Math curriculum problem question for you..

[ga girl]

Our problem is having a worksheet with enough room to actually do the problem. I am having to copy all the problems onto another sheet (otherwise, it would take ALL DAY to copy and do the problems). Anyone have suggestions for a math program that's solid and has room on the worksheet? I used Saxon until 5/4, as there was no worksheet anymore!

[Mandamom]

Our problem is having a worksheet with enough room to actually do the problem. I am having to copy all the problems onto another sheet (otherwise, it would take ALL DAY to copy and do the problems). Anyone have suggestions for a math program that's solid and has room on the worksheet? I used Saxon until 5/4, as there was no worksheet anymore!

 

I'm not totally sure if this is what you mean but I'll give it a try.

 

At school we have the students do the work on a separate sheet of paper and just copy the answer in the answer place on the original worksheet. We staple the scrap/worksheet to the original worksheet.

 

I used Saxon for a while, homeschooling, and had ds solve the problems on a piece of paper and write the answer on an answer sheet that he created (basically notebook paper with numbers down the side). If he got the right answer I usually didn't refer to the sheet where the work is but if it was wrong I could look over the work and see where he had the problem. I usually just kept the worksheet and answer sheet together as I now do at the school I work for.

 

This way you could use whatever math program fit your child best and still have room to solve the problems and a place to put the answers so it could be found easily.

Edited December 25, 2008 by Mandamom

[Lovedtodeath]

I'm not totally sure if this is what you mean but I'll give it a try.

 

At school we have the students do the work on a separate sheet of paper and just copy the answer in the answer place on the original worksheet. We staple the scrap/worksheet to the original worksheet.

 

I used Saxon for a while, homeschooling, and had ds solve the problems on a piece of paper and write the answer on an answer sheet that he created (basically notebook paper with numbers down the side). If he got the right answer I usually didn't refer to the sheet where the work is but if it was wrong I could look over the work and see where he had the problem. I usually just kept the worksheet and answer sheet together as I now do at the school I work for.

 

This way, you could use whatever math program fit your child best and still have room to solve the problems and a place to put the answers so it could be found easily.

 

:iagree:Yep, scrap paper! That's what we did when I was in PS too. I remember that far back, believe it or not. :D

[ga girl]

That's great!

 

Thanks! We'll give it a try that way.

[Ellie]

Our problem is having a worksheet with enough room to actually do the problem. I am having to copy all the problems onto another sheet (otherwise, it would take ALL DAY to copy and do the problems). Anyone have suggestions for a math program that's solid and has room on the worksheet? I used Saxon until 5/4, as there was no worksheet anymore!

My dc wrote out their own problems from the textbook. I did the same when I was in school.

[yvonne]

When I was in school, we had a math textbook like that. When the problems were in neat little rows, we just used a sheet of notebook paper, folded the paper horizontally a couple of inches down, put the folded sheet just under the row of problems, worked the problem (couldn't write in the book), and wrote the answers to the problems on the first line under the fold as we worked. For the next row of problems, we folded the paper again, lower down, and repeated the process.

 

For problems that weren't in neat little rows, we (the students) each copied the problem and worked them on the notebook paper.

 

You actually learn very quickly how important it is to be neat in math when you have to do this! :)

 

yvonne

(waiting, waiting, waiting for the kids to fall asleep......)

[kewb]

We use scrap paper and they copy the answer to the worksheet and attach the scrap so I can see their work.

[Ellie]

When I was in school, we had a math textbook like that. When the problems were in neat little rows, we just used a sheet of notebook paper, folded the paper horizontally a couple of inches down, put the folded sheet just under the row of problems, worked the problem (couldn't write in the book), and wrote the answers to the problems on the first line under the fold as we worked. For the next row of problems, we folded the paper again, lower down, and repeated the process.

 

For problems that weren't in neat little rows, we (the students) each copied the problem and worked them on the notebook paper.

 

You actually learn very quickly how important it is to be neat in math when you have to do this! :)

:iagree:That's exactly what we did, too. I don't remember ever having a workbook for math.

[EKS]

Singapore workbooks give quite a bit of room.

[MerryAtHope]

My son has a spiral notebook for his math scratch paper. That way he can give me the notebook too & we can go through the problem together if something is wrong & see where the mistake was, and the paper won't get lost, LOL!

 

Merry :-)

[ga girl]

These are all wonderful bits of wisdom and I thank you for them. My ds has Asperger Syndrome along with a myraid of LD's. Fine motor skills are very difficult for him. He has been able to stay grade level with all the concepts of math. How truly important is it to have to copy from the book each problem? Did I mention that he's legally blind w/o glasses and wears bifocals at 10 years old? I like the folding paper under the problem to be worked, but many times the #'s are too small - he writes like a 5 year old (really large and messy). We've been trying TT and I love that he enters the answer into the computer. But, at what grade does this stop? I am trying to assist him, but not enable him. I hope all my rambling makes some sense to someone. Thanks for all of your help.

Merry Christmas!

[EKS]

Now that I understand your situation a bit better, two things: First is that the folks over at the Special Needs board have experience with this problem, so you might get some additional advice over there. Second, my son has LDs that made copying from the book a huge issue. I just copied the problems for him (except things like word problems). It really didn't take that long, for a Saxon lesson, maybe 5 or so minutes.

 

I copied problems for my son through Algebra I, which he just finished a few weeks ago. He is now 12.5 yo (he is ahead in math) and I told him that I wouldn't copy anything for Geometry, though from what I can see there really isn't much to copy. By the time he goes into Algebra II I'm hoping that copying the problems will be fairly easy for him. If not, I have plans to actually *train* him in techniques to make it easier (for example, don't copy digit by digit, rather say the whole thing to yourself and then write it down after only looking once).

 

I don't think you're giving too much assistance by providing materials that make this aspect of his work easier. If you were sitting next to him and constantly reminding him to "carry the one" or "invert and multiply" (or whatever), that would probably be too much help, but having his work be in a format that eliminates copying (either by using TT or having a workbook or by having you copy the problems yourself) is giving appropriate accommodation for his disabilities.

 

Good luck with this.

[AngieW in Texas]

My Aspie dd has fine motor issues as well. She wasn't able to put socks on by herself until 11yo and still has great difficulty with buttons, snaps, and zippers. She did well with the Singapore workbooks. They provided a good amount of space for each problem.

 

If your ds has as much difficulty with keeping things lined up as mine did, you may want to teach him short division rather than long division. It is very compact, so keeping things lined up isn't as critical. I tried using graph paper for my dd, but she couldn't handle having all those lines on her paper. I also tried having her turn the paper sideways, but that was also "wrong" so she couldn't deal with it. Short division kept everything nice and neat, and she didn't run into problems with keeping things lined up.

 

She has had to learn long division now that she's in algebra. You can't divide polynomials without it. She has also gotten to a point where she can keep things lined up, but that's actually easier with polynomials than it is with placeholder numbers, since you have to keep the powers lined up.

 

Kinetic Books has worked better for her than Jacobs for algebra partly because so many of the problems are worked on the computer. They even have problems where you enter each step and it tells you if that step is equivalent or not and whether or not you're finished. When you get to the end-of-unit problems, it is helpful to have a paper copy, because you can't print out the problems and they have to be done on paper. My dd has had difficulty with copying sometimes, but her copying issues at 13yo aren't nearly as bad as they were at 10yo. It couldn't have happened at 10yo, but is doable at 13yo.