What do your more challenged learners like for math?

[Kelli in TN]

We have hit a wall. We are half way through Horizons grade 1 with my 8 year old. He did well with Horizons K and until recently, did fine with Horizons 1. But lately we are just not getting it and every math session ends in frustration, thrown pencils and tears.

 

I can't really afford to chuck it and buy new stuff right now. Anyone got any great tips to keep my little guy engaged?

 

His dx is nothing more than a low IQ, if that helps you advise me.

[Greta Lea]

(His verbal IQ is extremely high. Together they average out to an average IQ.That's why you might have never thougth that he has a low non-verbal IQ when you've been around him.)

 

Anyway, I know I've told you that Z is still only in the 6th grade math book. He hit a brick wall with math when he was only 6yo. He had never been able to do pencil and paper work, but he could tell me the answer pretty easily until that time. For a few years, I didn't consistantly use any program. Instead I did lots of different hands-on math stuff with him.

 

For at least a year, I remember using dice for him to do addition problems. I would practice certain fact families by laying down one die on that number and then he'd get to roll the other die and count them all up. Sometimes I'd lay down a flash card and have him lay down a die for each number and count up the answer. I also had the math u see blocks and we'd build fact families with the blocks (they have blocks similar to these at learning house).

 

I also printed off a hundreds chart and had him count by tens and color all the tens when he got to them. Each day we'd use that as his visual guide for him to count by tens. ONce he had that memorized, I'd do the same thing with another skip counting family. Skip counting REALLY paid off for him once he *finally* got to multiplication. (I use hundreds charts for a LOT of math skills through the years).

 

I was REALLY worried at that time that he might not ever get though ANY basic math. I DID work on basic math like I described above, but I also put just as much attention on concepts that I knew he'd need to know just to survive, like telling time and counting money.

 

I started each day's lesson with telling me the time on our little Judy clock. He moved from telling time to the hour and half hour pretty easily, but struggled more with telling time to the minute. He *still* struggles with elapsed time (which reminds me that I need to be working with him on this daily still...that and counting back change...ugh!!!).

 

I also daily practiced calendar skills with him. I was doing this with him when he was tested for AS at age 7 (he was saying the days of the week every day and also telling me how many days were in a week). I remember watching through the window as they asked him how many days in a week. I was so excited, 'cuz we'd been working on that for MONTHS. Well, he had to say the days of the weeks as he counted them on his fingers, but for some reason he goofed up his finger raising as he was saying the days (common for him, that's why I didn't encourge him to use his fingers back then...he's OK with that now). Anyway, he said there were *9* days in a week, although he did say them all correctly.

 

Oh, for money skills he LOVED what we played. It's called "Making 5" (or "Making 10" or "Making a dollar"...it changes as his skills grows). We would take turns rolling a die. You collected pennies for whatever you landed on. Then when you had 5 pennies, you traded them for a nickel. If you landed on a 5, then you got a nickel. We'd play until one of us had a predetermined number of nickels (or whatever coinage you were working on).

 

I'm now remembering that I used a Saxon grade one math TM as a guide for a LONG time. He didn't do the worksheets, but we did EVERYTHING in the "meeting time" where the calendar, telling time and other activities are. He couldn't handle doing the entire meeting time every day. I do 1/2 the meeting activities one day and the rest of them the next. I *always* have him stop doing math (still even now) before he gets too frustrated or too tired.

 

These are just a few ideas that I can think of off the top of my head. The main thing I want to recommend is to for sure drop the workbook pages you are doing right now that are giving him such grief. Over the years, I've noticed that Z not only performs better in math, but also *loves* math (and considers himself a "mathmetician"LOL) when he is doing math work that he can pretty easily be successful with. Honestly, he's only been able to handle being pushed ever so lightly in math over the past year or so (since maybe age 13).

 

Use your Horizon's as a guide to what skills to teach, but don't drag out the workbook for him to do. You might need to only work on ONE skill for weeks or months, so using a workbook won't be doable.

 

I know you've mentioned Right Start math to me before and how it's just too expensive right now. You might want to check out a math program that I've heard about called Math On Level. I've heard great things about it. Now, I've never even looked at it, since I am TOTALLY satifised with our math right now, so I can't give a personal opinion on it. It might even be very expesnsive, but I just thougth I'd throw that out to you.

 

Hope your cold is better!!!

 

Greta (Who wayyyy overslept and is now having trouble getting motivated to start the day. We'll be doing school at supper time tonight! UGH!!!!!)

[Laurie]

. But lately we are just not getting it and every math session ends in frustration, thrown pencils and tears.

 

.

 

I don't know anything about Horizons...what exactly is he working on right now in his book? Maybe someone might have something specific to the topic that might help? Do you think it's the new material? Or the length of the assignments and his brain and/or hand just gets worn out? Could it be something like the time of day and he'd do better after a meal/snack or after some exercise?

 

 

 

My dd(11) alternates between loving and hating math. She has been using Math U See, but I bought Teaching Textbooks 5 and she's half way through it. It's going okay, but she's not doing it independently. I sit with her and write problems out for her to solve on a white board. I'm not sure whether or not to go back to MUS right now. (I'm getting kind of confused by it.) When I heard about TT on the high school board and saw that some don't consider it "rigorous" enough I decided that it sounded good to me! (Since one of your dc is using TT do you want your ds(8) to eventually use that program?)

 

FWIW, I figured out that my dd often needs time for new material to "gel" before moving on to the next thing. Big stumbling blocks for her have been learning to carry/borrow and now muliple digit multiplication. I'm also surprised that sometimes she'll stumble on something like 8-7! (I still have her working in the Calculadders books on a regular basis because of this.)

 

Good luck!

[Misty]

As soon as you can afford it, I would chunk Horizons out the window and either get MUS or RightStart. I have used both and RS is my top pick, but MUS is also good. Oh, and I've also used Horizons! Horizons is seriously lacking compared to MUS & RS. Pure torture for these children!

 

RightStart http://www.alabacus.com

 

RightStart yahoo group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RightStart/

[Kelli in TN]

(His verbal IQ is extremely high. Together they average out to an average IQ.That's why you might have never thougth that he has a low non-verbal IQ when you've been around him.)

 

Anyway, I know I've told you that Z is still only in the 6th grade math book. He hit a brick wall with math when he was only 6yo. He had never been able to do pencil and paper work, but he could tell me the answer pretty easily until that time. For a few years, I didn't consistantly use any program. Instead I did lots of different hands-on math stuff with him.

 

For at least a year, I remember using dice for him to do addition problems. I would practice certain fact families by laying down one die on that number and then he'd get to roll the other die and count them all up. Sometimes I'd lay down a flash card and have him lay down a die for each number and count up the answer. I also had the math u see blocks and we'd build fact families with the blocks (they have blocks similar to these at learning house).

 

I also printed off a hundreds chart and had him count by tens and color all the tens when he got to them. Each day we'd use that as his visual guide for him to count by tens. ONce he had that memorized, I'd do the same thing with another skip counting family. Skip counting REALLY paid off for him once he *finally* got to multiplication. (I use hundreds charts for a LOT of math skills through the years).

 

I was REALLY worried at that time that he might not ever get though ANY basic math. I DID work on basic math like I described above, but I also put just as much attention on concepts that I knew he'd need to know just to survive, like telling time and counting money.

 

I started each day's lesson with telling me the time on our little Judy clock. He moved from telling time to the hour and half hour pretty easily, but struggled more with telling time to the minute. He *still* struggles with elapsed time (which reminds me that I need to be working with him on this daily still...that and counting back change...ugh!!!).

 

I also daily practiced calendar skills with him. I was doing this with him when he was tested for AS at age 7 (he was saying the days of the week every day and also telling me how many days were in a week). I remember watching through the window as they asked him how many days in a week. I was so excited, 'cuz we'd been working on that for MONTHS. Well, he had to say the days of the weeks as he counted them on his fingers, but for some reason he goofed up his finger raising as he was saying the days (common for him, that's why I didn't encourge him to use his fingers back then...he's OK with that now). Anyway, he said there were *9* days in a week, although he did say them all correctly.

 

Oh, for money skills he LOVED what we played. It's called "Making 5" (or "Making 10" or "Making a dollar"...it changes as his skills grows). We would take turns rolling a die. You collected pennies for whatever you landed on. Then when you had 5 pennies, you traded them for a nickel. If you landed on a 5, then you got a nickel. We'd play until one of us had a predetermined number of nickels (or whatever coinage you were working on).

 

I'm now remembering that I used a Saxon grade one math TM as a guide for a LONG time. He didn't do the worksheets, but we did EVERYTHING in the "meeting time" where the calendar, telling time and other activities are. He couldn't handle doing the entire meeting time every day. I do 1/2 the meeting activities one day and the rest of them the next. I *always* have him stop doing math (still even now) before he gets too frustrated or too tired.

 

These are just a few ideas that I can think of off the top of my head. The main thing I want to recommend is to for sure drop the workbook pages you are doing right now that are giving him such grief. Over the years, I've noticed that Z not only performs better in math, but also *loves* math (and considers himself a "mathmetician"LOL) when he is doing math work that he can pretty easily be successful with. Honestly, he's only been able to handle being pushed ever so lightly in math over the past year or so (since maybe age 13).

 

Use your Horizon's as a guide to what skills to teach, but don't drag out the workbook for him to do. You might need to only work on ONE skill for weeks or months, so using a workbook won't be doable.

 

I know you've mentioned Right Start math to me before and how it's just too expensive right now. You might want to check out a math program that I've heard about called Math On Level. I've heard great things about it. Now, I've never even looked at it, since I am TOTALLY satifised with our math right now, so I can't give a personal opinion on it. It might even be very expesnsive, but I just thougth I'd throw that out to you.

 

Hope your cold is better!!!

 

Greta (Who wayyyy overslept and is now having trouble getting motivated to start the day. We'll be doing school at supper time tonight! UGH!!!!!)

 

 

Wow. I am just printing this out and keeping it for future reference! I like what you say about using Horizons for a guide and just not using the workbook. I can do that!

 

I've got the RightStart card games but I never really know what to do with them. I tried doing them before or after his Horizons lesson but it was too much. I think I will try them INSTEAD of the workbook. I need to get a Judy clock too, telling time is hard for him.

 

Very encouraging!

 

See you tomorrow!!