I have a friend that pulled a kid out of public school this year. Public School really let him down. He should be doing algebra but she had him start back on pre-algebra after he wasn't getting algebra. Turns out he's still really struggling with his factors and mutiplying and dividing. What do you recommend to help him. For some reason he's just not getting it. When doing the work he's understanding the algebra steps and how to do the problems but still getting so frustrated cause he's not getting the basic dividing or multiplying skills. I hope this makes sense.
Your friend should first test him to see how much he knows. Then she needs to start teaching him at the level he tests. Even if it is at the beginning of multiplication. It doesn't do any good to keep moving forward if he isn't learning anything. They are wasting precious time by trying to move forward instead of stopping and focusing on the areas he needs to work on. This is the beauty of homeschooling. He will most likely fly through his lessons and in the end will be further along than he will be if she continues to move him forward. Right now he is hitting a wall.
I totally agree!!! Find out where he is at and start there. No stress he will make up for lost time if he isn't stressed. Take the pressure off and go slow it is amazing how quickly he will learn.
This was the case for my niece. It turns out that in her school they introduced multiplication and division and then handed them all calculators so they didn't really have to practice it and understand it. At 15, she couldn't do long division, couldn't multiply any two digit numbers, really didn't know her math facts and didn't understand multiplication or division of fractions or decimals. I didn't want to drag her all the way back to elementary math, so I bought a consumer math workbook from Abeka. I worked the problems with her and explained the algorithms as needed. I felt like at least she was learning new and relevant information while working on remedial math skills.
oh, these look great! Thanks for sharing! I was going to suggest visuals. I know when J was struggling with fractions, it really helped to show him what I meant. It was on the fly, but I grabbed whatever objects were on the table to make my point. It immediately clicked for him. It's one reason why I'm thinking we will use Math U See for Algebra.
My 8th grade dd can not remember math facts but understands addition, subtraction, multipication and division. She is dyslexic. I highly recommend Math U See. If he understands the basic prinicipals but just can't remember what 7x8 is, give him a calculator, work on fractions and decimals and move on to pre-algebra. We have waisted so much time trying to memorize the facts and now she is behind!
You might want to look at the Life of Fred books http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/11catofbooks.html presenting the material in a different way might help alot.
Yes -- BUT -- students are expected to know all their math facts before starting Life of Fred: Fractions. He is clear on his website, that if the student doesn't have addition facts cold, to start with LOF: Apples, and if the student doesn't have multiplication down cold, start with LOF: Farming. http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/21%20Questions/1020%20Where%20to%20Start.html These are elementary level books very clearly aimed at elementary aged listeners. IDK how well they would be received by a high schooler. JMO
I would say, if you're not sure whether the student simply hasn't mastered the facts, try to find a way to drill them adequately. If there has been adequate opportunity to master the facts WHILE continuing the concepts, and they're still not mastered, there could be a learning disability there. I had a student once who joined me for fourth grade. We started back at 2nd grade math and zoomed through what she already knew, and accomplished both 2nd and 3rd grade math that year. But she still didn't know the multiplication - and by extension, the division - facts. So I gave her a multiplication chart (one of those square grids with the numbers across the top and down the side, and where they come together is the answer), which she used for about 3 years. By that time, she'd absorbed them through use and has since gone on to algebra, doing well.
Life of Fred has elementary books now too not just the fractions and high school ones. They start off with addition.
Off the grid, here... I would suggest making division and multiplication a part of a larger purpose... For instance, what is he interested in? Teach through money, or food, or games! Go to Walmart and teach him how many hours of work he'd need at $___ an hour in order to earn what he'd like. Show him multiplication through trippling a simple recipe. Get a pizza and ask him to divide it according to the number of people in the room. Sounds simplistic, but it really does work! It will help him solidify the concepts. Games by Kim Sutton are a huge help - you can modify them as to ability level. She bases most of her games off of dice and dominoes! Don't give up. Use lots of different approaches in order to reach this child. Does he get his addition and subtraction facts? Maybe he's still confused on those. I know that I had several "Aha" moments in college as pertains to "carrying" and "borrowing..." I just hadn't known exactly what it all meant, even though I was in all of the advanced classes. Good luck! You can do it!
She also might want to get him tested for learning disabilities, such as Dyscalculia-as this can really change the teaching approach needed.
My two learned their multiplication facts on www.multiplication.com The mnemonics really helped. Unfortunately I cant think about multiplication now without remembering door - tree- elf! Earlier on I modelled mulplication and division with rows and columns of things around the house - eggs in an egg box for instance, or even boxes of cereal in supermarkets.
I just pulled my 7th grader out of school (again) - she was doing FINE (slow but fine) before I put her back in PS - since they gave her a calculator and she forgot a LOT of stuff. She's back in Addition/Subtraction (Math-U-See Alpha). She's whizzing through it - but it's giving her confidence. I expect her to move into Beta soon and by the end of the year up another level.... she'll catch up I guess eventually but I'd rather her have a strong foundation.
I would make sure he doesn't have any learning challenges that might have prevented him from mastering. My daughter is 15 and has dyslexia and ADHD. Remembering math facts is excruciating. She has some memorized, but not nearly enough. She uses a calculator as needed. She actually tries pretty hard on her own before pulling out the calculator. I DO NOT see the calculator as a crutch for kids with learning challenges. It is no different from listening to books on tape or using spell check. Joyfully, Jackie
Have you looked at City Creek Press? They teach fact families by mnemonic methods. We've taken a break from Teaching Textbooks for my daughter to go through their CD. They now offer it online as well.
