new to homeschooling - your opinion

We took a year off in 3rd grade to pursue remediation, and it was the best thing we ever did.

If your son is reading at a 2nd grade level, though, you should consider looking at other programs than LMB, in my opinion. The programs that were most valuable for us were PACE followed by Phono-Graphix (we used a certified tutor). Later, a friend had similar success with PACE and MTC. In both cases, the children were reading fluently *above* grade level after completing these programs, all of which were finished in about 6 months.

My daughter went back to public school in 4th grade and has done very well. My friend’s son also went back to public school after his year of homeschooling (4th grade in his case), and brings home mostly A’s on his report card. Both children have enjoyed much more social success in school than they did before remediation, and have much better self-esteem.

We both also remediated math during the year off. We used very different programs and approaches, but both children gained about two years in one year.

Your son may be worried that he won’t get enough play time. If there are neighbor children he can play with after school, you may want to reassure him about that.

Angie

Will your school allow you to send him 1/2 days so that you can have him tutored the other 1/2 of the day? You could either have the tutor work with him in the school or take him out for the tutoring. This is what we do, takes a bit of organizing but is the best of both worlds for us.

I started earlier after kindergarton and took my son out and worked with a retired teacher to tutor him 3 h a day and then at home we did the stuff he liked. History thru my reading to him , videos, museum trips etc.. When we wanted to do LMB that teacher got enthused and we agreed to sponser her in return for working off the costs of her getting training in Ca. (plane and hotel, food etc.) She started with him last May and is continuing with him. Occasionally he pines for his friends and school but I’ve made an extra effort this year to get him out and into other activities. His goal is still to be able to go back to school with friends someday and that does motivate him. On the other hand as we only need to do school one on one from 2-4 hours a day and then he gets to do the other things he loves- he pities the other poor kids chained to their desks and his friends envy HIM. Which helps. There is also one central park and Library in our town where all kids from all the schools go sooner or later to play or study and we try to be there at 3: 30 to socialize and study together. Unfortunately there aren’t other homeschoolers his age i can find in area -tho the highschool ones are very active and an inspiration to him nad also been useful as tutors (one taught him Touch Math since she’d learned that way and I feel I’m better at figuring out what he needs and coordinating than actually teaching him-esp math) and babysitters. The 3 h daily LMB and (teacher ) have brought him from inconsistently remembering most letters last May to reading above grade level and she thinks by the end of the year he will be ABOVE his grade level. He’s gone from illegible writing to good spelling and printing beautifully and the method (delorean something like that If you’re interested i can post it) she used to teach printing has him already beginnig cursive writing. This has worked for us and I shudder to think where he’d be if we’d just let it ride. It was terrifying at first for me to make the decision, but it was the only course where I couldn’t see the outcome in the cards. Good Luckprotective mom wrote:
>
> I am considering homeschooling next year basically
> because I want to get child remediated through LMB for
> reading and possibly help in math. He is in the 4th grade
> and reading level is 2nd grade. While last year was
> difficult, I did see progress. This year I’ve seen progress
> in some areas but not at all in reading. Then…at a recent
> conference, I find out that the teacher had been trying to
> use whole language (for remediation?!?!!!) She said she was
> going back to a phonics based program which was what he was
> using when I saw progress in reading last year. I thought
> enough is enough. I have to get this taken care of. In the
> past I had gone back and forth with pro’s and con’s trying to
> decide if I should homeschool or not. I am not the most
> organized person in the world and would always decide it was
> best if he stayed in school. But we have tried public and
> private school (not an ld school) for him and neither has
> been a success for him. Middle school and high school loom
> ahead and I feel pressured to get as much accomplished as
> possible next year and that won’t happen if he stays in his
> current school.
> Last night he made a comment that maybe he should stay in
> school next year instead of homeschooling. My question for
> you is have any of you begun homeschooling with a child that
> wasn’t happy with homeschooling in the beginning but came
> around and benefitted from it? Then went back into the
> school a year or two later or maybe homeschool through middle
> school years and then re-enter the school system for high
> school. I thought we could do more hands on things at home,
> especially for science and social studies, field trips,
> videos, etc. Go to the Y for PE activities, etc.

What i meanta to state she thinks he’ll be 2 levels above his grade level. As in he would be in first grade-he will be reading 3rd grade level. On LMB the tutor should begin with LIPS but move to Seeing Stars as quickly as possible.
If you want to email me : [email protected] I’ll be happy to share whatever else I can.

I have thought often of PACE and MTC before considering LMB. I had also thought of doing audioblox with my child before beginning LMB. LMB is closer to us and they work with the child everyday, whereas, (at least what I understood), was that PACE is a couple of times a week, with homework on the off days. Did you have a lot of homework that you had to do in between sessions with the provider?

Unfortunately, we do not live in a neighborhood with kids to play with so during the homeschooling, I would rely on support groups, and seeking out interactions with other kids through activities. This is another reason that I had not taken up homeschooling in the past„,for social reasons. But now I am looking at what is more important. Socializing at school with other kids and falling further behind in academics or homeschooling, remediating academics and seeking out the socializing. He is friendly with other kids at school and doesn’t have a problem getting along with kids socially; but, at the same time, he hasn’t been invited to birthday parties this year, hasn’t been asked over to someone house, and hasn’t been interested in inviting others over. Last year he wasn’t invited over to anyone’s house but invited one kid over at the beginning of the year several times. He hasn’t stayed in touch with this child (friendship fizzled out before end of school); but, has stayed in touch with kids he doesn’t go to school with and met in other socializing situations.

This implies that LMB takes longer and is not as efficient.We have not found this to be true. An LMB clinic might be so expensive that you might want to do someting else but we pay our teacher $10.00 an hour and so we have been able to afford real remediation rather than just gettting him up to speed. He’s been able to go as far and as good as he’s capable. The results have been phenomenal and from what we’ve seen he won’t need review or backslide in the future. This Kid’s brain has CHANGED!!
If your son was makig progress with a phonics program before the whole language it will take awhile to erase ALL the bad teaching before he can get it straight and progress again (our findings anyway) and LMB has the advantage of being a totally different approach that can’t be confused with the others. Just my humble opinion.

than jumping from one philosophy to another.

We’ve homeschooled for ten years now—and honestly, my older children would never go back to school. We have always given them that as an option and they just refuse to go!! There is so much more time in their days for them to accomplish their own goals-they are not interested in being tied down to a school’s schedule 9 months out of the year.

I too have used the PACE program and MTC for a child who was struggling with learning difficulties. We have seen massive improvement and expect for him to be reading above grade level at the end of an 18 week program. We seem to have found a series of underlying issues which needed strengthening before reading fluently was possible. I’m glad we found PACE-and I’m glad it working for us.

If you start homeschooling, I would advise keeping it very simple—not overscheduling your son at first. Take time to build his confidence and enlist him as a ‘team partner’ in his learning. On the whole though, my experience with a child who is struggling with learning is that they are happier and learn more effectively when taught by someone who is heavily vested in their achievement.

Cheers
Elizabeth

PACE involves 3 one-hour sessions per week with the trainer, and the minimum amount of homework required is also 3 hours per week (ideally, at least one hour between trainer sessions). The reason it is done this way is to keep costs down, because skills development depends a great deal on practice, and it is much less expensive to have the parent put in some of the one-on-one practice time. Gains are much more rapid in the program if you can fit in 6 hours of homework practice a week, or even more. We had a hard time managing the minimum, as did our friend’s family, but both children made very significant gains anyway (and we did put in the minimum amount of time).

You indicated that your son is reading on about a 2nd grade level. This means he is already beyond what LMB LiPS is really valuable for — those kids who have great difficulty getting to a 2nd grade level. I think you would see much bigger gains from PACE and either MTC or Phono-Graphix for about the same cost (or less) as LMB, and in much less time. I must admit I’m partial to Phono-Graphix because that’s what worked for us, but MTC worked well also for my friend.

Angie

p.s.

Check out recent posts on the ReadNOW list at http://www.groups.yahoo.com. Some of the people there are trained in a variety of programs, including LMB and PACE, and have given opinions about which programs are most suitable, depending on the particular needs of the child.

Angie

I have to disagree with the comment that LMB is for beginning readers. Many kids get to a grade 3 - 4 level in reading because they have a good visual memory, but as the words get longer they start having problems. LMB Lips teaches phonemic awareness and decoding skills that are so, so important. My daughter was reading at 3.6 at the end of grade 6. After 4 months of Lips, she can decode anything and reading is no longer a problem for her. She can now read 600 page novels with ease.

I remediate using LIPS, among other programs. Presently, I’m working with several students who are most definitely beyond the second grade reading level but who still need LIPS. It runs through multi-syllabic work - prefixes, suffixes, schwa, accenting syllables. As do most good tutors and reading specialists using Lindamood-Bell, I also employ Seeing Stars along with it so the children are getting a comprehensive spelling program at the same time.

If the child is going to attend an LMB regional center, that’s even better. They will definitely do the same - focusing on both SS and LIPS, but of course your child will be getting all of this daily for apprx. 4 hours or more, 5 days a week.

I haven’t taught using PACE so it wouldn’t be right for me to compare it to LIPS. But I get frustrated when people misunderstand LIPS as being merely an early reader program - it simply isn’t. In my experience, people equate ALL of LIPS with its most celebrated aspects: the pictures/blocks/vowel circle. Although it’s the most famous part, it’s only the beginning of the LIPS program.

If you want to go to a site specifically to support one program, you should expect less than objective opinions. WOuld you go to a Ford dealer for information about Chevy?
Yes, LMB is good for kids who really struggle with the basics — but no, it doesn’t stop there.

Your son has no idea how different it will be to go back to school with skills in hand. Sounds like you have a good plan… ask him to trust you for this decision. Does change bug him?

As I think about this question I could say both yes and no. When he can manipulate the change for what he considers advantageous for him, he looks forward to change. When he is not sure what to expect, he doesn’t like it at all and appears withdrawn. If he is meeting a new therapist, he is pretty outgoing and relaxed. He doesn’t like his schedule interrupted or changed at all. (Neither at school, at home, or in social situations)

Thanks for your input.

I’d do my best to have him perceive this as a change he could use to his advantage … and I do hope you can figure something out that you’ll both be enthusiastic about!

I just want to encourage you to try homeschooling!

Yes, your child will not agree with you 100% on everything! Yes, there will be trials! There are in everything! What kind of toothpaste to use, when he can hae a treat.

Homeschooling has worked terrifically for me, ESPECIALLY for my LD child (now 2nd grade).

I am NOT terribly organized and KNOW we all could benefit from more organization.

However, my eclectic mix of schooling has seemed to work great! Again, especially for my 7 year old. We have texts for reading, and math, but that’s about it. I am fortunate enough that he is incredibly interested in science and art (which I am horrible at).

Our days consist currently by focusing on reading and spelling….LOTS of games and I “waste” lots of time by letting him decorate his work in-between, but in this way he remains EXCITED about his lessons. This would be totally unpermissable in the classroom setting.

When I force him into standardized classroom activities including neat handwriting, no artwork, strict adherence to my directions, he loses focus fast and retains almost nothing we worked on. My daughter on the other hand (not LD) works great no matter what.

With the rest of the day, I follow his lead/interests and push him as far as he will let me. Sometimes 1/2 hour, sometimes 2 hours. I will give him a choice of a few books/topics to cover. When he was five, we did dinosaur everything for MONTHS! Dinosaurs covered his math and spelling. We did dinosaur art. Wrote dinosaur stories. Related dinosaurs to other animals/humans to study the differences (so he learned about other science topics without realizing it.)

Encourage your child that he/she will be able to HELP you choose the curriculum! You can study his/her interests as long as they want (although sometimes with necessary stipulations, like a writing assignment has to be finished before you can go on-line to check out a neat applicable website.)

My son is still horrible in group situations, which we still participate in (sports, other activities), but his self-confidence is strong, his reading is great, and right now I feel it is so important to get the educational basics grounded in him before “letting him loose” in society. I guess I’m protective too, but why kill his self-confidence and subject him to taunts and frustrations and compromise his intellectual abilities? Socialization is still important to us, but current peer socialization has shown to greatly disrupt his ability to learn. He does at times crave more socialization (he is a social butterfly), but at this point I need to think where he can LEARN best, which will effect his entire future life.

Homeschool support groups are out there everywhere! See if you can’t track down something somewhat locally. Even if you don’t agree with 100% of their philosophy (which no one ever will!). The group has been a terrific support for my kids as well as they meet and get to know other homeschool kids, they don’t feel so “alone” themselves.

Good luck! Keep protecting your child and fight for his best interests!

P.S. My son will occasionally get mad at the school systems here because they “take so much time away from him and his opportunity to be with friends”. He can’t understand why they take so much time to teach things, and why they need to require so much homework. He can’t imagine having to be in school for 6 hours a day and not being able to just take a break “whenever” and go burn off some energy running around!

I think if schools let kids burn some energy once and awhile there would be far less need for medication. Not that some kids wouldn’t always need meds but certainly less could get by without them.

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I have been brainstorming about ideas leaning toward what he is interested in. I have also thought about the local museums, theater, gardens, etc. that we can include in field trips. I am also finding out that most of them offer special rates or classes because of the large homeschooling population. Thank you again.

Okay, they called it “break” but after the first three academic classes there was a 25 minute break… go outside, EAT without sneaking it… run around… then come back in for 2 more periods and lunch, then two more.
One of those no-brainers, IMHO.

Dear Protective Mom,

You have gotten some sound, much more experienced advice here on this than I can give, but I thought I would throw my two cents in too. It does sound to me like your son is uncertain about the social aspects of Homeschooling. If you do HS and seek out some local support groups, I think he will be pleasantly surprised to find that he isn’t the only boy his age being HSed. In fact, he may find that there are others who have the same kinds of learning challenges that he deals with. In many ways, it is easier for teens with something in common to bond, than those who are different from one another. Teens are so quick to judge each other, especially in a high school setting. I think you both will be pleasantly surprised by the welcome your Homeschooling community will give you, if your area is anything like ours.

It is just my opinion, but with the state of public schools today, I say, why not give the HSing a chance. Like you’ve said, you can always return to PS later, if you find that it doesn’t work for your family. I know there is a large social draw for teens to be in the highschool or public school setting, and even some psychologists strongly advise Homeschoolers to return their children to PS for the HS years, to gain that interaction, experience, etc. Still, I would caution everyone on not making this kind of decision too hastily.

There are so many more negative than positive aspects involved in public high school, many negative social aspects as well, to be considered before sending your children there. When I hear the stories my sixteen year old niece, who attends public HS, tells about weapons, drugs, violence, and sex at school, etc., and see how unshocked she is by these things, as if it is an everyday occurrance to her, no big deal really, I KNOW I don’t want my two children to attend public high school. And I should add that this information isn’t coming out of a troubled inner city high school I am speaking about, but the newest, nicest, largest, highest tax payer based high school in our entire state!!! It is appauling to think how desensitized all these kids are to such negative things. Of course, I only have to remember the violence that took place during recess in my son’s PS kindergarten class to know that the negative situations in PS are only getting worse not better, and at least for now, if not for always, my children are better off at home.

I hope things work out positively for your family, I think your seeking out advice etc., is a sure sign that you only want what is best for your child. I think he knows that too and that will make all the difference!
Good Luck and God Bless,
Deb Watson