PeterPan Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) Since I've been monologuing threads (or we've been discussing) for reading and narrative development, I figured now I'd do a dump thread for math. I'm digging in on this YouCubed and Build Math Minds stuff, and I keep finding things, seeing mentions of things. I thought I'd just put them here and people can explore and discuss. And really, it has relevance in some ways for SLD math. Like it's fine to criticize a method or a movement and say it's bunk for a population, fine. But I don't need to teach a population or have a grand theory--I just need to teach ONE. And all I'm trying to sort out is whether methodology would be good for my ONE. Realizing I need to clump here, because I'm totally overwhelmed! Curriculum https://im.openupresources.org This is Illustrative Mathematics, which is problem-solving based and I think aimed at grades 6-8. https://mathforlove.com/curriculum/ This is Math for Love, and I haven't wrapped my brain around this and need to look at the samples more. They're selling grade-leveled curricula, but at best something like that would be a supplement for my ds. I've never seen anything persnickity enough to connect with his brain but Ronit Bird. I keep looking, and I keep seeing lots of cool supplements. But for actually being careful enough to develop concepts and act as intervention for him, RB is where it has been at. http://www.creativeteaching.com/product/hands-on-math-gr-45-ebook Hmm, this is a lot more traditional, in the realm of how do we add hands-on to introduce concepts at home. https://incentivepublications.com/collections/common-core/products/common-core-third-grade-math This is a CC-driven workbook, so I guess I'm just very curious about the Dark Side, hahaha. https://crazy8s.bedtimemath.org/home/what This is Crazy 8s by Bedtime Math. It got mentioned as something for weekly clubs, weekly challenges, that kind of thing. There seems to be a big call for weekly thinking math projects, something where they start at the beginning of the week and try to figure it out by the end. This requires you to set up a math club. Not sure if I can make that happen, as the activities are structured for 12-16 kids. Software https://www.stmath.com ST Math. Haven't done the demo yet, but it looks really sharp! Have we already discussed this and I just missed it? It could be really nice as independent math for ds on top of the together math and worksheets. https://www.gomathacademy.com/ Here's another online math program that I thought would make a good supplement. Has a free trial, around $80 a year if you pay upfront. https://www.zearn.org Zearn is based on Engage NY and reviews well on EdReports https://www.edreports.org/math/reports/compare-k8.html Apparently GoMath scores well also, getting 13/14 to Zearn's 14/14. Zearn appears to have free teacher materials to go with the online lessons, making it a full, though not tiered intervention, curriculum option. For comparison, the major well-to-do districts in the city near us seem to use Bridges, which scores 12/14 and costs $$$$. Now Bridges looks really amazing, but obviously homeschoolers can't plunk out that. Challenge Supplements https://www.kenkenpuzzle.com/teachers/classroom You can sign up to receive weekly puzzles. https://www.youcubed.org/week-inspirational-math/ http://www.openmiddle.com/tag/robert-kaplinsky/ This is for that person seeking a challenging weekly problem to hand to the students, something they'd chew on all week, something that is not an immediate solve. I'm not sure about the levels, so maybe my ds isn't ready for it. The concept is interesting though. To me, anything you can structure, anything you can put on a whiteboard or a list, we can make happen. When my dd was young we did the problem solving books from (I forget the name, for the math contests, the AOPS people sell them), but this is just taking it farther. Seems good to me. Free. It looks like you can sift by grade, common core, or depth of knowledge level. Sharp. I almost think I could do this with my ds or that it would be fun to try. https://solveme.edc.org/ I haven't figured out if this is an app or only through their site. It could be like reward math, transition time. Looks very fun! It has brainteasers to solve. http://bedtimemath.org/apps/ Ok, so apparently Bedtime Math has an app that you play before bed to boost your dc's math scores. I'm guessing that needs internet if it's loading new problems each day. I'm looking at it, and it's actually really charming! It gives a real life scenario, complete with stories and pictures, and then gets them trying to solve it. Like!!! This may be a winner, and it's free to download. Living Math https://www.hmhco.com/products/do-the-math/math-reads/experience.htm This is Math Reads by Marilyn Burns. She also has a new tier 3 intervention series (Do Math, Do Math Now), but it's not affordable. I wrote them to see if they would sell homeschoolers a kit with just the cards and instructional materials for the Math Reads, as the school sets are almost $600 and provide 5 copies of everything, overkill for homeschoolers. The living book lists here are FABULOUS and they're arranged by grade. Our math lives got totally way-laid working on language stuff, and his behaviorist was in favor of that. In fact, I would say that language was probably holding him back more from math than we realized, because it's hard to understand "two of something" if you don't understand OF. So we've come a long way getting behavior under control, getting more foundation, being more consistently in ready to learn, and he's bored enough that he would eat up anything that is clearly implemented and gently progressive. He can't handle a lot of frustration, so I think the collaborative challenge problems are more of a minor thing for him, not something he could do as major instructional approaches. He needs idiot-proof, gently progressive, anxiety-lowering. That is working with everything else. With Spelfabet, for instance, he started out flipping out about writing two words and is now writing all the words on the page! That's 12 words, which doesn't sound like much but with him is a BIG DEAL. That's good, solid progress that we get just by being disarming and getting material that is so stepped back and so right that he finally relaxes and can get there. Spelfabet has been brilliant for that. Maybe I should keep looking. Maybe I haven't actually found that for the math? With Spelfabet, it's an SLP and it was developed using PECS/Boardmaker, meaning she was teaching it to kids right where ds is, where spelling and reading and autism issues merge. Maybe she recommends something for math, hahahaha... The other idea that has briefly flashed through my mind is to give him a calculator and more challenging word problems and see what happens. That's nuts, but it has crossed my mind. I got lots of stuff for fractions (some kits, the RS fractions book, etc.) to do with him, so we have that too. He's pretty good with fractions and basically usually fine when it's more conceptual. So that's all, just thinking out loud here. Feel free to dump things or respond or say what you're doing or whatever. I haven't actually looked for dyscalculia FB groups or tried really hard to get into the loop. That's how I found Spelfabet, but finally sneaking into some more serious intervention/professional groups. It just seems like there's less for SLD math, sigh. They talk about this one guy (whose site I've apparently mislaid), and I can't find samples there or anything to figure it out. Beyond that, they mention RB, which we already know. Maybe that's what I'll look for next. Edited September 3, 2018 by PeterPan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 HeighHo, you might be right. I might be needing more magic pixie dust than anything. I definitely want to round out our approach and step it up. If I landed on something brilliant that was even more scripted/structured than Ronit Bird, I'd go with it just to have it done. But I think mainly I'm wanting to have more categories of things we're doing for math so we can hit math multiple times. I used to, because we were doing some kind of online game and this and that. Really though, the online stuff wasn't brilliant. Some of this stuff I'm finding now is really sharp! Also, the challenge with ds is that he seems to benefit from seeing things lots of ways. So to me it's not overkill to do it with manips and software and worksheets and real life and and... His biggest buggaboo is that he seems so totally removed from learning. Like it's not that I'm neglectful, but every time I introduce things that are maybe typical, grade level math (multi-digit addition, whatever), it's sort of like asking if you'd like to teach an elephant to dance ballet, kwim? Like you could, but why?? He's just in this other world, where food appears and his does his thing and none of this stuff matters. Now if I get him on a conceptual level, sure he's totally into it and engages! The more challenging the better even, which is why I was looking for challenging stuff. I think I picked up the fractions kit from the HOE people. I have a pile downstairs and need to see. So those are my two biggest problems--my lack of mojo and his lack of why-jo. I'm working on the mojo thing, actually am going to get a GP and see one, am gonna take a little trip to someplace blazing hot till I roast away my fatigue with walking and hot tubs and breakfasts that magically appear... But his lack of why-jo I still feel really guilty about. It feels like it's an error on my part, like if I found the right something he'd engage. But it's more than that. He doesn't get the sequences of steps, doesn't have a reason to, doesn't have a need to, and frankly probably NEVER WILL. I mean, seriously, he never will. He will never ever ever EVER use the crap people spend 6+ years teaching in elementary math. None of it. He just qualified again with the board of disabilities. He's toast. He has a gifted IQ and whether he ever does 5th grade math WILL NOT MATTER. And I don't know what to do about that and I haven't figured out a way to make it better. The behaviorist says it may come in and gel with some maturity. Thing is, it doesn't MATTER. For his world, which is narrow and will probably involve living a supervised life with a part time job and meaningful hobbies, computation DOES NOT MATTER. I don't know if there's something about math that would matter for him long-term. I hadn't thought about it. He might enjoy it if we read short biographies of mathematicians and did cool things. That might be interesting to him. Like I remember in high school there was this book of mathematicians with brief bios and nifty explanations of what they did (looking at patterns, etc.). He might like stuff like that. I don't know. I guess my tack so far has been to keep him thinking and not harp on the parts that aren't working. He sorta does computation stuff passably if he really needs to. I was looking at the summer homework packet for a nearby ritzy school for their rising 4th graders, and he could do everything in the packet. But just to sit down and do a page of computation, he'd NEVER do that. Right now it's pulling teeth just to get him to write 12 letters to complete words in Spelfabet (think Explode the Code for uber-dyslexics). He's just on his planet and doesn't get why he would need to write words, why he'd want to do any of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 So I guess my theory on some of these things was that they'd be idiot-proof and create their own why-jo. Like you're doing it because it's on there and we do the software every day at this time so you're doing it. That was my theory. That would leave me to do the interesting things I do really well. But that's what I was looking for, something that might create its own momentum and lure him in and help him progress without him realizing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 29, 2018 Author Share Posted August 29, 2018 4 hours ago, HeighHo said: My theory is that computation doesn' t matter in comparison to developing the part/whole relationship understanding, as well as grasping that we can communicate our reasoning if we have some language to go with it. I really, really like that, thank you! You're right that it's a redefining of goals, and that for him just being able to communicate his thoughts involves a challenge and step just as much as computation. I thought of the goal so solely as computation and that needed to be redefined, yes, definitely. Well I ordered some Teacher Created Resources Mathematics Readers that Gander sells in sets. I got some through the library and a few through ebay with a coupon. They may fill that need for giving an interesting/engaging context with a few questions. We'll see, but I think I might be able to get them to work. Well I'm going to keep chewing on your goals there. I think that's really important, the way you've defined them. You're right that it's a strong expression of what success with dyscalculia can look like and an expression of what would be accomplishing a lot with his language issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 On August 29, 2018 at 9:28 AM, HeighHo said: Are you using gifted multisensory resources for math enrichment? Play is so important. The units on other bases for example, can really add to a student's understanding of base ten. Games give a success reward for using mathematical thinking. Yup, basically everything we do is play. Yup, multi-sensory out the wazoo. I think my real problem is getting my butt in gear at this point. What usually happens is I find one really good activity and we milk it for 2-3 weeks. So it's not like I need so much at this point. I just have to get my butt in gear. He played store today with money and used a LOT of language, making coupons, doing subtraction, etc. I was just amazed at the language. We've come a long way from where we were, and he should be easier to work with and more ready to do collaborative problem solving. We should be fine. We just have a few odd weeks here, finishing up one of our therapies while also doing the other, so it messes up our whole easy continuity thing. When we drop down to one therapy day a week and have more consistency, that should help. But yeah, if I just go pick something and get us STARTED, we'll probably be fine. He actually counted by 4s by choice today. These are concepts that just weren't there before, somewhere where language and developmental readiness and math merge. Now I'm seeing it, which means I have openings to do more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 58 minutes ago, HeighHo said: What bothered me about public school here was the dropping of everything real life, especially measuring. Oh that's interesting. Yes, we do tons of real life. I hang on some of these math groups on FB, and you're right that what they're doing sounds so impressive (collaborating on strategies to solve things, etc.), but that's not the same as applying to real life. But I don't know what is really happening in their classroom. So yes, in general we're super strong on the real life part. I just try to have carefully chosen tasks that move him forward conceptually, something that is maybe too hard at first (a game) that makes him think and that we grow and make more challenging as he gets stronger. That's where we like to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 4, 2018 Author Share Posted September 4, 2018 Oh that is HILARIOUS. I had no clue. Posters sound fun though. I'm thinking that would be fun for us to make as a way to discuss/narrate science topic books. He would totally get into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 http://ime.math.arizona.edu/ttc/Exploding Dots_Student Version.pdf Came across a mention of Exploding Dots and it has a workbook by Tanton. Isn't Tanton the guy Heathermomster likes for math? Anyways, it uses different bases and dots to explore WHY we do trades for addition and subtraction. It then carries them over to multiplication, which I thought was really sharp. We're *just* starting to do addition with trades, and although ds is carrying the dot, I think the Exploding Dots work would connect it more tightly in his brain WHY he's carrying dots. And even the fact that we're carrying dots is from RightStart, which made me wonder which came first or where RS got the idea to go with dots for trades. Well otherwise our math is going really well! I try to have at least 3 sections to our math a day, so we do some computation using a hands-on kit (Lakeshore Learning), do a page from Advanced Pattern Blocks, do some Ronit Bird stuff, and then do a bit from the Hands-On Equations (Borenson) fractions kit if we have time. He seems to be doing well with that. I also had missed that Ronit Bird had a page with all the addition strategies on it in one of the printed books (Toolkit probably). I printed that out and want to go back and make those strategies a bit more explicit for him. That's Common Core but it's also good sense. Somehow we learned them but didn't nail them to strategies. He's got enough brainpower now to think that way. For our Ronit Bird time, we're working through her multiplication book, which is BRILLIANT, oh my. I'm just taking it slowly, letting it sink in, since it seems to be sort of rocket science for him. She builds her facts out of components, so 2X4 is the double of 2X2 which is a double, 2X7 is 2X5 and 2X2, etc. I can't believe I never thought to present it that way! And what it's doing is setting him up well for other concepts like prime factors. He was actually figuring it out for himself yesterday, so he's right on the cusp. Just blew my mind. And since the way we're doing the RB math has you using terms like double and half, I went ahead and threw in some as division, which let us then explore short division, which he seemed to get quite easily. So I'm pretty pleased. We're not necessarily where you'd like a student of this age to be, but what he has is solid and connected in his mind across lots of branches, not just one way. I had thought about adding in some printed math, but I just don't feel we have time. By the time we do all these explorations, we've already spent 45 minutes and are done. I looked at computer math, but I think they would use up valuable time without providing instruction as thorough as Ronit Bird. So I think for now it's better to stick with our Bird math and explorations and solve the other hurdles (word problems, language issues, etc.) when we come to them. I *may* get the BJU math just for some independent work, but I don't know. I always have way more ideas than we actually get done, lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 Yes, there's a lot there! Your point on the terms is well-taken. I'm not sure I've noticed what RB calls them. I lost (mislaid, put somewhere, see my head hanging in shame) by coming of Overcoming Dyscalculia. That's what would have RB's take on the more advanced stuff, so it's killing me. I did some looking and I just need to find it, sigh. Yeah, one video I watched showed a girl at a whiteboard and she kept her dots pretty tidy. I don't know if it's so much that learning via patterns makes it hard or that the dyscalculia makes it easier to count by 1s than groups. Either way, it will be interesting. I prepped the first portion of the Tanton doc to play with him today, so we'll see. I think he may take to it. It's really just a stage though, definitely, not a long-term place to stay. I think if it makes it click super solidly WHY we're doing the dots at the top that would be good. And yeah, I'm gonna need to think about changing that term to group or something. You're right that trade means very little to him and that language matters in this. You're right he doesn't stay at blocks long for anything. The Lakeshore kits I got have blocks, and I thought he'd stay there longer. Oh no, the kits were coins. We did blocks a different way. Anyway, I was surprised how briefly he stayed there. And you're right that even though it seems very physical, they're abstract. Tanton suggests having them do the dots with buttons, etc., which would be sort of an in-between. But it's still a representation of a different concept, inherently abstract, good point. And I think that's why it's good, as an in-between step, just like the Lakeshore addition it is in-between blocks and solely written. I have no clue where I left my Overcoming, sigh. I have some piles (more shame, more head down) to deal with from when I've moved things around, changed things up. I don't know. I must be more diligent. In my slight defense, my thyroid has been giving me fits. I'm getting my spunk back, so I need to tell myself to get stuff done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 Well we did the first lesson from the Exploding Dots and it was fun!! Definitely excited to see what connections he makes with this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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