HI I am helping a friend with her homeschooling. She and her husband adopted 4 girls from Ethiopia almost 2 years ago. The younger 3 will be going to a christian school in the area this year. The oldest (assigned an age of 15-16) has had more trouble with school and the language. She has a large hearing deficit in her left ear, had many sicknesses while in Ethiopia and the public school labeled her mentally retarded last year (but her parents doubt this is the case). We want her to be included in our TOG co-op and be with the Dialectic class (which right now is just girls 12-13. I use Story of the World with my grammar age students and thought it might be more appropriate for her than the dialectic suggestions. We want her to be able to participate in the dialectic discussion though. I would appreciate any advise on how we can make this work for her.
Thank you
Michelle Freeland (amfreeland@netscape.com)

Hi Michelle,
Yes, I'd agree that Story of the World and/or upper grammar primary assignments might be in her best interests. (I'd lean toward the UG assignments.) Perhaps she would like to audio tape the discussion so that she can play it back at home, learn to take notes with her mother's help, and thus, bit-by-bit to become more independent during actual class time. And likely, if she still hasn't mastered English, she will need her mother's help reading through any chosen assignments.

You might also consider pairing her with a kind-hearted, gentle-spirited student to help her as needed during class time.

You don't mention which year-plan you are using, but if it's appropriate for both the topic matter and the girl, you might offer her a chance to share a bit about Ethiopia, the move to the U.S., how life has improved, or whatever. This would give her a chance to verbalize when normally she will probably not be prepared for the actual discussion.

Just a few ideas...

Thank you Dana for your ideas. We are doing Year 2 Redesigned.

When you mentioned taping the class for her to listen to, it reminded me that Story of the World has Cds of the book. I might also recommend they get that instead of the book. Then she can listen to it and use her reading time for the literature and some of the other history selections.

We have also talked about mixing in some of the upper grammar questions with the dialectic accountability and thinking questions so there are some she feels more capable of answering if we make sure we have covered that at home. (She will be at my home reading with my grammar students and I possible once or twice during the week.)

Hi, Michelle,
Would you share how things went last year with the Ethiopian student? Was she able to participate in the D group? We plan to us Tapestry Yr. 2 Redesign (over 2 yrs) with our 13-yr old Ethiopian daughter (home almost a year) & think she'd fit best educationally with UG, but in co-op would be a better match age & maturity-wise with D. She can read & speak English, but her comprehension is behind her reading ability & it seems history & geography weren't covered very well or at all in the schooling she had in Ethiopia.
Any thoughts -- things that worked well or didn't work?
Thanks for any suggestions,
Kimberly

PS I tried e-mailing privately, but the message was returned.