So many questions?

Ok so DS1 is in year 7 this year. He is so far behind. He started a new school this year and ive now learnt that his old school has done some things he shouldnt. I had been constantly asking them for extra help ect. They suspended him anytime naplan testing was on as he couldnt do it and there explaination to me was it would be to stressful to force him to do it.They also taylored his report to grade it on his abilities as opposed to the level for that year so it would appear(to others who didnt know him) as though he was doing ok. I was also told when i enquired about him repeating one year that they dont like to do it as it would reflect badly on the school.

So this new school has told me how that was all wrong ect shouldnt have happened blah blah I contacted the edu board the first person i spoke to was great,the next not so much. I was pretty much told they wont make him repeat just he would get a edu assistant in year 8 and that he can choose subjects he likes rather than ones he doesnt.He eg was art, my responce was how is that going to help him read? I didnt get a reply.

So i would like to know if anyone here home schools? What does it involve? Could i do some homeschool outside of school hours to help him? Thats ontop of what we already do to help him?

Have you talked to his year level co ordinator? If you have and got nowhere then the vice principal then the principal. The school should be able to sit with you work out a homework plan to help him. Has the school a reading recovery program, if they do he should be in it. It is a great program with one on one reading help.

If he doesn't mind repeating year 7 then I would suggest he does and that he also gets an edu assistant. If they offer one for year eight then one for year seven should not be a problem.

Get him to read to his younger siblings and even make up stories for them and then maybe write them down. If he likes sport get him to read about that sport and then tell you about it. It will mean you will have to know about the sport also so you casn pick him up if need be.

Are you close enought to go visit someone from the edu board. If so make an appointment and talk to someone face to face. It is harder to be fobbed off when face to face.
The other thought is getting him tutored after school

Thanks rivlas. He has someone who helps him with ready at this new school, but even with that he is still behind and i dont think he will be able to do ok in year 8. I speak to his classroom teacher every week on fridays. She is awesome. I will call and make a time to sit down with the principal though and see what her thoughts of him repeating year 7 are. I honestly just feel that if he can stay in year 7 one more year we can bring him up alot more which will make a big differance for him in year 8.

This year alone with his teacher and us at home we have brought him from a year 1 level up to a year 3 one. Im just not sure what else i can do. We do spelling and ready at home mostly,but i do touch on maths as well.

Just keep doing what you are doing. The amount he has improved this year is amazing and is down to all the hard work you and his teacher are doing.

Just keep the work positive and fun.

Next time you go shopping take him with you and get him to help work out prices etc. It is something we as parents do everyday and involves maths and reading

Thakyou. I love that idea i will def give that a go. I feel so let down by his old school, i went in there everyday and was told he is doing great blah blah :( I was so proud of him yesterday he did all the work i sent out for him.I told him not to get stressed over it if one part is too hard skip it and do other bits and then we would tackle the hard parts together.And would you know it he got almost all of it done without my help. I kept asking him of course to see if he needed me. So so happy with him.

Can you tell im proud! So he got some desert after dinner........we dont do dessert here lol so he was happy.

Good on him. Confidence goes a long way and it looks like he is starting to believe in himself.

Even getting him to help you make desert will help with reading and maths.

Just wanted to say what a great job you are doing. The old school obviously wasn't looking after him in the way he deserved, but now you are on the case, he will get there. Don't underestimate the power to your son of your support, mentoring and encouragement because his self esteem and ability to tackle what is ahead all comes back to this. My only other comment would be that don't always look to the 'experts' as to what your son needs - if it feels that decisions being made by others you rely on feel wrong, obviously investigate and take opinions, but you have far more power than you realise.
Good on you for taking the action to give your beautiful boy the education he deserves :)

Where do you live?

I'm currently doing a degree in Special Ed and I've focused on reading recovery this semester. There are loads of programs out there that are based on evidence based, best practice models that will help your son to catch up, especially if reading is the main concern.

It's atrocious what his prior school did and good on you for taking it further!

Thanks everyone. Any advice is much appreciated thats for sure :).

Shiremummy sadly im not close to you.Im in Perth.

I would suggest you look at the Multilit program. If you contact them they can possibly give you details of schools running the program. It's fantastic and ideal for older students.

Hows your son going?

Hi shanti. His getting there kept him home a few days to see if he would do work with me and he did he loved it. Was wonderful. He later came to me and thanked me said i helped him alot as normaly he doesnt understand things when there first explained but his teacher wont sit with him a few mins to explain it how he understands. He was happy i explained it in a way he understood and if he didnt ild show him again but in a differant way.

I was quite pleased with it.was a great feeling knowing ild given him some confidence.

pls excuse the spelling mistakes on my galaxcy