I have mastered EARLY MATH, K-2! Blog about how public education failed me, how I overcame it & home schooling my autistic son.
YAY! I have mastered EARLY MATH, grades K-2... YES!!! I am as smart as a SECOND GRADER IN MATH!!!!! LOL! :P ....
Explanation (if you are interested in reading) - A Note / Blog about how public education failed me, how I overcame it to become "gifted" (the words of others, not my own), and how I am educating my autistic son at home, with a bit of Bainbridge High School on the side...
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For 19 years now, I have been looking for an ALL-IN-ONE, HOME math education software package or web site that rivaled my experience at the "Plato Lab" in the learning center of the Amoco factory I worked at from 1996-1999 - a DOS and Windows 3.1 based system, before Windows 95 made everything "pretty" (and totally screwed up!) ...
For 19 years, I found NOTHING else that impressed me, and Plato was only for INSTITUTIONS and eventually WENT AWAY. Pretty graphics and cutesy computer games as teaching tools DO NOT IMPRESS ME, and I have felt like FAR TOO MUCH PROGRAMMER EFFORT HAS BEEN PUT INTO MAKING THINGS LOOK PRETTY AS OPPOSED TO REAL-WORLD MATH EDUCATION - or ANY academics education, for that matter...
The Plato Lab in Bainbridge's Amoco factory learning annex IMPRESSED ME for 1990's technology, because WITHIN ONE LOGIN, you could go from toddler and K-level math (counting blocks on the screen for example), ALL THE WAY THROUGH COLLEGE CALCULUS - IN ONE SYSTEM!!! A way for any employee, even the lowly high school drop out "flunky" floor sweeper, up to the "genius", to be able to figure out where his/her ground-zero was, and self-educate and advance from there, and go as far as desired. I have been unable to find anything that rivaled that, until now (hopefully)....
MATH HAS ALWAYS MATTERED TO ME, because I understand it's impact on the world, and on kids' educations, and the importance of the STEM fields, and I could relate, through my own personal TRAUMAS, with and about horrifically bad teachers, and especially those who TOOK PRIDE in shooting students down... I NEVER EVER EVER got a good math education until I decided to TEACH IT TO MYSELF, AS AN ADULT, on the heals of my fascination with ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTERS, BROUGHT ABOUT BY MUSIC TECHNOLOGY, starting in 1989... My K-8th grade public school teachers in Maryland, in Howard County public schools, did only a FAIR job, and the teachers at Early County High School, once I moved to Blakely, Georgia, 1979-1983 at ECHS, FAILED MISERABLY in teaching me anything, and as a KID, I DID NOT KNOW HOW TO BE MY OWN ADVOCATE, STAND UP TO A WRETCHEDLY BROKEN SYSTEM, A NEGLIGENT, OR WORSE, PURELY EVIL TEACHER, and EXPOSE said NEGLIGENT TEACHERS - their names I still remember, oh-so-well though.
That system UTTERLY FAILED, and failed me, made me HATE math until I was an ADULT, and by the time I got to college the FIRST time, I only had done enough to barely graduate high school, and do the minimum to get my liberal arts (not very math intensive) degrees in college.
LATER, ON MY OWN, my curiosity and Interest LED ME BACK TO MATH, ON MY OWN, thanks to MUSIC and its associated technology... I EXCELLED and became a "MATHEMATICS GENIUS" in the eyes and words of some (but still not to me)... My wonderful experience of putting the Plato Lab at Amoco through its paces was cut short with the freak industrial accident of the crush amputation of my index finger tip, and the near amputation of my middle finger tip (I became a BETTER musician AFTER this, btw). I never got back to that learning lab, and soon thereafter, left the company - a place that, as a musician, I should have NEVER BEEN IN THE FIRST PLACE...
So, ever since, I have been looking for that one-stop-shop again, with NO LUCK... I have talked to MANY math educators, institutions, and companies, and gotten anything from IGNORED, AND NO REPLIES AT ALL (the most common theme, by far, from local people AND companies who could have gotten a LOT of money from me), to only MILDLY helpful people that didn't seem to have the COMPLETE answer I was looking for. Public school teachers aren't allowed to TRULY TEACH. They are simply well-intentioned employees, good people, who are FORCED to use inefficient tools and methods, and follow rules and standards that have VERY LITTLE to do with ACTUAL EDUCATION of our children, as opposed to the higher priority of sustaining the behemoth government monstrosity, and over-paying unworthy administrators and funding dead-end status-quo systems and procedures (I used to work there, and I saw it first hand!).
In the intervening 19 years, I have developed some of my own education software that has been used by a few people, and by ALL of my kids, (my son is on it RIGHT NOW, as I type this, brushing up on his multiplication tables, up through memorization of ADVANCED tables), I'll give it FREE to anyone who wants it, and I have since continued to search for that ONE-STOP-SHOP...
My son, Brandon, is AUTISTIC, and that means he doesn't learn like "normal kids", and I have been doing HEAVY research on all of this, as well as other home-school methodologies... See, Brandon's entire high school picture just changed a couple of weeks ago. THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT!!! But, for now, HE IS NO LONGER on the GRADUATION track with Bainbridge High School. His Autism and odd quirks have effectively ENDED (for now) his "normal high school education track", and he has since been moved to the "CBI" track ("Community Based Instruction") - in short, LEARNING LIFE SKILLS, rather than academic skills. This is NOT a complaint! He NEEDS IT, and his teachers and other staff DO have his best interests and well-being in mind I think (within the parameters of what the GOVERNMENT and ADMINISTRATORS WILL ALLOW them to do). The bottom line though, is that now, *I* am completely responsible for not only his "Life Skills" education, but also, his ACADEMIC education, and I am LOOKING FORWARD, AND SO FAR, THOROUGHLY ENJOYING this new challenge!
The bottom line is that if you can't pass standard tests, AND you can't function in society, by doing the MOST BASIC THINGS THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON TAKES FOR GRANTED, JUST TO SURVIVE, then you have a HUGE PROBLEM, and Brandon CLEARLY has a HUGE PROBLEM because of his Autism. LIFE SKILLS HAVE to come first... Does this make his teachers or school BAD? ABSOLUTELY NOT! We are talking about a child with a DISABILITY, who is now legally, NO LONGER A CHILD (he will be 19 in June), and so, efforts must be RAMPED UP IN A HUGE WAY to make sure he can cope with EVERY DAY LIFE - go shopping, order from a menu, conduct basic day-to-day life, etc.... That HAS to come first, and when I had the IEP meeting with teachers and staff a couple of weeks ago, I SIMPLY COULD NOT THINK OF A REASON NOT TO AGREE WITH THIS CHANGE IN CURRICULUM. What it means, however, is that Brandon, if he stays on this path, WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO GET A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. He will essentially get a "life certificate" when he is 22 years old (he will be granted 3 more years at Bainbridge High School, and that is GOOD), BUT NOT A TRUE HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA...
You know what though, I AM OK WITH THAT, because NOW, I feel like *I* can not only work on his life skills, as I HAVE been doing, but I ALSO AM MORE IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT IN TERMS OF HIS ACADEMIC EDUCATION, AND I AM CERTAINLY OK WITH THAT! He will get the benefit of GREAT home-schooling from me, AND he will get whatever Bainbridge High School teaches him as well, ON THE SIDE. The more the merrier. It does mean however, that, after "graduating" BHS, he WILL NOT be able to go to college on a traditional degree program, or do the other things that a high school diploma allows, BUT, AGAIN, with MY home-schooling him IN ADDITION, I feel like I will actually do a BETTER job of getting him there anyway, and, when that time comes, let him get whatever little certificate BHS offers him, and *I* will have him ready for the alternative path of a GED and college entry MY WAY, or the equivalent at that time to get him on a DEGREE PROGRAM in college. My opinion has always been that Brandon's handicaps are NOT PERMANENT HANDICAPS, THEY ARE SIMPLY DELAYS, and in the bigger picture of 7-9 decades of normal living, a few extra years to get him properly educated is a small drop in the bucket, and WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF IT... So ONWARD WE MARCH!!!
I BET, AFTER I AM FINISHED WITH HIM, HE WILL "SMOKE" the other kids who went through the traditional programs! I GUARANTEE IT in fact!!!
That said, I have been introduced to some EXCELLENT HOME LEARNING SYSTEMS, along with my own teaching software, and his BHS teachers have led me to the starting topic of this post: https://www.khanacademy.org ... So far, having gone through, grades K-2 in math (the first main focus, followed by reading and comprehension), myself, I AM IMPRESSED. It's the closest thing to my old Plato days I have found yet, in terms of taking you from day one toddler math, up through advanced college math. Yes, I am just starting with this company, but I feel good about this so far, haven't found any bugs yet, and I DEMAND of myself that I personally go through ANY program or course of study, first before I put Brandon through it. It has to meet my super-high standards FIRST, and so far, Khan Academy is working GREAT, and it's FREE.... So, until I see problems, Brandon will be getting much of his learning from them, along with everything I teach him on my own, the custom software I write, and an added benefit is that I get to brush up on everything again myself, which is always welcome. :)
SO! I am EXCITED! ... YAY! I am a SECOND GRADER IN MATH AGAIN TODAY! By tomorrow, grades 3 through college and Differential Calculus! LOL! Bring it! I am just SO EXCITED now, knowing that MY HANDS WILL TOUCH EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF BRANDON'S EDUCATION... It appeals to the OCD in me I suppose! LOL! :) :) :)
So yeah, check out Khan Academy, and tell me what you think, and tell me what YOU use... :) :) :)