Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

ugh!  I feel like I am pushing a rope trying to teach Mark math.  At moments I feel like he gets it and then he doesn’t.  Three steps forward and 5 steps backwards is often how I feel it is around here with Mark and Math. Right now he doesn’t get negative numbers,  or combining like-terms, or adding, or subtracting….. he’s frustrated by it all too.   I think he’s not ready for it either.

Since he missed most of the adding or subtracting negative numbers on the Key to Algebra Book 1 test, I had made up drill sheets of equations like this:

  -4 - 8 =

for Mark to do, let him practice working with negative numbers.   No way could he get it.  

Last week he had taken expressions such as this:

-4+ -8  and changed it to  -4 - 8   but now!  No, he doesn’t believe that you can reverse it and go back to -4 + -8    Yesterday we spent a good 15 minutes talking about how and why that’s possible.

He does get it really fast if I say; you owe me $4 and then you owe me $8, as I point to the negative sign as I say OWE.   “Oh, -12 dollars.” he shouts happily.

OK I can play this game.  Mark, you say OWE outloud as we read the next equation.  Nope, he cannot do that.  Mutters.  Won’t speak loud.  Nope, he doesn’t get it.

We do a page of equations with me saying You owe me, whenever I see a negative number, and he flies through the sheet.   Oh, I’m fooled, I think he gets it. but if I walk away he is at a lost to what to do.

We move back to the Key to Algebra book Mark is working through.  He’s up to doing equations such as   4(3x - 8)   distribute the 4.  He gets it and makes very few mistakes, even when the equation is  -3(4x - 8).

Then we move on to  equations with extra terms where you will have to combine like terms.  Mind you he has already done several pages of combining like terms and did it with missing very few.  So here we have   5x -4(3x-8) - 15     No, he can’t distribute the term, no he can’t combine like terms….

Frustration is mounting here….. I even spent some of the evening looking over other math programs.  I pulled my 7th grade Pre-Algebra by Mary Dolciani off the shelf and looked through it.

This morning I had him do the first lesson in Dolciani’s Pre-Algebra book.  He breezed through it in about 10 minutes, doing 37 problems, transferring the equation from the textbook into his notebook, and having a non-frustrating math day.

I’m going to give his brain time to grow somemore, before we return to the KTA books.  Who knows, there might be some truth to the idea that when a kid’s body is growing forget teaching them new material.  And oh boy, is he growing fast right now, probably 3 inches this summer, and one of those inches this past week.  The 12yo stands close to 5′ 5″ now..