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I dont know if this is the right place to put this. I am new to the site.
I have an 8th grade daughter, and she brought home some geometry homework last night. We had to "use the law of cosines" to find some sides of a triangle. I don't know about you all but this was like 20 years ago for me and I have never used it. Compeltely forget it.
I dont have a lot of time that I can use to get caught up with learning geometry again. I work a lot and am not sure I could even understand it. I never got good grades in math.
My question is do any of you know website or an app that I could use for homework help for kids? Someone smarter than me can probably help my daughter and I learn way faster than me doing all the legwork.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Imstumped; 09-22-2015 at 12:06 PM..
Reason: I posted it before it was done.
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
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It's only going to get worse. In the end, your child needs to be responsible for her homework. I know in the elementary years it's very tempting to practically do your child's take home work, but it's putting them at a disadvantage in the later years. Trust me, there's always Google, but make her do the searching. She'll learn valuable Internet searching skills while she's at it as well.
So we did do some searching, and we came up with a few sites. She says that her teacher moves through ideas too quick and that all of her classmates and she are getting stuck.
I understand that its her work. Im not trying to do it for her. God knows I couldnt. But I do want to be able to support her and if she is having trouble to be able to find her some safety net.
So I guess what I want is some last ditch thing for when she does do the search, finds things, but then STILL doesnt get it. Something we can use once every week or month to make sure she isnt falling behind. We all know what happens in public schools these days when that happens.
You know what I mean? I know its her responsibility but if she gets behind she gets so frustrated I am afraid she wont catch up. And that kind of failure seems to get her so defeated.
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Imstumped
You know what I mean? I know its her responsibility but if she gets behind she gets so frustrated I am afraid she wont catch up. And that kind of failure seems to get her so defeated.
I know exactly what you mean, trust me. I have two children (grown now) and three step-children. I was also a secondary school teacher, and I could tell right away which students had parents that did their homework for them, because they struggled during class instruction. Instead of concentrating on the homework, consider working with her on organization and note taking. A good teacher does not assign homework without some form of reference or instruction beforehand. Could this be getting lost in the shuffle? Another thing, it's OK for her to not do well on homework occasionally. It shouldn't be a pattern, but don't let her have anxiety over it. Teachers expect this, and will use this to sharpen their instruction.
My suggestion to you is if she is actually struggling to get through homework, and you feel that her organization and classroom skills are on par that maybe professional tutoring could be the answer. It's expensive, but a trained tutor will know how to guide your daughter and not do the work for her. It's a fine line and not successfully walked by most parents.
"She says that her teacher moves through ideas too quick and that all of her classmates and she are getting stuck."
IMO, you need to talk to some (preferably all) of the parents of her classmates. If the above statement is true, somebody needs to have a talk with the teacher!
"Teach" may not be aware of the problems he or she is causing.
Or, he or she may not care. If THAT is the case, you may need to change your child to another class.
Good luck.
My suggestion to you is if she is actually struggling to get through homework, and you feel that her organization and classroom skills are on par that maybe professional tutoring could be the answer. It's expensive, but a trained tutor will know how to guide your daughter and not do the work for her. It's a fine line and not successfully walked by most parents.
She does well in other classes. She gets great grades in science and english. I dont know if her notes are perfect but she makes outlines! They look about as good for reference as I would think they could. She keeps all of her notes in seperate binders. But she just doesnt have as much notes for geometry. Maybe the teacher isnt doing enough instruction?
Ive also heard that kids that do well in algebra can struggle with geometry. She did really well last sem.
I think we are going to have to go the tutoring route. But I looked online and Wyzant was what came up. Everything was so expensive. 60 dollars per hour! Also I am not sure that having a tutor on a schedule is really necessary? Has anyone had experience scheduling such things? Do they come to your house. Sigh.
IMO, you need to talk to some (preferably all) of the parents of her classmates. If the above statement is true, somebody needs to have a talk with the teacher!
Thats a good idea. But I have no idea how long that will take and in the short term she is getting stuck. Even if I did get her moved she would have all the extra work from the other class to do to get caught up still. Seems like I still have the same problem but that is obviously the best way to move.
I think we are going to have to go the tutoring route. But I looked online and Wyzant was what came up. Everything was so expensive. 60 dollars per hour! Also I am not sure that having a tutor on a schedule is really necessary? Has anyone had experience scheduling such things? Do they come to your house. Sigh.
We tried to get in person tutors for our boys for some of the subjects they struggled with but it never really worked out. Sometimes you can find free tutoring at the library which was nice, but with soccer practice and martial arts...it was always really hard to plan. That said the tutoring, when we could plan it, was really great.
Now I know everyone doesn't have smart phones but I did do some digging here earlier this year and there was an app called "SnapSolve" that I found that was really cheap. I think we used it two or three times before we had to pay, but when we did it was about 1.99 for a full explanation of a problem from a college tutor. The website for it. Maybe that is more in your price range?
After that, there's always Khan Academy? My boys really like all the badges from there -- keeps them engaged. You can move through lessons on geometry and try to help her, but then again you did say you don't have a lot of time.
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