I have 3 children. They are each different in personality, talents, abilities, and learning styles as most children are. My two oldest are driven and not always by me. My oldest, my son, has matured into seeing the goal and working toward it in a timely manner. It has been a joy to see this come to pass for him. My second child, my first daughter, is a very busy person. She thrives on busyness and accomplishments. She can be tiring, but I know that she is completing her school work. My youngest, my second daughter, does not resemble the other two in her schooling habits. She does want to do it on her own, but her output is not always great or even good for that matter.
So, I missed it. I wasn't paying as close attention to her, and her math slipped through my fingers. We use a fantastic math program that has an optional workbook/cd instruction, practice, and grading. I love it because I don't have to explain every math lesson or grade the math work. I don't recommend it for younger students who don't know all their facts because the practice is minimal. Of course, it could be used with additional practice too. Teaching Textbooks goes from Grade 3 to Pre-Calculus. They aren't paying me anything to promote them; everyone in our family had enjoyed. Until...
So my youngest had finished her math for the year. I did not check it right away or print out her scores. But I was letting a friend use the program so I told her to pull it up on the computer so I could print it out. Next thing I know, my drama queen has run crying into her room without explanation. I thought someone must have teased her or something. But no. She confesses that she has not done as well as she had been telling me on a daily basis.
So here you see my first slip. I had become so used to the fact that this wonderful program was teaching my daughter and grading her work, that I didn't check on her unless she asked for my help. She had reported to me that her scores were good, so I didn't check. I gave her opportunity to work the system and she did.
After I calmed her down, I went to the computer to see how bad her scores were. Well most of them weren't too bad. I did see a few low scores, but most of those I had knowledge of from the very beginning of our school year. Then I noticed. In the grade book section of the program, my eyes had focused on the grades initially. Now I see that it looks like not all the problems were done. It said number of problems 22. Then number attempted: 5. What? It wasn't that her scores were so bad, but she had not completed the work. She found a loophole in the program. If you start the program, answer some of them correctly and exit, you will get a grade for the lesson. If she did 5 and got 5 correct, it looked like she had a 100 %. But it was incomplete.
At first I was going to make her start it completely over. Then I was going to make her do a workbook instead of the computer. Instead she has to go into the grade book to see what she has not completed in her lessons, then go to the lesson and do it. So much for a summer break...for either of us. It doesn't take too long but it does have to be done.
I really wanted to avoid these types of pitfalls as a homeschooling mom because I had fallen into pitfalls like this as a student myself. I had the capability of being an excellent student, but I learned quickly how to work the system in the small private school I attended. I memorized and tested and forgot. I didn't learn much. Even in college, it was the same for the most part. I remember in my junior year of college thinking that I should really be learning this so I can use it in my career.
My daughter and I have had several heart to hearts over this matter. I am hoping that with God's grace and her perseverance that she will learn to love learning instead of getting by. We all learn it eventually, but I would sure rather it be sooner than later for her.
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