The Latin-Centered Curriculum

Drew,

Thank you for responding. I began "homeschooling" my daughter when she was three. I provided my school district with a notice of intent for the 2005-2006 season (her kindergarden year) and her annual portfolio review was submitted and accepted for last year. I have had a certified teacher evaluate her for the 2006-2007 season and I will submit it to the district and I anticipate acceptance.

I live in Florida. My school district is not likely to provide evaluation or tutorial services if I continue to homeschool my daughter.

A little background on my daughter...

I had a private speech therapist work with my daughter 2003-2004 because of speech/articulation delay. My daughter was utitlizing the school district's speech tutorial services in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 for enunciation tutoring. The school district made a policy decision beginning for the 2006-2007 season that no district resources would be available to homeschooled children.

I have discussed my daughter's articulation delay with my daughter's pediatric dentist because she has an under-bite. The dentist confirmed that the under-bite is a contributing factor.

My daughter is talented/advanced along many disciplines. She takes piano lessons (since age 3) and the instructor says that she is progressing better than expected. She is advancing in Math well. She transitioned into Saxon Math II mid-year first grade. She plays chess and the main chess instructor approached me after she began playing chess with the opinion that she may be a chess prodigy. She is involved with theater. She is very comfortable speaking publicly (and in speaking generally). She is progressing in Latin using Prima Latina.

With respect to the reading issue, it is not likely that my school district will evaluate or provide reading tutorial assistance to my daughter if she is homeschooled. The teacher that mentioned she is behind in her reading compared to other children is employed by the school district. I recognize that I need to remain open-minded and non-defensive as this teacher assesses my daughter. However, I am concerned that this teacher is assessing my daughter by the Spaulding phonics program that the district utilizes and I have not used that specific program. Furthermore, I recognize that the other children in this summer reading group are attending the public school system and are demonstrating what this teacher is assessing because they are being taught what she is assessing. (In other words, I am somewhat unsettled to be forming conclusions concerning my daughter's language/reading skills in response to the opinion/assessment by this public school teacher who is evaluating my daughter's progression against the public school curriculum and what is generally evidenced by the public school educated children at my daughter's age level, which is not going to be identically respresented by my daughter when she is assessed by this teacher.)

I have two questions for you:

(1) Do you have any recommendations on sources for evaluation?

(2) Is a certified teacher tutoring my daughter until that teacher is satisifed with my daughter's proficiency a good strategy? My preference would be to have a reading specialist tutor my daughter. However, if I am not able to accomplish this, is a teacher who teaches in the primary (K-2 or K-3) level sufficient?

Your response is appreciated.

Jeannette Patterson

I'm not sure that I can answer your questions sufficiently, as I'm not a reading specialist myself. I've done literacy tutoring with adults and teens, but that's the extent of my experience. My first approach would be to ask the teacher for a reference to an independent reading specialist, preferably one not employed by the district, who can evaluate your daughter without reference to a particular phonics curriculum. I agree that if your daughter's progress is being measured against a program with which she had no previous experience, then, yes, that might well affect her results. The Spaulding method is distinctive, so it's quite possible that students who have been "taught the test" would outperform a student who hasn't. If the teacher isn't able to give you a recommendation, I'd ask your pediatrician. I have no idea what evaluation would cost, but it does sound like you would need to pay for it out of pocket. Maybe others here can offer more specific advice.

But I would also encourage you not to be intimidated by "experts." Are you satisfied with your daughter's progress? Is she frustrated by not being able to read more fluently at this stage, given her other abilities? Under the circumstances, I would worry less about the teacher's opinion and rely more on my own knowledge of my child's abilities and progress.

So a second opinion is in order, but don't forget the "third opinion" - your own.

Best of luck to you!
-Drew

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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
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Thank you for the response.

A fellow member of the LatinClassicalEd list was able to provide me with a link to a number of free phonics programs.

HTH!
-Drew

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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
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Wow! That link to the free phonics program has lots of other interesting stuff. Click to his home page and he has pdf's of an old math text similar to Ray's and links to a Greek text. Very interesting.

Thank you for the information.