You'd think that after homeschooling for 13 years, I'd have the hang of this. I don't! I just flipped out at my dd15 today. My boys are very intelligent and that made homeschooling them (comparatively) easy. But my dd just doesn't seem to retain anything. We can see that she doesn't seem to have any aptitude for math. But sometimes it just seems like laziness or lack of interest or lack of motivation. Why should she work harder? What is her motivation to get good grades at home? What is her motivation to not get poor grades? (Today after the flip out, I did take her cell phone away indefinitely, but generally I'm not a punisher for bad grades.) My dh in his wisdom, tried to talk some sense into me. Rather than just being angry at her, he said we need to figure out how she learns. Maybe she's hands-on (I'm not!). Maybe she's kinesthetic. We can tell that compared to my boys she seems to be very intelligent in the interpersonal skill area, but I'm not sure how that helps somebody who can't remember (at age 15!!!) that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. He said all children have a desire to learn. Why doesn't she? So, I asked her how she learned best. And her immediate response was that she learns visually. Just reading something doesnt' help (which is how I learn best and how I mostly teach). So, what does that mean for a 15 year old? I don't know where to go with that. Videos? Sure, she likes to watch them, but I'm not sure how much she actually retains. I was happy a few months ago when she said that she learned more from watching the musical 1776 than from all the books we'd read. But just a couple weeks ago, when the subject of Richard Henry Lee came up at dinnertime, she remembered the song, but couldn't remember the significance. So, does anyone have any suggestions for a visual (or interpersonal) learner?
What type/level of math is she working on? For history or other subjects, you can do a combination of computer, DVD, audio, and charts. I have a visual learner who can learn absolutely anything if it's set to music and/or put on a poster. There are things that I don't even teach, because I know all I have to do is turn it into a poster and leave it on the wall for a couple of weeks. It magically soaks into his brain like butter on hot toast. She sounds a lot like me, actually. I enjoy things better when I can see the big picture. Like, in Geometry, I already know that I'm dealing with a circle, so finding pieces of it makes sense. If I'm doing something purely from a numbers standpoint, though, I don't always see the connections I'm supposed to see, so the problem doesn't make sense. I can't even estimate my way to a logical answer sometimes. My mom was a history teacher about 30-35 years ago, but history was always my worst subject. I enjoyed geography, because it was mostly just pictures, but what I learned from history wasn't learned during reading or lectures. I learned from the pictures in the book, from songs ("We Didn't Start the Fire"), literature ("Diary of Anne Frank"), history channel documentaries, etc. I like learning through visits to museums. I like seeing elaborate timelines that piece all the puzzle pieces together. Try thinking outside the box a little. I've had a hard time with that the past couple of years after trying to teach my son to learn things the way I teach them best. Sometimes I have to teach them the way he learns them best, though.
What happens if you ask her to teach something back to you? Whatever method she uses to explain, demonstrate, etc. to you is probably the way she learns it best. It might vary by subject, too. Not sure that helps much, but it sure gave me insight into how I needed to teach my kids.
would a spiral, saxon-type method be more effective? if she HAS to do a set number of problems every day and if there is constant repetition.....?
That's interesting that you mention this. At dinner tonight, we were brainstorming and one of the things I came up with is to have her teach things to her younger sister. We'll try that soon. I wasn't thinking in terms of finding out how she would learn - I just thought teaching might help cement it - but I like your idea too of noticing how she teaches. Great idea!
Hmmm. We tried Saxon once and we all hated it. I think it would probably overwhelm her with the number of problems. I think Key to Algebra is incredibly repetitive and don't understand how someone can't get it after doing the same type of problem over and over. But I'll think about it. Cuz obviously Key to and Teaching Textbooks aren't working.
For math, we have always used Math-U-See. So far my Ds15 is tolerating Algebra I with MUS. It comes with DVD's you can watch, but I find that by now I have learned how Ds learns best, so I typically just teach from the TM directly to him. It has been a painful year, let me tell ya. I find that something eventually clicks for him and then we move on. It is going to take us about a school year and a half (or intensive school just for math over the summer) to complete Algebra I. Sometimes I just think it is algebra and wrapping their mind around the abstract ideas and it doesn't matter so much which course we decide to use. Some people just take a little extra time to learn the concepts.
For negative numbers, have you tried "visualizing" it as though ground level is zero, positive numbers are above ground, and negative numbers are down in a hole? Or as a thermometer, with negatives being the below-zero temps and positives being the nice warm above-zero temps?
Okay Regarding the Algebra1-- try Math U See, my ds who is also kinesthetic learner self diagnosed himself in his learning way by telling me if he is doing something as he learns it it helps. SO if she is having math problems try checking out a sample of MUS, MR D taught me things my math teachers in school never did, I actually was understanding ALG like I never did before. We suspect I am the same kind of learner as my ds. I also think if she is a slow reader have her take a note book and jot down notes. I am trying this with my ds after Easter break as well because he complains that he does not remember anything at all. I found a lesson online about note taking that I am ordering. If they can keep track of at least portions of the work it will help and if its possible to highlight in the text books or whatever she is reading colors that change are great! They make things stand out. I used to have ds highlight anything with numbers, dates, caps, when he was little now I am finding I need him to begin highlighting again. He is 14 and a half btw, so same age range. Get yourself onto youtube and look up drive thru history, check it out with her, ds loves it and really remembers what he got from it! The guy makes it interesting! He has a whole series on US btw. CBD.com has the set with book work as well as the vids when I do US History I will be using it. For World next year I am getting the few world ones he has so far to coinsider with oru written lessons that I used with my dd. I am trying to cover the needed material in the best way I can to meet my ds' needs.
Have you ever had her tested for a learning disability? My oldest, though bright, couldn't remember how to spell--he was abysmal! A friend recommended getting him tested. Bingo! It can really help to know what you're up against. We were able to test him through the school district even though we were homeschooling. I'm sure that varies from state to state, but it's worth checking into. If she's musical, you might try singing or linking the subject to music. My daughter is an artist and she finally began to really comprehend history when she studied art history in college. The world of art gave her a "peg" to hang the rest of the world on. Movement and exercise can help to retain information, as can some of the excellent suggestions listed above. We used to have pudding day for spelling--I'd make a batch of instant pudding and give them each a blob on waxed paper. They'd spell their words in the pudding. My spelling disabled kid still didn't always remember, but they all loved it and we had a great time. Relevance can make a huge difference as well. My youngest hates history but he had a great time walking the freedom trail in Boston, and the history there stuck when it was put in it's concrete setting--suddenly it made sense to him. My bad speller got better when he started to keep a journal after high school--he got irritated with spell checker putting in all those red lines so he (finally!) paid attention to how it was supposed to be spelled. Something else that is really important is for her to succeed at something. Encourage that flute practice and other areas where she can excel. It's hard, but she's in the best place she could be with a teacher that loves her and is determined to do the best for her. God bless you!
Thanks to all of you! You are all such a wonderful resource. I am going to try to implement as many of these ideas as possible in the next several weeks. I'll try to keep you posted on what works and what doesn't. No, I never have. I've considered it. But I'm not sure what the point would be. I don't see how a label helps. What I need is to know how to make her learn. Now, if someone could convince me that it was a good idea, I'd listen. (I think. I'm not big on labels.)
I'll look into MUS. It pains me to buy yet another math program though. I've known for quite a while that we'll definitely be doing math all summer long. Oh goody
I've not used the ground level idea. I've used temperatures and money, and the traditional number line. None of those seem to work. I'll try the up and down visualization. Thanks
Take heart! My dd took well over two years to master Algebra I. She finished Algebra 2 and Geometry her senior year. She started college this fall. She made straight A's her first semester including her MATH class---lol. I was shocked. She was even tutoring some of her classmates. My daughter has learning disabilities that were diagnosed in public school during first grade. My daughter uses flashcards a lot to help her learn. Also, she says that reading things with a blue color overlay helps her learn. She buys all her paper and note cards in blue. Bountiful blessings, Susan
About +/- numbers.....can you give an example for us to help you out? My Ds struggled with it for a couple years. One thing that helped him was knowing that an odd number of negatives equal a negative and a even number of negatives equal a positive. But that isn't always the kind of issue they are having.
Testing for a disability is not just giving her a label--it's understanding what she's fighting and how she thinks. Our schools are set up for a certain kind of learning, and if a kid can't learn that way, they will struggle all the way through. There is something in my son's brain that flips things around so that bed and deb and ded and beb all look the same to him. and 69 and 96 look the same. When I comprehended that, it made it easier to be patient, and even helped me choose curricula. I bought write-in math books rather than books where he had to copy out the problem before he worked it. I also tailored other parts of the program to his needs. He's a big picture person, so in history we went for the ideas and lessons that can be learned, and I didn't stress dates, though he has a good idea of the flow of history. We did spelling by writing words in secret codes that the kids made up (they had to give me the code for grading), by making the letters with our bodies, by spelling in pudding, by spelling out loud while jumping up and down, etc. When he was tested positively for ADHD, I asked the psychiatrist what the advantages are of this way of thinking. People labeled ADHD are aware of everything going on around them--they make great hunters, policemen, teachers and more. But they DON'T sit well in a classroom for 8 hours, and they are likely to pay more attention to other students than the teacher, so it's called a disability. I still got frustrated, but testing him for a disability was the best thing I did for his homeschool experience, and the things he learned about coping enabled him to get through college, and helped him land a good job in computer programming.
Okay, here's an example from this morning. 2(3x + 15) =18 She knows what to do. We're working on Distributive Property, so she correctly converts the above problem to: 6x + 30 = 18 Now she starts to panic. She knows what she needs to do. She knows she needs to subtract 30 from both sides. She ends up with -28. Here is the work I find scribbled on the side: 18 -30 -28 What I can't seem to show here is that she had crossed out the 8 in 18 and borrowed from the tens column. And somehow that had her end up with -28!!
Does she understand that she is not really subtracting the numbers? She is really adding a positive and a negative number, which means we find the difference between the two and use the sign of the largest number? I know you have said that you tried the number lines with her....have you had her write out the number line herself? or use the money analogy like having $18 in your account, but you wrote a check (subtracted) $30, so you are left with a $12 deficit? Just brainstorming on some angle that might click for her.
