do home ed part-time. I think school would be fine with this.

Babies.

How do you know the school aren't correct and it is his ability holding him back? As a pp said being ahead in reception doesn't necessarily mean he's academically advanced.

Again, genuine question.

If the school do think he has below average ability, are they doing anything to support that? In our school areas the children are weak in get extra support, so slow readers will get an extra hour a week specialist learning, same for maths etc.

No help is given as he is academically fine.

Try posting in the SN section here, there's a lot of expertise and support in how to nail schools down to their specific responsibilities towards a child.
Evidence, data, papertrail and flame-proof knickers are the first things in your arsenal, plus constant, positive relentless pressure on the school to do their best.

Micah there are lots of reasons why some bright children don't flourish in school and teachers are not neccessarily equipped to deal with all SEN. They are trained to teach mainstream children and are also extremely busy with an entire class full. Given that we as parents can miss signs of children's SEN it is quite understandable how they can go unnoticed in the busy school environment.

Visual processing, auditory processing, sensory processing, fine and gross motor skills, hand strength etc all these things impact on a child's ability to progress in school. But they don't limit intelligence.

Is he in Y2?

I posted in this section to see if home education could be done in weekends...the answer is no and I accept the reasoning.

As for my DS he is not learning and whatever the reason he deserves help, not ignoring.

Great minds think alike Dust...the SN boards are so supportive and kind. They even welcome posters (like me ) who's children don't have dx's but just fighting through the system.

I disagree about what people say about not being brilliant because he isn't learning. School teaches through the medium of verbal and written communication. If your ds is like mine and struggles with both then however bright they are they will fail. If you suddenly start teaching a primary class in Chinese without actually teaching them Chinese then brilliant kids will struggle. The school then decides they are 'delayed' and expectations are lowered and underperformance becomes acceptable. My ds is well above average in most areas of ability (above 95th centile) but struggles to speak and write and would fail outside his specialist setting.

However, I do agree that this school seems a bad fit.

I don't think he has issues with maths, school didn't bother to mention it in his latest report and we've been focussed on the phonics problem for now. Certainly when we ask him and his 2 years older sister questions he's almost as good as she is without resorting to fingers

School is of the opinion that there's no problem that wouldn't be solved by us shutting up about it.

Really I guess what we're after from this forum is some ideas and suggestions on how we can help him ourselves. I think we need to ask school some more searching questions on what aspect he's having difficulty with.

babies my advice from a good friend who's a brilliant teacher is to concentrate on phonics and reading for 10 minutes before school each morning. Kids are all different, getting my dd to concentrate later in the day is a hiding to nothing, but early on there's more chance. Id give that 3 months and if no improvement you should really think about school moving - good luck

DH 'I don't think he has issues with maths, school didn't bother to mention it in his latest report and we've been focussed on the phonics problem for now. '

From the OP:
'How many hours a week would have to be done to cover maths, reading, spelling and phonics ?

You both need to be much more precise and specific about what his needs actually are, what his dx is and what the school are doing and not doing to help him make progress.
You need to be clear what the problems are, what the possible avenues of support might be and get the school to be specific about why their expectations for him are for him to make less than expected progress compared to the average.
Woolliness will enable the school to flannel, use non-specific general terms and otherwise not be clear about things. Don't give them the opportunity.
Think in bullet points and expect specific answers to specific questions, push for clarity.

You are unlikely to be able to help him effectively if you don't know what the problems are. Otherwise it's just tinkering.

Can you access someone like Dyslexia Action or the the Helen Arkell Centre?

I would get advice from them, you don't need a full blown dyslexia assessment, but I know the Helen Arkell will give you and hour consultation, and this could really help you sort out where the issues are/may be and how to start to go about dealing with them.

Sorry but however great the school has been with your DDs, it is failing your DS - especially if they will not acknowledge his difficulties.

There is a lot you can do, but it often feels like trial and error. A key thing is to not make it seem like you are piling the work on him, if possible either request less homework/or just refuse to do it; to give you time and him energy to do targetted work.

But just like a teacher you will have to assess and monitor his progress.

If he really doesn't get Phonic I would look at either The Reading Reflex or if you have more money the Barton reading program.

What dust says.

reading all this I am unclear as to what the problem is- I realise it's words on a screen and my interpretation but;

Is he low ability and you are in denial?
Is he bright but school aren't meeting his needs?
Is school meeting his needs but it's not good enough progress for you?
Is he bright but has SEN which aren't being addressed?

I think you need to isolate the reason's why he isn't progressing. You and the school seem to be coming at it from different angles- they say low ability, you say SEN/school issue.

So firstly get the SEN assessments. Ask the school how they are helping him achieve- he should have targets and they should recognise where he is weak and help in those areas, whether he's low ability or not.

If the school refuse to help him and just write him off as low ability, he needs a different school. If they are helping him, you need to work with them, back off and re-inforce his learning at home, ask them what you can do to help, rather than butting heads and telling them they are wrong with no evidence to back you up.

And do bear in mind he's 6. Sometimes it does take them a while to get up and running academically, even the bright ones. No readers and failed phonics aren't uncommon at that age.

Why do you think he isn't progressing? Is it the 1a/3a thing? Or something the teachers have said? Or your opinion?

What are the 'SEN assessments' ?

We are going through the community paediatrician route via NHS over the last two years. However as school don't see anything...We can not access further support or dx via this route.

Senco at the school is a nice lady but has been very clear and direct. Telling us there is nothing to see and no needs to address in DS.

Class teacher said no need to worry but didn't notice he was behind. Now we pointed that out, the deputy head said not to worry, he is where they expect him to be.

I think EITHER he is bright with SEN which stops him accessing teaching in the classroom OR he is below average. Either way he needs help...school said there is no need to help him, so we have to step in.

Again, how do you know he's behind? If school are saying not to worry, head is saying he's where they expect, and class teacher is not noticing he's behind, who is saying he is?

By SEN assessments I mean the investigations you are having done. By NHS, whoever, that may lead to a diagnosis.

Sorry for the questions, but I'm having trouble understanding.

My DC's class teacher has always known where they are/how they're doing. If the class teacher hasn't even noticed, he's either not behind enough to ring alarms, or you really do need another school.

You say it is you pointing out he's behind, how do you know? What evidence do you have? Has anyone formally assessed his progress at any point, and what do they say? Without input from the class teacher I wouldn't have a clue what is average to say they are below average...

We know he has stopped making progress, due to the reports we get every parents evening. The latest one shows no progress in last two terms.

We asked for more information and this clarified the lack of overall progress in past two terms.

The school think that DS forgot two terms worth of work over summer and took two terms to relearn it. Hence no overall progress in two terms...We are worrying.

Did your ed psych do the WISC assessment? It can be done from 6 years old I believe.

This gives information as to the cognitive ability of the child and any areas of weakness. It gives the equivalent of an IQ (either Full Scale or General Ability Index - depending on which is appropriate).

This piece of information can be shared with the school to demonstrate to them that your child actually IS bright.

It can also be compared with the child's academic performance - eg reading/comprehension age to identify whether or not there is a gap. Again, this can be shared with the school to prove to them that your child isn't meeting his potential.

It will also help you to identify what sorts of issues might be holding your son back and so what is the best way to help him.

It surprises me that the ed psych has said the as the schools say he is where he should be then she cant do anything - unless she agreed with the school....

Thank you Shirley That is very helpful.

I will check if Ed Psych did that assessment and if not request that she does on her next visit (They do two visits a month apart)