Teacher calling for parent teacher confrence for my youngest boy :(

[HeatherLynn]

You might also consider reading issues as being a huge part of the problem. Not just struggling with reading but having a learning difference that makes it more difficult. My daughter is dyslexic. School never noticed but were dang quick to suggest holding her back. I homeschool her and while she does still struggle we have made great progress. Enough so that she is able to stay at grade level and even up a grade in some topics.

You might consider getting some good workbooks and such to work on during the summer to make next year a bit easier. For math struggles I can highly recommend explode the code and beyond the code. Love those books and they have made such a difference in my daughters reading. Huge difference. If they do not have the basics of phonics then more reading practice may only serve to frustrate them more.

 

[redhen]

Dont know if anyone else has mentioned this.,.
But LOTS of times teachers will stay after school and help kids out with what they dont understand or are behind in....
Maybe she'll be a nice lady and do that?

 

[sioux]

I am thinking along the lines of mild learning issues....I have one who worked so hard to get average grades that we never noticed anything, other than she said she got headaches. We finally got testing done, at the end of eighth grade, shamed to say, and she has significant learning disability, but is very smart, so she somehow covered it up.

She is now homeschooled and doing so well....school puts a lot of pressure on kids, especially young ones who may have a different neurological timeline...

not all seconds graders are ready to sail through close handed work. Their brains and eyeballs don't always coordinate.

Google Ray and Dorothy Moore's research and see if any of that rings true for your situation.

For us, taking the performance pressure off really helped. Lots of books on tape, and my reading good literature aloud taught my daughter that she could enjoy the written word/books. She was so over it by the end of her traditional school time.

Also, this child of yours might enjoy hands-on stuff.....make learning fun, maybe get some testing done. Make sure the child knows he is not letting anyone down if he is struggling academically. Sometimes they are trying as hard as they can, and to be told they need to "apply themselves" or "work harder" is very frustrating. I know we all said that to my daughter.

 

[Mattemma]

I was told my dd was a year below grade level for her math and language arts. Teachers suggested I hire a tutor and school her at home 24/7 to get her at and above her grade level. I think if you and your child are working and things have been ruled out then the teachers need to put less pressure on the kid. It is no so much about the grades and grade level as it is about the efforts. Sometimes pushing to much makes kids close down.

I have seen fluctuations in my kids over the years.Some years they speed through things,and some years they struggle in certain subjects. With proper encouragement over the years I think kids will learn what they need to know for whatever path in life they choose. My dh was forced to do school work for hours after school,but I don't think he is any better off than I am.

It is to bad that the teacher can hold back your child.Maybe she thinks 3rd grade will be far to difficult,but with some work over the summer your child could do alright. I am sure my kids would be extremely dejected if they worked hard all year only to be told they would have to do all that work over again.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Different kids do better in different environments. Some excel with structure, others do better with less. Some cannot transition well from one subject to the next, expecially with the typical short timeframes in most elementary classes, but can focus on a single topic for long periods. Others get lost if they do not have frequent changes. This is one reason why there are so many styles of schools and teaching. There is no ONE SIZE FITS ALL method. Two hours of homework a night is WAY too much for a 2nd grader.

In some manner the child is not understanding or not retaining what the teacher is trying to teach. First, I would suggest that you observe a few classes. You know your child, watch what goes on and see if you can identify things that could be improved for him. Also, do address sight and hearing to make sure that that is not the problem. Is he getting enough sleep? How is his diet?

After addressing any concerns you have based upon observation and his health, have him evaluated for 1) what he knows and 2) learning disabilities. For the first, I'd suggest Sylvan or a similar evaluation rather than the school districts own, unless you can have the evaluation done by someone not already involved with your son--someone impartial. Consider switching him to a teacher with a different style, or even an entirely different approach, if your school district provides various programs (Montessori, traditional, basics, etc.) I know that it is late in the year, but I would urge you to switch now (if you feel a different teacher or method might help) rather than waiting for next year. Consider summer school or tutoring rather than holding him back. Repeating the grade without addressing the reason why he is falling behind is not much different than "repairing" a recipe to which you accidentally added salt instead of sugar by doubling the sugar without addressing the fact that there is still too much salt.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Holding a child back is not necessarily wrong, but merely repeating what failed to work the first time is unlikely to be helpful.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

2 things.
Our daughter was on the cusp age wise of starting school or being held back. When seeking advice everyone recommended holding back, for one she was small. We did so and by the 1st qtr of 4th grade she skipped a grade and jumped to 5th. I know it's not the same but holding back isn't always bad.

Reading. I'm not saying this is the fix for all things but from an early age both of us read to the kids EVERYnight of their lives and over time transitioned to taking turns with them reading some. Eventually they would mostly read to us. Later, to transition to bed time, the last half hour of the day was reading time and they would read themselves to sleep. To this day 22 and 21 yrs. they are both active readers, especially my daughter. Practice makes perfect.
Reading well is the basis of all other learning.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I probably should have said "repeating a grade" rather than "holding back." But pushing ahead (starting early) is also not necessarily wrong. The important thing is being attuned to the particular child and what best meets his or her needs. I was "held back" from starting first grade because my birthday is in mid October. I was very shy around kids nearly a year younger, but did great with kids who were closer to my own age. Starting me late was a mistake. But I made up for it by skipping my junior year in high school.

 

[WriterofWords]

Sometimes repeating a grade is necessary. Most parents hate that idea just as much as the kids do. The thing is, if that student can't succeed in 3rd, or 4th, or whichever grade, they more than likely will not succeed in the next one up. If they go up to a grade behind, it just keeps snowballing until they give up completely. Some kids just have trouble learning or catching on to an idea because they aren't educationally mature enough to do it. Holding them back will allow them another chance to get on grade level and possible ahead of grade level by the end of the year.
Effort is important, but the educational system and the government that controls it, look at grades and what has been retained. I can't tell a student who has gotten a F that it's ok, don't worry, you tried, that's all that matters. It's not all that matters and I would lying to the student who will think that as long as they put in a good effort they will pass. They have to have the grade too. If I see them working hard and still not getting it, I have to look at the reasons why they aren't; then I figure out what I can do to help them understand and succeed. I have a student that needs to be held back, but he has already been held back, and he is 13. He can't write at a Kinder level, and he can't read at a 1st grade level,but since he has been held already and is the age of most 8th graders I have to move him along into an environment that will eat him for lunch. The teachers that get him from me will of course blame me and tell the parents that I should never have allowed this happen.. forgetting of course that he came to me that way and made progress but not much.
If your child does need to be held, and there are good reasons for it, don't look at it as failure, look at it as a second chance for that child to succeed. I'm sure you would rather your child be successful in the future, this may be what it takes to make sure they are ready to go into the next grade and then through college in the future.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Writer, don't get me wrong. I do not agree with social promotion just to keep the kid progressing in grade levels without addressing the real issues of why he or she is not learning the material. But in most cases, simply repeating the same material that they didn't understand the first time, taught the same way, is unlikely to get them to understand it either. Something needs to be done to help the student learn the material in a way that works for him/her.

I am a huge fan of mixed grade classes--it can really allow kids to progress at their own rate, be that rapidly, moderately or slowly. I know some people do not like them, but I have only seen positive results in my kids' classes. But not all teachers are taught to teach at various levels all at once.