How to do school when can't write for 4 weeks?

[Teresa in MO]

my 4th grade ds broke his collarbone this afternoon and has to keep his writing hand in a sling for 4 weeks.  So, he won't be able to write anything.  Certain things like History, Science, Reading can be done without writing.  But what do you do about thinks that require writing like Math.  I am going to be looking at apps to put on the Ipad.  Any other suggestions.  Keep in mind I am schooling 3 others, 2 which are in high school.  Any suggestions appreciated..

 

[Starr]

Reading and videos for school. He could do math with his other hand. Write out the problems for hims and let him work them. If that doesn't work a month off of math can be picked up in the summer. Give him a choice. ;)

[Cosmos]

Poor kid. :(

 

Maybe you could find some number stamps or stickers that he could use for math? If he hasn't memorized his times tables yet, maybe this is a good time to focus on that. Or maybe he could dictate his answers on a recorder, though that wouldn't help if it's computation heavy.

 

Good luck!  I broke my collarbone in second grade, and my teacher was not sympathetic at all. She just told me to write with my other hand and didn't help when I was being painfully jostled in the line. It still makes me mad.

 

[Mommyfaithe]

How about a speech to text app. I have ds record his answers sometimes because he easily get overwhelmed with too much writing.

[Lecka]

I would make the other kids take turns writing for him while he does his math. Or make it a responsibility for one kid.

 

If possible.

[Ameena]

Scribe for him. Or get him a dry erase board & marker and he can use the other hand.

 

Or just do everything orally. It is possible to do math orally - we do :) English can be done orally too.

[duckens]

Theresa in MO, I hope your son heals well and soon!  :grouphug:

 

As a PP recommended, I'd assign a lot of reading, oral narration, and videos for most subjects (history,  lit, science).

 

For Math, this could be considered time lost or time gained.

 

How are his math facts?  (You don't need to answer).  4th grade is usually when kids are finishing up division, shoring up the math facts, and playing around with fractions, decimals, percents, and multiples (lowest-common-denominator, greatest common multiple).

 

1) I'd make my daughter the queen of math facts. 

 

xtramath.org

 

Competency is 3 seconds or less/fact.  If she spends a month focusing on JUST FACTS, she will be ready to take on math with a vengeance at the end of that time.  Xtramath.org is not fancy, but it is free and effective.

 

2) Here are a few 4th Grade Math games:

 

http://www.math-play.com/4th-grade-math-games.html

 

3) There are a lot of drills on IXL.  Membership is $10/month.  You could subscribe for just a month.

 

4) Read Life of Fred series.  (Perhaps you can borrow it from a friend locally?)  Fred could expose your son to many math concepts without forcing him to do 20+ problems for each concept.  I wouldn't consider your son competent in those concepts, but I am a big believer in planting seeds of knowledge/facts long before the child needs to know them competently. 

 

(Currently, I am doing a brief overview of cell organelles with my dd6.  I don't expect her to know their names and jobs for another 4 years, but it would be nice of her to say, "Oh, yeah, that seems familiar.....!")

 

Don't like Fred?  See if your local library has any of these:

 

Manga Math Guides

 

Book of Perfectly Perilous Math

 

Usborne Math Flap Book

 

Usborne What's Math All About? 

 

and the companion

 

What's Physics All About?

 

(To me, physics is just math on steroids; even if there are no equations being taught, the two are cousins).

 

 

[thowell]

Dd13 broke her arm the week before school. I had her do Khan Academy for the 6 weeks she could not write. Turned out to be a great 6 weeks and she learned a ton!