If your child is struggling to keep up in first grade, is it better to homeschool her?

Answer 1

Hello, I was homeschooled and will be homeschooling my two kids when they are old enough. I am very glad my mom decided to be my teacher and feel quite happy with my social skills as well as my education level. There are so many options available to homeschoolers both academically and socially that it is almost never a bad option.
First try to find out why your daughter is struggling in school. Everyone learns at a different pace and has a different learning style as well as their own strong areas and weak areas. After that assess how you feel about this kind of commitment. Homeschooling has many ups and downs, it is a wonderful choice to pursue but is not for every parent or even every child.
In my opinion it is better to homeschool and then your daughter can learn at her own pace. The younger grades are the easiest to teach and there are a wealth of resources and curriculum for you to use for all grade levels. When she gets a little older it's not to late too change your mind and put her back in school, or you both might love to keep learning and teaching together. I recommend contacting your local home school group (they exist everywhere), and looking on-line for resources and information. Good luck!

Answer 2

There is a way to home school and a way not to homeschool. First off not all parents are prepared to homeschol such, as the woman who says her children can not keep a schedule. If you are a homeschool parent you have to be prepared to follow through and set a schedule. You can not be your childs friend you have to be the teacher. My kids do great and are much better able to handle a schedule than when they were in public school and they were so burnt out at the end of the day it would be a fight to get homework done. Not so now as we make the lessons real, interactive and fun. But my children know that school starts at 11:00 each day. We choose to have a 7 day week and shorter days. And since we home school even if we go on a trip on the weekend we take our work with us. I never learned ANY social skills in school. I only learned ANTI social skills. How to cuss, How to follow the croud, how to be pressured into doing the wrong thing. I work with other homeschooling parent to have cooperative learning. And I enroll my children in classes and take them to parks to play with other kids. I work hard to put my children into settings where the other children there have parents who keep an active interest in their children. Because those Children generally have better manners and Pro active social skills. The fact is I was not home schooled I went to public school and I have a hard time socializing with people and my daughter is homeschooled has excellant social skills and can make friends just about anywhere. All too often I will go shopping in a small store only to find my my daugher has talked to clerk into letteing her bag the groceries. She can and will start a converstation with anyone. Your social skills may not be related to homeschooling. It just may be that you are naturaly shy.

Answer 3

Make sure there are no health problems like vision or hearing interfering with her. The you *must* become activly involved in her education. Have a meeting with the teacher to find out what her deficits are and what her strengths are.

It's important to identify both so you have something to build on without making your kid feel like she's being singled out. Playing to her strengths may help her become a better learner.

If you have the time, become a classroom mommy. Visit her class regularly. How is the teacher in the classroom? Is she good with the kids? Is she patient? Does she go too fast? Is she good at managing her time so each kid gets good attention? And how does your daughter respond to the teacher?

Always, always make sure you spend at least an 45 minutes a day tutoring her after school, but do give her time to decompress a bit first with a light snack followed by half an hour of outdoor play/exercise. Be sure you praise her accomplishments BEFORE critiquing what needs correction, but don't go overboard.

If you don't already do it, read to her before bedtime so she can see the words on the page as you read along. It's a subtle, but great skill builder. As she starts to grasp reading, have her start saying the words with you. Invest in learning toys - flash cards, a small globe of the world, and so on - and figure out how to have fun with them. You don't need to go high tech to help make learning fun.

If it proves to be necessary - yes, have her held back a year. It really won't damage her and she will actually have a bit of a leg up on the other kids. I understand these days, it's possible that if a kid who has been held back makes really significant gains, that they can be placed in the next grade level and be able to keep up. (What will end up damaging her in the long run is "social passing" to keep her with her peers... that almost invariably ends up with kids dropping out of school as functional illiterates.)

Answer 4

What works for you! & what you think works for her/him! Dont listen to these idiots who have done no research on homeschooling and they think its stupid...I homeschooled till i was 15 and by the time i was 13 i had the brain of a 32 year old theres so much more you can do with homeschooling than you can regular schools...no offense to regular schools they are good to. Whatever you think is good for your child! if you are a christian i highly recomend homeschooling aswell!!
God Bless!!!

Answer 5

I see a lot of good info, but as a teacher I wonder if your child is immature? I have seen children retained because they just need to have time to "grow up". The best thing I did was keep my son out of kindergarten for a year to help him mature. He is now a 6th grader and I am sooooooooo glad I gave him the time.

Answer 6

That depends on you. Will you be able to handle home schooling your child? It is not always an easy thing to do, but sometimes it is a better option. Home schooling does not equal lack of social interaction. There are many options for your child to interact with others who home school. It is up to you to decide what is best for your child. Look up home schooling resources in your state for more information.

Answer 7

Unless you have teaching experience, I would advise you to NOT homeschool your daughter. Many people in my family have been home schooled, and as they went on to graduate college and continue in grad school, it took them some time to readjust to the social world. Because they were home schooled, they lost their social skills with their peers. If your daughter is struggling in 1st grade, it is possible to hold her back a year so she can mature a bit more. There is nothing wrong with this.

Answer 8

i work at an elementary school and most 1st graders struggle its an adjustment from fun kinder to actually having to do real work and learn. the hardest grades in elementary ar 1st and 2nd because of math and learning to read and 4th grade because of adjusting to being an upper-grader more work and stuff

Answer 9

It depends on if you are able to teach her the things she needs to know. She still has to pass all the same tests that the other kids do, so you still have to teach her some of the things that they will learn in the classroom. You have to be EXTREMELY dedicated and organized to be able to home school, and able to stay on-task yourself. My sister in law home-schools her two daughters and one is reading 4 levels above her age and the other one is behind in her reading skills.

Answer 10

No...kids get so much more than just book learning in school. They really need to be with other children to learn how to get along socially with other children. See if the school offers tutoring. If she is struggling, she will still struggle at home. That won't make a difference. You need to work with at home after school and on weekends, and perhaps hire a tutor if your school doesn't offer that.