But let's get back to all-things-homeschooling, shall we? (I never really, REALLY feel like we've started school until September. . . .it's the Yankee in me, I suppose.)
Here is the part where I confess my shortcomings as a teacher. I have realized this year, that my students (who shall remain nameless) are exhibiting a weakness in math - fact recall. They memorized the cute skip-counting songs, and can figure out the facts given enough time, but we need instant, memorize recall here, folks.
And I missed the boat.
So.
Deciding it was time to remedy that glaring weakness, I went to my favorite homeschool resource and asked for recommendations. One stood out: Xtra Math.
Basically, Xtra Math is math flashcards online. But more! Your student races a timer, and gets their own progress report on how they are doing. . . and it's HIGHLY motivating for my girls to try to turn the "square green" (aka - answer the question in less than 3 seconds) and to get a "smiley face" on their chart.
I can also run reports for me. . . . .and just as a sneak peek, they look like this:
So here I can see what problems Amy knows (the smiley faces), which ones she could answer in less than three seconds (the green checks), which ones she got wrong (and what she put for an answer!), and which ones she ran out of time when answering. Pretty neat, eh?
We are really enjoying Xtra Math. I thought it would be too much for Amy (1st grade), but she's gotten the hang of it now. We're incorporating it as a part of our morning routine. . . and I'm looking forward to seeing how our math facts improve!
2 comments:
Thanks for the info! Running into the same problem here.
That - oddly - makes me feel SO much better, M!! I was really kicking myself at the start of this school year, that I had let them get this far without the recall they needed.
Let me know how it goes!
Post a Comment