My 'Works-For-Me' trick wouldn't work if we didn't homeschool. In fact, it'd have no purpose whatsoever. However, since we DO homeschool, and we DO have a problem with motivating our teens, well....my devious little brain got to thinking and plotting ways to help them get excited about learning without actually believing they're learning at all! Here's the background...Jon failed Algebra 2 last year. Kelsey is taking Algebra 2 this year. Jon is repeating it. I never took it, since my junior year ended abruptly two weeks into the Fall quarter. Soo.....my brilliant idea was to take Algebra 2 WITH my kids this year! I told them they could grade Mom's work, help me with problems, and hey, we'll all learn it together. Thankfully we do have a resident math geek in Pete, who is more than willing to be the authority on our "fuzzy" math logic, so there is a voice of reason in the house.
Thing is, I really didn't know if it would work. I was afraid the kids would go nuts holding my feet to the fire and forget that THEY need to do the work too...but lo and behold, our very first day of school, I ran into a speed bump that let me see exactly how well this is going to work! It seems that algebra isn't quite like riding a bike. When you don't use it in 17 years, you forget it. Not just a LITTLE of it, either. You forget MOST of it. I did. I needed a refresher course on negative integers, pi, and all those silly theorems that I detested so much. Guess who stepped up? Nope, not my knight in camouflage armor, but my KIDS! Who knew that Jon actually learned something during that course he failed? Certainly not his transcript...but go figure, he actually walked me and Kelsey through the bumps, and right there in our dining room, we had a little math study group going on! Oh, and a bonus...my kids learned that you don't have to be an expert to "teach" someone something, you can learn just about anything as long as you can read!
So here we are on Day 3, and whaddaya know, but my little mathletes are working TOGETHER on their algebra...check it out...
And of course, I can't help but toss in a picture of Kelsey, working ever so hard trying to outdo Mom and "beat" me to the answer yet again--
5 comments:
That is SO AWESOME!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, that sounds a bit too much like WORK to me, and MATH work, at that! Not a chance! LOL good for you, though!
I'm praying for your upcoming needs and for your family in the days ahead.
I don't blog though I have tried and I found yours by google army wife and quiverfull would you be willing to email me so I could ask you a few questions?? harmony671@yahoo.com
thanks
KRIS,
EMAIL ME AN UPDATE WHEN YOU CAN. LATER, BRENDA
Hi, Kris. How are things going? I hope all is well and you were able to see your grandmother. I miss your blogging and emails.
I found a book that I thought you might like about journaling to your kids. It might be a great way for your older two to see some good traits in themselves and how much you and God love them. I'm doing a give-away on it, my friend wrote it.
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