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Donna Marie
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| Posted: Oct 18 2007 at 8:32pm | IP Logged
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I have a dd who is 13 and had some processing issues and is just now beginning to retain math. She is weak in the basic four operations but I am feeling the time crunch, knowing that I only have 5 years left to homeschool her!
Maybe that shouldn't be a big deal, but it does bother me a lot. What can I give her...computer program, good book etc...that is fun that will get her to move along. She really wants to work independently so she can make a study of it. She is very serious. That is how she managed to increase her retention by 2 digits in this past year alone! We haven't even gotten into fractions and percents yet. Should I just let her work off of some sort of chart for the operations that she has not managed to memorize yet and keep her moving...or should I really push this year for mastery....ack
Please tell me that I am not alone in this!
God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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mom3aut1not
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| Posted: Oct 18 2007 at 9:48pm | IP Logged
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Donna Marie,
Does she have a good grasp of the concepts in your opinion? If not, I would recommend something like
http://www.alabacus.com/pageView.cfm?pageID=293
or maybe
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0321257804/ref=lp_g_2 /002-8132766-2338400
if she wants to work independently. The latter might be good if she grasps the concepts but it is weak algorithmically. I hate to say it, but Saxon also is good for algorithmic practice. (Imo it's the only thing it's good for.)
When you want to move onto decimals, percents, etc., you might want to consider the Key to .... series or just the Basic College Mathematics. I'm waiting for Key Curriculum Press to come out with a Key to Multi-Dogot Operations or a Key to Base Ten.
I don't know if I have helped. I hope so.
Take heart in this. If she is motivated, she can learn it. One hsing mother I knew had *no* mathematical intuition at all. None. To her as a child it was obvious that 2 and 2 was 6. Yet, she was working her way through basic math, and she was (finally) learning it.
In Christ,
Deborah
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: Oct 18 2007 at 10:18pm | IP Logged
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For us, we have tended to keep going in our MUS program. Then when we hit a snag, I photocopy some old pages as review, write up my own review page, etc. I know this is a bit of math blasphemy, but I think for some kids the facts become more cemented with more use: I know that my dd who finds math a breeze had such a hard time with her facts, but now in the middle school math and harder problems they have cemented more by constant use. I have another child, the one I follow the above review route with, who found the facts a breeze but finds the concepts very challenging. For this child I have found it best to stick in our little Math-u -See world. We took a foray into Keys to Fractions, which he enjoyed, but it was done differently to Math U See so that when we went back he was befuddled. The Keys to also didn't have the review which he finds so useful.
My 2cents.
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: Oct 18 2007 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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Oh, and yes you are not alone in this. Math has been a very big struggle for one of my dc, and a large struggle for this math loving mama to teach.
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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Lori B
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 8:51am | IP Logged
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My son is the same way, and the only program we have found that has 'clicked' with him is the free one found at the Centre for Innovation in Math.
The combination of interacation during lessons and mental math (and very little pencil work) has paid off enormously for him. He now enjoys the 'challenge' of math, and is truly 'getting it'. He has since been able to express to me that is was the amount of pencil work in the other programs we tried that confused him.
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22yod, 16yod (Asperger's), 14yos (dyslexia, APD, ADHD), and 11yod (JXG, glaucoma, legally blind)
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vmalott
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 1:55pm | IP Logged
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Donna,
My 13 yodd is much the same way. We work w/MUS (wayyy below grade level, but she doesn't know that or doesn't care) and that is helping a great deal. The other thing I have allowed is to let her use a multiplication table "cheat sheet". She has no problem with the concepts, it's just that the facts aren't cemented in her head.
I think this idea came from the Bluedorns, the Teaching the Trivium people, who thought that a child shouldn't be penalized for progressing in math just because they don't have their facts down 100%. Yes, it will be slow going for some time, having to look up the facts, but it is quicker than counting on fingers or making tally marks or whatever else. This appeals to me, because, well, I'm not a "drill and kill" kind of person. 
Slowly, the facts are coming to her, so that she's not always relying on the chart for every problem. The other thing I've been considering is breaking out the MUS skip counting cassette. I know she benefitted from Mr. Demme's singing of "3-6-9" to the tune of "Jingle Bells" when we watched the demo DVD at the beginning of the school year. It's just something I'll have to add to her daily checklist or else it won't get done.
HTH,
Valerie
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Valerie
Mom to Julia ('94), John ('96), Lizzy ('98), Connor ('01), Drew ('02), Cate ('04), Aidan ('08) and three saints in heaven
Seven Times the Fun
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: Late Bloomer Question
