Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: Math struggles

This topic has 39 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 4 months ago by 2Corin57.

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January 16, 2016 at 6:52 am
Melanie32
Participant
I’ve always used a timer for my kids’ math lessons. We did 20 minutes a day at that age.
I wouldn’t even worry about geography if she is struggling with it. She has plenty of time to learn geography. That way she wouldn’t have to struggle so hard with 2 subjects-just one. I don’t think we started formal geography until 5th grade in our homeschool. We did keep a globe or map handy sometimes to look up places we read about in other studies but it was very relaxed.
January 16, 2016 at 2:43 pm
amama5
Participant
I am so thankful for all the responses, but especially to whomever mentioned the dyscalculia; after researching, that is exactly my daughter in almost every description/symptom. It has been wonderful for her to see videos of children explaining how they feel in that struggle (which is the same way she does). I also learned I have been going about things incorrectly with her, and can see much better ways to help her with math. It won’t be easy, but at least I can make it more pleasant for her and myself! Thank you again for taking time to answer my post.
January 16, 2016 at 4:05 pm
my3boys
Participant
I don’t know why I didn’t mention dyscalculia in my posts. My son probably has the same disability and I plan to have him tested. My health has made this past year a challenge so testing hasn’t happened yet. My husband had some of the same problems in school, still does to a degree. He was labeled the “problem child” in school and had zero help when he was young. I didn’t want the same for my son so starting over, going slow, using tools, tutoring, etc. is what we have done so far.
Let us know what you come up with and how things are going when you can.
January 16, 2016 at 9:26 pm
Karen
Participant
I’m glad, then, that it helped you. I feel like sometimes all I post about is dyslexia and dyslexia-type things……but someone else on this forum (a year or two ago) pointed me in the direction of dyslexia and doing that little bit of research has totally changed my daughter’s life. And I’m so grateful, because I hadn’t seriously considered it before she mentioned it…….so I’m trying to pay it forward.
January 22, 2016 at 7:41 am
psreitmom
Participant
My daughter has exactly the same struggle……math, along with dyslexia and other issues I won’t get into. She is a complex case, because she was born with some neurological problems due to a mild CP. But, she is very smart in certain areas. She has struggled with math from the beginning. She is now 12, and in 6th grade. We tried so many different programs. Three years ago, I had her to an education consultant, out-of-state, who specializes in dyslexia and math. Even her recommendations only helped a little.
I finally had her tested by a neuro-psychologist a few months ago. He explained how the vertical and horizontal connections work in the brain. The vertical connections have to do with hearing information and being able to spit it back out. My daughter did well in that area. The horizontal connections are when you ‘get’ the concept, or the meaning of a story. My daughter did not do well in that area. He didn’t give her an official diagnosis of dyscalculia, but she fits. Basically what he told me was that she will probably never understand the relationship between decimals and fractions. He recommended that we work on areas that will benefit her in real life, so she can function as an adult. He said to work on time/sequence. (She does not have a good concept of time) This will help when getting a job, needing good time management. he said to let her use calculators. he also said to focus on checkbook math (add/sub) and money. My evaluator also mentioned measuring, which we have been working on fractions, for cooking.
I have Math On the Level. I am finished with textbook/workbook programs where you start at the beginning and work through. It just doesn’t work with kids like this. You come to lesson where they just do not get a concept, and you can’t move on until they get that concept. Some of those concepts may never be understood. I feel like we have wasted a couple years trying programs like that and then we hit a roadblock. With Math On the Level, you can choose which concepts you want to work on. The concepts are taught through games and activities before any written work is done. Just yesterday, I met, online, with Carlita Boyles, the lady who developed Math On the Level. She is the sweetest lady. She used to teach children with learning disabilities before homeschooling her children. She understands what is going on with these kids. We talked for an hour or so. After getting results and recommendations from the psychologist, I asked her if I could discuss things with her and if she could help me get something set up for my daughter, based on those recommendations. She was very helpful. My problem was that I was trying to teach too many different concepts. She recommended that I take one area, and focus only on that for at least a month. So, instead of trying to teach time, budgeting, AND measuring, just take one for a month. I would do a little of one for a while, then a little of another, and it was not working to make sure it was sticking. So, we are going to begin with time and work on that for a month. This is along with review of things she already knows, so she doesn’t lose those.
If our children are struggling, we need to stop worrying about everything we think we need to be covering, and focus on the areas that are most important, so they can make it in the real world. Maybe your child is not to the point where my daughter is, but I said all this to encourage you, and to maybe help you in deciding what and how to teach your child. I have had a burden lifted, knowing it is okay to proceed in this way.
January 22, 2016 at 12:21 pm
my3boys
Participant
We had to start over when I noticed that he just wasn’t getting it. Concepts like place value and time, which I thought he understood, were not there. He would say he’d never been taught those concepts. You can barely get anywhere if you don’t know place value. And, trying to explain a concept like 4 quarters to a dollar/4 quarters in an hour is just bending the mind way too much, for my son, anyway. He is just now understanding that there are numbers between the digits on a clock. The whole clock thing was a fiasco at our house and brought on a lot of tears that I don’t want to repeat. We have been going slow and steady for the last few years but I think my son may need me to slow down again.
Thank you for all of the information. It is all so helpful.
January 22, 2016 at 12:30 pm
Wings2fly
Participant
That was very encouraging, psreitmom. Thanks for sharing. We don’t focus enough on real-life measuring, time management, and budgeting money. These really are helpful things they will use, no matter their career. I need to discuss more about my choices when shopping. Have you also found the use of living math books to help, with Math on the Level?
January 22, 2016 at 12:54 pm
psreitmom
Participant
You are right about place value. The ed. consultant we went to had me use Math-U-See Alpha, which had place value as the very first lesson. We used the blocks on what I believe was called decimal street….ones house, tens house, and hundreds house. It seemed like a chant, because we kept saying it over and over again. (“This is the ones house. Only ones live in the ones house. Only nine ones can live in the ones house. If there are more than nine, someone has to move.” Then the ten ones moved over to the tens house and became a ten.) Those may not have been the exact words, but that is how the consultant told me to teach it to her. I don’t remember how MUS taught it, but I had a poster board with houses drawn on for ones, tens, and hundreds. Only make the house large enough to fit nine ones blocks and nine tens blocks lying side by side. The hundreds we just stacked. Focus on the ones and tens for a while before going to hundreds. It took weeks, but once my daughter got place value, it really made a difference in other areas. She can do subtraction with regrouping:) That was a milestone! As far as MUS, we came to a lesson that she just could not get, and the consultant said to stay on a lesson until she gets it. But, I felt I couldn’t do that, because she was missing out on lessons that she could understand. So, that is why we could not stay with a curriculum like that. You are on the right track if place value is needed. But, I would not worry about any other concepts until that is gotten. Once your son knows place value, if you work with money, you could use dimes and pennies in you ones and tens house to show what makes $1 (100). My daughter is learning some fractions, so she does understand 4 quarters make a whole dollar. But, that can be a later lesson. HTH
January 22, 2016 at 1:10 pm
psreitmom
Participant
my3boys – Sorry. I didn’t realize my post on place value was to someone other than the original poster. Hope it was some help to you.
Wings2fly – Math On the Level would probably be considered living math, so I have been using the ideas from those books for the most part. I have been considering getting a Life of Fred book to see how my daughter would do with that. That may not be considered living math, but she likes funny stuff, so I don’t know if it would click with her or not. Math On the Level does have us do 5-A-Day practice problems, so it would be used more for practicing what she has already learned. If we don’t practice on a regular basis, she will forget some things, and then it is discouraging to reteach something she should already know. That’s why my focus now has to be on what is most important for her in the long run.
January 22, 2016 at 3:19 pm
amama5
Participant
psreitmom- I agree with everything you said, thanks. I will definitely look into Math on the Level, because as you said, you will come to a concept where they may never get it and you can’t move on in a traditional curriculum book (which is so discouraging for a child). I also do realize the most important skills are those we use every day. (I don’t think I’ll ever teach her long division, and want to cry thinking about teaching her negative numbers).
I think Math U See has been the most helpful thing for her starting off with place value, the houses were so helpful, and we would just get the decimal street chart out again and fill the houses up when she forgot how to do place value.
my3boys- So reassuring to hear you say exactly how I feel; that my daughter would tell me she’d never learned something (even though we’d been over it time and time again), or she’d tell me I taught her the exact opposite. I felt like such a failure as her teacher, so it helps to know she and I aren’t alone.
Just curious why you want to have testing done? I am big on finding out problems/solutions, but not public/recorded labels. I did a lot of research last week and decided the only value for testing would be to prove a learning disability for schoarlships/classes at college. While I don’t want to limit my child, I don’t forsee college as necessary, and at this point in her young life she really desires to be a wife/mom, or a librarian. If you know your child probably has dyscalculia and you sound like you are doing the right things for him as it sounds like you are, I would skip the testing. Just my opinion though, you may have a strong reason for it.
January 22, 2016 at 3:21 pm
my3boys
Participant
I completely agree.
We did Saxon math for 3-4 years before I realized that my son learned what he needed, or so I thought, because he did so well on the tests, etc. But to take any of that outside of the page, literally, it did not make any sense at all. It was as if he didn’t realize that what he saw on paper is what we use in real life, it’s just on paper. My dh is the exact same way.
A friend recommended MUS and we began at the Alpha level, I think. Maybe Beta; I don’t remember. Either way, we had to get the place value down. He has it now and I believe has a good understanding of it. But that has taken years. And any explanations outside of the concept at hand just adds confusion/frustration. I tried giving real life examples, charades, games, you name it, and it only brought confusion and when I was finished he’d not even know what we were doing all of that for to begin with. I’m trying to explain something but I’m not sure I can….argh.
My son doesn’t usually pull from already known concepts to solve problems like most people would. It’s like the well of knowledge is not there to draw from, even if he just learned the concept. I say “usually” because sometimes he surprises me and himself…that is a breakthrough moment and is usually remembered.
Have to run…this is a very helpful thread!
January 22, 2016 at 4:25 pm
psreitmom
Participant
I tried two different times to have my daughter tested and it fell through for insurance reasons. I was going to give up having testing done, but when I had my daughter to CP clinic and told the therapists about her struggles in school, they recommended testing. So, I went ahead and had it done, since we had insurance that would pick it up. I battled with the idea of testing, and while I would not tell someone it is absolutely necessary, I am glad I had my daughter tested, just because having the dr’s recommendations for math, and he also gave me ideas for reading for understanding and even writing essays, it will prove to be helpful, since she also has some difficulties in her language skills. I do not have to let the school district know about the testing. It is just between me and the evaluator. It’s for my own personal use.
My daughter wants to be a wife and mother as well. She used to talk about being a nurse. She would make a wonderful nurse if she had the math skills, but someone recently told her that she could be a nurses aide. She has so much compassion for people who are hurting. God has given these kids their own special gifts and abilities and has a special place for them. I wish I would have known three years ago what I know now. It would have spared us many frustrations and tears. It is freeing to finally know what/how to teach my daughter so she can learn.
January 22, 2016 at 7:10 pm
psreitmom
Participant
I just wanted to mention that if anyone looks at Math On the Level, it seems pricey. I hesitated buying it at our convention almost two years ago, and I even told Carlita, who was there at the time, that I needed to think about it before making a decision, just because of the price. But, deep down I knew this is what my daughter needed. It was a lot to put out at one time, but now that I have it, I will not have to buy any math curriculum for the rest of my daughter’s school years. MOTL goes from K to pre-algebra, so knowing my daughter will not go any farther than that, in the long run it is reasonable. I am set in math for the next six years:)
January 22, 2016 at 8:59 pm
my3boys
Participant
I can see how Math on the Level would help me help my son. His tutor explains concepts similar to how MOTL does; no wonder he enjoys his time with her 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation. I think I’m going to look through his MUS and see how it compares.
Sorry to hijack the thread but I can relate to this topic so well.
January 26, 2016 at 9:51 am
Bookworm4
Participant
I don’t know how it compares to other curriculum, but I have seen Ronit Bird math recommended and used a lot for kids with dyscalculia. It is actually written specifically for dyscalculia.