Linda in NE
03-05-2008, 02:40 PM
My 13yos has always been very good understanding "the big picture" in math. He's intuitive and can very often solve a problem in his head using mathematical reasoning without using Algebra or touching a pencil and paper. Suddenly, however, it seems that he's hit a wall.
Around Thanksgiving we began a unit on polynomials, mostly adding, subtracting, and multiplying them. He did all right on the individual lessons, but when he came to the unit test, he failed, missing around half the questions. We backed up and reviewed the material in a general way, did more practice questions, and he seemed to gain understanding. However, when he took another unit test, he failed again with about the same score. SO, then we went through each lesson, doing the whole unit over again. He passed the unit this time at about 80%. That's what I require for him to move on, so anything less would have been another fail.
We're now at the end of the next unit -- factoring polynomials -- and the pattern seems to be repeating itself. He did fine on the individual lessons, missing a few homework questions, but doing okay after I re-taught and/or re-explained the material. He took the unit test on Friday and missed more than half. To make matters worse, he left a chunk of the questions blank which required him to factor several polynomial expressions. He told me he didn't know how to do those questions. THIS IS WHAT THE WHOLE CHAPTER WAS ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry to yell.)
We're going to go over the test today, and I need to make a decision about where we go from here. I'm thinking of putting this program on the back burner and approaching Algebra from a whole new angle. I'm looking at Life of Fred Algebra. Maybe the departure from the textbook approach will jar something loose in his brain, making him suddenly see the light.
Is this a good idea? What, if anything else, would you recommend? I'm very good at Algebra and always thought I was a good teacher, but this is driving me crazy. I don't understand how he can not understand at this point.
NOTE: He is going through some teen/hormonal issues right now. Maybe it's making him more dense than usual. Taking this into account, how does that effect your advice to me?
Thanks.
Around Thanksgiving we began a unit on polynomials, mostly adding, subtracting, and multiplying them. He did all right on the individual lessons, but when he came to the unit test, he failed, missing around half the questions. We backed up and reviewed the material in a general way, did more practice questions, and he seemed to gain understanding. However, when he took another unit test, he failed again with about the same score. SO, then we went through each lesson, doing the whole unit over again. He passed the unit this time at about 80%. That's what I require for him to move on, so anything less would have been another fail.
We're now at the end of the next unit -- factoring polynomials -- and the pattern seems to be repeating itself. He did fine on the individual lessons, missing a few homework questions, but doing okay after I re-taught and/or re-explained the material. He took the unit test on Friday and missed more than half. To make matters worse, he left a chunk of the questions blank which required him to factor several polynomial expressions. He told me he didn't know how to do those questions. THIS IS WHAT THE WHOLE CHAPTER WAS ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry to yell.)
We're going to go over the test today, and I need to make a decision about where we go from here. I'm thinking of putting this program on the back burner and approaching Algebra from a whole new angle. I'm looking at Life of Fred Algebra. Maybe the departure from the textbook approach will jar something loose in his brain, making him suddenly see the light.
Is this a good idea? What, if anything else, would you recommend? I'm very good at Algebra and always thought I was a good teacher, but this is driving me crazy. I don't understand how he can not understand at this point.
NOTE: He is going through some teen/hormonal issues right now. Maybe it's making him more dense than usual. Taking this into account, how does that effect your advice to me?
Thanks.