starting school in year 3 after home ed - teachers advice!

[timmygeorgeannedickjulien]

Ok in short, due to various circumstances we decided to home educate DD after she finished playschool. Since then we have gone down the unschooling/autonomous route with our home education. We have basically followed her developmental needs, which ultimately meant only starting reading/writing when she turned 6. DD has now asked to try school, and I feel i should honour her request. The problem is she is massively behind in reading/writing. Her maths is fine I think and she is bright, but she is more on the creative/sporty side of things.
So my thought is not to start her right away, but to perhaps start her in Sept and try to do a bit of intensive work with her before she starts.
Are there any teachers out there who could tell me how they would manage a child like this? Would she have to have to miss breaks to catch up? Would she be in special groups?
Any advice appreciated.

What can she read and write?

No, she would not have to miss breaks. I think to a certain extent it would depend on the intake of the school. Where I work, she would not be too unusual, we have lots of children new to English and those who have missed out on education for various reasons. However, in some schools there may only be one or two children in her class or year at a similar level.

Obviously she will be assessed first and from what you say I would expect her to be given support on her literacy skills, perhaps through small group work or one to one (likely to be with a ta rather than teacher). Her class work should be differentiated to suit her level, not just in literacy but in all subjects (so she shouldn't be asked to read a text in history and answers questions if it's beyond her level and so on).

If I were you, I would start visiting someone schools now and talk to the heads about how they could meet your daughter's needs

(Posted by mistake).

If you can get a place in a supportive school, then I would perhaps look at starting after Easter. That would give you time to do a bit of work on her literacy, and also a fair bit of preparation about the expectations at school- how do you think she will cope with the social aspects and following the rules etc? If she wants to tryschool I'm guessing that she is prepared for that side of things?

What can she read and write ? There will be a wide range of ability in most year 3 classes - do you have a school in mind? Does it have spaces ?

By saying you have followed her "developmental needs", do you mean that she has "learning difficulties"?
If so, then you are probably best talking to the SENCO and finding out how she will be supported, and get things in place for the help she needs.

If you feel that she is behind simply because you started later, then it would be worth trying to help her do extra in the time left before September, and see how much catching up you can do.

I would also see if you can have an idea where she should be in regard to maths and English. the school may be able to help you with that.

Dd1 had a child joined her class who had been Homeschooled but not taught to read or write at all in year 4, and it was very, very difficult for her. The school did manage to get things into place, but clearly had had no warning of this.

Good luck with this x
I just posted a thorough but user-friendly summary of the Year 4 primary curriculum for spellings. For interest, or for you to use with your DD.
englishtutorhome2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/what-spellings-do-kids-learn-in-year-4.html
Once again, good luck!
At some point I'm going to post years 3, 5 and 6, including other aspects of literacy - Punctuation and Grammar.

There's some stuff on punctuation here:
englishtutorhome2.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Punctuation

Bits and bobs on grammar will be added here:
englishtutorhome2.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Grammar

Let me know if it's helpful!

Thanks for the replies. When I say 'followed her developmental needs' I mean I have followed her lead & not pushed her to read or write early. She has found it very difficult, I suspect she could be labelled as being dyslexic possibly. It is not so long ago that she wrote everything (whole sentences, not just letters) as mirror image.
So she would currently be in year 2 and she can read say level 3 and 4 of ORT books, but its painstaking! Even words she knew months ago can present problems for her. She writes a little bit, but not much. Most letters and numbers are still back to front for example.
Im wondering whether learning in a group would actually motivate her more. She is fairly bright. Her comprehension level is very good. she is actually quite mature for her age in so many ways.
Socially i think she will be absolutely fine :) She will have no probs following school rules, she has been in lots of structured environments, such as swimming classes, dance classes, Rainbows, sports camps in the holidays. She actually seems to thrive in this kind of environment. Doing what I tell her though......well thats another matter!!!:D

and no, none of our nearby schools have places. I will have to go on a waiting list for her or consider going quite far out of catchment.