Missing the Basics

Teachers and parents often work so diligently on a skill with a child that the child appears to 'get' it. Sometimes, however, the understanding is only temporary. This could be that the material is so fresh in their minds that they are able to perform well on a test. But the knowledge hasn't 'taken root', and is soon forgotten.

Keep an eye on your child as school progresses. If she is having trouble with mental math, maybe she passed - but never fully understood her basic math facts. If he can't conjugate French verbs, check and see if he really understood the basic grammar taught in grade five. If not, go back to the basics, and review and relearn. Chances are, your child will have caught up developmentally, and this time it will stick.

One of our sons never really learned to write well. I KNOW he was taught well. I know he was able to follow the formula and satisfy the rubric all through elementary school and middle school. When he got to high school, however, the teachers upshifted to more advanced things. And he wasn't grounded enough in the basics to keep up. Add to that a bit of a processing disorder, and you've got problems.

So, we're having to go back to the basics. We're hiring a writing tutor, someone who has the knowledge and the patience to help a child who has good ideas, but can't get them out of his head and onto the paper in an organized and grammatically correct fashion. And hopefully, this time it will stick with him.