Many times in the past 5 years I have been intrigued by news stories about child prodigy homeschoolers. Recently an article in the Chicago Tribune starred Chelsea Link, who was courted and accepted to 7 Ivy League colleges. Chelsea wasn't merely taught at home By her dear mum, "her transcript includes courses ranging from... the Sorbonne in Paris to accredited online instruction from the Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth."
"Despite all this excellence, Link's mother shared her daughter's angst."I'd wake up in the middle of the night and wonder: 'Whatever made me think that [home schooling] would be looked upon favorably?' " said Cindi Link, who prepared detailed course descriptions for the applications. The Links—who own their own marketing-analysis business—have been assuming responsibility for their only child's studies since kindergarten."
I was encouraged that even the parent of such a talented girl could share my anxiety about being solely in charge of a child's education. Last night I stayed up half the night staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep because of my worry over Mary's math skills. It has become increasingly obvious that her mind just doesn't seem to understand spatial relationships. She can't jump from plodding through addition and subtraction problems on paper to being able to doing it in her head. She will add 7+3=10, but if I ask her 10-3=? she looks at me blankly. She doesn't understand that adding 10+x=1x. Even the two times tables are frustrating to her.
I have started working with her in the afternoons using Math-It and it seems to be slowly working. However, my mind was stuck that since she is enrolled in a homeschool program she can't go slower or repeat certain subjects. Worry over far future PSATs, SATs, and college admissions put my mind into a lockbox. I needed to ask myself "Why not explore all the options?" Mary is only 8. She is too young for me to think that I have failed her forever by not somehow turning her into a math genius. We could switch to a more free-form curriculum for a year, repeat a grade, and/or simply take our time to get the basics down. Whatever we decide I can be confident that I have her well-being and future as my top priority.
Even if she doesn't get into Harvard.
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3 comments:
Math can be tough. Period.
I used to use Learning Wrap Ups.
Because they're tactile, you can combine sight and feel (really important for some kids). They're self-checking, so they can do it independently. And you can add one number at a time so it's not overwhelming.
I think I left my set in a elementary room with kids with autism.
They're not terrible expensive...and once they get the hang of it they can take them anywhere - my own kids took them in the car.
Yes, I'm coming to grips with the reality that my children are bright, but with average motivation (possibly even less than average since they aren't even working for a grade). My oldest really doesn't care if he does better on the speed drills unless I constantly dangle a reward for improvement (and I'm not one to do such a thing, but perhaps next year I will go ahead and stock a Hershey Kisses reward jar).
Two of my 3 kids so far have struggled to grasp phonics and reading. None of them enjoy math, and I've had to halt the program to do long division worksheets that I made myself for my #2 student who just wasn't getting it.
Honestly, I fully expected my oldest to have leaped forward several grades by now. Homeschooling has been a lesson in humility, and patience, and excepting kids for who they are.
As for Mary, can you use the Seton program, but not enroll her? Keep her on grade level for everything but math, and then try a different program? It might just be that some summer school or repetition will get her to "get it" and catch up might follow soon thereafter.
Kat, I'm not sure why you think you can't slow down. We're enrolled and we slow down all the time. Whenever one kid doesn't get a concept, we just stop until they do. Sometimes we stop for a few days, sometimes a few weeks. You decide. Seton doesn't care. You can also switch math programs and still be enrolled. Then you provide the grade instead of Seton.
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