Craptastic Start to Second Week

[zarabellesmom]

Anyone want to vent with me?

 

So...no matter how many times I tell myself that we should keep up with the basics over the summer, we never do. We always live every summer day to the absolute fun packed fullest. Great! So now we are paying by starting all math fact and typing practice at the beginning.  My oldest has been learning her multiplication facts from scratch for four fricking years now. My second grader can barely remember that 1 and 1 is two. She's upstairs crying right now because I insisted she do her best. I know it's completely normal, but it feels like they've forgotten everything. I don't want to be a year round homeschooler. Is that what I have to do?

[Minerva]

I have nothing to add but am giving you three stars for use of the word craptastic! 

 

Hoping that things smooth out for you in the near future. 

[albeto.]

Anyone want to vent with me?

 

So...no matter how many times I tell myself that we should keep up with the basics over the summer, we never do. We always live every summer day to the absolute fun packed fullest. Great! So now we are paying by starting all math fact and typing practice at the beginning.  My oldest has been learning her multiplication facts from scratch for four fricking years now. My second grader can barely remember that 1 and 1 is two. She's upstairs crying right now because I insisted she do her best. I know it's completely normal, but it feels like they've forgotten everything. I don't want to be a year round homeschooler. Is that what I have to do?

 

Aw. I feel for you.  

 

If you have any chocolate in the house, you should commence reducing the stash now.

 

I wouldn't think you have to do school year round if you don't want to. Why make learning a painful chore if you don't have to? As far as math facts, you might find practicing the math facts once a day sufficient, then giving her a visual reminder (something like this), for applying those math facts. Eventually, she'll think to herself, "wait, doesn't A x B = C?" She'll check the sheet, and as her confidence grows, she'll rely on it less and less. You don't have to be the heavy, she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. It'll just naturally move into place. Same with typing. It'll take longer until her little fingers remember where to go on their own. And they will. I promise. 

 

:)

[...................]

Just ease into it! For the first few weeks you can do flash cards for math facts and the can use a hundreds sheet for their regular lessons. You can also try Times Tales. It took my kids a full year to learn plus a full year of review for each type of math fact. And I mean a full year of practicing every single day. :)

 

Also, chocolate.

[SnMomof7]

Yeah. Week 4 was totally craptastic here. My 7th grader sucks at multiplication. Here's to hoping we can get it nailed this year.

[Guest]

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Edited June 25, 2016 by Guest

[FriedClams]

Watch this (I don't think I should do a link... Google "kid snipets math"... 2 minutes....priceless)

 

You're not alone. Slow and steady. Deep breaths.

 

The first couple weeks back are always hard. Sometimes I get those "sucker days" that go smoothly...and then BAM! "A right triangle is what?..."

 

Nap. Sandwich. Shower. It'll be better tomorrow. Find something fun to do. Short. Silly. Make a memory and start over tomorrow. Get some whipped cream for breakfast. Mini m&ms for math. Anything outside your box.

 

And, if you need to, go apologize. I do it often.

 

Hang in there. Tomorrow will be better. (((Hugs)))

[RootAnn]

:lol:  Absolutely love that Bored Short. Thanks for reminding me of it, FriedClams!

 

OP:   :grouphug:  After too many of those start-ups, I try to keep up with the summer math. We still have those moments in just about everything because my kids absolutely have to review things to keep them in their heads.

 

What I've figured out is that we have to gently ramp up to our school year, especially with the younger kids. And, you'll find, with time, that perspective will come (for you) and the math facts will stick longer (for them). If your older one is doing Beast & JA, she isn't a complete loss.  :coolgleamA:  

 

I'm prepared for my kids to have forgotten what a preposition is, how to subtract, and how to properly decline a first declension Latin noun. Division will come (again) as a horrible monster, to stalk dd#2 & dd#3, and youngest will have to remember all those phonograms we so diligently learned in the spring.  :driving:

[fourisenough]

We're trying to ease back into school by doing just math and reading for this week. Ha! Math took exactly DOUBLE the time I had planned for my DD10. The brain was rusty! We both got a good laugh out of it and know things will get progressively better. All that after only a few weeks completely off school! Oh well, the lazy days of summer were worth it.

[SKL]

One of mine has a really hard time retaining math facts, especially + and -.  She is going into 4th grade and she does do some "facts" practice most days, but she still doesn't have most of them memorized.

 

I always struggle with how to balance "great experiences" with school review over the summer.  I mean, when I was a kid, almost nobody did school stuff in the summer.  We read for fun, if we wanted to, and that was it.  I still had no trouble turning my school brain back on.  I think a summer of having real-life experiences does make kids smarter and helps the school year go better, though it is hard to explain why.  So IMO, you might have done your kids a favor by diving headlong into summer fun.

 

Maybe if you changed up the format of the facts practice, it would be easier to stick to it.  We hardly ever use flash cards - too boring and inflexible.  Instead, I have a bunch of workbooks full of math facts.  The kids can go off and do a couple pages while I do my thing.  Somehow it is less painful and more likely to get done.

[BlsdMama]

Been doing this for fifteen years. I've lowered my back to school expectations and I suspect I'll live longer.

 

I call for coffee for mama and smoothies for the kids. I'll bet their frustration and stress level is high right now too. :( It'll be okay. Oh, and on the Times tables? Try Times Tales.

 

Edit: This phone hates me.

[wintermom]

Anyone want to vent with me?

 

So...no matter how many times I tell myself that we should keep up with the basics over the summer, we never do. We always live every summer day to the absolute fun packed fullest. 

 

Maybe you're a lot younger than I, but if I packed every summer day to the fullest I'd be exhausted. Is there a chance you overdid it yourself this summer and are starting the school year a little tired? Maybe a really slow and easy start will give you and the dc some time to recover from a full summer. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Math facts may take years to truly master. Honestly, I never did. I still manage to run our personal finances and the business finances just fine. Give yourselves some time. Ease back in. Play some fun mathy games, laugh about "summer brain" and just move a bit slowly. It happens to most of us.

 

Honestly, this is not the end of the world unless you put too much emphasis on it. Pressuring yourself and them could just prolong the recall issues. Stress can make it harder to remember rote memorized material. Math facts are nice to have down but not having them down right when you first start up again is not the same as being unable to learn.

 

Pull out, buy or create a math fact sheet. In fact, have the kids do it, one or two facts a day. Let them skip count or count on their fingers or whatever they need to do to create that reference sheet. Let them use that sheet for a few weeks during normal math lessons and work on math facts in short sessions separately until things start to gel again. Keep it as upbeat as possible. Maybe create one yourself so they can see the process. If they feel bad, like a failure, for not remembering they are going to shut down and have an even harder time with recall. Give yourselves some hugs all around and start over. Keep it light. Keep it positive. Hugs OP.

[Reefgazer]

Summer is always a planned free-for-all here; the kids do exactly as they want, which usually includes no math, LOL.  But I know that it's a bit of a backslide for us in the fall and just build some review into the fall.  I usually don't have to build in extensive review, just a refresher, but the kids definitely need review.  So adjust expectations a bit and plan for review.  The free-for-all summer is worth it, right?  We start school 3 weeks earlier than the public schools, just for this review; it takes about and hour a day, nothing big, and by the usual "school start" time, they're up and running at full speed.

Anyone want to vent with me?

 

So...no matter how many times I tell myself that we should keep up with the basics over the summer, we never do. We always live every summer day to the absolute fun packed fullest. Great! So now we are paying by starting all math fact and typing practice at the beginning.  My oldest has been learning her multiplication facts from scratch for four fricking years now. My second grader can barely remember that 1 and 1 is two. She's upstairs crying right now because I insisted she do her best. I know it's completely normal, but it feels like they've forgotten everything. I don't want to be a year round homeschooler. Is that what I have to do?

 

[RootAnn]

We start school 3 weeks earlier than the public schools, just for this review; it takes about and hour a day, nothing big, and by the usual "school start" time, they're up and running at full speed.

 

:crying:  Local schools start this week where we are. We usually start later than they do - sometimes by three weeks. I have learned a slow start is best, though, for both them & I. Too much of a shock to our systems to try to get up & running at full speed right away. 

[zarabellesmom]

I loved that video! My daughter watched it with me. I think it summed up our day perfectly. As for learning math facts. We've tried everything. Times Tales, Timez Attack, Math Ninja, filling out a chart everyday to use during lessons. Right now we are back to Reflex Math. We just keep plugging away at it and not making much progress. She's been tested and has slow processing speed and working memory issues but hides it really well because she's also really really smart. I try to keep her difficulties in mind, but four years is a really long time to work on it. I'm at the point of giving up and just saying it is what it is.  Blech.  Calculator anyone?

 

And my youngest was just grumpy yesterday. She didn't feel like she could do anything. I reset her progress on Reflex Math so it wasn't as hard. She has to start from the beginning but she'll be back to speed in no time, I'm sure. 

 

A little wine and chocolate last night and I am feeling much better this morning (plus Grandma is here and they are showing off for her, so that's a plus).

 

Thanks everyone for letting me whine. I enjoyed the suggestions, the silly video and just the general commiseration.

 

[BlsdMama]

I loved that video! My daughter watched it with me. I think it summed up our day perfectly. As for learning math facts. We've tried everything. Times Tales, Timez Attack, Math Ninja, filling out a chart everyday to use during lessons. Right now we are back to Reflex Math. We just keep plugging away at it and not making much progress. She's been tested and has slow processing speed and working memory issues but hides it really well because she's also really really smart. I try to keep her difficulties in mind, but four years is a really long time to work on it. I'm at the point of giving up and just saying it is what it is.  Blech.  Calculator anyone?

 

And my youngest was just grumpy yesterday. She didn't feel like she could do anything. I reset her progress on Reflex Math so it wasn't as hard. She has to start from the beginning but she'll be back to speed in no time, I'm sure. 

 

A little wine and chocolate last night and I am feeling much better this morning (plus Grandma is here and they are showing off for her, so that's a plus).

 

Thanks everyone for letting me whine. I enjoyed the suggestions, the silly video and just the general commiseration.

Definitely general commiseration once in a while!  We all need to know we're soldiering on together!

 

Hey - have you been over on the Learning Challenges boards and do you know what metronome work is?  Metronome WILL help.  (Not fast AT ALL, but over time.  And WAY more important than whatever math book you have.  If I have to set aside a FULL YEAR of math to just hit those math facts every day until they are concrete that's FINE.  Just giving you official permission.  You can blame me to anyone!) ;)

[Miss Mousie]

Anyone want to vent with me?

 

 

Yes!  Last week - our first week - was terrific.  On Friday I acknowledged and thanked him for his great attitude and cooperation all week; he said he was trying really hard.

 

Well, I guess the bloom is off the rose.  :glare:   Today we had our first "fight" of the new year (over math, as usual).  Seriously, the whole thing would never have happened had he just said "wait, I can't remember what a reciprocal is."  Instead ... HIGH emotion and HIGH argument ensued.  And then, of course, the tears, followed by the "why are you always so mean to me" and "you never listen to me" crap.  Sure, I get it.  It's so much easier psychologically to pick a fight than to admit inadequacy, no matter how momentary or insignificant.  But I can still hate it when it happens, right?

 

Sigh.  We'll try again tomorrow. 

 

But I'll tell ya, it's days like today that make me SO glad I didn't quit my out-of-the-home job.

[SanDiegoMom]

We had a breakthrough the other day when I sat down with my dd and asked her "are you crying because the math is so hard or because you know your friend is coming over soon and you just don't feel like doing math?" She admitted it was both, so I let her change gears in math and she felt better for figuring out why she felt that way. But it still made me cringe today when it took her sooooo loooong to add 15 and 6. She is getting so good at problem solving, but basic math facts, which I've tried not to drill and kill, are showing obvious signs of disuse!