Aoife Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) My step daughter (14) just started highschool yesterday. She is struggling in math badly and loosing confidence as well as really beginning to hate math. She has been PS'd her whole school career and though I have been afterschooling her it was mainly in english ect which she used to struggle in badly as well. My hubby tried going over a few things with her tonight as she brought up just how much she hated math and how she was "no good at it" He now understands just how badly she is struggling and in need of help. Problem is though that we have joint custody with her mother so they are with us every other week for the whole week. Hubby also works a lot. Weekdays we have maybe 1/2 an hour between dinner and bed and weekends hubby has said he can devote maybe 1-2 hours between saturday and sunday. I tried teaching textbooks with her over the summer and she HATED it. It was not engaging to her and she still felt kind of lost. I have MUS pre-algebra on hand but with how bad she is struggling should I go back even further in levels and just try to accelerate through it until we hit rough patches where she can slow down and focus on? Should I buy a copy of Lial's for hubby to use with her over the weekend when he has time to actually sit down and teach? My oldest is 5.5 and halfway through RSB and I am learning right alongside him as my math knowledge was limited from my bad experience with horrible curriculum growing up so I just don't feel I could confidently sit down and help her unless I caught myself up to speed :tongue_smilie: I am just at a loss for what to do and I don't want her to slip through the cracks and fall further into the hatred of math especially when she wants to someday go to medical school. ETA one of her roughest spots is fractions Edited August 23, 2012 by Aoife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) Try some of these: http://www.mhschool.com/math/mathconnects/grade5/sg5c1lesson1.html http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/homeschool-math-curriculum/ Edited August 23, 2012 by MomatHWTK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessicalb Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I would try Life of Fred, Khan Academy, and freerice.com. LoF and Khan are good for learning new skills and practicing them to mastery. freerice.com is good for basic skills practice. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freerange Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 For fraction problems I recommend toast. That's not an acronym, I really do mean toasted slices of bread. Chocolate bars & cakes work well too, but if you're doing a lot of it the calories mount up! Cutting up slices of toast to represent the fractions gives a concrete visual they can recall if they get stuck, but doesn't feel babyish. MEP has excellent lesson plans for fractions. I think you'll find them in year 5, and also year 7 at a more brisk pace. If she likes the MEP material you could pick out material from years 7-9 to supplement her school studies, or use it in parallel. It's free, so if it doesn't prove a good fit, it's only cost you some paper & ink. Even less if you do it online or send the pdf to a kindle or ipad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I would have her go through placement tests for whatever curriculum you like (I'd choose Singapore or Math Mammoth) so you can see where she struggles specifically. I'd get the Math Mammoth Fractions books - cheap and effective. And I'd get some Cuisenaire Rods and go through the videos in the link in my signature. Fractions are a big reason kids struggle in Algebra - that and not knowing their multiplication facts. Teaching her mental math strategies and some algebra using C-rods will help her confidence, too. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I second Life of Fred and Khan Academy for a kiddo in that situation. Start with fractions; if the math is too easy, she will enjoy the story and not mind, and do several chapters per day (but make sure the math is really to easy by making sure it is actually written down). Khan can be great to help you regain some confidence as well, and reading Fred and working the problems will help get the conceptual angle down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I have a struggling math student and he's using Math Essentials Book two w/Dvds. It starts off pretty basic (which is a good thing). The author Mr. Fisher recommend the child also complete the Geometry and Problems Solving book before using the Pre-Algebra. I was able to review this item over the summer and really liked it. I'm continuing it with Joshua and will have Brent my younger son use it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Is she staying in ps school? Is she in a resource room for math? Honestly, your DH and the ex need to pool their resources and get her tested by a NP. I don't know how ps school testing works. They will likely need to request that the ps school test her for maths disability and put the request in writing. If your DD seriously plans to attend medical school, she will require an IEP for high school and a NP report for college accommodations and possible SAT/ACT accommodations. Sousa has written the book How the Brain Learns Mathematics, and it is very good. Fractions is a foundational skill for algebra and up. You also need fractions for the sciences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrissySC Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I would try Life of Fred, Khan Academy, and freerice.com. LoF and Khan are good for learning new skills and practicing them to mastery. freerice.com is good for basic skills practice. Good luck! :iagree: Life of Fred. I just started this for our weekend sessions. You might want to start at the beginning for the story, but you could pick up Fractions and go. I decided for the 6th to pick it up at Goldfish. :lol: Kittens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoife Posted August 23, 2012 Author Share Posted August 23, 2012 morning bump thanks for the ideas so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) Here's an idea that is simple and inexpensive: if you like the looks of MUS, you might want to just review the stuff she needs to know before pre-algebra: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with multi-digit numbers, and dealing with decimals, fractions, and percents. If her operations (adding, subtracting, &c) are good, I would suggest stepping back from the pre-algebra and working through the Key to Fractions series (and the same for decimals and percents, using the Key to series); you may want the answer book, too. These books are old-school in feel, black-and-white, systematic and thorough; if she moves quickly, you can assign only the even or odd problems. You can start with 2 pages in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, or something like that, and she will quickly have her fractions down pat. Then you can pick up the pre-algebra again. While you are cementing fractions you might want to assign a couple of math problems each day to keep her skills in operations fresh; or maybe use one of the Evan Moor Daily Math products that is at her math level? But Key to ... will work really well to set you up for MUS. Life of Fred is marvelous, and I'd suggest it to enhance math love, but I do not think it is sufficient to really teach fractions (unless the child Edited August 23, 2012 by serendipitous journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 The "Key to...." series is made for this sort of thing. They are friendly, nicely graded for difficultly, well-explained, and inexpensive. They feature the very low-tech (almost homemade) looking feel of Miquon. Key to... Is written by the Miquon author's son). It is not "fancy." You might try Key to Fractions. It is something the girl could work on own her own (during weeks she isn't with you) given the clarity of the lessons, which are written to the student. Best wishes. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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