Planning Curriculum - Math

Math is a most important subject, though not my personal favorite. However, I can say that for the most part it has been a joy to teach Peter math.

Everyone's situation is different, and I share with you from ours, but I will also share resources that may help with your own special circumstances, however different they may be from my own.

My own experience is with a child who has low vision, who laughed when he first saw large print, and got mad when pushed to use hand-held magnifiers, but who can read print using a CCTV (video magnifier). So I chose to teach him math over the years using his CCTV. Only more recently have we been working on learning Nemeth code, the Braille for math, with the help of his Teacher of the Visually Impaired. The math text that has worked well for us for elementary school is Skills, Concepts and Problem Solving, published by Continental Press. http://www.continentalpress.com/series_detail.asp?intSeriesID=983&intSubjectID=21 One beauty of this series for someone who is visually impaired is that it has a simple layout and uses one page per day. I was already using this book before Peter lost his vision in the fourth grade. The only thing I would probably do differently, if I had it to do over again, is to replace this book with a Pre-Algebra book for the eighth grade (the grade he is now completing).

To learn Nemeth code, and to get charts to help you with it, as well as lots of other ideas about teaching math to a student who is blind or visually impaired, you can visit the website of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI). http://www.tsbvi.edu/math/index.htm

For high school, we have chosen to use a series that worked well for my fully-sighted son this year, which was designed specifically for homeschoolers. Peter has liked that he hears his brother's math being explained orally on CD Roms. So we will be trying this for Peter for Algebra 1 this coming fall. I will keep you posted on how well this works out for him. The series is called Teaching Textbooks. Since Peter can use computer enlargement software (ZoomText), he will be able to watch each lesson being worked, as well as hear the lecture. This is not, by the way, a cumbersome video watching a teacher at the chalkboard teaching a classroom. Only the actual problems being worked are shown on your monitor. Teaching Textbooks has books for grades 5-7, Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry and Pre-Calculus. This company can be found here: http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/

If you would like to share anything, please feel free to add it in the comments.

Planning Curriculum

Some parents who are just starting out on their homeschooling journey prefer to use a correspondence course or a packaged curriculum. This, of course, can be a bit more difficult if your child is blind or visually impaired. You might need to get the materials put into Braille or into electronic format (such as cassette or CD), or you might need to read them to your student.

If you are looking for materials in an accessible medium, you might try finding out if someone else has already done this and no longer needs their books. A couple places you might ask include the following Yahoo groups: Sight Exchange or Blindhomeschooler. The only drawback with Sight Exchange - probably only a drawback if you are just starting out - is that you need to donate something before you can receive something. The friendly folks at Blindhomeschooler can sometimes steer you in the right direction to find what you need.

You can also join Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, where they have many books in electronic format or will make those that you need. There is a fee to join, but you can then get access to lots of audible books and textbooks.

To find out more about various curriculum options, you can visit my website or you can visit the very comprehensive A to Z Home's Cool Website. (We both have a webpage specifically devoted to blindness resources as well.)

If you do decide to use a correspondence school for your child, you will want to communicate with the school beforehand about your child's needs. Only public schools are required by law to accept a child who is visually impaired, and some schools might feel it isn't something they can handle. However, you can probably make a difference in their attitude by reassuring them that you will get the work to the child in a form he can use, and get the child's work back to the school in a form that the school personnel can evaluate.

For me, it was easier to just leave the packaged curriculums behind. We pick and choose whatever materials work best for us for any given subject. I will share more about this in a coming post.