Expert: Marsha Cunningham - 1/31/2012

Question
My daughter is 7 yrs. old and she's having trouble keeping up in school.  She doesn't understand most of what's going on, but she is picking up on some of it.  I'm worried that if I home school her that she'll miss out on exposure to a diverse education.  (Different teachers, many teaching styles, making friends, etc...) I worry that she will only get an education from my perspective.  However, I feel that if she stays in school all she is going to be able to do is focus on trying to keep up and not on learning.  Do you have any suggestions?  Are there any alternatives other than completely taking her out of school?

By the way I believe that she is having difficulty processing information.  Do you have any advice on what to do if this is the case?

Answer
Dear April,

The first thing that I always check is to be sure that the child is getting the right nutrition, sleep, activity and so on.  These things are the first line of defense against problems and sometimes get over looked. I have seen children turn completely around after I gave them a serving of brown rice, two days in a row. Also, after I let them have extended ball bouncing activity for several days, building up a proficiency in the skill.

Anything you have the child do to build her confidence will proportionality give her confidence with listening skills in the classroom.  Ask her to make a grocery list for you because you're too busy to write it down and do not correct her spelling.  Let her lead the family in 5 minutes of exercise just before bedtime and comment on how much it's going to benefit everyone.  If she does these things with relish and gusto then this is not her problem.  If she hesitates and is unsure and says she can't do it then it is the problem and you can correct it simply, right at home by dosing her heavily with this sort of activity.

Check on these things first before you make your decision about whither you need to take her out of school. Does she eat a variety of vegetables? These contain minerals and vitamins which the body sorely needs to function normally.  Is she watching too much tv or video games? more than an hour per day?

Let me know before we go to the next step.

Sincerely,
Marsha Cunningham