I have a very very bright 3rd grader. She is also very very slow--it's the way the Lord made her. She eats slow, she walks slow, she even takes careful time to express her ideas clearly and descriptively. Really a great thing--until school time comes. Her printing was atrocious (and slow) and we have switched to Cursive First as of September with fantastic results. Writing still not fast, but much more readable and she is getting quicker. On top of that, she has a difficult time focusing. She is a daydreamer, and quite honestly hates to expend too much effort on anything (also often termed "lazy"). She'll be doing work, start daydreaming, and literally (no exaggeration) get up from the table and never return to her unfinished work without me reprimanding her. I literally cannot let her get up from the table to use the bathroom unless I've verified that she's not in a daydream walk again. Just today I found half of a sentence on the end of her paragraph. Something happened, took her attention, and that paragraph stopped existing to her.

We are finishing Unit 4 of Y2, and have been finishing Level 2 of the Writing Supplements using Writing Aids. I need some sage advice about my expectations. It has taken so long to do her Newspaper assignments, and she's only completed 1 article for the whole unit, with 2 more in the works. I feel I have a much larger problem with her focus than with her slow writing. The last straw was when she had 1 hr and 10 minutes to translate her pre-writing cluster diagram into a paragraph and had written less than 40 words. That's almost 2 minutes per word! The entire time I was reminder her to focus, think about her work, focus again, etc.

I've been wondering if one problem is that I'm expecting too much from her writing, and the difficulty may be making her feel defeated. Am I expecting more than a smart 3rd grader should be doing? I don't want it to take forever to do work because she feels overwhelmed. It is hard for me to figure out if I'm expecting too much or if she is unfocused because she just doesn't like hard work.

I thought I'd give you some samples of her writing. If anybody can let me know if I'm on track for 3rd grade, behind the game, or if I'm expecting too much from her, it would REALLY help me be more sure of my next step in working on her completing her work and focusing. Internally, the question that maybe it's just too much keeps bugging me. I don't want to be continually critical of the way the Lord made her. I need to work on this weakness without destroying her and making her feel like she's such a bad student (which she sometimes feels). Your help would be so appreciated because I don't remember third grade too well!

Here's one newspaper article:

"The tax on tea is not making us colonists happy. Yesterday the king took away all the Townshend taxes except the tax on tea! We colonists are furious! Colonial leaders have tried everything to stop the tax on tea. They've tried to et the tea merchants to stop their jobs They have tried to send the tea back to Britain. Nothing has worked, so last night they threw boxes of tea into the Boston Harbor. We colonists think that this tax on tea is taxation without representation.

Men dressed as Indians and slaves threw tea into the Boston Harbor. Men and boys without any disguise helped the Indians. Last night 342 boxes of tea were thrown into the Boston Harbor.

A man who was named Charles Townswhend introduced the Townshend taxes to Parlaiment. The Tonwshend taxes are taxes on lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea.

Us colonists think that the king is breaking the British law. A document called the Magan Carta said that no king cold take away land or money from the people without asking Parlaiment first."

So, is that third grade work? Is part of our problem the fact that Mommy's idea of average 3rd grade work is wrong?

I hate having a bright girl who ends up feeling terrible about herself. But, I must also find out how to teach her to focus until a job is finished. I appreciate in advance any help you can give me.

All my thanks,
Deanna

Deanna,

A few random thoughts -

1. I think your dd's articles are on target for 3rd grade. The news article format is difficult for a child that young to understand, I think. I was satisfied if my dd wrote a good paragraph (topic sentence, at least 3 details, concluding sentence).

2. When my dd was in 3rd grade, she dictated her paragraphs to me, and I typed them up on the computer. I would coach her along and help her revise and edit. This was much more encouraging to her than sitting at a table trying to put words on paper.

3. My dd learned how to type when she was in 3rd grade, I think, and she does her writing assignments (except for pre-writing) on the computer.

I think you are on the right track. Learning to write is a long process. I hope some of these thoughts are helpful.

Blessings,

Actually, I think her article is very good. She certainly has the idea of the way newspaper articles are written, and she has many good points and facts. Her spelling and grammar are the main things that detract from her article, and that gets better with practice - and editing! MSWord has a grammar/spelling checker that has helped my dc a lot!

You don't say how long you've been using TOG and Writing Aids, but your daughter's writing looks pretty good to me. You talk about your daughter being slow, and I feel your pain in that department. I can tell you it does get better. My dd was in 3rd grade/8yo last year. It was our 1st yr using TOG, and our first experience with using Writing Aids, etc. I had to learn how to teach it first of all. But, she was also slow. I felt like the whole year was spent with me saying, "Just put something on paper! Anything will do!!" She felt like she had to get it perfect the first time, so would not want to write anything at all. She also didn't get many assignments done last year. So far, this year has been much better. I think maybe some of the difference has been maturity level, but her writing has taken leaps and bounds. Realize that writing is a long process, and relax. I was just thinking the other day about my dd's writing and realized that I was probably not even being required to write reports (which is what she's doing right now) when I was in the 4th grade. At least, I don't remember doing anything like that...
HTH,
Robin

Can you sit with her and help her stay focused?