hillfarm Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 9th grade algebra is excruciating. She knows her basic math facts, but is not quick with any of them. I mean ANY of them. 3 x 1....um...um....sit and wait for several seconds...3. It really seems to me that her brain will go blank for a few seconds in there, she can't seriously be churning over 3x1, right? If I am not right beside her, waiting for the answer when she is in that blank phase, she will get lost and head for daydream land. I have to ask a question and bring her back to the lesson. If I keep bringing her back, and allow eons of time for the problems to be completed, she gets about 90% of the problems correct. But I will not be able to go sit with her for cc algebra, nor on the SAT, asking "Now what do you do next?" What is going on??????? Is this a mathlexia type problem? Is this due to me being too quick to help? Is this dd being lazy? Is this hormones (they are at an all time high boil these days)? We have not had this problem in past years, so unless ADD or whatever can be late onset, I don't really think it is that (is it?). We don't seem to have the problem with other subjects. I have assigned her to write out all her multiplication facts for math homework over the weekend, hoping that repetition will help bring it up out of her brain fog. What else can I do? If writing out the facts helps, I will probably have her spend 10 minutes running through basic function flash cards each week for a while. This is making me crazy. This is not a kid who likes math, but not one who normally struggles with it at all either. Heeeeeelp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I would vote for her brain being still out on summer break. http://www.math-drills.com/multiplication/multiplication_table_all.html This is the link I use to print off a blank worksheet for the times tables. We started off last year with this worksheet every morning for DD to fill in. Once her brain was warmed up, she did great. It sort-of got her brain into the math groove..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessicalb Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 (edited) We use http://www.freerice.com to work on reviewing of basic math facts. I have a rising 9th grader and he struggles like you describe. I had him spend basically the entire summer doing a half hour to 45 minutes a day on freerice.com. I'll let you know next week (when we start back) if it worked! Edited August 31, 2012 by jessicalb make a link clicky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessicalb Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 We started off last year with this worksheet every morning for DD to fill in. Once her brain was warmed up, she did great. It sort-of got her brain into the math groove..... This is a great idea. Maybe we'll do 5-10 minutes of freerice before we do math to see if that helps. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Has she always had difficulty with math fact recall? For my Ds it is a processing speed problem. We aren't close to SAT age yet so I haven't asked his doctor what we would need to do re: accomodations or if he would receive any. No way could he take a timed test of any sort at this point though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Did you just start back to school? Mine had post-summer brain fog for about 3 days - we're starting Algebra I this year too, and she was looking at 3X6 and going 'uhhhh...'. I just about panicked! But instead I threw some super-boring fact drill sheets at her, and after the third day, it all came flooding back and now she is doing fine. So if you just started back to school, I'd say give it a few days with some facts drill and see if it comes back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillfarm Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 Sadly, we have been back at it for about 2 weeks.:confused: She has not previously had nearly as much trouble with math fact recall. I am wanting to believe she is suffering from hormone poisoning and this will cycle away in a few days. I do really like the idea of giving her some math fact review pages each day to start off the math lesson, as a warm up. It makes me crazy to see her dithering over 2+3. I KNOW she KNOWS this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 i vote for hormones. my daughter was awesome at math until high school. its not just hormones, the whole brain is being rewired. 2 years later she did better in CC . .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhschool Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Could it be that she is just distracted? Dehydrated? Sleep-deprived? Or not interested? Not to say that it would be OK, but then you wouldn't have to worry that there is something wrong academically. Maybe she needs incentives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 How about having her create a math fact chart as the first warmup (complete with the factors on the side not just filling in the products) with the incentive that after you check it she can use it on the lesson. When I was in college sometimes the first thing I did on a test was to write down formulas or conjugations or dates that I expected to need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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