KrissiK Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 My kinder daughter does not do well one-on-one, for some reason, and it's starting to become a problem. We switched from A Beka phonics because she couldn't handle the teacher intensiveness and really struggles with math. The independent parts of math (addition problems) she does well by herself, but the stuff I have to work with her on.... she gets nervous, says weird answers, writes her numbers backwards, or forgets how to write them at all. My second son was like this, but not to this extreme. We finally put him on TT for math and he's done well. However, TT only starts in 3rd grade and I don't want to put this poor child through two more years of this. Plus, I get frustrated,which makes her even more nervous. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 No formal math at all for the next 6 months? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 What about material from one of these resources or just lots of practical application, hands on math and math games for a while? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/499692-looking-to-do-some-relaxed-math-here-want-to-share-ideas/ Maybe CLE? The material is written to the student starting in 2nd grade but I don't know about 1st. We never used 1st. You could look at samples on-line. Maybe even purchase just a couple of light units and try them out. Not very costly at all to just buy a couple. The flashcard system is really helpful so if it looked like a good fit I would definitely use their flashcards. https://www.clp.org/store/by_course/45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Maybe you could let Education Unboxed videos do the teaching, then she could work problems on her own with you available as needed? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Never tried Khan Academy with a child that young but maybe Khan Academy might be an option? Or as maize mentioned, Education Unboxed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshirtyogapantmama Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Time for learning ? They have a program for K. You could just do the math portion. I have considered it for my youngest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Time for Learning through 2nd grade materials was actually a lot of fun for DS (he did it on the side, not as his primary, though). He enjoyed it and did well. Retention was good, too. (Absolutely HATED 3rd grade math materials, though). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Maybe Dreambox? We had problems with Time4Learning letting the kids go to the next level without demonstrating they actually understood anything. It was just click, click, proceed. Dreambox won't pass you if you can't do it. We did TIme4 Learning in the summer about 4 years ago, so it may be different now, but that was our experience. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilBearsMama Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Maybe CTC or A+ Tutorsoft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Independent and first grade don't generally go together in my house, but I did have one that always did better on her own, even if that meant recorrecting whole pages because she got it wrong. She'd rather do that than have me teach the lesson, truly. That said, my current first grader does Horizons math largely on her own. When she doesn't understand what the book means she'll ask, and she's nearly always at the elbow of myself or her teen sister. I don't really think of it as independent, but she does get the book out and run it herself. No one teaches the lesson from the TM for her. There are placement tests on the Sonlight website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 Independent and first grade don't generally go together in my house, but I did have one that always did better on her own, even if that meant recorrecting whole pages because she got it wrong. She'd rather do that than have me teach the lesson, truly. That said, my current first grader does Horizons math largely on her own. When she doesn't understand what the book means she'll ask, and she's nearly always at the elbow of myself or her teen sister. I don't really think of it as independent, but she does get the book out and run it herself. No one teaches the lesson from the TM for her. There are placement tests on the Sonlight website. Yeah, I never thought I'd be thinking "independent" and "first grade" in the same thought, but this little girl is different than all the rest of my kids. She is extraordinarily sensitive, is the only one of the 5 who is truly content to play by herself (though she does play well with others) and really doesn't do well when put on the spot to answer any sort of question about anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I second Dreambox. She could work on it completely independently and it's pretty fun in the lower levels. My younger DD used it for a year or so and loved it at the younger levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yeah, I never thought I'd be thinking "independent" and "first grade" in the same thought, but this little girl is different than all the rest of my kids. She is extraordinarily sensitive, is the only one of the 5 who is truly content to play by herself (though she does play well with others) and really doesn't do well when put on the spot to answer any sort of question about anything. Ok, I'll say this and people can say I'm jumping the gun. :) My dd who struggled and shut down with answers turned out to have very poor word retrieval and very low (like a 60% discrepancy) processing speed. I don't think it's wise necessarily to go with everything that comes along because you might be missing the explanation for the difference. Working with her, if she has poor word retrieval, yes will be hard, but on the other hand you're building an important skill (word retrieval) and taking the bull by the horns. My dd STILL has word retrieval issues at almost 16, STILL shuts down, and now it's not ACCEPTABLE to break into sign language and say she can't get it out and get all anxious, kwim? Yes, she has an ADHD label and the psych indicated there was anxiety. But we have to have techniques and have to learn them together, because it doesn't get better by ignoring it. I think you can go with your gut. If you want to do math with something she can just do, fine, cool beans. Then work on the word retrieval or whatever weaknesses you're seeing *other* ways, kwim? Like be really intentional about having 1-3 times in her day where she has to do things involving word retrieval, processing speed, whatever with you. And at some point get her tested so you can find out that processing speed and see if there's a disability explanation. With that kind of withdrawal, I'd be working (just me) about hearing and auditory processing. An IQ test can show that and an audiologist can screen. So you don't *have* to work on the weaknesses in math, but I would acknowledge them and work on them intentionally in some way in your day. There's a really good book It's On the Tip of My Tongue by German, that I wish, wish, wish I had found a lot earlier. Your library might have it. PS. Does TT even have a 1st grade level? I haven't looked in a while, oops! Hmm, I'm looking at that placement test for the gr 3, and I'm guessing some kids could do that for 1st, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 My turning-6-next-week kindergartner is the same way about working with me on math. It is one of the main reasons we are switching from Singapore to Math Mammoth. He prefers to do Math Mammoth largely independently. Before he could read well I would sit with him for a few minutes to go over the directions to a couple sections. I would do the first problem in each section so he could refer to my work if he forgot what he was supposed to do. Then he would work through those problems on his own. Many of the sections were self-explanatory. Now that he can read, he can tackle it completely on his own. He does have a habit of skipping the instructional sections and just trying to do the problems his own way, so I give him a couple minutes to read how they are teaching him to do something, and then once he can explain the concept back to me then I let him loose to do the problems on his own. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 OhElizabeth, I do think you have hit on something there, which I should probably explore. I think there are processing issues with here, and we are hoping to put two of my older kids in Catholic school next year so I can have more time to spend with her. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Ha! The DD I mentioned that strongly prefers self-teaching did have a couple processing acronyms when she was small. APD and SID back then. All rolled into HFA/Asp now. I didn't really connect that dot. She is 9th grade this year and only does courses she can run herself. She'd rather use a solutions manual and work backwards to figure out a troublesome math concept than do it with me, but she's getting great grades doing it that way. Her grammar was mostly orally over the years (First Language Lessons and Rod and Staff), which drove her batty at times but it was good for her. We also worked intensively on simple narrations for years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 My K kid can handle the initial TT lessons as they start with addition and subtraction- if you already have the CDs maybe you could give it a try. Otherwise, my K kid really likes Splash Math and More Starfall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Ha! The DD I mentioned that strongly prefers self-teaching did have a couple processing acronyms when she was small. APD and SID back then. All rolled into HFA/Asp now. I didn't really connect that dot. She is 9th grade this year and only does courses she can run herself. She'd rather use a solutions manual and work backwards to figure out a troublesome math concept than do it with me, but she's getting great grades doing it that way. Her grammar was mostly orally over the years (First Language Lessons and Rod and Staff), which drove her batty at times but it was good for her. We also worked intensively on simple narrations for years. I'll be darned, my kid that fits this profile as well, total autodidactic, don't teach me, I'll do it myself, is also ASD. He has Aspergers, and does well now, but yes, definitely has major major processing speed issues. I never connected those dots, that it might be anxiety about "performing" that was making him prefer teaching himself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have a DD like this. She has some SPD stuff going on, and really spaces out doing our together times. She does better with self teaching materials like CLE. Sadly, CLE first grade is teacher intensive, as are most first grade materials. Would she like a video teacher like A Beka? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my3daughters Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Both Math Mammoth and CLE are designed to be independent in the long run but I think anything at the 1st grade level is going to need teacher support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 My K'er has used CLE 100 independently this year. He only needed me to read the word problems until 106 when they start putting them in the student book (he's a proficient reader). Oh, and I have to dictate things to him at times. That said, this kid doesn't have any learning/processing issues. He's just an independent kid. He's loving CLE for both math and language arts. I chose them because he could do them independently, and they're in small workbooks, so he gets the satisfaction of completing a book every 3 weeks (or less). :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kateingr Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Seconding the Math Mammoth recommendation. It requires some reading of directions, but a lot of it can be completed independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 While you are checking into possible processing issues, simply don't do any formal math. It's not worth the agony when she can get most of what she needs informally. Splash Math is pretty good for a computer game math. Board games Be more intentional about real-life math, but don't be obvious about it. Play "Win Mommy's Money." Start with naming coins. If she can name it, she can keep it. Then move on to naming the coins and telling how much it's worth...then have her add 2 coins together...keep getting more complex until you are asking for change from a dollar and then she can keep the change. My kids loved this game! It was less expensive than most math currics...LOL Make a basic daily schedule marked with an analog clock. Hang it next to an analog clock. Ask her randomly if it's time for _______ yet? She is such a big helper to remind Mommy of the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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