I have outsourced my math afterschooling to the iPad.

[eloquacious]

I have had to come to terms with the fact that afterschooling this year is drastically different from last year. Last year, my oldest was in half-day kindergarten and I still had several hours a day with him when he came home in which we could work. The youngest was a newborn and slept much of the day, and I wasn't actively doing any schooling with the middle child. This year, #3 son is an active crawler who needs constant attention, #2 is busy learning to read and doing preschool math of his own, and #1 son is in first grade and doesn't get home until 3, at which point we have barely an hour and a half until we have to leave for Vision Therapy, which happens three times a week. This activity (20-25 minutes there, a few minutes in the waiting room, 30 minute appointment, then 20-25 minutes home) takes up most of the remaining day. By the time we come home it's time to eat, then play a bit, read, take baths or clean the room, and off to bed. 

 

Sooo. All that to say, my initial vision of afterschooling as this fun opportunity to homeschool without the pressure (i.e., I can pick which curricula I like, but don't have to worry about electives or any of that sort of thing) has gone by the wayside. I also have to make my peace with the fact that the school is a really good school... and believe me, I know how that sounds. But as someone who had wanted to homeschool, it's one thing to afterschool if the school your child attends is severely lacking, another to just add extra work on top of your child's existing workload.

 

We are still working our way through MCP Phonics B, (a page or two at a time, depending on how much writing there is on any particular page) and doing Core Knowledge-based copywork and/or Draw Write Now each night. My son loves to draw, so this is his FUN work... he begs for it. He will take Dover coloring books that I bought to accompany his Core Knowledge Science/History/Literature curriculum, then draw the pictures instead of coloring them, and copy the accompanying text underneath into his copywork journal.

 

I had originally envisioned our drives to and from Vision Therapy as an opportunity to listen to audio books, and while we do still do that, it's become annoying because not all boys are always with me. If my husband can be at home with the littles, I only take the oldest - at which point #2 son will be distressed the next time we listen together because he missed a few chapters. 

 

So far, so good. The drawing/copywork is fun. Finding videos and library books to accompany lessons is fun. (Last week it was animal habitats - loads of fun things via Watch Know Learn, a free version of Discovery Learning.) And though he finds it a tiny bit annoying, he will do the MCP Phonics pages in about five minutes, so that's not a huge deal. The thing that was causing a huge stumbling block to us was math. He didn't see why he should have to sit in front of a page of problems, and would drag his feet and bellyache about the prospect. I didn't want afterschooling to be a struggle, or a hassle... and so I let it go. (There go the entire Light Blue Math Mammoth and all six Miquon books!)

 

And yet, I wanted him to do something. For school, he is required to spend ten minutes a day practicing his addition and subtraction facts. This is supposed to happen using flash cards, but I happily outsourced that first thing... there are any number of apps that make this fun. In addition to this, we have three main "general math" apps that offer a full K or 1-5 "curriculum," carefully sequenced tasks and games, and even have parent progress reports. The final bunch of apps we have are "math challenge" apps, most of which cover a certain topic, and many of which do so in such a fun way that it doesn't feel like math practice. These are the ones the boys BEG for.

 

So on any given day, the math practice looks like this:

10-15 minutes of math fluency practice. This is technically homework, but I would have had him do it, anyway. Generally happens in the mornings before our carpool picks him up or en route if I am driving.

20 minutes of a general math "practice" curriculum, either en route to Vision Therapy or else before dinner

20 minutes of a "challenge math" app, by choice. These deal with coins and money, geometry, algebra, fractions, etc. They often feel like video games and yet have a deep theoretical underpinning.

 

Add to that the fact that his reading homework is also done on the RAZ Kids app, and it's nearly an hour and a half of iPad time... which is a great deal, and sort of worries me. But there are no Wiis or Playstations arounds here, and the only "tv time" is earned by doing chores...and even then it has to be something moderately educational and reasonably short. (SuperWhy, Popular Mechanics for Kids, Magic School Bus, Liberty Kids, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Wild Kratts, etc.)

 

Over the past few years we have acquired quite a few math apps, many were free when I got them, but two I've paid quite a bit for... Our favorites are:

 

General Math Practice:

 

The first three have an actual "curriculum," and scope and sequence. These make me feel better about giving up on MM, Miquon, and MCP Math. Splash Math even emails me progress reports! I have the boys rotate through these: Todo Math is Mondays and Wednesdays, Splash Math Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Math Planet Wednesdays and Saturdays)

 

Splash Math K (for my middle son) and Splash Math 1-5 This was the most expensive I've bought yet. I got the paid pass for 1-5 for my older son for $30 for access to the whole curriculum for one student (unlimited time), but I figured it was still a savings over Dreambox, which we had had previously, and was $45 or so per year even with the HSBC co-op savings. I do not have the paid pass for my middle son, as he doesn't need it for the K app and when he wants to play around with the easier levels of the first grade portion, he can do up to 20 problems for free each day without subscribing.

Todo Math (Todo as in the Spanish for "all," not as in "to do." This was pricy, too. I paid $20 for access to all the years, but this is a one-time charge per family, not per child. With three boys I thought it worthwhile...UNTIL it went on sale the following week in a back-to-school sale for $5!!! Sigh.)

Math Planet (I got all five individual years for free a few weeks back, but the all-in-one app is $20 I believe)

 

 

Math Fluency/Math Facts Practice.

 

Pet Bingo - by Duck Duck Moose

Hungry Fish and its companion aimed at younger children, Hungry Guppy by Motion Math

Math Heroes 1  (This one covers addition and subtraction, there are also multiplication and division apps) by Yogome

Number Bonds, Mathmateer, Rocket Math, and Rocket Solver. I have a hard time keeping these apart, to be honest. Number Bonds is helpful if you use Cuisenaire Rods for math practice. Rocket Solver has some promise, as it is supposed to be a Singapore Math-based app (our school uses Singapore Math), but the quality of the graphics and design is poor, so my snobby son who has been spoiled by fancier games doesn't want to play it.

Splash Math (see above) also has a section of the game dedicated to math facts fluency.

 

Math Challenge / Topics

 

Slice Fractions by Ululab (Fantastic!)

Motion Math Wings (multiplication) and Motion Math Zoom (number sense/place value)

Dragonbox Algebra 5+ and Dragonbox Elements (Geometry)

Telling Time and Tic Toc Time 

Coin Math and Freefall Money

 

There are also the Bugs and Numbers games, or Teach Me ... games, but those are the ones I have categorized and assigned playing time.

 

I know it seems like a lot of screen time, but it actually helps to have definitive times when they can play, and in a way it redeems the car time for me.

 

Edit: I re-read the part above where I was whining about how I can't afterschool as I had wanted to because the school is so good. I am sorry to sound so whiny when we are truly blessed... we are! I mean, to give you a proper idea of how annoying and spoiled I am, I was sad that I wouldn't need to / get to buy AAS because the school uses Spalding. I was so looking forward to teaching that. ;) As I said, the big step here is trying to figure out how to be helpful and supportive without overwhelming. I do tend towards the latter, but as the seasons change and the boys can actually go play outside the time spent doing those activities will diminish as well. Our school uses Singapore, which would be perfect for my son if they just used it a year ahead. As it was, the Kindergarten work was more along the lines of his preschool work, and the 1st grade could very easily have been done last year. One charter we were considering also uses Singapore, and they offered the opportunity to accelerate in math, which would have been grand. So the additional math practice of basic facts and especially the topical "challenge" apps are quite helpful here in allowing my son to explore more advanced topics than what is being taught in his classroom.

 

[EndOfOrdinary]

This year my fifth grader finally convinced me to switch over to iPad digital school.  Goodness the difference it has made.  More gets done, less micromanaging from me, no pulling, and he is loving all of it.  His retention is higher, the space everything takes up is virtually no existent, and we have saved over a hundred dollars with digital books, interactive ebooks over textbooks, and apps.

 

We are a non-tech family as well.  No Tv, no video games, only a NetFlix subscription and lots of documentaries or PBS.  It was hard for me when Ds saved up his own money for years and then bought the iPad.  Man it has made so much difference.  Realizing this might be the generation gap I need to overcome was a big deal for me this year.  Embrace what might work for you rather than feeling like you need to justify "screen time."