Another help me with math question :)

I’ve written about math before, but I’m going to get more detailed this time (this will be long so thank you for your time, in advance!). I hate math. Yup, there is it. I’m good at it. But I hate teaching it. Because my son hates it. Because I want the perfect program and it doesn’t exist. Because I am tired of spending money on programs that are 75% review, and have my son doing countless review questions that he doesn’t need. And, while yes, I could just cross-out the problems he doesn’t need to do, it seems a waste of money to spend $50-75 on a math program, that I’m only going to use about half of, tops.

My son is 8.5, grade 3, has SPD, dyspraxia and Tourette Syndrome. He likes workbooks. He’s an extremely visual learner (and also has a visual memory). So he prefers to read the lesson himself, and work through it himself in either a workbook, or on the white board. He does not like solving problems, doing math etc… out loud. He really needs to see it/write it. Example: he can recall math facts quickly when doing flashcards or speed drills in a workbook (he actually LOVES speed drills), but struggles more if it is presented in a solely auditory way (ex. I call out 7 + 3).  Also, when doing word problems, if they’re given strictly in an auditory way, he can struggle remembering the content (so if I asked him, “If Jane has 6 monkeys and Joe gave her 4 more, how many does she have in total?” While probably half the time he’d be fine, the other half, he’d mix up the content or forget what numbers I said (side note, is this a potential working memory issue? or just learning style?).  This isn’t to say he can’t do work when presented in an auditory way, but it’s not his preferred MO, and he’s not as quick at it, or as accurate with it. He also does not like long lessons. He actually doesn’t mind CLE (what we’ve been using), but the lessons are LONG, easily 45-60 minutes, and it’s too long for all of us. And he has no interest in splitting it into two. He prefers to just work straight through and get “school” done and over with.  He’s very concrete and literal. Abstract is NOT his strength, so I’m really not sure a conceptual math program would work for him. He has horrible problem solving skills. He can do word problems without any issue when the information is presented in a straight forward manner, but if it requires more abstract thinking, forget it. Example: “How many minutes are in 3 hours?”  Now, he knows that there are 60 minutes in an hour. But he could NOT figure out how to solve the problem on his own, without my prompting him (either add 60, 3 times, or multiply by 3). Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s because he just truly can’t figure it out, or if he just shuts down because it’s something that’s difficult that he doesn’t instantly know the answer to (he’s a perfectionist and has poor frustration tolerance for things that are “hard”). Maybe that’s normal for boys that age. I don’t know. He doesn’t mind working with manipulatives, but I find they tend to distract him more than anything and they become a “toy”.

So, as for ability, this is where he is:

Can skip count by 2, 5, 10, 25, 100 to pretty much infinity, forwards and backwards starting at any point; he has +/- nailed. Facts to 12 memorized, and working on to 20. Understands carrying/borrowing. Can add or subtract basically any number you give him whether it’s a column with 6 addends in it or addition/subtraction into the millions. He understands place value into the millions. We have started multiplication and while he has no facts even remotely memorized, he can figure out problems with manipulatives, understands that multiplying is adding numbers repeatedly. He understands the concept of doubles (4+4 is the same as 4×2). He understands that division is sharing numbers equally, and can do it with manipulatives. Can solve a problem such as 10 – x = 6,  using the additive method of thinking 6 + what = 10? He knows time to the minute on analog and digital, that there’s 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour and 24 hours to a day. He knows the calendar well (though again, he still struggles with abstract understanding of time, so for example he might say something happened last week, when in fact it was yesterday), he understands fractions including the meaning of the numerator and denominator and can add/subtract fractions with same denominator, though no reducing yet; he can measure in metric and imperial, though he’s not as familiar with imperial units (we’re Canadian), but knows there’s 100 cm to a meter etc… Haven’t gotten into any liquid/dry weights yet. He knows thermometer (again, F and C, being more familiar with C), and knows the freezing point is 0; knows your basic 3D shapes and most 2D shapes (including octogon, though still mixes up hex and pent sometimes), knows polygons, closed and open, understands angles/points (ex. how many angles in a triangle, how many points), can find perimeter of an polygon, understands bar graphs and can both use them to solve problems and create them; understands <, >, = signs, and is just learning does not equal or equal to or less than (etc), and can solve problems like 6+3 ____ 5+6; knows money, all coins, understands 100 cents to a dollar, can add and subtract money, convert cents to dollars (so 422 cents = $4.22)…. I think that’s it.

A good examples of what we did the other day: He had to count the stars on his chore chart to figure out how much he had earned this week. So he figured out there were 6 stars per column, and 7 days. I asked him to give me a multiplication sentence for that, so he told me 7×6 (7 groups of 6 stars). He figured out the answer through adding. Then I had him multiply 42 by $0.10 (he earns 10 cents per star). So, he figured out 420 (he knows the rule of adding 0 for multiplying by 10). So he knew that I owed him 420 cents, which he then converted into $4.20. Just some of the stuff we do.

Anyways… so I guess I’m just truly torn on what direction to go from here. Given the information above, what level would you say he’s at? Basically what I’m considering:

1. Math on the Level. I like that I can completely customize it to what he needs, we don’t do oodles of review questions, it can be used for both children all greats. What I dislike is that while I realize it’s a great value, it’s also very expensive up front ($250).

2. Ray’s Arithmetic. Can’t beat the price!!! I figure I can just print off a lesson and I can teach anything that might be new, and then he can work the problems out either on paper or on the white board. Also, I won’t mind skipping questions since we won’t be paying for the program. I also like how they teach their facts (+/-, multiplcation etc…) and being visual, for him to read/see those charts might be good.

3. Just completely flying solo. Perhaps printing off provincial expected outcomes from the public school, and doing whatever we need to meet them through online freebies/printables, hands on teaching, living math books etc…