I need more help with geometry, please!!!! Need self-teaching-somewhat (ASD)

[Janeway]

We are using Jurgensons, which it turns out, I love! I am teaching it and it is very clear to understand. I just love this program. Problem is, my son has ASD. He is very smart, but he is melting down. I am trying to explain the lessons to him. I do a great job explaining. I have done tutoring in the past and used to be a math teacher. 

 

My son was always quite advanced and found school easy so he zipped through everything. He also prefers to self teach. We have spent more than a week on chapter two now. We are on 2-2. He won't make eye contact and is melting down. He is begging to do algebra 2 instead. My algebra 2 is Foersters so it needs geometry first.

 

Please help!!! I might need to switch to something he can do more on his own. Should we keep plugging away?

[EKS]

I found that both of my students needed a lot of hands-on help from me to break into the idea of proofs.  Is he upset because the math is very different from what he's used to?  If so, I don't think that leaving him to his own devices would serve him well in the long run.

 

If he's upset because he doesn't like you teaching him, and he doesn't really have trouble with the math, maybe take a look at Derek Owens.  I love Derek Owens, but I normally don't recommend his geometry course because there is a disconnect between the instruction and what the student is expected to be able to do.  But lots of students do well with it.

[ktgrok]

This is why we use Teaching Textbooks with my Aspie. He hates to have me teach. He wants to do it himself. Teaching Textbooks removes all the drama. 

[Janeway]

Do you think Math-U-See would be good? He does not want to use a video at all. I tried him with the samples on Teaching Textbooks and he says no way. We did MUS in his earlier years of homeschooling. He did fine with it, he just felt it was boring. We switched to Horizons, which went great too. We did Foersters for Algebra 1. That went fine until he had trouble. He only had trouble a couple times. Now we are on geometry. I am considering ordering MUS.

[jlee]

try https://schoolyourself.org/ It could fill some gap between textbook and tutoring.  I can recognize its effectiveness....

[wapiti]

My ds12 recently started Jurgensen.  Without going into detail, he and I have issues with oral communication.  How we are handling it so far:  I sit next to him while he reads the lesson to himself.  Then he'll ask if he doesn't understand something.  Ch 1 was super-easy, of course, so it went fine at home over fall break.  I don't know how well that will work with ch 2, but in theory his teacher at school is supposed to start teaching him this week (I'm not holding my breath on the teacher, who is planning to move way too slowly).

 

Ch 2 in many geometry texts covers the two-column proof.  It would not worry me at all to spend more than a week on that chapter, maybe two weeks or longer.  It will be unpleasant, no doubt, but would be unpleasant no matter the text (except maybe for AoPS, which teaches paragraph proofs rather than the painfully-pedantic two-column).

 

So, I would expect issues with ch 2 no matter the text.  You otherwise like the text, so I would not switch.  If you feel too bogged down in ch 2, try to move on and come back to it in another week.

 

MUS is known to be light at the high school level.  I would not bother ordering it just because there's an (expected) struggle over the two-column proof.  ETA, it's a personal decision, but I imagine that it's possible to still teach paragraph proofs but without going into explicit detail on the logic p>q, etc.

 

Also, if you want someone else to explain two-column proofs, there are some decent videos on youtube.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Have you looked at Lifepac Geometry?  It's by the same company who does Horizons.  Alpha Omega.  It's basically self-teaching.

[MorningGlory]

It took my son at least two full school weeks (10+ days) to complete each of Chapters 2 and 3 in Jurgensen's. It will take him at least three weeks to finish Chapter 4...maybe longer; it is one of the longest chapters in the text. He probably will not cover the last two chapters in the book, and we are sprinkling in a few constructions along the way, so he will not do all of Chapter 10. This gives him a little breathing room as far as the schedule goes. But just a little. It is a full book! 

 

Do you know exactly what is causing the meltdowns? Is it the subject itself? Or is it the fact that he cannot self-teach? Or is it the proofs? Or the number of problems?

 

Is it the two-column proof that is causing the meltdowns? If so, glance ahead to Chapter 4. Paragraph proofs are introduced there, so you may want to go straight to that format. Some kids prefer it; some hate it. I have personal, direct experience with an ASD student, and he greatly preferred the two-column proof! He liked the obvious order and the "chart" format and despised trying to make his math reasoning flow in a paragraph form. 

 

I think I remember you asking earlier about what problems to assign. Jurgensen's has a lot of choices! I would do all of A, some of B, and one or two C problems. If the C problems are too frustrating, skip them.

 

I hope you find a solution!! I love geometry. My older son (who is planning to pursue a degree in math) barely tolerated it, yet my younger son seems to like it much more than algebra! Go figure. But I'm with you...it is fun to teach. :-)