It’s report card time again and Aric has brought home his first “F”, sad to say. It is in math, his weakest (obviously!) subject. We’re hoping he can bring that grade up this last marking period. The good news is all of his other grades either stayed the same or improved, so it’s not like he’s doing poorly in all subjects. He just really struggles with math. And as much as Rob and I adore his math teacher, Aric says he has a very hard time understanding the concepts the way she teaches them. I’m frustrated and not really sure what our course of action should be at this point. I think I actually feel a lot like Aric does – I just want school to over for him already. Not that I want him to grow up too soon or anything, I just know that school is not his thing and I feel for him.
Only 8 more years….
I would suggest hiring a tutor for him. I have done some tutoring in the past in math (which was my worst subject). The cool thing is that I was a good tutor since I never just got it. I had to work for it and figure out my own ways to understand it. I am married to an engineer who has gone all the way up to Calculus 5.
Sometimes you just need somebody else to explain it a different way. What kind of math is he having problems with? (If it is geometry, I can’t offer any advice cuz I still suck at that! LOL)
I had the exact same thing with my 8th grade daughter this year in Algebra. She is an above average student and has always been placed in advanced math. This year her advanced math was 9th grade Algebra. She hit the proverbial brick wall and she too brought home her first ever “F”. After looking into several options (Sylvan Learning Center is way too pricey) I started having her privatley tutored once or twice a week, depending on her math workload and new concepts, at $15.00 and hour. She is doing much better and her math teacher has seen a drastic improvement in her work. It has also help raise her self esteem in math now that she has a better understanding. Doing poorly made her feel “stupid.”
What amazed me was that before the “F” came home, I had never heard anything from the math teacher that Shelby was struggling or having difficulty. I sure would have liked to have known before hand. The tutor was a Godsend.
Another option is to look into the free courses available on line. I’m not sure which are tailored towards the American education system, but I had a couple of friends who improved their skills using this method.
(I don’t promote or sell them btw, my blog is on Kazakhstan and Geeky toys mainly, just thought I’d put my 2 cents in :>)