How do you get your kids to succeed at school?? My 8 year old is falling behind pretty much every kid in her class. A little bit may be struggling with school work but for the most part, she just doesn't listen or concentrate and prefers being the class clown chatterbox. When she's doing homework, she's pretty good with sentences etc but its soooo messy. She never takes the time to write neatly in the lines. I feel very sorry for her too as she is taller than all her peers and quite solid, which makes it hard with sport. She always says "it's not fair I'm always last" (running & swimming). And she has a hard time making friends. She doesn't really have a friend or 2 that always play with her & she says that when she has noone to play with, she just walks around all by herself ?? I really want her to buckle down next year and do really well at school but how? And I want more than anything for her to fit in and make friends.
2 Replies
Have you had a chat to her class teacher about what might be beneficial?
Off the top of my head I'd be looking at getting her some help with motor skills (occupational therapy) they can help with hand writing and her gross motor skills.
Has she had an educational assessment done with a educational psychologist? They can tell you her strengths and weaknesses and suggest possible solutions.
other wise you could look into something like general tutoring with someone like kip McGrath or similar.
Does she have hobbies. Does she know herself. Her personality type, her strengths and weaknesses. What suits her and what doesnt? I would probably start by looking at childhood development of esteems. Then you can eventually figure out if organisation or neatness is a skill of hers. She needs to kniw that she isnt great at everything but to know what she is good at, great at, and what she needs to put special attention towards. But you need to go back to the foundation first, if she just feels lost at sea and socially physically and academically hopeless she wont know where to start or why bother to write it neatly.
Also it was suggested to me to find hobbies for my child that are not competitive, not even graded or performed, just done for the enjoyment and self satisfaction. Music, writing, poetry, art, yoga. Whatever she really enjoys to keep her balanced when the outside world and interactions rattle her. I think your child, well all children really, might benefit from having that.