Well, my son detests math. He has pretty much his whole school life. He started out in private school, then public school and now homeschool (since 7th). He is now in 11th (if we have to label it--I hate these arbitrary labels). I know what a large part of the problem is- he is like me. If he feels he can't do something well, he feels so defeated that he doesn't even want to try. Yesterday, he was saying- I know I won't get this and I will need help. I told him if he needs help that is OK. It is normal for people to need help with algebra. I told him there is nothing wrong with that. Well, he did get in trouble, but not for feeling bad or feeling unable to do the work. He got in trouble for getting an attitude with me because of those feelings. I gave him a consequence and even though later I thought about backing down- I didn't. I understand why he acted out, but I cannot accept his acting out. Anyway, he literally sat there for about 45 min. to an hour--doing nothing. I finally said it was time to do something else and that he would have to come back to that later or the next day. He did his vocab. and then something in his attitude changed and he did his math and did it fairly quickly. He needed some help, but he seemed to grasp the main concept. Actually I think he could do very well in math if he KNEW he could do well in math. I even let him know that I think that. I also remind him of how he has thought something was hard at first only to say it was easy after he caught on. By the way, we are using the quadratic formula. It can look intimidating (unless you like algebra-like I do).
I have a similar son. We are doing algebra right now, too. I have to use a lot of humor to deflect the black cloud that seems to show up over his head the minute he reaches for his book. One thing that helped him is to wait until the afternoon for math. He really does much, much better all the way around with it once we made that change. Hang in there...he's almost done!
My daughter is the same way with math, although she does "have a head for math" according to the teacher who is helping us transition from PS to homeschooling. She convinces herself that it's hard and that she can't do it. She also will sit for an hour, refusing to even try. It's frustrating but once you win that battle of wills, it becomes easier. He knows you won't back down. Good job!
My daughter is the same way. She will do a whole page of math and get to the last problem and tell me she doesn't know how to do it!! WHAT! I get so frustrated!! I tell her that she did all of the other problems just fine, and that she doesn't need my help for the last one. Then she will throw a fit and sit and stare at the page..... It's nice to know that its not just my daughter that does this.
