brla Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 We are gearing up to start high school with my daughters. The first time thru. I have 3 more going to be 5th, 3rd and 1st. I have everything mapped out for the 1 daughter - she wants to go to college, so that made it very easy to plan out her 4 years. The other daughter, however.... well, she is very artistic, musical and language oriented. Great and wonderful skills and very easy to get her to work in those areas. MATH, on the other hand, is so very difficult for her. We have been working for 2 years on division, fractions, decimals. She still doesn't really understand. She is currently in Dreambox math to build up her math knowledge and is doing ok with it UNTIL she hit division, fractions and decimals. She also uses Life of Fred AND has tried the Math Mammoth series directed at those specific areas. Other things we have tried over the years: Singapore, Horizons, Teaching Textbooks, Saxon, Kahn In a frustrated effort, we did a placement test for CLE math yesterday and found she places (barely) in level 500. She is very upset by this. I am at a loss as well. We work on these things over and over and it's just not sticking. So, I don't really know where to go from here. My goals (and hers) are to give her functional math skills for life. She would like the option of College, but has expressed an understanding that she will have to take a remedial math course at the community college if she wants to pursue that. I would love to help her move ahead and build confidence. I need a solid plan for high school that we can start working as soon as possible. I just don't even know what to do with this. I know that we aren't the only ones that have struggled here. We would appreciate some feedback from those of you that have experience with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Contact Mr. Zimmerman of TabletClass math. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 It's not quite clear to me which one(s) you're asking for more info on? I. The older seems to be easy to plan for. So does that mean you've already mapped out math for her? II. The younger in 5th is having significant math troubles, correct? If your question is more geared toward the younger, I would encourage you to focus on getting through elementary mathematics as well as possible first. I wouldn't try to map out all of High School for her as she is still very young and things could change as she develops both cognitively and emotionally. CLE is a safe place to start. It is very user friendly and its spiral nature provides many opportunities for reinforcement. Once she has primary math completed satisfactorily then look at Pre-Algebra and Algebra programs next. Sometimes an online class can help with teacher and tutoring support like Jann in Texas or TabletClass. But please, don't try to take this all on at once or it can feel overwhelming. Our middle dd struggles with math also unlike our oldest. Its a day at a time, week at time and so forth with her. MM is also a challenge for her and we may supplement with CLE next year for 6th grade. That is something we are actually still deliberating over. Much depends on how well she finishes 5th grade MM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 If it is your 5th grader you are worrying about, she has time to get better in divisions, fractions and decimals. You can start prealgebra in 8th. Have you tried the Keys to series? Also since she is artistic, maybe let her draw out math concepts into her math notebook. Might make math more pleasant for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brla Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 It's not quite clear to me which one(s) you're asking for more info on? I. The older seems to be easy to plan for. So does that mean you've already mapped out math for her? II. The younger in 5th is having significant math troubles, correct? If your question is more geared toward the younger, I would encourage you to focus on getting through elementary mathematics as well as possible first. I wouldn't try to map out all of High School for her as she is still very young and things could change as she develops both cognitively and emotionally. CLE is a safe place to start. It is very user friendly and its spiral nature provides many opportunities for reinforcement. Once she has primary math completed satisfactorily then look at Pre-Algebra and Algebra programs next. Sometimes an online class can help with teacher and tutoring support like Jann in Texas or TabletClass. But please, don't try to take this all on at once or it can feel overwhelming. Our middle dd struggles with math also unlike our oldest. Its a day at a time, week at time and so forth with her. MM is also a challenge for her and we may supplement with CLE next year for 6th grade. That is something we are actually still deliberating over. Much depends on how well she finishes 5th grade MM. Sorry, the oldest are twins. The one twin is mapped out thru high school and beyond. It's the other soon to be 9th grader that we are having so many problems with math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brla Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 If it is your 5th grader you are worrying about, she has time to get better in divisions, fractions and decimals. You can start prealgebra in 8th. Have you tried the Keys to series? Also since she is artistic, maybe let her draw out math concepts into her math notebook. Might make math more pleasant for her. Sorry about the confusion... I have twin daughters. Both getting ready to go into 9th grade. The one is mapped out and easy to plan for. It's the other one that is musical, artistic and really having a hard time in Math. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dereksurfs Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Ok, that makes much more sense now. Yes, then you do have to map out High School math for her and that presents some challenges. Obviously you have to start where she is at and build from there. A good place for an older student is to consider Lial's basic college math which reviews primary mathematics along with some basic algebraic reasoning. But she may not be quite ready for that yet. Or you could do BCM in conjunction with CLE. At this stage I think an outside tutor and/or teacher would really help. I highly recommend talking with Jann in Texas about your daughter. She teaches many homeschoolers on here and offers tutoring among other things. Take a look here: http://www.myhomeschoolmathclass.com/course-descriptions.html Can you work over the Summer on math as well? Freshman year will most likely be getting all the basic more solid and, if possible, preparing for Algebraic reasoning. It will depend how well next year goes in terms of Algebra preparedness. But that is the target after primary skills are solidified. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 You may want to research dyscalculia, it sounds like that may be what you are dealing with. There are some moms on the Learning Challenges board with experience and I would recommend cross-posting over there. I know one mom with a rising 9th grader who has been remediating by working through CLE math from the beginning. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brla Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 I actually found a copy of BCM online and got it to look at. Figured it would be good to at least look at. I looked up Dyscalculia and that sounds like my daughter. She is able to do several of the things, but not a lot. Memorization of math facts - nope. She's been trying for years. Even teaches the littles their math facts in hopes that she will remember hers. Music is good for her, but theory is a challenge that makes her want to beat her head against a wall. I will have to do more research. Thanks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I agree with potential Dyscalculia- Dyscalculia can be 'helped' to a point-- but more often the student learns to 'cope'. On a up note my dd has a friend who is a Sr in college as a Music Performance major (full scholarship!). She has severe dyscalculia (documented!) and the university made allowances as her major was not math related. Her music theory classes were the toughest (I think they are difficult for most people anyways!). Please have your daughter tested-- it will help you to help her once you know the issues at play. It may be something related to dyscalculia that can be remediated--and programs designed for 'normal' students will NOT serve her well. If your daughter is potentially college bound she needs a documented paper trail started as soon as possible. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I agree with potential Dyscalculia- Dyscalculia can be 'helped' to a point-- but more often the student learns to 'cope'. On a up note my dd has a friend who is a Sr in college as a Music Performance major (full scholarship!). She has severe dyscalculia (documented!) and the university made allowances as her major was not math related. Her music theory classes were the toughest (I think they are difficult for most people anyways!). Please have your daughter tested-- it will help you to help her once you know the issues at play. It may be something related to dyscalculia that can be remediated--and programs designed for 'normal' students will NOT serve her well. If your daughter is potentially college bound she needs a documented paper trail started as soon as possible. Yes to the above. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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