hsingscrapper Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 It was mentioned that I should start my own thread on curriculum frustrations. Has anyone else had a child blow through a book, do it almost completely perfect and not retained a single thing? This has me almost to the point of crying and resorting to a reading fest at our house which bringing on some rotten feelings of guilt in terms of shortchanging the boys and getting grief from my dh because he figures they should be hitting the books. I'm either going to shave my head or rip my hair out. After that, I just may cry until I fall down. I'm NOT sending them back to ps as that won't help anything and only make matters worse. Help!?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 :grouphug: We did an entire year of US History last year. On the 4th, when my husband asked what country we declared our independence from, my son answered "Lafeyette?" He does know who George Washington is, but apparently nothing else. My daughter did a bit better on the pop quiz! Math jumps out of her brain. Math stays in my son's brain, but everything else jumps out. :lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Oh wow... I'm glad I'm reading this in advance so that I can prepare myself. We experience that when we ask him simple plot questions about the Bible stories we're reading, but I assumed that he just wasn't paying attention. Good to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irishmommy Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Maybe he's going through it too quickly? Is this history dates and such or math? See, to me there is a vig difference. Also, I notice a BIG difference in retention wham information is presented in literature form (as in children's historical fiction). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yslek Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 We experienced this with B & grammar. He did 3 years of GWG (after having done a year of Shurley & a year of FLL) almost perfectly but retained zilch. :glare: Keeping my fingers crossed that Analytical Grammar will actually stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Zero retention is guaranteed if I don't teach to my dc's learning strengths. The dc I have the most trouble with this is dd12. She is predominatly visual-spatial with a heavy tendency toward kinesthetic. She can retain information long enough to do the work or pass the test but has no retention at all unless she is taught using lots of visual and kinesthetic methods. So, for her, that means lots of pictures, graphs, charts, colors, projects, experiments, handiwork, moving, manipulating...she also learns best by seeing the concept or topic in context. She needs to be introduced to, practice and apply what she learns in applications that are meaningful to her in order for her to truly cement and retain the information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Which student is having a hard time? Is there a particular subject your student is struggling with? Also, if we're talkin' math, that student just might need a spiral math program or at least you might need to add in lots of review. Every day, write out 5 review problems in his notebook for him to solve independently before he starts his regular math lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 It is both boys. The middle one zips through everything but only the math has trouble sticking. He actually cries like a baby when I tell him that I taught him how to find the answer but he can't remember. I tried this Amish workbook I found at our local expo for 2nd grade. Being an idiot or maybe too trusting, I thought when he completed it he was ready for very slow 3rd grade work. We were blessed with TT for 3rd grade. I told him he could progress at his own pace so long as he got at least 90% on each assignment that he did. I started to really notice he wasn't retaining when he'd come to a similar problem that he learned the process to a few days earlier and had ZERO clue as to how to do it!! The older one I just have to over things again and again for a few days before it sinks in. I think I have him figured out. Lots and lots of repetition for him seems to work for math. He needs it to drive the process home as I'm tired of always having to talk him through the process (like adding fractions with different denominators). I'm still trying to figure out how to get language arts to stick for the oldest but that's a topic for a different thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irishmommy Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I'd say a curriculum with lots of review or lots of practice is what you need. Maybe a spiral math program. Growing with Grammar has tons of repitition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Oldest dd is like this with history. Textbooks, living books, historical fiction; review questions, quizzes (oral & written), compositions ... nothing, in any format, at any age, could get her to retain anything more than a vague idea that certain things happened at some point in time, involving some people whose names just don't seem to come to her at the moment. At 15, she just scored 5's on her English Literature and Calculus AP exams. But she remains, as dh puts it, "immune to history." It's enough to make a classical homeschooler cry. Some day I'm going to see her on Jaywalking, trying to recall if there was some sort of war involved at the founding of the country ... against the French and Indians, maybe? Or no, that was the First World War.... This isn't very encouraging, is it? :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 This isn't very encouraging, is it? :glare: Not exactly but it did bring a smile to my face! I have to laugh silently as I'm sitting in the library and don't think they would appreciate my laughing out loud... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 We were blessed with TT for 3rd grade. I told him he could progress at his own pace so long as he got at least 90% on each assignment that he did. I started to really notice he wasn't retaining when he'd come to a similar problem that he learned the process to a few days earlier and had ZERO clue as to how to do it!! I've heard this about certain curriculum (TT, GWG), but I think it can happen regardless of what program you are using - even if it is spiral. I think the PP that was talking about teaching to a kid's learning strengths was on the right track, but the kid also has to be developmentally ready for the material. I read that if the kid is working on a subject area that is difficult for him/her, you should teach the material using all the ways that child learns best (visual, oral, hands-on, etc.). If it is a subject area they don't have trouble with, it may not matter how you get the material across to them. I know my oldest retained so much more grammar this year using the hands-on, moving-around-while-learning, auditory & visual & hands-on methods in WT than just the read-it/write-it in her GWG3 book. Some of the things she was learning in WT were reinforced in Prima Latina - making inroads into her brain another way. However, it is possible that I could use the same methods with her younger sister and have zero retainage if she's not ready for the material yet. Child #2 will tell you that the answer to a subtraction problem is an "adverb, or maybe that's the answer to a multiplication problem. ... A part of speech? What's that??" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I wonder if some consistent and regular review with something like Khan Academy might help? I have my son do "warm-ups" with that, have him review stuff online with Khan's explanations if he needs them. It is really keeping his skills sharp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 It sounds like a possibility but I'm not sure how we would work it when our only connection is either the library or the in-laws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Are you assuming he didn't "retain" anything because he can't answer any questions or narrate something? Let me assure that there's more in his head than you are able to see. It's why we do everything more than once: each time we go around, more details stick, become clearer, make more sense. Just do things the best you can, enjoy as much as possible, and move on. It will be fine. Really.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 When it comes to non-math things, the child's mind is a veritable steel trap. With math, I don't understand how he can do it perfectly the day he learns it and not remember how to even begin to do it the next day or two days later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyz Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Maybe he's going through it too quickly? Is this history dates and such or math? See, to me there is a vig difference. Also, I notice a BIG difference in retention wham information is presented in literature form (as in children's historical fiction). This was my thought. I don't always think zipping through a curriculum is the best way to go about it. I think they often need time to let it all sit and simmer in their brain, practice some more, sit and simmer, practice, simmer, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 My younger daughter is like this... I've really brought my expectations down with her. We spent several days learning about the Great Wall of China only to find out she thought it was in Egypt. I want to bash my head against the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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