The importance of fractions

 I was really hoping on some down time on our break to be able to post more about the resources I have found through homeschooling my boys. Also, to highlight other bloggers out that that have been an inspiration to me. But like a lot of things around here....they are started but not finished!! My ADD allows me to multi-task like you wouldn't believe but sometimes something more shiny takes the place of those things less shiny:(

So for this post I wanted to highlight some of the importance of fractions... My high schooler still hates to do problems that requires him to use fractions. His own ADHD brain doesn't see a need for them. Until I can get him to realize that YES he needs to know the ins and outs of fractions, they are not going to stick!

Some fraction lessons that work for my visual learner are video lessons like from this site. Of course, there is always YouTube with its mountain of videos at your fingers tips( My personal favorite is Captain Fraction, who saves the day.. half way anyways see the short clip above). Then there are sites that you pay per lesson for like Lesson Planet or AdaptedMind, which has them broken down by grade level. (for those of you that know which grade level your kiddo is at). I felt like my boys received the best lessons in the way of  fun, cartoon style lessons from our favorite resource Time4Learning. I even have weeks where we do a math spelling list, this gives us all a refresher on what the math words mean... like denominator is which the bottom number or the top? Not to simplify it too much but honestly if you have a student that could give a flying *&#@ about fractions OR is young do you really start with the long definition?? Maybe you do?


There are a ton of articles to explain the importance of fractions just google the "importance of fractions" and take your pick. What resources do you use for helping your kiddos understand fractions better?

Tired of the Labels

                       
This video hits close to home with me.. only because at age 7 my smart, energetic, happy, always trying to make friends son was diagnosed with ADHD. Reluctantly, we put him on Strattera (non-stimulant) meds and for 5 years struggled to help him first swallow and keep down the meds. Then as he grew having him not want to take the meds cuz it made him feel funny and made his stomach hurt if he didn't eat snacks. But felt like it was required because the school system wants kids to be able to sit and focus all times. ( I still can't do this for extended amounts of times) So the first thing we did when we started to homeschool him was chuck the meds out the window!! Looking back I wonder why I let anyone tell me to shove that stuff down him when I knew he hated it. I guess the feeling of wanting your kid to "fit" and not be singled out as a problem student that made me do something that I didn't want to do.

 The one teacher only really to ever understand him was Mr. Nilles from Kenwood in IL. He had "ADHD", too but until I knew that I just thought he was a man with a lot energy and I wanted to steal some!!  I tended to help out a lot in his class with Anthony in tow. I mostly helped organize his records,grade papers or get something all together for him, things that were not exciting but needed to be done.  I was in awe of how he ALWAYS had the kids attention, he made learning as fun as anyone I have ever met.  He was an energetic(to say the least), creative, caring and understanding teacher, that has molded SO many young lives. I for one am thankful to him for letting me into his classroom on a daily basis to help out and soak in the creativity that oozed from him. He is one person that I try to be like with the boys here at home. So Thank you to a teacher, Mr. Matt Nilles, who cared about my son and gave 150% to teach him.

Sorry I tend to get off subject....

I decided to look into the labeling of kids and how it is affecting us all, so I shared a couple of good articles I found on the subjects below...

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/144243765.html

Labeling Kids

Now whether you homeschool a PDD or OCD child or anything in between (frankly I have never heard of all the ones I found during my search), don't limit them by giving them a label. Or least not make it all of what you and people know about them. I really liked in one of the articles above that the mom never told anyone about her son diagnosis of autism. She did let others know when appropriate, but for the most part no one really knew. I am sorry to ramble on about this but I want others to know what I did so that they can learn from my experiences and make better decision for their family.

Knowledge is POWER people so now you know what I do...pass it on and add to it!!