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Need plan for right-brained child
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My DD is right-brained. I’m still trying to learn all I can about that. She is 11 and grade 5. She is behind in reading/math/spelling. We are using the Davis Dyslexia Program and have had some really good results with it. We are using the Diane Craft multiplication cards (see separate topic on that). We were using MUS (and hope to go back to it, unless I find something better) but have stopped for now because she was showing that she knew the info but wasn’t retaining it. I have just started using SCM’s Spelling Wisdom.
She has a huge attitude/respect issue but that is a whole different topic. (Though it affects all of our school)
I am really ready to put her in school if I could find something that worked with her right-brained learning. It would give us a chance to separate her attitude and school and work on them. But, I haven’t found what I want.
What do you do for your right-brained child? What curriculum do you teach with? Some things I’ve read really make it sound like un-schooling would be a good approach for the right-brained learner, but how do you do that when you can’t read? Hands on is supposed to be good, but she seems to balk and having to use the MUS blocks or make maps, etc. I would like to find something that helped her and made our days enjoyable again. I would like to quit hating homeschooling. I would like to feel like I am helping her instead of feeling like we are further behind each year. She still takes as much time and energy as a K/1st grader. My younger DD (9 and grade 3) does not struggle. She excels. I am very thankful for that, but she is hardly getting any attention because my oldest gets my whole day.
I’ve had plans of what to use for them, but her struggles have thrown all my plans. I have no idea where to go or how to proceed. I don’t want to keep churning in place, I want to move forward. I want her to feel like she can do it and feel good about herself.
Thanks for any thoughts
As for math and the times tables memorization….I used a DVD called times tales and I can not say how wonderful it is. My son is 8 and knows the entire times tables and doesn’t get frustrated about forgetting them because he rmembers the stories shown in the DVD. HTH a little bit.
For reading for content (not reading practice/instruction) have you tried using audio? My dyslexic ds, who is almost 12, loves listening to audio books. But it helps him even more to be able to follow along with the text and the audio. Unfortunately, he gets lost unless the text is highlighted. He discovered last year that books we were using on archive.org have a speaker icon in the upper right corner that activates text-to-speech and the text is highlighted as it is read by the computer. Since then we’ve signed up for Bookshare, which does the same thing and has more current books and textbooks. So now he can follow along with his eyes on the text without getting lost while he listens to it read by the computer. I’ve also noticed that his preferred mode for looking up information is video (YouTube). So I have started supplementing science reading with videos also, and occasionally history. These are just some ways we’ve found to help him be a bit more independent for some subjects.
For math we are using Life of Fred, which seems to work with his contextual memory strengths. I currently have to read it aloud with him, but have noticed that starting with Fractions, the texts are on Bookshare. Although I haven’t tried it, I’ve seen several folks recommend TouchMath for dyslexia/dyscalcula. That might be one to have a look at if you’re needing help in math. One other thing I’ve seen that wouldn’t be a good fit for my son, but might be for your daughter if she has creative/artistic leanings, is Dyslexia Games, with a focus on thinking skills.
Speaking of that, you didn’t mention what your daughter’s strengths are. Right brain learners do have some challenges in a world mostly set up by left brain folks. However, the way their brains are wired comes with some wonderful strengths, too. Maybe spend some time focusing on those? Maybe finding some activities where she can excel in her areas of strength might help a little in the attitude department? You may already be doing that and its just not reflected in this post. But I thought I’d mention it.
And finally, here is a website that might have some helpful info:
http://www.therightsideofnormal.com/
I pray you find some ideas that will help the situation.
Melissa
cdm2kk – I have looked at the times tales dvd’s but we’d already started working with the Diane Craft multiplication cards and I didn’t want to cause confusion with 2 different pictures/stories about the same multiplication fact.
Melissa – I will definitely look into the sites you mentioned about the audio books. I have been thinking that I need to have her start with more of that but haven’t had choices from our library that I’ve wanted to add to her schedule. I’ve planned to do a literature one, but it seems that by the time we’re done with school I hate to add something else to her “must do” list. Though she loves books. So far I have just been reading all our history aloud to both girls. But, I’ve noticed that since I’ve switched to TQ I will not get everything in within 1 year to finish the guide if I read everything aloud and don’t want to spend all morning just reading good history books!!
I had no idea that Life of Fred had some of their books audio. I’ll look up that site. Life of Fred has always intrigued me. I’ve never heard of Touch Math but will be looking it up also. I’m going to spend some more time on the Dyslexia Games site, too. It looks interesting. I’ll have to make sure it doesn’t interfere with the Davis technique we’re working with.
You are right, Melissa, she does have many strengths (though some days I feel hard pressed to find them!). I didn’t bring them up mostly ’cause they aren’t a problem. She is artistic and has musical talents. Though, she is not interested in the learning phase of anything. Therefore, she isn’t building a lot on them. She just wants to know how to do something without putting effort into it. We are probably starting piano lessons next week and I think this is something she can excel at if she will put the effort. If she won’t, it will be yet more thing that her little sister does better than her. My youngest is not as talented at musical things but will do better because she is willing to work at it. My oldest loves animals and is very caring. She is friendly and wants to help others. It is always helpful to take a step back and see what she can do, especially when so constantly faced with what she can’t.
Thanks
Sorry, I didn’t look of the Diane Multiplication cards to see what they were….oops. The story method works the same I am sure and it really seems to help a lot for my kids. We use Fred too and we do it as a family….kids actually love Fred and it has never been pushed off to do for another time…they will not allow it. We are just finishing up cats, so it is still really easy for them at this point, but some of the concepts have been older level work. My son’s major set back is spelling and I tried All About Spelling and we made it to level 2, but when I would pull out the box, my son would start to cry before we even started a lesson…I son’t know why he disliked it so much, but I knew I had to try something else…I had a Spelling workbook (similar to public school method) here and so I tried having him work through the list with his right eye covered thus all visual information was going through his left eye and thus to the correct portion of the brain….at least according to an article I read. He has yet to fail a test and we have complete 2 quarter reviews that contain about 120 words altogether and he passed those as well….So I know he is retaining what he is learning finally. I have him cover his eye with a patch and then read the word spell the word and write the word on the first day and I point out any patterns with highlighting and discuss vowel pairs, blends, diagraphs etc…. he completes the little spelling lessons through the week and we test. If he misses a word, then it moves on to next week’s lesson. He has only had one word go pass a second lesson and it was the word plain and he kept spelling it plane even though we had covered it multiple times as not being the plane in the air. So the patch has help to correct his disconnect at least in spelling. He is reading at around 4/5 grade level well so I don’t know what will happen as he gets older….will cross that bridge when we come to it. He does super with narrations, oral only of course…He would faint dead away if I asked him to write one! LOL We will be working hard next year to put all those spelling words into sentences and into paragraphs.
When I taught him to read….I used games to keep him alert and following along with me reading. I would read and them I would stop and he would have to read from where I left off for at least 5 words then he would stop and I had to start up. He found that if he read longer he could surprise me more when he stopped and this seemed to help him not focus so much on reading but enjoying time together. I would practice making voices and putting inflection into my voice on questions etc. Then I would have him do them same. He found this very funny. He was in 2nd grade and reading at about first grade level when I pulled him from public school. He is now 8 almost 9 and he is reading the readers from Sonlight’s grade 3 and 4/5.
For math he does better with Horizons workbooks and by better, I mean I see more progress and understanding, but he wanted to do Teaching textbooks like his sister and so he is doing both. His sister asked to do the worksheets voluntarily too, So somehow I have them doing 3 different math curriculums and it wasn’t planned. If I am ever in a bind or they are not getting a concept, I pull up videos from Kahn academy. I also have a math dictionary site boookmarked where I can print out an example of a problem they are having trouble remembering the steps to complete. Such as long division.
I use audios too. I still read to my kids most books except their readers, but I use librivox audios in the car by downoading to my phone and bluetoothing in the car. I can get 3 classic lit reads on the schedule per year doing it this way. These are the fun lit reads…like Princess and the Goblin, Five Children and It, Five Little Peppers and how they Grew, Pollyanna etc…
I also bought the collection of Jim Weiss’s audios from greathall productions…..these are great!! Kids have listened to them all multiple times. HTH
I have a dd(age 6) who sounds similar to yours, minus the behavior problems.
I also have a ds age 17 with dyslexia and dyscalclia, as well as a dd 10 with math struggles.
So many things come to mind. Have you read the books “The Right Side of Normal” and “The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan”? Both should help with specific ideas.
After reading The Right Side of Normal, as well as other unschooling books, I could see how unschooling or relaxed homeschooling are a great thing for right brained learners.
I am implementing some of the ideas, but am still using some curriculum, especially for highschool and math.
You can PM me for specifics.
For dd10 for math I discovered that she learns math facts best through song. I stopped the visual stories and went back to Math U See skip counting songs. We wrote a song for the 12 facts to “Wheels on the Bus”.
I like Child1st.com materials for reading, math, and spelling. Check out her blog for teaching tips and great advice.
For dd6 I stopped with the reading curriculum and let her play with the pieces of the kit, which include Snapwords cards with pictures,words, and motions, an alphabet story, readers, etc.
That is the key for her, let her choose what she wants to do and be ready to engage with her. She will do hours of learning this way, versus me following a lesson plan and constantly having to regain her attention. When she is interested she retains much more and maintains focus fine.
Study your dd and you will find how she learns best. My dd6 loves copywork. She learns to read and spell by taking notes at church because the pastor writes the main points on a board and says what they are as he writes. She copies them and loves it!
I gave her the Queen’s math facts copywork book to do for “fun” as she wants.
I am going to use Math U See for pre algebra on up for my crew, besides adding a few others such as Bridgeway, Hands on Equations, Patty Paper Geometry, and Make Math Meaningful Algebra, and some of the Key to algebra, key to … books.
A lot of times behavioral problems are worse with school work when the work is difficult. If you follow her lead in areas you can and observe how she learns best, she will show you what she needs.
I started a blog that I will announce soon, about my curriculum choices. I am learning so much from my children and other homeschool families.
Hang in there!
I forgot to mention that dd6 likes cards she can move around, card games, and board games. I am going to get her Write on/Wipe off puzzle pieces(blank ones) from Rainbow Resource Center soon.
I joke that I can teach her anything if I chop it in little pieces and let her play with them. Some of this may be her age, although my older kids like Winston Grammar that has cards.
Thanks for all the ideas. Some good food for thought and things to look up.
I am reading “The Right Side of Normal” right now. That is definitely where I’ve been getting the unschooling would be better. But how do you unschool when they can’t read anything? I realize they learn a lot with hands on and just doing, but books are so important, too!
Read alouds and audio books. Dd6 has an mp3 player with audio books on it and many family members to read to her. Software that reads to them works well too. I have a Bible app on my phone that reads to her too. She follows along well with that because of the verse numbers. She figures out where we are at based on when we pause too.
She listens to music a lot and likes videos. She takes piano lessons, but they are low key and twice a month. She is allowed to quit if she wants to. She loves piano lessons.
She likes blocks, building toys, pretend play, walking the dog, cooking, math manipulatives, sign language, and active play.
Hth,
C
I have a right brained daughter too. She is also 11 and in 5th grade. This is our second year homeschooling. She was so behind/lost in public school. I too am reading The right side of normal. I have found that book to be the best resource for me. My daughter struggles with reading, writing, and grammar. She is an artist and a perfectionist. If she can’t do it correctly the first time she gets frustrated, doesn’t want help, doesn’t want to be told what to do and hates for her work to be corrected. I hear ya.
Math – we tried Life of Fred (too much reading and too boring for DD), we tried the times tales and she didn’t like. We tried some online practice games (but they were timed and she hates to be rushed). What finally worked for DD to learn multiplication facts is repetition using Straight Forward Math Series (simple workbook). We their entire series for add, sub, div, multiplication, fractions. At some point this year we will go back to Teaching Textbooks. I like that program.
Reading – DD has to be interested in order to want to read it. She loves comic books. The pictures in the comics help give her visual cues that she needs. She started with comics like Baby Mouse. Went to the local library and got lots of comic books. Now she is into Transformers Comic books. Now she is starting to make her own comics (she loves to draw). She also wants to be a vet so I found something online about what it takes to be a vet and she reads informational books about animals. She doesn’t like to read out loud so I will read to her or I make her read and if she doesn’t know how to pronouce a word I read it for her so she doesn’t get frustrated. It also helps her to take a index card or a piece of paper and line it up under the line she or me are reading so she doesn’t lose her place or get distracted by all the other words on the page.
Grammar – Daily Grams suggested by the author of The Right Side of Normal. We do 2 pages a day (together) and started with the first book (3rd grade). I read the directions to her and she loves the positive feedback when she gets the correct answer. She is finally beginning to understand the rules of grammar and how to construct a sentence.
Spelling – I purchased the two books that are recommended in The Right Side of Normal and plan on using them as suggested in the book. In public school she almost always got a perfect score on spelling tests and now she cannot remember how to spell most of those words today.pangit – Your daughter sounds exactly like mine. While reading your posts, I thought I was reading about my daughter:) She is 11, and in 5th grade. I know exactly how you feel about wanting to help her and yet feeling like your farther behind each year. When I have time, I want to read through this thread more thoroughly. I’m sure there will be some things here that I can implement. My daughter has made some progress with the reading, yet not independent. Math is the biggest challenge.
I can’t give you a lot of advice on what to use, but one thing I wanted to comment on is the piano lessons. My daughter is gifted in art and music as well. She had started piano lessons a couple of years ago, and it seemed like it was going nowhere. So, we stopped them. She would play around on the piano just for fun and we noticed she was picking up a lot of tunes and playing them by ear. So, I went back to the piano teacher and asked her if she could teach my daughter to play by ear. She was able to do that, and now my daughter is moving forward in her piano playing. I had an education consultant, who specializes in dyslexia, tell me that we shouldn’t make her read notes. I can’t tell you how well she has been playing the piano since she is being ear-trained. The teacher does have her tell her the names of notes sometimes, but for the most part, she is just hearing them and not following them. So, if your daughter gets frustrated with lessons, it may be from trying to read notes. You may want to have a teacher that can ear train.
We are using Math On the Level. This is a program that teaches through hands-on game and activities. It is resulting in some progress, but it is slow-going. I think it will be, no matter what we use. My consultant said she didn’t have number sense. That was at almost 10 years old. She recommended MUS, but my daughter was frustrated with the rods. You may find some ideas at http://www.landmarkschool.org/resources/woodinmath. We used this for a while before we tried MUS. It was to help create number sense. My daughter still uses the icons to help her with subtraction and regrouping. There may be some activities on here that could help.
I’m anxious to try some things mentioned on this thread. Thanks for getting this started.
pangit- Another thing you mentioned was your daughter balking at making maps. My daughter has the some problem. Her visual perception is not good, and when there is too much detail, she can’t make any sense out of it. I try to keep the map work simple. That’s why I said trying to read notes to play piano was not working. Whether it is the dyslexia or other visual problems, she could not follow the notes. I made up my mind I am going to simplify the visual aspects of her work.
We are going to start with TQ history in the fall, and to help her process time a little better when it comes to history, I may make a timeline with pictures, sort of like Homeschool In the Woods has available. I figure I can go online and find a picture of something important that we are reading about. I want to put it on the wall, so my daughter can see what happened from Creation to the coming of Jesus or beyond. She learns a lot by looking at pictures. I got some audio books of American Girl stories on my Kindle and she has really enjoyed listening to them. So, I think I will look into more audio as well. It has been trial and error for the last three years. I am finding some things I definitely want to stay with, but there are other areas I am still searching.
{Tears} After looking that website for The Right Side of Normal (which I requested from my library after 2 minutes) I think this is the issue I have with my son.
Math and Spelling are so very tough for him. It’s like pulling teeth. We use MUS and Sequential Spelling and ahhh it’s like no fun.
He is an amazing drawer. He can take bits of one picture and bits of another and turn them into one amazing picture. He uses shading, different pencils and can get so absorbed in it.
He is not a worker. He is not maturing for 15 in our opinion, and yet now I think I get it a bit more. It’s just not him at all. He’s just a right brainer.
I would love to chat with one of you who has one of these children especially if they are in the teens and you’ve had issues in spelling or math. Feel free to email me at quiverof7 AT gmail DOT com
Thanks and waiting to read the book! I had no idea there were 2 different styles. What a putz of a mom I am. 🙁
I have no advise or words of wisdom. Sending cyber hugs. I have a 14 year old who really learned how to read last school year. He reads ALL the time and loves it. His writing skills are getting better and now we are really struggling with math. He used to do so well with math and now, he is not or completely confused. Not only his he right brained but also very much a hands on learner. I have realized that I need to think outside of the box for him when it comes to curriculum. He feels bad in how much money we have to spend on him or that we have to change his books and I tell him it is ok. God made him this way and I accept his image that he created.
These beautiful children are just as frustrated as we are with the circumstances. However, I don’t think they really know how to express themselves in a productive manner. My son would say he was stupid, dum, etc… To be honest I would show my frustration.
Oh, how I wish there was a circulum list for right brained children. Alas, there is not. At least of one that I am unaware of. It seems to me that it is trial and error to find what may be a good fit for him.
I know what has been working and we will keep on keeping on until or if I have to change circulum again.
I will say this…. I keep on praying for him and I ask the Lord to show me who my child is through His eyes not mine. To see his beauty and express to my son how brilliant he is and how God does not make junk. My attitude toward him has changed and he is blossoming.
My 10 yr old son has Auditory Processing Disorder (diagnosed severe), and he’s done best with Right Start Math. I have 4 other kids, and RS is time intensive, so I’ve tried other programs with him in hopes that something else would “work” for him so I could free up my time a bit to work with my other kids more. Math Mammoth was visual overload (very colorful and busy…..which I thought was great but definitely overload for him!). Math-U-See is the program the local Montessori school uses, and I use for two of my other kids and like for them. It’s opposite of Math Mammoth in that it’s visually simple, black and white problems. Worked okay for a while but my APD son hit a wall once we got to multiplication. We are back to Right Start. A “Right Brained” child needs strategies for math. My son has serious memory problems that make memorizing math facts extremely difficult. He needs strategies, and RS provides lots of strategies for figuring things out. I appreciate all you who take the time to post your experiences. We know that having a child with a learning difficulty can be agonizing as we work and research to help give them the tools they need to grow.
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