Jun. 23, 2008 Online Math Games Jan. 25, 2008 Math Trouble
Math is not my favorite subject to teach. You could say teaching math is the bane of my existence - no wait, that would be paperwork and record-keeping. Math is close, though. It's right up there. With Emily in Kindergarten, I now have 4 math students. Bill can do his math on his own, but convincing him to actually do it is the hard part. Jesse is great at math and understands new concepts very easily, but just like Bill, convincing him to actually do his math is the hard part.
Then there is Dylan and Emily. Convincing them to do their math is not the hard part. Trying not to have a nervous breakdown while teaching them math skills - now that's the hard part. I went into my bedroom and CRIED after Emily's math lesson today. I cried. It is just too stressful. Of course I try not to let her see how stressed out I get over her lack of comprehension and retention, but after trying to explain the concept of adding 0 to another number for well over 5 minutes - and that was just today and that is just one example of several math comprehension problems we encountered today - oh, and I've been trying to teach her this concept and all the others for about 6 months now - I can get pretty irritable.
Dylan has always had bad math comprehension skills as well, and I have never found a curriculum that works well for him. So he just trudges along, day after day, year after year, forgetting almost everything he's ever learned over the 3rd grade level. Actually, he wasn't bad at math until he got to long division. It's been all downhill from there. Thank God for the invention of calculators and computer programs.
But Emily .... she is just not getting ANYTHING past 2 +2, and that is only because she has it memorized. She does a tiny bit better when we use manipulatives, but transferring that over to written work (which she LOVES to do!!!) is another story. And retaining what she's learned? Hasn't happened yet. So how can you teach a child who just does not get it?
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