Kevin was home on Monday and observed one of our kids having a "math meltdown". I was working with this child individually as I knew some extra work was needed. Kevin had some very helpful input into the situation. Sometimes as the children's primary homeschool teacher, I am too close to the situation to really see what needs done.
So Kevin's conclusion is that this kid needs a more "public school approach" to math. I am a math "person" and it drove me NUTS in public school that we were drilled and drilled and drilled on stuff I knew COLD. I was so bored much of the time. So in teaching our children, I've gone with a relatively low drill approach as I don't want the kids to be bored.
This has worked well with several children who are gifted in math. The child in question is NOT gifted in math. And drill is necessary. Another insight from Kevin is that the child needed instruction in a variety of skills because combining them all was too much. So we practiced erasing. Seriously! Because sometimes the error was erased plus other parts of the problem. We practiced writing numbers in columns. We had this child speak out loud what was going on in the head while doing problems. The end result was that after a few days of work, there was great improvement. So that is encouraging. I'm sure more work will need to be done, more REVIEW will need to be done, but at least this kid is feeling encouraged and is able to do subtraction with borrowing consistently.
Earlier today I was working around the house and had Isaac bring a bunch of K'nex to the main table. 4 kids gathered around and worked vigorously on putting together K'nex structures. It was great -- fun and educational. I love that!
I am not sure what next week will bring in terms of homeschooling. I think I'll go with some formal school but not as much as usual. The following week we'll definitely be "off" as we celebrate 2 birthdays and Christmas.
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