Low pressure elementary school in lakewood- girls

Mommyg8

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 9:11 am

amother wrote:

"I wonder how to train them to do that at home..."

To reply to the comment above: encourage reading at home for pleasure. If your child has any weakness in decoding or comprehension, consider remediating it outside the school setting. If your child is reading on grade level , you can sign up for leveled reading websites that would provide nice articles and comprehensive questioning afterwards. I think one of those sites is called ReadWorks.

Another excellent tool for building deductive reasoning are the books sold in Creative Kids, called MIndBenders. They come in different levels. Aside from having the child receptively complete the activities, I would sit with them and have them expressively tell you the reason for the answers they chose. The company that publishes the MindBenders books is called The Critical Thinking Company. They have many excellent resources to further critical thinking skills.

That's interesting. Does reading really encourage higher level thinking?

amother

Puce

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 10:05 am

They read a lot, bh, bli ayin hara. It didn't hit me until recently though that a host of thinking/ analytical skills haven't been stressed at all. I knew their math knowledge was almost non-existent but I didn't realize that they were generally missing pretty much entirely on any type of problem-solving skills. I feel awful that I let it get so neglected, and petrified about what I could do at this point. I don't want my kid(s) to be dumb because of my neglect.

Last edited by amother on Thu, Nov 29 2018, 12:30 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Salmon

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 10:11 am

Good readers are using these skills as they engage in self questioning about the text. The thing is that if they were never taught how to think about these things, you may need to model it for them. Another idea may be to go for a few sessions to a reading specialist or a speech language pathologist to see if they can guide you in how to teach this to your kids. This model of you teaching can work if you have the time and if your children do not have any sort of learning or reading disability.

amother

Puce

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 7:08 pm

Amother salmon, thank you for your suggestions. Actually, I worked with college students as a remedial reading comprehension tutor for a while, and also worked with them deciphering complex texts in several subjects , so I could work with my kids on that. It just feels a bit odd to do it with kidswho aren't failing iykwim. But really it's right to be proactive.
Thank you for suggesting mindbending books; I think this is the format that I'm looking for.

Last edited by amother on Thu, Nov 29 2018, 12:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Papaya

Mon, Nov 06 2017, 7:48 pm

amother wrote:

Is ateres tzipora education as bad as bnos Bracha? (No I’m not recommending the school for other reasons, just want to know as my daughter is already there a few years.)

Ateres Tziporah is very low academically. I pulled my girls out this year and although I was aware that it was a low academic school I was unaware HOW low it was. My daughter needs a lot of help in Hebrew - in class - not as much in English as she more naturally excels at it but we were warned that she would need a lot of help catching up coming from such a low end school.
It's not just the school work. She was unaware of basics such as how to follow along, and copy homework from the board since it was more spoon fed in ateres Tziporah with no emphasis on actually acquiring the skills needed. She doesn't understand the morah at all because she speaks in Hebrew which was not done until the much older grades and barely at that point.
While I very much liked the emphasis on middos that they had it is imo detrimental in the long run that they don't focus much on anything else and that was our basis to pull out.

amother

Salmon

Tue, Nov 07 2017, 7:59 am

To LK: my daughter is in Shiras Devorah.

I think it is wonderful that you have the background and ability to boost your children's skills. It is great to be proactive and help them excel even though they are not failing.

amother

Saddlebrown

Mon, Nov 13 2017, 7:42 am

I'm the op of this thread. Thank you for the BB recommendation. People are writing to be careful because of the low academic level but that is what I'm looking for for this particular child. She simply can't keep up and is under so much pressure and struggling way too much for a girl her age. She NEEDS a low academic pressure school so she can feel good about herself. Yes, high school will be a concern but she's doing so poorly now that I don't think staying in an established school that is focusing on academics will help her in high school anyway.

I also would want her to be in a school with good, frum girls from good yeshivish homes. So, BB sounds like a good option. Are there any similar schools? I heard about a new school on Joe Parker but I dont remember the name...

amother

Salmon

Mon, Nov 13 2017, 8:05 am

What about Tiferes Bais Yaakov?
Also, I am not meaning to be insensitive but if you feel your daughter is struggling, have you gotten her all the help possible to address any possible learning difficulties? In my field as an SLP, I have encountered parents who feel extreme guilt and kick themselves later on in life for not having exhausted every avenue of getting their kids help. This is just a thought, please take it with the concern and care intended! Really wishing you utmost Hatzlacha!

amother

Saddlebrown

Mon, Nov 13 2017, 1:44 pm

amother wrote:

TBY is a very good school but I don't think you can say that there is no academic pressure there.

Of course we have done all we possibly could for her to assist with the academic struggles. OT, PT, speech, vision therapy, tutors... What else would you suggest? At this point she just needs to feel good about herself.

amother

Salmon

Mon, Nov 13 2017, 9:07 pm

To the Op,
You sound like am amazing mom. Those are the therapies I had in mind. One thought, sometimes a child reaches a plateau with a certain therapist or in a certain area, it may help to revisit the issue after a break with someone new. Often, another perspective can be helpful in furthering growth.

To make her feel good about herself, is she involved in extra curricular activities or hobbies? How's her social life? Good social skills?

amother

Puce

Mon, Nov 13 2017, 9:57 pm

To the op, since you've mentioned girls from "good yeshivish homes", FYI BB has plenty of not-yeshivish families. As a matter of fact, I don't know of many if any yeshivish ones there. Iirc, all of my dds school friends families are working/business ppl rather than yeshivish.