Khan Academy and what else for math?

[Slipper]

My youngest daughter has had a difficult year. She is currently in therapy for trauma and sees her therapist one day a week (which becomes a total wash for schoolwork afterwards) and her psychiatrist one day a month (again, she's too emotionally spent afterwards for schoolwork). We do some school work on the week-ends to help her attendance.

 

She is in 2nd grade and was doing well with Math U See (we had ordered Singapore but she didn't like it so we were using it as a supplement) until November when therapy started. Without going into details, she literally couldn't do school work for part of November, most of December and January. February started back up and her academics were at the level of mid-Kindergarten (regression back to time of trauma). She could not get past single digit addition no matter how hard I tried. I finally hired a tutor (PS teacher) and we made very slow forward progress.

 

A few days ago, I decided to try Khan Academy. For some reason (thankfully), it clicked. She became motivated for all the badges and avatars. She's finally made it through single digit addition and is now onto double digit with some carrying. She learned how to tell time (completely, without even the numbers to help). She has spent nearly two hours a day working on math. I am so relieved that this seems to be helping.

 

The sight of MUS or Singapore books make her wilt and I thought maybe I should try a new program. Unless she catches up completely in math (which might be possible now), she will be working through the summer (light schedule).

 

I'm not overly familiar with Khan but it doesn't look like a stand alone and I can't really tell where grade levels begin/end, it's just a continuous stream of math (and other things, but math is our biggest concern).

 

Any suggestions on how to utilize Khan Academy with a smaller 'spine'? Most of her problems are emotionally based although dysgraphia is a possibility (she will be tested for that soon).

[Chrysalis Academy]

Khan academy is tough for a second grader, because I think you will find that you will quickly get through the lessons that she can do, and she might not find that the method of teaching works for her, it is really directed at olders. But there are several good subscription programs that are targeted at this age level, but that have some of those motivating features (and more) that you say she likes.

 

There is IXL math, which is ok. It doesn't have lessons, just practice problems, and you have to do a lot of problems to "master" a section. It's my first grade dd's least favorite of the 3 I'm mentioning, but they are now doing it at her school for homework, and she does like it better than the Houghton-Mifflin workbook she had been doing for homework before!

 

She also tried K-5 learning, which has both math and reading instruction + exercises that kids can do online. She like it a lot. You can try their 14 day free trial.

 

Her favorite, and the one we ended up subscibing to, is Dreambox Learning. It's just math, but she loves it! It is very heavy on problem solving & conceptual understanding of concepts like place value, functions, etc. It is adaptive, so the child gets new problems/exercises based on their mastery of previously presented material. My dd really enjoys it.

[Missouri Okie]

I've toyed with the idea of doing something similar with my second-grade son. I'm fairly certain that Kahn goes lesson by lesson through Singapore math starting with Level 3. Here's the link.

 

I think it could be stand-along math for a third-grader, but I'm still hesitant to turn math instruction completely to the computer.

 

Currently we're in RightStart Level C and do DreamBox as a supplement.

[dbmamaz]

from my point of view, khan academy is very schooly and detailed - it wasnt when i first started working on the practice problems, but became moreso as they made it to the specs of public school teachers. so for me, i might supplement with living books - math readers from the library. because khan academy is very dry so i would want to bring in more interesting or theoretical or applied math which you can get from math books. things like the sir cumference books or Polar Bear Math (one of our faves) and other books on the same shelves as those

[prairiewindmomma]

Do you have a smart phone? There are some lovely apps out there.....

[Trilliums]

As PP mentioned, I'd look into supplementing with math readers/a living math approach.

 

Check out reading lists on www.livingmath.net or look for math readers in your library. Spend a lot of time on the couch reading. Get counters, math cubes, shapes, measuring devices, start collecting a coin jar, etc. She can learn so much without getting stressed out over a worksheet.

 

My kids also liked this site: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_2.html

for online virtual manipulatives

 

Hope she does well.

[Slipper]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be looking into all of them (I have new tabs stretched out across the top of my screen!).

 

She really likes Khan Academy and I'm glad to see that it will line up with Singapore at some point. Perhaps it will make Singapore click for her. We haven't tried Singapore in a couple of months as she was really struggling.

 

When she left PS in 1st grade, she had a solid 100 in math and it was her favorite subject. I really want to bring her back to that point and I feel confident that she's capable of doing so.

 

Technology wise, we are a very tech household. (My husband is a computer geek and frequently receives old laptops in lieu of payment for repair of other computers. He fixes them up for the girls). The girls each have a 'fun' laptop for games and a really good laptop for academics only. We also have an IPAD and kindle fires. I'm open to any app suggestions.

 

At the moment, she needs to be able to 'speed' simple addition and subtraction (without using her fingers). It would be helpful to put her on something for 10 minutes a day just to increase her memorization in that area. She's slowly in double digit addition with occasional carrying right at this moment. I'm hoping that it sticks and it doesn't go away. I think telling time is going to stick. She can do place value and greater/less than.

 

Her tutor today said that she could tell a definite difference in the past week alone. (The tutor is aware of her situation and knows that she tends to zone out at times). My biggest squirm factor is that I accidentally let it slip to my sister that my daughter has a math tutor and I could tell she was appalled that a child so young needed a tutor. My mother knows she has a tutor and also is disturbed about it. Neither of them know about her circumstances so I'm left with subtle digs about my teaching ability (which I already worry about some days).

 

Thanks for all the suggestions and I'm open to more if you have them. :)

[jeswa]

Both of my kids have liked math whizz http://www.whizz.com/en-us/ .