Amommymoose Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 To be fair, she has always been an engineer in her heart. She spent every trip to the children's museum in the build/workshop (which requires a parent to accompany). Around age 7 she came to use with a rudimentary blueprint (which she had never seen to our knowledge) and asked for some materials to build her invention. As a 5th grader she joined the Science Olympiad team and knocked her build event out of the park... so in reality, it doesn't shock me that she wants to be an engineer. But dyscalculia... And she has done everything we have suggested (including work through the summer) in pursuit of this goal. So now that she's a rising sophomore (and has considered a plan B option for her future) I want to be as supportive as I can here. I just need help. She's currently using Denison for math and it's going well. She's using the regular track - not the Success track (I didn't know it existed when we enrolled or I might have put her there). The thing is, I've seen a few mathy people lay out that Denison (even their regular track) is barely comparable in content/rigor to a regular algebra course. I thought it was equal in content & rigor, just taught differently. So the question is this: what do I give her to make up for what it lacks so that she has a solid foundation if she winds up in higher level math and then engineering? How do I ensure we are doing what we can to keep that door open for her. I mean, if she can't do it - she can't do it. But I don't want her to not be able to do it for lack of preparation vs. ability. Many thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 No help on the getting her to higher math or dyscalculia. Just some hope in case high math doesn't pan out and going to a 4 year university for a BS in some sort of engineering isn't going to happen. She can still look into being an engineering technician, like an electronics technician. I don't know the level of math you need to get to, I want to say you don't have to get to Calculus, because I've worked with technicians who don't know Calculus. Some companies do have programs where they pay (part or full) for college education so, perhaps it can be an option for her to take longer to learn the higher math and become an engineer later in life. Sadly the path from technician to engineer by just working and gaining experience was not an option at any company I've worked for. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 How would she do if you found a test from a different algebra class and gave her that? It might help you to assess whether it's really the same material only taught differently or an easier class. One thing that can help reinforce algebra concepts is to keep doing algebra while taking geometry. Some classes as set up to automatically do that (for instance, Derek Owens online classes have algebra practice pages every 2 weeks). Life of Fred has a book called Zillions of Practice Problems that might help - we haven't used that one, but it would give problems to continue to practice. How does she do with classes that use algebra - things like chemistry or physics? If she is a sophomore taking algebra (I couldn't tell if she was finished or partway through from your post) and interested in going into engineering, you may consider a 5 year plan for high school to get her through the math. Most college engineering programs that I've seen start with calculus (with the assumption that the student has completed preCalc in high school). I don't know what to recommend to address dysgraphia directly - hopefully somebody on here can give you advice for that. Other careers to consider that would still involve design and building...would she be interested in something in the trades - carpentry, for instance, where she could build? Or architecture - they don't take as much math as engineers. I would definitely have her look at different type of engineering to check the math requirements, since some require much more than others, or talk to an engineer in a field of interest to see how much math they use on a daily basis. She might also consider a program like engineering technology, which might require less math than engineering while still allowing her to do hands-on work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 A local University advertises its engineering Polytech program as "engineering without the math!" It is the path to the technician positions that Clarita described above. So perhaps you can find something that really lets her focus on the hands-on parts that she likes. I happen to know that the machine shop that supplies the engineering laboratories is facing a manpower (is there a gender neutral term for that?) crisis. So perhaps if she finds a niche like that which she especially enjoys she can be in demand. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 I'm contemplating similar issues with my dyscalculic, future lady tradie and am thinking that studying logic would have to help. I asked a mate to walk her through Euclid, but he said it was too boring, so she'll have to self study Jacob's. It sounds like your girl is much better at problem solving than mine, so perhaps that's where your focus needs to be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 1 hour ago, Miss Tick said: So perhaps you can find something that really lets her focus on the hands-on parts that she likes. In fact a technician gets to do more of this than an engineer does. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smfmommy Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 There is a program called Calculus for Everyone https://romanroadspress.com/calculus-for-everyone/ You supposedly only need Algebra 1 to be able to take the course. Might be a way to see if she can understand the concepts without getting tangled in the arithmetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domestic_engineer Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 17 hours ago, Miss Tick said: A local University advertises its engineering Polytech program as "engineering without the math! This kind of program was the first thing that jumped to my mind. As for the dyscalculia - is she struggling with math fact fluency? If so, I’d allow a calculator. Additionally, I’d find a tutor. Learning math from a human instructor is a key skill to possess. And the tutor will hopefully be able to pinpoint any holes in her understanding. (However I have no idea how one goes about finding a tutor familiar with working with dyscalculia.) Maybe check out James Tanton’s resources too. He explains things untraditionally. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) --- Edited July 27 by prairiewindmomma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Does she know anything about computer programming? If so, is she able to do it? The reason I ask is that my experience with coding is that you have to use mathematical thinking but the arithmetic burden is drastically reduced. It actually has quite a bit of similarity to writing mathematical proofs, but one difference is that you can tell instantly and on your own whether you did it right. Proofs, not so much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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