Working through the hard parts

Homeschooling is not always cupcakes and rainbows. While it is for us, the better choice, it is not always the easiest choice. I talk a lot in my book about hitting "The Wall" and how to work through it. Sometimes we don't see The Wall appear for months on end. Other days, it seems like we climb up and over fifty times.

My son's particular challenges this year have been coping with math frustration and becoming a better, faster writer. We'll take three steps forward and two steps back each time we try to conquer a new piece of these challenges. I know that we have to persevere through the challenges but there are so many days I think "Maybe I'm not up for this. Maybe he'd be better off with someone who has less invested." 

For math, he's spent too many years in rote memorization and speedy, short problem solving. Even his first semester in a high school Algebra 1 class left him unchallenged and frustrated. When he stopped taking the class in January, we went headlong into an Algebra 1 class from UC Scout. However, since he hadn't really done a full semester in the first class, we had to tackle a full year of Algebra in the spring semester. Math has suddenly become much harder, much faster and requires a lot of patience and plodding to make it through single assignments. He's learning the very hard way that you actually must write down algebra problems and go through each step, piece by piece. If you don't, you get it wrong and have to start over.

One missing negative can destroy an hour in my house. He gets so frustrated by his own inability to just "know it" because it's truly the first time he's encountered math he couldn't do in his head. While I'm sure there are folks out there who can manage the quadratic formula entirely in their heads, this is definitely not a normal expectation. But he *thinks* he should be able to and therefore, is extremely disappointed in himself when he can't. Add in the stubbornness of an eleven year old who doesn't want to do it mom's way, and we're still battling through math every day. 

For writing, it's a double challenge of perfectionism and dysgraphia. We've eliminated the physical load of writing by allowing him to type or dictate whenever he chooses. But dysgraphia also impacts the organization of thoughts on paper. When you combine this with intense perfectionism and a desire to just hurry up and have it over, sometimes he's stuck for hours in the not started phase. He'll see a writing assignment on a lesson plan and do just about anything to avoid it. I decided that it was time to outsource writing, as a method of hopefully getting him over the initial hump and to find a way to just start writing. Success! One semester of Athena's Academy Intro to Academic Writing and he can now begin a writing assignment without too much drama. In fact, we are both currently snuggled up on the couch with our laptops, typing frantically before the ideas escape. It's a huge relief to finally make some progress in an area where we've been stuck for more than two years. 

After Athena's, we've jumped back to some creative writing exercises. While not specifically for homeschoolers, we both really enjoy the creativity and energy in Don't Forget to Write for the Secondary Grades: 50 Enthralling and Effective Writing Lessons (Ages 11 and Up) . The lessons are well scaffolded and easily modified for one person, rather than a whole class. When we need just a snippet of writing, something quick and fun, he also enjoys Rip the Page!: Adventures in Creative Writing. While Rip the Page could be expanded, most assignments only take 10-15 minutes at most.

So our success rate of fighting through challenges is 50% this year. While it doesn't seem like a huge accomplishment overall, it's a huge success for us. I'm still hoping with perseverance and math daily in the summer, we might hit August with fewer math struggles. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get to a place where math only becomes emotionally frustrating once a week.