If not sure what visual -spatial learner is , you can check it here: http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm Most children with autism & Aspergers are VS but not only . I am a VS but not in the autistic spectrum :001_smile: Mostly interested in what workd best for math &spelling and reading Especially for beginning math K-3. But also history . How do you teach history to a child who does not like to be read aloud to ?

I swear, I am about to wring his neck. When I talk to my kid about math, I can see that he understands the concepts of pre-algebra, algebra, and a good bit of geometry just fine. But doing the arithmetic in order to DO any of those? Forget about it. On any random day he'll declare that he “doesn't know†how to add or subtract past a ten. When I bring up number bonds to help him he'll innocently declare that those are “too hard.†If he does work to figure something out, his method is wildly idiosyncratic. For example, the word problems in MM usually give him trouble (“what do they mean, how many less?â€) so I would sit by his elbow and walk him through them. One day I got busy with the baby and he did a page of word problems by himself. He showed it to me and, hey, he got nearly all of them right! But he was supposed to write the number sentence, and he just wrote the answers. So I asked him to fill those in. “I can't†he said. “Why not?†“I don't know them.†“Well, how did you get the answer?†“I just knew them.†Well, eventually I was able to pull out of him how he got his answers, he went through some complicated series of multiple steps of addition and subtraction that barely made sense to me. “Why didn't you just subtract this from that?†I asked. Blank stare. :toetap05: Here's the thing, if he can't immediately see the answer, he'll shut down. He'd rather wildly guess at the answer for 8+8 rather than actually figure it out, which means that 8 is 6 and 2 never sticks. And then this morning, omg, he was working on a MM puzzle where he had a set of numbers and he had to split them up so that they make the same sum. He figured out the first few that were easy, and then shut down. When I asked him how he did the previous ones, he told me. When I asked why he didn't just do the same thing again for the next one he said it was because there were more numbers and he “didn't know†what the answer was. Iow, he didn't want to write out a few guesses on scratch paper and try out a few options to see what would work. There were tears, and weeping, and whining (I can't stand the whining!) for, well, a really long time. Seriously? I know he CAN do it, but he just WON'T. :svengo: If he doesn't get adding/subtracting down, how can we move forward? So then we're stuck, doing stuff he either flies through or weeps over, with little rhyme or reason. Now, my DH was the same way. When he was in elementary he was dx with the 70's European version of ADD and was sent to a special school for “stupid kids.†Eventually some teachers figured out he wasn't stupid, and he was bumped into a different school, but not before he fell way behind in math. It is possible my DH has dyscalculia, but I have not seen signs of dyscalculia in CP, he understands number lines and place values and so on perfectly. Unless I don't understand dyscalculia? But as an example about my DH, this morning over breakfast I brought up a MEP question since he was complaining about how he didn't understand “that crazy British math programâ€: “Which one weighs more, an elephant or a button?†His answer? “Well, how big is the button?†What do you mean, it's just a normal button, like the one on your pants! “Oh, so is it a normal elephant too, or just a little toy plastic one?†Thing is, he wasn't joking around, this is how he thinks. And CP is a lot like him! :willy_nilly: Oh, and my DH has OCD, and I think CP has a bit of that too. I've even seen him carefully erasing sums from scratch paper! He is also a lot like DH in that he has high abstract thinking skills, but low, how to say, "mundane" reasoning, if that makes any sense (which is how DH ended up being pegged as ADD). So what's going on, and how do I fix it? 1) He's lazy, and doesn't want to do the work to learn arithmetic facts. I set him up on Khan recently thinking that would motivate him, but the he got mad because I set something so that he would need to get 10 in a row right. I deleted those, and he's back to doing (simple) mastery challenges and enjoying it. 2) He just doesn't want to play with math, at all. So maybe I should give up on conceptual math and speed him through something procedural. I thought MM would give a good mix between arithmetic practice and number play, but maybe it should just be kicked to the curb. He could back-fill some of the concepts later, right? 3) I'm pushing him too hard. Forget about the fact that he understands place value perfectly, all that 2nd grade math at least practices arithmetic over and over. :thumbup: I've brought out MEP Y2b recently (backing up to before multiplication), and he seems to do well with that, but that's because some of it is easy (like the elephant and button) and maybe that assuages his OCD anxiety. He can practice throwing a fit when something is difficult when goes to college, or gets a job, or buys or house or something. :cool: 4) He needs a more advanced program. Maybe he could have done the MM puzzle if it was variables he could work with instead of numbers to be guessed at. Maybe he would understand arithmetic better if the curriculum allowed him to use negatives to calculate, instead of assuming that he doesn't know about them. But what curriculum is there which assumes conceptual mastery past algebra to teach arithmetic? MEP sort of fits because it has a different S & S, but I still feel that we are spinning our wheels there since it is so hard to accelerate it past the easy stuff (like elephants and buttons, goodness, just this morning we were discussing weight and gravity's effects on mass and volume!). 5) I just have a crazy kid, and he'll probably end up doing Alg 1 by 8th grade regardless, so whatever. He could still become an engineer/paleontologist/scientist/â€construction builderâ€/astrophysicist with Alg 1 in 8th right? Hey, by that time he'll be all set and rarin' to go, right? 6) He's crazy. We're all crazy. Get him a shrink. Get me a shrink. Get DH a shrink (definitely). Are there shrinks for babies? Maybe we can cure baby brother before he also gets crazy. :cheers2: 7) Get him a book which matches his conceptual level. Hand him a PreA book and a calculator. Tell him to knock himself out. :biggrinjester: Ok, now that I wrote that all out and read through it – other options: 1) Stick to MEP as the core and use Khan to practice facts. Keep BA around as long range follow up (like how some use CWP a year behind). 2) Dump structured curriculum and jump to fractions and decimals and so on anyways. I have LOF Fractions and some Key to books in the closet. Maybe he'll stick the number bonds in his head if he gets a really good reason to? 3) I have no idea. I'm so frustrated. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

As a math teacher, I have been a fan of SM math. Now, teaching my two boys (will be 1st and 4th), I'm going crazy with math books. I hate how piecemeal they are; although, I understand why they are that way. However, my 1st grader is able to "get ahead" in math by exploring topics in his mind. My 4th grader (ADD, VSL) is behind in his operations, but can do conceptually harder work. SO - I'm thinking I'd love to have something that is about adding and subtracting, something to explore multiplication, something to delve into fractions, etc. Then I can pick up from those things what they are ready to explore. I'm confident in my ability to explain the math, so I'm looking for something with good activities, problems, manipulatives, etc. I am drawn to BA, but I'm worried it will be too challenging for my oldest. He needs to see usefulness, so I'm thinking about SCM Your Business Math. We are in LOF Cats, and I'm not enjoying it, wanting to pay that much for all those more books, etc. Could we just skip ahead? Thanks for suggestions!

Has anyone out there see, heard of, or used these workbooks? http://www.dyslexiagames.com/ I would love to hear your opinions.

I am discovering that my 11yo ds is a VSL. Well I guess I’ve kinda known it all along. This learning style totally perplexes me as I am completely the opposite. I have done some online reading and have ordered a couple books to read through as well. I am trying to figure out our plan for next year and am researching curriculum and brainstorming what I can do to help him better. He will be 6th grade. He has always been good in math conceptually but computation is hit and miss. He is very easily frustrated and math ends in a struggle more than 50% of the time. He resists showing his work but has done it when pushed. When he does it carefully, he is very accurate but it is painful for him. He knows his facts but gets frustrated doing "bigger" numbers or long decimals. He likes to do things in his head (and is fairly good at it) but can't keep enough in his head to do longer problems. So question is if they know their facts and they know how to do the problems conceptually, is there a point when you just let them whip out the calculator? And what do you do once you get to Algebra with these VSLs? Don’t they have to show their steps? I was leaning heavily toward Kinetic Books PreAlgebra for him next year. He did the sample and liked that it was on the computer and said the visual part of it helped him tremendously. He also liked the game in the sample, but I don't know that that is a part of each lesson. I am trying hard to wrap my brain around this whole to parts thing. It is so foreign to me. I know KB is very visual but is it considered whole to part? Because he gets math concepts fairly easily, I have recently been wondering about AoPS, but he is so easily frustrated I just don’t know if it would be a good fit. Any input there? I've also thought about MUS for PreAlgebra or possibly even solidifying Fractions and Decimals the MUS way first. Also considered sticking in RS Geometry. Grrr. Sounds like I'm all over the place. :glare: Oh and for background, we did RS B-D and then Singapore US 3-6. We’ve also been working through Hands on Equations this past year. He is a sciency kind of kid. Loves to build things. He’s done some robotics. Likes aerospace. I see him being an engineer so I want to make sure his math is solid. Any advice?

My almost 8 year old is a right-brained or VSL learner and has some color vision issues. He sees only the main colors, very little shades, and brown and green are often the same/grey. His reading is up to level now, but math is making very slow progress. He can understand the processes, negative numbers, place value, infinity, but he can not remember his addition facts. I've read this is typical. This is hard for me as I am a college math adjunct, and my son has dreams of building robots and thus needing math. We are using SM 1B. Slowly. Working some drill on math facts, but it doesn't help. Do I just keep going and try something different for facts? I tried RS Level A with him at age 5 because it doesn't use c-rods. Differentiating the colors on the rods is hard. Should I consider trying Level B now? Would MUS help? I have tried both with him. He was too young when I tried RS. MUS seemed boring and repetitive to me. I like the idea of SM, but I can do math. Ideally, a problem based math where he can use his strengths like AIMS investigations or Kitchen Table Math would be good, but I need something that will get done. Any ideas?

Hello all, I haven't been to the forums in quite a while, since what we are doing with my daughter is working. But now my son is school age and I have discovered, through research, that he is a VSL. (My daughter and I are not, though we are probably more whole brained than left brained.) What I have been using with my daughter definitely will NOT work for him. I'm looking for suggestions on curricula, especially for reading. We are planning on using Math Mammoth, but are open to other suggestions. Right now he's tagging along in science and history (R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey and various lapbooks for history). Again, I'm open to other suggestions for those subjects as well. But frankly reading has thrown me for a loop. My daughter and I both taught ourselves at such a young age that neither of us remembers a time when we weren't reading (daughter was 2). I am a former teacher, but I was taught to teach reading via phonics. That isn't working so far, and from my readings, it isn't likely to get any better. So, anyone with suggestions for curricula that will help a VSL, please chime in. Or if you have a VSL and know of something that didn't work, please post that too!! It'll cut down on research time! :p Thanks in advance, Aimee

Okay, I'm an old dog and it's going to be tough to teach me this 'new trick', but please try. ;) I'm having trouble understanding my youngest child, but he fits the VSL pattern according to this chart, so that would be 'big picture', right? But he enjoys robotics and told me he likes the programming end better than the designing part. That seems more detail oriented to me. Is this making any sense or am I so lost someone would need gps to find me?

I know this is a classical board, and I've for the most part been attempting to follow that, but I'm really struggling with my son... he's gotten so far behind, he'll literally sit all day long to read a very small passage that he's supposed to read and then summarize.... I'm stressing, he's stressing, and I'm just thinking maybe this way isn't the right way for him so not sure where to go from here. I was thinking something more child-led would pique his interest more and keep him on task....

I picked up some books but we need either in person classes or videos. There's no classes for at least an hour from here that I can find so I'm looking for good videos. Any suggestions?

I am curious about the right brain info that I have read. One of my kiddos seems to really "fit" what they talk about. I looked at the Diane Craft site. This child is not behind at all. She is either on target or ahead in all areas. Any thoughts? Any good sources? Any suggestions on how to teach a right brain child?

i have a just turned 6 year old who i feel like i'm not really reaching. we do explode the code which he does and is learning from. we do miquon (when i have enough time away from baby) and dreambox learning and he seems to be doing ok with that too. we are trying to listen to sotw on cd, but there doesn't seem to be much comprehension. we are trying visualize world geography and no interest in that. we tried to do a cave drawing and he drew a robot, after we talked about what was around back then and what wasn't. he had heard his brother say that robots weren't around and he remembered robot so he drew it! :001_huh:this boy of mine seems different to me. he seems very young for his age. does that make sense? he just seems emotionally and academically young. i don't think he has any learning or physical issues. i just know that what worked for my 9 year old is not going to work for this boy. i guess my question is, what are some specific things that worked for your kids. i'm not necessarily looking for curriculum suggestions, but specific activities, assignments, suggestions...something i could do NOW? i just keep reading and hearing stories that parents discover their visual spatial learners in 4th grade or middle school, etc. i just want to appeal to him now. kwim? i have a couple of books on my to order list about visual spatial learners.. i'm not sure how clear my question is, maybe someone can make sense of it. thanks!

Well, I am not doing so great with my curriculum choices this year. My DD is really only happy with IEW. Math, Latin, Spanish are ok. BUT- she is not enjoying this year. Breaks my heart. This is only my second year. UGH. Choices are hard. I keep going back to Oak Meadow. My DD is a gifted VSL who is crazy creative. Would she like it? Also, when I am looking at the lesson plan samples, when they show "Lesson 4" is that the lesson for the week? So, are all the books broken into 36 lessons? Thanks!!! :)

http://theeducationcafe.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/resources-and-curriculum-for-educating-the-right-brained-learner/# "why are there are more right-brained, visual learners in today's generation?". a list of resources, sorted by grade, with curriculum suggestions for visual, hands-on type learners - good stuff!:001_smile:

I have a 7 year old amazing boy who is visual-spatial and kinesthetic learner. I have never gotten him diagnosed, but I know that he has speech & language delay, and articulation disorder. He also appears to have attention deficit and may be in the spectrum of autism, high functioning. He is also socially different that other boys his age. We haven't taken him to any specialist because of financial issues, but I do have a degree in speech therapy and so have been working with him myself. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with teaching him. Last year I really felt we didn't get to cover enough - if I were to put him in regular school with other 2nd graders this fall I know he would be lost and behind. It makes me feel a bit of a failure because it seems everyone who homeschools has kids that excel or surpass other kids. He is very bright, but I think it took me a very long time to get used to his learning style and teaching him the way he learns best and at times I just simply didn't know how to present the material to him, but I am learning. Anyway, I'm trying to find more visual-spatial curriculum for him this year without being too expensive. I have heard of Time4Learning and definitely considering it, but it is a bit pricey at about $240 a year. What other good ones are out there? I would prefer to have one with a Biblical world view. Thanks for your help!

I need some history ideas for an 8th grader (we kind of want to do an overview of world history) that is extremely right brained and visual spatial. My dd does not like boring textbooks. I bought Trisms History Masterminds, but am starting to second guess myself. She enjoys the literature part of it, but not so sure about the rest. What has everyone else used for their creative right-brained children? I guess I need something a little bit out of the box.

My 11yo DS is a visual learner and I think a Visual-Spatial learner. For K through 2nd grade we used Oak Meadow, which he enjoyed. However, he was getting bored by the slow pace so we moved to other things. For math, we moved to Horizons. We saw it at a homeschool convention and he liked it. However, by the end of the 3rd grade, it brought tears every time the book came out. So, we looked at a friend's Saxon books and my ds liked that. So for the past 3 years we have been using Saxon. We're finishing 8/7 now and once again he is near tears with math. So, now I need to figure out what to use for Algebra this fall. Any suggestions? My ds is easily distracted so anything with blocks/manipulatives probably would not work. We will be using LOF Pre-Algebra with Biology this summer as a break from Saxon, but I do not yet know how it will work.. I would love to hear what has worked for other VSL learners. TIA, Kim

I recently had my son tested and the testing showed that his academic abilities are a bit lower than his cognitive abilities. The report actually states "his academic skill development does not reflect his advanced mental abilities". I've integrated visual elements into several subjects and hands-on activities where appropriate. I have also not let rote memorization hold him back conceptually. We have typically gone deep and wide with our learning, but maybe charging ahead in some areas would be better? I'm thinking I really need to change things up for him, but could use some ideas. He does not have any LD to explain the discrepancy. The examiner said that it was a result of his learning style. The examiner had some good recommendations like more reading (whole to part task) that will influence things like writing and spelling and a spelling program that teaches according to pattern like Sequential Spelling. He also recommended a visual mapping approach to tackling writing. But beyond that he didn't have many ideas. I think I might need to totally change my perspective with him. Any ideas?

One of my sons is, I think, a visual learner, and does poorly with auditory info. As I've been administering the IOWA test to him (2nd grade) this week, it seems that so much of the test relies on info that comes to him through his ears. Do visual learners do poorly on the IOWA? Is there another test I should consider using next time? We've also added on the Cogat to this year's testing.

Hello! I am brand new to homeschooling and am trying to figure out what curriculums to use with my kids. The are all 3 visual/kinesthetic learners leaning toward visual. I need some recommendations for all subjects. We are going to be doing Classical Conversations for this first year and then after that reevaluate but I would still like recommendations for any and all subjects. My kids are currently in K, 3, and 5th grades and are all on or above grade level. Thanks for any and all help you can give. I am open to all suggestions and advice.

what kinds of curricula have you found works best with your child? Any and all subject advice is welcomed!

Its my understanding that visual learners are natural speed readers and once they learn the reading struggles go away (they need to be reading at least 3rd grade level) and comprehension goes way up (assuming they are seeing the video in their heads, if not you need to teach them that first). Can anyone recommend a kid friendly speed reading program? After reading about it I realized this is what I have always done, I didn't really see the words, I'm watching the video in my head and found books way more entertaining then TV but I'm clueless on how to intentionally teach it to my 11 yr old. Its something I have always done.

Everyday - 60 min each Math: Math U See Beta Spelling: All About Spelling Level 1 Grammar: Winston Grammar Basic Writing: Writing With Ease Level 2 2 Days Per Week - 3 hrs each Hist/Geo/Lit: Story of the World 2, Famous Men Series, Map Trek, & DITHOR Science: Nutrition 101: Choose Life (Activities, Labs, & Cooking) 1 Day Per Week Logic: Mind Benders, Red Herring, Puzzles, Mastermind, & Thinking Toolbox - 90 min Music & Art Appreciation - 60 min Creative Writing - 90 min Progress Meeting - 30 min Study Hall &/or Free Reading - 90 min Does this seem doable? Are my time lengths reasonable? All advice welcome!

Specifically, what do you do to nurture their 'atypical' strengths? I have been trapped in a WTM mindset and have recently come to the realization I haven't been encouraging his strengths, but instead have been trying to correct/support his deficits. Through reading books such as; The Dyslexic Advantage and In the Mind's Eye, it has occured to me what a great disservice I'm doing my son at not 'playing to his strengths'. I'm sure there is a compromise between a WTM method and something to encourage his amazing creativity and visual strenghts. We have always supplied building materials such as blocks and legos, but I know there is more, curricular-wise, that I can be doing. He has an amazing gift to concoct a 3-D image in his mind, then order specific legos it will require, and build it. My husband has started computer programming with him, as he is interested in how computers work, but I know there is more we can be doing with him. Any thoughts? What do you do?

I have an extremely VSL 5th grader who is the queen of no punctuation and run on sentences. I have her in time4writing grammar and the plan was to go though all 4 levels but I'm thinking perhaps its not a good fit for her. Is there a better service I should be looking at?