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Khan Academy
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My ds9 hated math with a passion this year. I tried short lessons, only requiring so many problems, writing out daily work in a notebook…but then he got so far behind. We use Math Mammoth and it really is great. He learned a lot but he hates it. I tried setting a timer and whatever he got done was it for the day. We did 30 minutes. He slipped further behind. He is very bright and grasps concepts easily. it’s the working out of problems on paper he finds tedious but he is learning things he can’t do in his head like adding in columns and multiplying multi-digit numbers.
So I decided to try a more relaxed approach this year using a “unit study” type approach. I searched the Internet for ideas for the topics in the MM scope and sequence. Games and notebook pages, etc. I was so worried he wouldn’t get a quality understanding this way though.
So tonight I signed him up for a Khan Academy account. He asked what I was doing so I showed it to him. He has been on there for an hour now doing math problems he would throw a fit over if I handed him a piece of paper with them on it on a Saturday night. He even looked at a long division set (which he hasn’t learned yet) and said “I wish I knew how to do that!” So I showed him the videos.
Who knew??
Has anyone used Khan as their curriculum? I’m curious if this could be my solution.
Tara
Tara, thanks for asking this. I’ll be following this closely and hoping you (we) get responses. While my DS9 didn’t dislike math this year as strongly as you are describing of your ds9, we certainly had our attitude challenges on some days. He usually comes around and keeps on trying, as he wants to keep up with big bro. But this doesn’t change the fact that sometimes I know he’s not really “getting it” but rather, just somehow getting by. He’ll score decently on his math problems, but a week later, there’s a good chance he’s forgotten the core skills. So frustrating for me! (and for him, as he really does want to do well!) Long story short, I have been, in the back of my mind, wondering about Khan and whether it could work for us…but whenever I’ve gone onto the site, I seem to feel overwhelmed and not sure where to start. It offers SO much. Maybe I need to dig and focus more as I explore it.
Please do keep us posted Tara, on how long your DS9’s love of Khan lasts! And if it’s working, I surely will be asking how you use it and how it works best for a 9 year old.
LOVING the story of how your DS9 spent his Saturday night, yaaaay!
There is no cost! I have used it for years to help me with teaching my very detail-oriented daughter math. This year, I signed her up to receive the coaching and I am using it daily. So far, so good!
We have played with it, and I know of a few people using it as their curriculum. I don’t like the few videos I watched myself, but that isjust me…
I looked at it sometime last year, very briefly, but I don’t recall the particulars. If one was using it as a math curriculum, are there practice problems available? Are they done online or printed out? Are there quizzes or exams, or would you have to make those up yourself?
There are practice problems – this is the heart of khan – done online. No quizes or exams – items are done to mastery. You could just have a child redo an exercise for a quiz, if you wanted.
Each child would have their own account, and you would have an account set as their coach, to monitor progress and usage.
Yes I actually have my own account and then made child accounts for my children and I am their coach. I can see how long they worked on there, what topics they worked on, if they have mastered a concept, still need practice, or are struggling. I can suggest topics to appear for them in the suggestion area. You can print out progress reports for records. There is a “scratchpad” that you can actually write on on the screen to solve problems or you can use paper if needed.
I think I will let my son just explore and go at his own pace and choose his own topics for the first six weeks. We will continue Life of Fred because he loves it too. The only requirement I will have is 5 minutes of multiplication flash cards with me daily. We will see how it goes.
On another site the recommendation was to align the topics to your curriculum and use it as a supplement. I may do that eventually but at first I am going to let him work on whatever he likes. Also, the parent can participate if they have their own account. I took the pretest with my son watching and he was awful impressed by me solving some algebra equations. I was rather proud I remembered too! lol! So we decided to have a little contest to see who can get the most badges and points each week.
I’ll try to remember to report back in a few weeks. In the meantime I will keep an eye on this thread if anyone else chimes in.
Tara
My 9yo and 7yo have been using Khan for the past year and it is always a treat. 7yo asked a number of times if she “could do Khan” — to them it’s a game… which surprises me because they have an abundance of technology in their lives so it’s not like computer time is a rare thing for them.
There’s something about those little badges and such that they just LOVE. They will go back over topics if they didn’t get a score they were happy with and so on. I did tell them early on that they HAD to watch the videos. That was the only thing I’ve had to tell them; and soon they were fine with doing that. There’s something about his voice and little doodles that I actually really like.
My college kids did use Khan for some trig and calc helps during high school, but for my youngers it is much more of a game to them. They love it!
I didn’t realize they work for under high school level kids. Totally checking it out. Thanks.. now how to afford more internet usage time.
Tara-
How’s it going with Khan and your ds9? Interested to hear how he’s liking it after a few weeks.
Jenni
I have not looked at Khan Academy, but here is how Lee Giles at Easy Peasy Homeschool organized it:
http://allinonehomeschool.com/individual-courses-of-study/math-grades-5-and-up/step-1-ka/
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