Please Help - Desperate Mom

[TLaw3357]

Hello. I'm new to this forum. I joined because I need to help my daughter who is in the fourth grade. School has been in session for two weeks and she is already struggling and crying about it. She fears that she is not going to be able to grasp the mathematical concepts and is concerned about her comprehending and remembering what she reads. I would like help putting together an after schooling curriculum to best support her. This is all very new to me and I honestly don't know what to do. She needs to focus on the basics then build from there. Any recommendations, suggestions, advice, and so forth?

[dancingmama]

As a parent with a child who is homeschooled and one who is in public school, I'd recommend that you consider talking to the school as to what they are doing about her concerns. Is she the only one struggling? If so, does she need testing to see about Learning disabilities? If not, why are so many kids struggling and what are they doing?

 

As for after schooling, you have to get to the root of the issue. Is she having trouble with basic addition/subtraction? Is it multiplication that needs solidifying? What is she struggling with?

 

As for good programs to use to remediate a child in math I'd consider the blue Math Mammoth books or the Key to Math series. But first, I'd figure out what the underlying issue is.

[Shred Betty]

Welcome! I'm no expert, I'm new here too. But I can tell you this: I've found a ton of helpful threads on this forum and topics discussed by going to google and typing in " well trained mind forum reading comprehension tips" for example. I've tried and failed miserably using the forum search engine with the same words, but if you type in Google incl "well trained mind forum," you will see links back here.

 

For me, even knowing how to word my question, or knowing the words that apply to my problem and how to identify what I needed to know took some background reading before I was able to sort through issues and tackle them. I'm not saying if you have a question its already been answered so look in the history books! Just a tip that helped me with the whole Mom learning curve thing.

-GG

[Guest]

For reading comprehension and remembering....does she have dictionary access? She needs to know how to use the dictionary, and she needs to use it. After that, practice, practice, practice. Inference is challenging, but practice is what willl give her expertise. For remembering, she must use the skills taught in earlier grades...read it, build a mental picture or video; repeat. Outline to organize thoughts. Outline is not taught here, if its not where you are you need to teach it.

 

For math, you will need to discuss with teacher. Find out what the school intends to do. In the meantime, if she is weak on any concept from earlier years, reteach and practice.

k-5mathteachingresources.com is helpful.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Heigh Ho

[EKS]

Here is how I would start (and if you see that she is truly struggling and that your tutoring is not helping, then it is time to get a evaluation).

 

Get yourself a copy of her math textbook and, if at all possible, a teacher's manual.  If you post which program her school is using, we can help you find a place to buy these (though some of the newer programs are making it harder to get TMs these days).  Before tutoring her, go through the materials yourself and make sure you understand how they are teaching things and what the expected output is (there is a lot of emphasis on writing explanations of how to do math problems these days which is different from how it was back when we were in school).  If she has math homework, have her do a few practice problems (in front of you) to make sure she knows what she is doing.  If she doesn't, reteach the lesson.  Then when she does the homework problems, check to be sure each answer is correct as she is doing it--do not let her move on to the next problem before the current problem is correct. 

 

For reading, I'd have her read any reading assignments that come home aloud to you.  When there are no assignments, have her concentrate on developing fluency.  Do do this have her work up to reading aloud for a half hour every day with very few mistakes from material that is easy for her.  Gradually increase the reading level of the material until she is reading fluently (200 wpm) at grade level or higher.

 

Another part of improving reading comprehension is increasing background knowledge.  Read aloud to her every day from high quality children's literature, as well as history and science nonfiction.  Make this a fun, cuddle on the couch sort of activity--so don't quiz her on what you read--just discuss in a natural way.

 

 

[displace]

I would try to understand if her fear is based on a hypothetical or actual problems. Is she getting a lot of wrong answers in class or does future work just appear overwhelming? Then talk about a buy in with her. If you can, get the math book and go over the next day's lesson so she understands better in class. Or review nightly after school. Or review math fluency (quick recall of facts).

 

Fluency facts (multiplication, division), can be worked on just five minutes daily to help. And you don't need to wait to memorize them (if she wasn't taught yet). Knowing them ahead of time helps anxious kids with in class work.

 

As for reading, also try to understand why she's concerned. Are the books suddenly more mature, longer, lots more words? Does she have a reason to be concerned (she struggles with comprehension or fact recall)? Maybe introduce a skill like highlighting passages while reading, or taking notes, or outlining. It's early to teach skills like that but can be helpful (esp highlighting). It may be frustrating to not immediately remember what you read, but it's normal. Discuss reading for info is different than pleasure reading. Many adults reading about new subjects have to read something over again to truly understand a new subject. She may expect to get it the first time but it may be necessary to re read it.

 

Or help with scanning: trying to get the gist of a passage or topic before reading by just reading the first sentence of a paragraph.

 

If you give us more details about what she is worried about we can help more.

 

If she is truly struggling to read it may be a learning disability.

[RenaInTexas]

Another thing to look into is if the school is doing a lot of assessments right now. Schools in states with high stake testing will sometimes do assessments the first 2-4 weeks of school to gauge where their students are. In my own experience, these assessments are much like the actual tests and cover things that the students have not yet learned or cover them at the 4th grade spring-level, even though the students aren't expected to perform at that level until Spring. Basically, they need to group the students: below-level, on-level, above-level so they can set up intervention programs. 

 

See if this is what is going on; perhaps try to see how the class did as a whole (IME: the whole class failed bc they weren't ready for that level of testing). What schools don't realize is that students see those scores and it hurts their confidence.

[amymarie3]

Look into some of the living math books to help her understand the concepts.   Life of Fred is one that she can read and practice on her own and will help with understanding many of the basic the concepts.   There are picture books like Sir Cumference that go over the basics of a specific topic.  Kahn Academy is a great free website where she can work on her skills starting at the basic level, the way they have "gamified" math is brilliant.    Maybe sit down with her and talk through ideas on where she can look up information on the topics that are frustrating for her.   

[TLaw3357]

As a parent with a child who is homeschooled and one who is in public school, I'd recommend that you consider talking to the school as to what they are doing about her concerns. Is she the only one struggling? If so, does she need testing to see about Learning disabilities? If not, why are so many kids struggling and what are they doing?

 

As for after schooling, you have to get to the root of the issue. Is she having trouble with basic addition/subtraction? Is it multiplication that needs solidifying? What is she struggling with?

 

As for good programs to use to remediate a child in math I'd consider the blue Math Mammoth books or the Key to Math series. But first, I'd figure out what the underlying issue is.

Thank you so much for suggesting the Blue Math Mammoth books. I just purchased a few of the basics. It's a great start because my daughter is lacking the basic math skills, which is making things difficult for her because she has to use her fingers to count. 

[TLaw3357]

For reading comprehension and remembering....does she have dictionary access? She needs to know how to use the dictionary, and she needs to use it. After that, practice, practice, practice. Inference is challenging, but practice is what willl give her expertise. For remembering, she must use the skills taught in earlier grades...read it, build a mental picture or video; repeat. Outline to organize thoughts. Outline is not taught here, if its not where you are you need to teach it.

 

For math, you will need to discuss with teacher. Find out what the school intends to do. In the meantime, if she is weak on any concept from earlier years, reteach and practice.

k-5mathteachingresources.com is helpful.

 

Hi, Heigh. Are you saying she should read the dictionary? Or, use it for writing? Thank you!!

[Guest]

Use the dictionary for reading comprehension. She should not solely use context to figure out meanings of unknown words. She should use the dictionary to learn precise definitions.

[TLaw3357]

Everyone has been extremely helpful. My daughter is missing the basic skills, and I'm not sure how. Perhaps, I wasn't asking the right questions during the parent/teacher conferences. They all assured me that she was doing well. Her school is using Eureka math and the books that I have purchased for her are too difficult. I just ordered some easier books to help with fluency. I think if she can get the fluency down then she will be able to comprehend what she is actually reading. I will read the more difficult books to her. She is also missing basic phonics. I have the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. I hope that helps.

 

Thanks so much! I have learned a lot about different ways to approach teaching these skills to my daughter. 

[ElizabethB]

Here is a quick way to remediate phonics, I have been a remedial reading tutor for 22 years. All free to print.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html

[kiwik]

Use the dictionary for reading comprehension. She should not solely use context to figure out meanings of unknown words. She should use the dictionary to learn precise definitions.

It is not usually not understanding the words that is the problem but remembering minor details and inferential stuff.