Not new to homeschooling but...

[soonhereturns]

I am in a serious quandary over 2 of my kids. My 13 year old son and 9 year old son. In a nutshell, they are extremely unmotivated when it comes to school. I keep trying different things with them and nothing is of interest. My 9 year old bucks everything I try and do with him and usually refuses to do it or messes around so long that it either doesn't get done or very little gets done. The oldest is LD although I don't really like that term. He's not nor has he ever been at grade level. I put him in public school in the 3rd grade. He was not even at kindergarten level for reading. They tried to blame me for that, but after testing found out he had problems learning that I could not have created. I was told when he was 5th grade that he would probably never read beyond a 9th grade level. He still doesn not like to read. My 9 year old, I've noticed, reads words backwards at times so I'm wondering if he is actually seeing things that way. I pulled him out of school this year thinking I could do a better job. :rolleyes I'm beginning to think that might have been a mistake because I feel like I'm failing him and he is falling further behind. What he does to me he also did to his teacher last year and she didn't know what to do either. He's very fidgety and can not seem to sit still when I try to have school time with him. He can sit still for other things especially things he enjoys. If anyone has any insight or suggestions I will gladly accept them. We are tight financially so I can not just switch curriculum. I have been using Horizons curriculum for math and language.

[NewWorldOrder]

soonhereturns, could your children have Dyslexia? My husband is Dyslexic, and when he was a child he would literally see things opposite of what they were. He would walk into walls because he would see the doorway where it actually was not. He was very fortunate and was diagnosed quite early, so he was put into a program, (not at school) to retrain his brain to see things properly. He still has some trouble, but now that he's an adult he doesn't have nearly the trouble he did when he was a boy. But I do know, he's not a big reader. Dyslexics don't like to read because they see the words or letters backwards.

If they have that much difficulty reading, it may be something neurological. I know how frustrating it can be when our kids aren't motivated but we are. I can also understand how your children may be frustrated if no matter how hard they try they still can't read or do the work, so they aren't motivated to try. My first thought is that they really do have a LD, but that's not a cop out or an excuse. If they really do, and you find out what it is, then you'll know what to do to help them learn. Having an LD does not make them stupid, it just means that their brains are wired differently. There have been lots of people throughout history who had LD's and were geniuses. The trick is to figure out what works best for your kids. I found this link that talks about all the symptoms of Dyslexia. Down towards the bottom it gives different learning styles of people with Dyslexia, some of them sound like your 13 year old, from the description you gave in your post.

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_literacy/access/dyslexia/

[MochaMel]

This would probably not work for all subjects --- but i have found with my ds -13 that he enjoys it when i read to him.. So i still do for history, and even some "fun" reading.. He's a much better reader now but for along time i had to remind him to read his directions for assign. and help him with his books and stuff until he really could comprehend stuff -- but we still struggle with him doing his work and doing it well or even doing it at all in a relatively reasonable amount of time, but man if he wants to do something he does it well -- He definitely has some type of learning disability but he has never been tested; but he also is not at grade level and only recently is he getting closer to being at 8th grade level... I figure he'll graduate probably a year late.

LOTS and LOTS of prayer i highly recommend as it has been my saving grace and God has helped me and him with our answers this way.. I hope that helps or encourages you that you can do it and you're doing a great job even if you don't feel like it you are NOT alone!! :hug

Mel

[tybash]

Is any of your children have food allergies. I am allergic to sugar. If i have had any, i am fidgety and off the walls. Certain foods do wierd things too ya.