update on son that was so frustrated with math

[ktgrok]

I took everyone's advice (and my gut instinct, before I let myself get railroaded by my sister), and put him back in pre-algebra instead of algebra I. I also borrowed the first disk for Teaching Texbooks, so I can make sure we like it before ordering. So far, after one lesson, I'm breathing a sigh of relief, and more importantly, so is he! He did the first lesson (it was an easy review) and said, "yeah, that's WAY better than Kinetic Books." I think what he meant, and what I observed, is it is VERY straightforward. That is what he needs. He has Aspergers and doesn't infer well at all. He needs explicit directions and straightforward questions. He spent more time in KB trying ot figure out HOW to answer the question (often in the form of games and puzzels and such) than he did on the actually math. Also, there are more problems, which is good. And, when I told him about the review questions in each lesson he said "yeah, that should be a BIG help." I think he really does need more spiral, or at least more review, than he was getting in MM the last few years. He would learn it for the test then forget it. This won't let him.

 

So thank you all, and particularly OhElizabeth!

[elegantlion]

Sweet! :D

[PeterPan]

That's awesome, chickadee!!!

 

:party:

 

When math is working, we need the happy dance!!! :hurray:

 

PS. I replied to you in your grammar thread. Success with my math advice is no guarantee the grammar will fit. Actually my advice was too vague to be useful anyway, lol. Just show him some things until you think you have a combo that can work. Like you're saying, you need straightforward, super-short lessons, and contextualized review. We're doing the BJU grammar right now, and I don't recommend it for you, mercy. I barely recommend it for us, oy. It's good stuff, but she has this foundation of years and years of spiral. And even then, it just leaves us shaking our heads with long lessons, hard to break it up, oddly written sentences, etc. See that's the thing, just because they struggle doesn't mean they're DUMB. I'm starting to think my dd writes better than some of the people writing these textbooks! You get a strong verbal kid, and they're offended by the poor writing. So the caliber of the sentences, whether it's the type of writing they WANT to engage with and read and edit and think about, really matters.

 

Truthfully, on the grammar I wish we had done AG between Shurley 6 and BJU 9. I think it would have been a better step. We wasted a lot of time on Shurley 7. It's good ,but it's too much too fast for you. It's not really great at what it does either. I don't know, we wanted to love it and just didn't. It lost what had made Shurley so great before.

 

At this stage of the game, I'm much more concerned about my dd's ability to understand her writing or the writing of others and WHY something is incorrect and need to be edited. For all its flaws, the BJU grammar is doing that, which is why we're sticking with it and making it work. But we're making it work the hard way, that's for sure. There's gotta be something more appropriate to recommend.

 

PS. My dh has always been cynical that she'd like stuff on the computer the first day, while it was novel, and then get tired and start complaining. Nope, TT has been solid now into the 2nd level of it. So I think if he likes it a week, that's a REALLY GOOD sign. :)