{"id":73,"date":"2021-04-29T20:04:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T20:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeschoollounge.com\/?p=73"},"modified":"2021-04-30T14:02:37","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T14:02:37","slug":"math-curriculum-for-the-adhd-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeschoollounge.com\/math-curriculum-for-the-adhd-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Math Curriculum for the ADHD Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There was a time when L (my oldest) would ask, \u201cSo, if 2 + 2 = 4, what else does it equal<\/a>?\u201d I would get all panicky, think of George Orwell\u2019s \u201cNineteen Eighty-Four\u201d, and remind him that we were working with whole numbers. The kid was only 5 years old. It took me some time to realize what he was saying. This kid with ADHD wasn\u2019t philosophizing. No, that I could have dealt with. He was not getting that items were concrete, stable, never-changing. If it equals four today it will still equal four tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is how a brain with ADHD can think outside of the box. Who needs a box?! I had to find a way to help him improve his math skills that made sense to the way his brain naturally works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And find a way to get him to stop drawing monsters on his math worksheets instead of answering the questions. Because, ya know, the homeschool portfolio teacher was going to see this and stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CURRICULUM WE HAVE USED<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a parent and a teacher of my son I took finding the right curriculum very seriously. After looking at all the options I decided that MathUSee was going to work well. We did get a free DVD sent to us in the mail to try out first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MathUSee \u2013 one of the best purchases we ever made! The manipulative blocks are color coded to a specific number amount, the DVD is very concise and to the point (it doesn\u2019t hurt that Steve Demme looks a lot like Daddy), and the boys can work on their own with a little help from me on Mondays. This program has been mother tested and approved by a lot of moms with kids who have ADHD as it is always #1 on Carol Barnier\u2019s yearly curriculum survey. We started with the MathUSee Primer<\/a> which is akin to Kindergarten Math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMath Doesn\u2019t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail \u201d by Danica McKellar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I purchased this book<\/a> at the library book sale. Boy did learn a lot from this book! It does not offer enough exercises to make it a \u201creal\u201d curriculum but what I liked about it was the real world examples and the math shortcuts for complex functions. The downside is that it\u2019s very girly. Yet L did manage to learn the tricks and not focus on that aspect of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Math Kit: A Three-Dimensional Tour Through Mathematics\u201d by Ron Van Der Meer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\"\"<\/a>\n\n\n\n

I love Half Priced Books store, I really do, and I miss not having one close by. We had one within a short driving distance of our house in Ohio and would visit at least once a week. One of the cool finds there was this little \u201ckit\u201d full of math games<\/a>. Jordan played with this so much and so often, it made math fun for him. You can get yours from Amazon with the link above!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiplication Games Online<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Life can\u2019t be all about reading a book, sometimes a boy just have to have \u201cflashy flashy siss boom bah\u201d! This site gives them that and teaches them all at the same time. I know, it makes me all giddy too. This link below takes you to the game page. However, there is so much more here to explore, ya know, when you have your favorite beverage and spare time. Don\u2019t tell anyone (looking both ways as I type) but the boys still play these games.<\/em> It\u2019ll be our little secret, but that\u2019s how fun these games are. Their favorite game was Grand Prix Pro – Multiplayer<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khan Academy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A dear friend told me about Khan Academy<\/a>\u2026 and then I told a friend\u2026 who told a friend\u2026 who told me. That\u2019s how good this site is, everybody uses it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There you have it, the games, books, and toys that have worked for us to learn math! Children with ADHD do tend to struggle with learning Math. So much so that there are a few articles online about this. I left some links below for you to check out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n