Two Questions About Summer Regarding School Work and Tutoring Such as Sylvan.

You know, she may not be a written style of learner. She may be more verbal or visual. Teaching her a different learning style can sometimes be impossible. You might want to research learning styles and sort of decide what kinds you think she is really strong in. Most people have a strong score in at least 2 areas. I am super strong is visual, verbal, and aural. That means that I am good at watching and learning, listening and learning, and talking about it and learning.

I stink in the solitary area. I just can't work alone, I get bored and day dream.

If you are determined that she has to be a written style learner then you might want to start having her make lists of all kinds of things. Like making a list of what she needs to do to clean her room.

1. Gather all the shoes and put them on the shelf in matching pairs. If any don't fit anymore give them to mom.

2. Gather all the barbies, their clothes, their accessories, etc...and then put them up in their container. Then put them on the shelf where they go.

3. Pick up any dirty clothes and put them in the right hampers.

4. and so forth.

Have her start making lists of everything you can think of. Learning a new way of learning can take a long time and it will mess her other learning skills up. She is wired to do things the way she is, making new neural networks and connections will just take a while.

I out a link in for you so you can read an overview of them. There are also lots of quizzes you can have her do so you can see if she is really strong in one area or a couple.

I worked with a woman who had to write down everything or it went right over her head. If she got a phone call she had to write down what they said or she would not remember it. If she got a written memo she had to copy it or she would not know what it said. If I asked her to give someone in the group home a bath after dinner she had to stop what she was doing and go write it down.

Our learning styles are important because they are supposed to work together for our optimal leaning potential.

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/

Here's a link to the inventories that will help you figure out how she learns.

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/

You may be really strong in the areas of writing to learn, she may not. Your way is not better, her way is not less. You'll need to really think about this before you start trying to rewire her brain. She is not a bad student, she lacks maturity that she will get as she ages.

I am a credentialed teacher and used to work for Sylvan, I would not recommend it. First off, they'll charge you a couple hundred dollars for initial assessments then just do daily work w/her, they won't challenge her and she won't 'get ahead' to help her in 5th gr. She needs organizational skills it sounds like, not remidial tutoring. Is there an AVID program in your school district? It should start in 5th or 6th gr, some schools don't start till 8th gr, but find out and enroll her when the time comes. As you say, for now, her grades will be ok, but as work gets harder she'll need to learn study skills. Search for 'study skill' programs in the meantime.

We do Kumon for reading/math. They have to do it every day. It does encourage them to take responsibility or they will get behind. It also helps them get way ahead since American schools seem to lag behind. They use international grade level standards which are higher than American standards.

We make our daughter complete her incomplete assignments and send it right back.

Maybe a daily journal will help her remember to write things down.

Its ijust her age, honestly do not stress so much. 1 of my sons is the same way and he is a junior this year, the other at DVC they turned out really well. She will be held accountable more and more with each grade. Sylvan...my son liked going but did not change anything and was costly! Just my little opinion.

Sylvan won't help much with personal habits, such as completing homework and classwork. They focus more on drills and facts. Since it sounds like she's got a good handle on those it seems like it would be a waste of money (and it is very expensive.)
It's really a maturity issue. Over the next few years or so she will likely get more organized. I still remember my son's "aha" moment, when he was in 8th grade, he said, "wow, school sure is easier when you stay organized and write everything down!"
<sigh> Ya think?!

You have great responses here and I especially like Gamma's idea about using lists a lot over the summer. Institute a reward system for her following the lists well. Don't burn her out with a tutoring program.

I would add this: You have a good opportunity here to have a better school year next year. From the very start, establish with the new teacher what happened last year, talk about the idea that your daughter may be a certain type of learner, and get the teacher to partner with you on ensuring your daughter gets down the homework assignment each day. Does your school system post assignments online via a system like Blackboard? Maybe the fifth grade teacher does this, or can be persuaded by parents to try it. Also, if you can volunteer as much as possible in school, that helps - you can't be there to write down assigments (and that's your daughter's responsibility anyway) but it makes you known to the teachers and they will be more responsive to you if they know and see you around, frankly.

Do you pick your child up from school in person? I pick up my daughter and that means each day I can say, before we walk away from the school building, "Do you have all your homework? Check your portfolio." She has more than once checked and gone back in to grab something. I know we can't do that forever but it has saved us some headaches (especially as her teacher this year neglects to put assignments on the school web site available for it).

Finally -- your daughter sounds as if she may be bright and therefore somewhat "coasting" if she is getting a good report card but is not consistent in class. Watch for this and see if she needs more challenges in school. You're right that she will find classwork and homework more important as she goes through school. Stay in close touch with her teachers and press them, if they are not communicative, to be more communicative with you.

Well, I don't see the need to stress out about it, either. You have another year to work on this before middle school, right? So, I would let her enjoy her summer, reading a lot, and being a kid. Then, when 5th grade starts, you can begin again to help her with her organizational skills. You might be surprised what changes with another year of maturity.

Or, It may take her getting lower scores before she sees the need to do the work, in middle school. It is OK to let our perfectly-capable-of-doing-it kids fail (or at least not get an "A") all on their own. It's a great learning experience.

Or, you may find that nothing changes, and you have a student who doesn't get the need to do the tedious work when she gets the results - test scores - because she already understands the material. Then, the best you can do is provide challenges for her whenever possible, and hope that she gets teachers who will also challenge her.

I have a 10 year-old daughter. At the beginning of 4th grade, she had difficulty with the whole - planner, write it all down, get everything done on time and turned in - thing. We helped her and her teachers helped her and she got some better by the end of the year. It's a gradual process, to learn organizational skills. And they may not get it until it matters to them.

Tutoring is for students who are behind on basic skills. Your daughter is not.

Well, here's my view, as I have used Sylvan (though for a child who needed help in algebra.)

If your daughter is not writing down what her homework is, Sylvan can't help. If she isn't finishing her classwork, they can't help in that either.

What they can help with is understanding her work. Homework support is nice, but the problem I have is that sometimes, it ends up that your child doesn't want to do homework on her own, and you end up paying someone to supervise her homework. I like that my own child understands the algebra better, but when he leaves, he doesn't want to do more homework! :) (Or maybe I should give a frownie face! :(

I don't know if this helps.

What you might do is get your child assessed for ADD. If she has it, you can get accommodations such that the teacher checks that her homework is written down in her planner, and you know it because the teacher initials it. Then you can hold her feet to the fire. Completing work in the classroom? Well, the teacher has to hold her feet to the fire for that...

Dawn

i don't think sylvan willhelp much wiht that.

flylady.net is a site to thelp moms to be organized, there was a link to another program -- a behavior mangement sort of think for kids. that night help a bit and it is low cost.

So do you think the teacher was clear on the assingments, but there was no consequence for not doing it so DD didn't bother, or is she disorganized and just forgot to bring stuff home and to do it? if it's the second then some schools post the assignments on a website site and the parents have access to it to check what the kids are doing. you could ask about that next year.

I've had the same problem with teachers and that is mostly why I don't have a lot of faith in them. As a concerned parent, I was asking throughout the quarter about behavior and completing assignments. Not only was told it was all good, but I actually had a written note for every day that said the same. So I didn't worry.

Then report card came out and she got a couple of F's because class work was not done and she was misbehaving. I took my daily written notes and the report card to the principal and asked him to explain to me how all these daily notes supported the grade on the report card. Principal could not explain and would not call the teacher to the office to explain. I was just told "I don't know"and that was the end of it.

As for Sylvan, I don't know what their philosophy is but I can tell you that Kumon stresses working at a set time every day for a set length of time. They believe that routine is key and I think that they may provide your daughter with the structure that you think she needs. They are also very affordable, especially when compared to Sylvan.