Math Work-Texts and frustrations with sometimes not having the space...

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So my dd is using Horizons Pre-Algebra and I just don't know what to do.  When there isn't enough space to do everything truly necessary for the problem, she skips swaths of important steps or does it in her head (and gets most of them wrong)

 

She does not work neatly enough.

 

When faced with lined paper to do math, she does not write neatly on the lines but makes up all kind of different ways of fitting stuff in- such as sometimes writing so tiny I cannot see it, sometimes going sideways, etc.  

 

Some of this is personality- she is an ENFP- they think there is a new way to do everything every day, and that there is no one way to do anything and that as long as the answer is usually correct, anyone should be allowed any way to do anything. 

 

So I don't know what to DO!! If I tell her to "use lined paper when tehre is not enough room" she just doesn't do it.  Ever.  TO her, there is always room, in that she will just skip steps, get it wrong, or do it in her head.  In her mind, if there wasn't enough room there is another way to do it (thereby again, getting half of them wrong)....If I tell her to use paper and staple it in, she just, doesn't do it.  

 

So at this point, I have told her htat she may never, EVER write in the book.  It is now a textbook.  But now she is asking, if she should copy out every problem, or just most problems, or just hard problems, and put the answer for the rest.  

 

The problem with this is that Horizons has over 60 problems per day, and the method works partly because of repetition.  But copying AND working 60 problems every day even in my Work Hard work ethic, is overkill to say the least.

 

Honestly, I feel very close to just switching this dd to Saxon whether she likes it or not. I'm so frustrated.

[SilverMoon]

Whiteboards.

 

My 11yo had space problems in that book too, but she has always struggled to make her writing small enough for workbooks. And still does. She didn't mind solving it on a whiteboard and just writing the answer in her book. If there was room in the book she could work in the book. I let her decide.

 

A sibling had no problems with that book though. He is more neat and tidy on his math pages.

 

I don't remember 60 problems being average though? Neither of mine struggled with the workload. Eta they are more STEM kids than artsy.

Edited October 5, 2016 by SilverMoon

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Seconding the use of a whiteboard. You can even get one with a grid, like graph paper, to help her keep everything straight. Sit with her and watch her do it, until she gets used to the new expectations. Later, switch to a tablet of graph paper, and make her redo problems that are sloppily done.

 

60 problems will be too many for BOTH of you. Choose several from each TYPE of problem, and if she solves them correctly (not just getting the correct answer but setting up equations correctly, etc), and writes them neatly enough for you to read, let her move on.

 

If you switch to Saxon, you will still need to supervise her method for quite some time, so she can get into the habit of doing math in a manner that is neat enough for herself to read and understand it. (Whether on the chalkboard, or seated with the white board, or in her notebook, one problem at a time.) With Saxon pre-Alg, the teaching part will take longer than with Horizons, but there are only 20 problems in each set.

[forty-two]

Circle the problems that probably (in your judgment, based on past experience and/or the amount of work you want shown) don't have enough room for her to do all the necessary work, and have her do the circled problems on another sheet, and the rest in the book, maybe?  Also, idk if this is an issue, but I've had a lot more success giving my kid graph paper to do her "overflow" math work on than lined paper.

 

Also, do you have a clear standard for what work needs to be shown?  You need this, this, and this for type-A problems, and this and this for type-B problems, and so on?  My dd is a reluctant writer and needs lots of space (more than she's given, much of the time), and in addition to giving her a graph paper math notebook to work in when needed, I also have requirements for what work has to be shown for word problems (all equations plus the answer written out in a sentence, and planning to add a bar diagram requirement; I don't require calculations to be shown - if she can figure out the answer to the equation in her head, that's fine).  It took awhile to get her used to this, but it helps a lot to have a clear standard for what needs to be shown that you can point to, including having her go back and add in that work if she skips it.

[almondbutterandjelly]

When we used Horizons Pre-Algebra, I used my highlighter to break up each "lesson" into more than one day.  I highlighted half of each type of problem in yellow, the other half in pink.  Sometimes if there were a whole lot of problems or they covered too many different concepts, I would highlight with more colors.  Complete a different color per day.  That way you aren't doing 60 problems at once.