Learning to Live with Math

If you have read past posts here, it is no surprise to hear that math has been our most challenging subject. With dyslexia, you may guess that reading would fit that bill. But, no, once we knew what we were dealing with, we got over that hurdle relatively easily (although not quickly - slow and steady wins the race). Accommodation is key. But, dyslexia can affect more than just reading.

In the same way that learning to read is contingent on readiness, I believe a certain level of maturity is required to move into the more abstract concepts of math. And, as with anything, this is not necessarily associated with reaching a certain age. This is why one size education does not fit all. Some kids take longer to reach that ability. This year we seem to have finally reached a point where we can truly move forward.

This year we have seen a huge growth in maturity and a huge improvement in his ability to work with numbers. When we got stuck with Math-U-See, I decided to hop over to Easy Peasy's Middle School Math, Step 1, and work through that for a while. I had the intention of going back to Math-U-See when we got to fractions again, but he is doing pretty well with Easy Peasy. So, we're just going to keep trucking along.

We are in the "Fractions" Section of the page linked above and need to get all the way through the list (Fractions, Decimals and Percents; Ratios and Proportions; and Exponents) before we can start Algebra. So we'll be plugging away at that through the summer, and maybe into next year. But when we get through all that, we do not need to delay algebra any longer. We can dive right into VideoText Interactive's Algebra, A Complete Course, which begins with pre-algebra.

I do not expect the young man to love this program. I really don't expect him to love any program since he'd rather just not do the math. But, I do expect that he will be able to understand the math. The visual aspects of this program are a huge benefit. Another key aspect for us was the lessons being taught one small bite at a time. And the main focus is not just to learn the formulas - but to understand why you are using them.

One thing I've learned this year is the need to tackle a concept from different angles or perspectives when we get stuck. In addition to Easy Peasy, I also have a subscription to Math Antics. When we get stuck, I have him pop over there and view how Rob and Jeremy teach the concept and work through the printable worksheets. Then we pop back over to Kahn Academy and do the lesson there again. It has also been very helpful to have our math tutor friend go over concepts his way from time to time. 

I intend to continue to use this strategy once we move into algebra. We will work through VideoText and utilize Math Antics and other resources (Kahn Academy, YouTube) when we get stuck. And hopefully, our math tutor friend will continue to be available. He has been a Godsend. 

I hope sharing some of our math stories is encouraging to others that have similar struggles. Mainly, be patient. Your struggling student may just need to grow and mature. Continue to provide opportunities to work with numbers in real life and try lots of different strategies for figuring things out. Even if you find you are dealing with dyscalculia, I believe your student can, in time, learn how to live in a world of numbers.

Hello Again

I have not been here in a while. In all honesty, I have been on the fence as to whether I should continue with the young man heading into high school. I think I can still share about homeschooling in hopes of encouraging others out there and maybe even help someone find a resource they were needing. But I probably do need to change how much detail I share about the young man, himself. We'll see how that goes.

So we pretty much did follow the plans I had for his year 8. Not surprisingly, math has continued to be a challenge and we've tried different things. But I'll get to that later. I do need to say that we did not start high school yet this year. As we started to look at what his goals are and what it's going to take to aim for those, we decided to take another year before starting high school. So, this has been a level-up year that we've called year 8.5. And since it is already April, I can safely say it has been a good year and he has met the challenge to level-up.

The first thing we did this year was to switch to another co-op so he could take a photography class. In this co-op, he also took General Science and a literature class. In addition to the co-op, he took an English class at our local One Day Academy designed for getting up to high school level writing. Yes, that is four outside classes. At home, we did math, Foundations from Easy Peasy, and history.

Having four outside classes proved rather challenging for both of us. But we learned a lot from each class and they helped us meet our objective to level-up. We learned some things that work for him that I never thought would be a good idea, like IEW style writing instruction. We also learned some things that didn't work so well, like charts and tests for vocabulary study. He has learned how to study more effectively from the General Science class. His favorite class was photography and I believe he will continue that.

For math, we started the year with Math-U-See Epsilon. While we didn't stick with that, it did help us over that wall with fractions. Once we did that, the way he was teaching seemed to confuse him. So I switched over to Easy Peasy's middle school Step 1 math, which primarily uses Khan Academy. We also had a friend from church offer to tutor him. While it's been slow, he has continued to make progress and I believe working through the summer will have him to a point where he'll be able to start algebra in the fall. That's huge y'all!

Our mantra for the next couple of months is, "Finish strong!" I have enjoyed watching him grow in both his academic and athletic abilities. As I am beginning to plan for next year I am excited to see the directions his interests take and watch him continue to grow. High school, here we come!

Getting Ready for Year 8

On the one hand, I am so behind where I would normally be at this point in planning for the young man's school year. On the other hand, plans are starting to shape up, so I'm not going to sweat it. I should start by saying we wrapped up the past year nicely. He did a science project on whether dogs can see color with mixed results. One of our dogs was more cooperative than the other. He played a season of baseball and was selected for the all stars team. That was rough on the schedule, to say the least. He has had a whirlwind summer. His hockey coaches had selected him for a scholarship to attend a three week sports camp where he majored in hockey, and minored in several other sports. It was pretty intense. He is now heading in to a training camp for his new Bantam team and looking forward to starting another season of hockey.

We'll take one more week off after the training camp before we dive back in to another year of studies. The plans are not changed all that much from the last post. I am still having him use The Thinking Tree journals for growing in independent study. But instead of the 10-Subject Portfolio, I have decided to continue using the regular journals, similar to those we used the second half of last year. I will list with links to the ones I plan to use. I don't have them yet, but will order the first one this week. He will record his sports science and ancient history studies in those journals, along with some home economics, health, and literature. However, he will start the day with Dyslexia Games, series C, for some brain exercise before embarking on the rest of the studies.

For Language Arts, he will continue to work through the Apples and Pears spelling books and read from the McGuffey's Fifth Reader, and other selections. He'll continue word study using a teacher-created book called Get to the Root of It. I found this on the Teachers Pay Teachers website. I have decided to set aside the Writing Skills, Book 2, for now, and try out a unit from Brave Writer to go along with the first book we'll be reading for literature: A Christmas Carol. It combines some grammar along with literature study and writing. We will see how that goes.

For math, I only plan to have him work through Mastering Essential Math Skills, book 1. If he wants to also continue reading where we left off with Life of Fred, I will leave that to his discretion. He will also be taking a Personal Finance class through our co-op, so I don't feel the need to add anything to our math work at home. His other co-op classes include Judo, and a Career Exploration class. It should be a fun year at co-op.

Extra subjects, like geography and social studies, will come up naturally in the journals, rather than assigning specific days for them. That seemed a bit overwhelming when we did it that way before. It flowed much more naturally with the mixed subject journals. In addition, we still plan for him to work in the Dad Time journal with Dad once or twice/week. And he'll also have opportunity to work on some hobby projects on diy.org. He is currently interested in film making and photography. All of this along with chores, hockey practice, youth group, drum lessons, and so on will make for some pretty full days.

Now, here are the Thinking Tree journals I plan to use:
Fun-Schooling with Minecraft (available soon)
Fun-Schooling for Boys - Winter Homeschooling Handbook
Homeschooling Boys - Library Based Journal

Rough Outline for Next Year

I had first seen The Thinking Tree materials back when I was just beginning to research what we should use for helping our dyslexic student. I believe at that time there were just the series of Dyslexia Games and, while I liked the idea of some of the books, I didn't think the sets as a whole would be a good fit. Then one day several months ago I discovered the homeschool journals that Sarah Janisse Brown was starting to publish. Hmmm. Those really intrigued me. I had an opportunity to ask the author herself how we could go about trying out the journals while continuing our other studies. It was her recommendation that we start out using a journal once/week as a fun-school day. After only two or three weeks, we decided to go all in and are using the Hyper-Active Homeschool Journal every day, as I outlined in the previous post. That journal will be complete in a couple of weeks, and I have the Do-it-Yourself Homeschool Journal & Eclectic Learning Handbook ready to finish out the year.

After hanging out with the author and many other enthusiastic homeschool moms in a Facebook group, I have begun to reconsider my initial impression of Dyslexia Games, as well. There are so many other benefits to these exercises. Many of the parents have shared how much their kiddos have improved in reading, writing, attention, thinking, and much more. They are just good brain exercises, really. So I decided that we'll both do Series B this summer. Series C will be part of his language arts and math for year 8. And I'll probably work through that one, too. Mom has to keep the old brain sharp, too, you know. While I am still thinking through what next year will look like, I have a rough outline of what I think we'll do.

The journals I have for the student so far

• Bible study/devotion at breakfast – Easy Peasy Old Testament
• Language Arts – Dyslexia Games series C, continue Apples& Pears Spelling, Writing Skills 2 (after Dyslexia Games), McGuffey's 5th Reader, and audio literature with the 10-Subject Portfolio.
• Math – Mastering Essential Math Skills 1, Life of Fred, Dyslexia Games C book 6, and Comic Book Math.
• Daily History and Science work - Streams of Civilization 1 for history along with Easy Peasy Ancient History, and his own interest led study of the science of sports, using the 10-Subject Portfolio and the Reading Time and Film Study journals.
• Daily subjects (each 1 day/week) – Geography, business, the arts (Easy Peasy Ancient Art & Music), social studies, and Home Ec. (Vintage Remedies for Tweens, Facing the Facts) using the portfolio.
• Dad Time Journal – they should be able to get that in a couple of times each week with Dad working from home.
• Hobby - he has shown interest in photography and making videos, so I thought I'd sign him up for a subscription at DIY.org. They have some film making courses among other things that look pretty interesting.
• Chores - to be done immediately following school work. Free time comes after all work is completed.

In addition to the  journals for the students, Sarah has also published several journals for us moms. The idea is for us to be an example of how learning is a part of life and we continue learning even when we've grown up. I love that she also made one for the kiddos to do with dad. Learning can truly be a family affair. I'll have more about those in the future, but should mention that I am currently enjoying the Mom's Homeschooling Handbook and it is helping me tackle my ever growing pile of books I'm always meaning to read. Thankfully, The Thinking Tree books aren't just for kids. :)

So What ARE We Doing Now?

I thought maybe I should give a little more detail of how we've changed things up for the remainder of this year. The main thing is that he is deciding what order to do things, usually preferring to do his journal work first. He is currently working through The Hyper-Active Homeschool Journal, from The Thinking Tree. He'll start with a date page, then flip to a "Reading Time" page and do his zoology reading. There is a "Nature Study" page where he'll draw something from zoology, as well. He has just finished up a couple of books about ants, and will begin on spiders next. Zoology goes on the top half of the reading page, and Texas History notes go on the bottom half.

There are various other pages he usually works on next: spelling word hunt, logic games, copywork, World News Today!, and screen time, to name just a few. You can see more samples by clicking "Look inside" on the Amazon link above. I did have to insist that the screen time page be saved for last - ALL other work must be done before turning on the TV or iPad. He would spend a couple of hours watching multiple episodes of something or other, or choose something long. That did not bode well for getting anything else done afterwards. But other than that, he has been deciding what order to do things. For example, he seems to prefer breaking the English studies up rather than working through it all at once.

So every day we do some Bible reading at breakfast, he takes care of his morning chores, then works through: English, Math, zoology, TX history, Latin, and literature, in whatever order he chooses. It is amazing how much of a difference that one little change has made. We add health on Thursdays.

English books: Language Mechanic (grammar),  Apples and Pears (spelling), Writing Skills, alternated with word study, using ABeCeDarian Level D, and finally reading practice from McGuffey's 4th reader.

Math: various Life of Fred books along with Multiplication Games.

We're reading various books (his favorite is A Cartoon History of Texas) and watching various videos for TX history.

For health we just finished the book, How to Eat as a Young Athlete. We'll use a selection of videos for the next few weeks from the WellCast YouTube channel on various topics from the importance of sleep to how to have a conversation. Then we'll read another short book called What's the Big Deal? 

There will be an end of year project for both history and science, which may be combined with an end of year paper from his Writing Skills book. History will probably work well for that. For science, I think probably a PowerPoint presentation would be good. And may we finish strong!

A New Year and Its Already February!

"Is today February?" asked the young man at breakfast this morning. When I answered, "yes, it is," a huge smile spread across his face. Yes, dear, we have entered the birthday month. And a milestone, at that. This one brings a teenager along with it. Hooray for February! And Lord help us. :)

We are wrapping up his first hockey season, which has been long and very busy. But the kid is enjoying every minute of it, so that's what we do. He is on the ice at least 4 times a week, and sometimes 5. Whew! It has been quite an experience. And now as the season is winding down, he is getting ready for baseball. So goes the life of an athlete.

I wish I could say school has been as exciting. Staying focused on subjects he's not interested in has been our biggest challenge. There are some days I'm not sure we will live through English. And then there is Math. That continues to be a challenge. He wants very much to be working more independently, but his challenges with these subjects are not helping him move that direction. By December I decided something had to give.

So,in January we began trying out The Hyper-Active Homeschool Journal from The Thinking Tree. We started out using it one day a week. He liked it so well, I asked if he'd like to use it every day, and record his Texas History and zoology studies in the journal. He said 'yes' and that is what we are doing now. He is also working through the Multiplication Games journal to help solidify those facts.

I was not willing to toss our English work out the window, so we are still doing that. But having the independent time seems to help so the English time isn't quite so unpleasant. He is actually working well with the materials, except for the constant self-distraction (squirrel!). It is funny we don't have that when he is working on science or history. We are still using Life of Fred for math, but had to stop the Fractions book and go back to the Intermediate series. That is why we are working through Multiplication Games. Slow and steady, and repeat, seems to be the order of the day when it comes to math.

So, these Thinking Tree journals, Wow! I am very excited about this way of doing school and am re-planning for next year. The journals have lots of different types of pages: some to write or draw about what you are learning from books and videos, some to write down personal goals, some for copywork, logic games to improve thinking and concentration (Amen to that one!), and so much more.

This year he is using the journals with his current studies; although I have dropped some of the extras we were doing for now. But next year will be a mix of some assigned studies by me, and some self-directed studies. I'm still working on that. But I will post more as I get that figured out. The journals have been a breath of fresh air and made our school time less of a chore. I am thankful, once again, for how God brings just the right resource to meet a need at just the right time.

Happy Summer

We wrapped up a pretty great year for Year 6, and are now in the midst of enjoying the summer. We've been to visit cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And we're getting in as much friend and ice time as we can. I'm kind of hoping the kid sticks with hockey, as practice is much cooler than football practice in July/August. He is now on a team and will be wrapping up the summer with a training camp and his first tournament.

After some time off for travel and hockey camp, we have been doing some light work on reading and math. We finished up the last unit of ABeCeDarian Level C and are previewing the new spelling book. He's doing well reading Great Illustrated Classics' version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to me. And we're working through the last two Life of Fred Intermediate books for math.

Like most of the other homeschool moms I know, I've been in the thick of planning and preparing for the upcoming year. We're pretty on track with the plans I posted previously for Year 7. We're also looking forward to co-op this year. DS is signed up for a Judo class, creative writing, and speech. This looks to be a big year of growing in responsibility in many areas of life including school, leisure/chore time at home, and sports activities. We have already begun using a list like this one to help him learn to balance screen activities with other endeavors each day. Its still a work in progress. One step at a time.