What a journey for a non-math-person! I've always struggled with math, but at first I thought Charles would not. In second grade he was in public school and everything seemed to fall apart. I'm not a public school hater, but we are still undoing the harm done academically for Charles; it was not a good fit for him.
We started with Math-U-See and I took him back to a point that was really below his level, to reinforce and fill in the gaps in his understanding. I loved the focus on mastery of a math skill before proceeding to the next idea with MUS. I didn't do enough additional drills with him, mainly because the drilling done at public school had been so detrimental to him. He really got stressed out about math drills and would emotionally shut down.
We switched this year to Horizons math, starting with book 4 and working quickly. I was optimistic that the mastery he had demonstrated in multiplication and addition with MUS would be a great foundation and math would be a favorite subject again.
Now we've seemed to stall. He seems to understand the concepts, but is not demonstrating self-motivation. Yet when he wants to he completes his work quickly and correctly. In all areas. Discouraging to say the least. I'm praying for insight. Perhaps it is a hormonal issue as we enter the pre-adolescent phase. Perhaps it is a Momma-just-gotta-get-tough issue.
Honestly he is the source of my homeschooling struggles right now. Kaitlyn is a model student. Jeremiah is becoming more of a content toddler, as long as he can express his needs and have them met.
Charles is challenging everything, pushing every boundary, trying every last nerve, endeavoring to tell us all how he thinks it should be! Pre-adolescence here we come...
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