I am the most evil mom on the planet... If I get attitude from my kids, such as (Yea yea yea 1234 I don't know..) Whoooo! Well, first of all, you failed to prove to me that you learned it. So we will REPEAT the whole lesson. WHY>>> Glad You Asked! Because either you did not understand the lesson and you need a repeat. OR You have an attitude and deserve to do it again. So it is YOUR Choice. Do it once, Prove to me you know it and we will move on. Cop an attitude and fail to prove to me you know it and HERE we STAY to do it again. Only a couple of times doing that CURES the ATTITUDE! And when the attitude rears its head again, all I have to do is remind them of the rule: You either failed to learn it and need a repeat, or your have an attitude and deserve to re-do it. YOU (The child) are in control. What are we going to do today? I have had my 3rd grade boys actually tell me, "I need to do it again, because I don't get it" And I praise them for their bravery in admitting that and we get massive one on one time to work on it, I ask them what they think might help them understand it, Or WHAT is it directly that they don't understand, etc... Again, giving them some control and asking their opinion. But as the parent you HAVE to be consistent and ready to stick it out.
You have plenty of good ideas here, but I'll just offer some encouragement. My son gave me that attitude from kindergarten through first grade. We are now mid-way through 2nd grade, and life is good. He's still not setting the world on fire, but we are making steady forward progress now which is all I need to see. We too did everything, so I couldn't tell you what worked, but we just kept trying until something did. Looking back, I think it was just a maturity issue. Kids are all different, and he just wasn't ready. So take a deep breath and relax; it will get better.
In addition to board games, card games are great. War, for instance, makes you compare numbers, especially if you take out the face cards (or you can leave them in). You can make up card games that are math problems - how can you make this an equation? Give her five cards and have her put three of them in an equation somehow (4+1=5, etc). With other kids: the person who can make the most equations with 7/10/whatever cards wins. Slip some cooking in, as well. "I need five teaspoons, and I already added three. How many do I need YOU to put in for me? Don't put in too much or it will taste awful!" If she has younger sibs, she can teach them to count and sort, and play games. We make patterns with different color Lego blocks. This can occupy a younger child while letting her take the lead. When she is teaching, she's going to move into math facts. Similarly, you could try having one of your older kids play games like that with her, instead of a parent. Or have your older kids think of a game "just for her" to learn addition facts. Get some of that sibling co-operation on your side! And the crafting ideas were awesome. SG
I too have some strong willed children and have on occassion repeated the lesson with them. You have some good ideas but since you mentioned giving up I'll ask this: What do you see that will be improved if you send her to school? Do you believe that a teacher will be better equipped to deal with dd? Don't get me wrong, I don't really have an opinion one way or the other but I find that a good way to look at things when the going gets tough is that wherever you educate your child YOU are still responsible for her educaton and really choosing homeschooling over public (or private schooling) is trading one set of problems for another. The trick is to decide which set of problems you'd like to deal with.
Okay I asked my friend who just got her first first grade class this year, just incase you want an outside teachers idea. She said to use lots of manipulatives too! So there ya have it! She said that if she is using things to add subtract etc in front of her that she can touch and see both she will have the answer in front of her!
I haven't read all of the posts. So, I apologize if someone else already mentioned this. If you really think that there might be something going on with her that needs medication (or therapy), you should take her to a child psycologist . Your family Dr may not be qualified to diagnosis something like that. The reason I suggest that is because of my dd. She went to ps for kinder. By the end of the year, when you asked her about anything, she said "I don't know" or "I forgot.' This was partly due to the fact that the ps destroyed her desire to learn. It was also due to other things, though. She has ADHD & something else. She was diagnosed with ODD, but they now think they misdiagnosed the ODD & it may actually be a mood disorder. Her pediatrician diagnosed her with the ADHD, but wasn't able to figure out what else was going on. Even the first therapist she saw didn't catch anything besides the ADHD. She's in therapy & seeing a psycologist, and we're working towards figuring out what she has so we can help her. While your dd's behavior could be lack of interest in what she's learning, lack of desire to learn, or boredom with the work, it could also be a sign of something more serious. Follow your instincts. If you think that there is somethign goning on with her, get her to a professional that can properly evaluate her. If it's just boredom, lack of interest, or lack of desire to learn, I would suggest making school more fun, finding out her learning style, and making sure her work is at the right level for her. You may want to try adding in games, educational DVDs & shows, audio books, hands-on projects, experiments, manipulatives, etc. Try different types of work, until you find the one that best suits her learning style. Learning can take place in many ways & she may learn differently than your other children.
We handled it by asking her...what do YOU want to learn? She replied that she wanted to learn about sharks. SO...we did READING about sharks. We did WRITING about sharks...... This was our first year with my middle boy and it worked like a dream. We'd do a bit of math, phonics then read and study a topic of his choice. After coming out of a public school and feeling 'dumb' he needed some expences to excell in. He also isn't a sit and fill in the blanks workbook kind of kid. Hands on, oral tests, concepts he can experence are retained far more then traditional methods. Now days we are useing MathUSee. It still isn't his strong suit but I think he's getting the concepts clearer. I read somwhere once (sorry don't know where) that some things require more brain development before the can be understood. Abstract concepts, which math can certianly be are best grasped with manipulatives. Hang in there!!
