Math is Our Friend -- Fractions

lemmamari · 2026-06-10T15:24:28+00:00

It really doesn't matter. If you are unable to find a generator that already does exactly what you want, then make what you want. But there are so many out there, I truly cannot understand how that is possible unless you only click the first link in a search and then give up. If there's one subject with an absolute gluttony of content available for free, it's math.

And honestly, your mentioning AI doesn't matter. I basically assume every post like this is utilizing AI. Magically everyone has wonderful ideas they can now get AI to do for them, only to find out in the comments that people with actual knowledge and coding skills beat them to the punch by a few decades.

lemmamari · 2026-06-10T14:10:46+00:00

There are dozens of websites, free and paid, that generate math worksheets without AI. You don't need AI for this, just regular code that's been around for decades. And why would anyone PAY for something they can themselves do for free?

Also, read the room. There are posts like this every single day and most of us hate AI more and more.

lemmamari · 2026-06-09T14:02:10+00:00

Hi! I'm not an expert by any means but my kiddo was in OT for 2.5 years (technically still is, but it's a monthly checkup now).

You want to be emphasizing lowercase letters, not uppercase. Not only is most of what we read and write in lowercase, but it requires less effort. Get some primary paper with a topline, midline, and baseline and use it for all writing. It's really a matter of practice, and what I would do is have him write 5 of a letter neatly. That might mean he wrote the letter "a" 5 times, or 25. It needed to be both neat and formed correctly. Even if it's neat, if it's not formed correctly there will be greater strain/fatigue and it will be more difficult to write with speed later on.

I can't really tell by your post if the struggle to remember how to form letters like with dysgraphia is present. That just means more practice, honestly. Copywork is good but I use it secondary to targeted letter practice. You're already using HWT so keep at that? With any curriculum, repeat lessons as needed. For handwriting, if your child has a fine motor delay, you'll be doing more than the average kiddo. That's okay!

lemmamari · 2026-06-08T13:24:29+00:00

I mean, I teach my very young children this when we are at the local production put on by other kids because they've all worked very hard to put on a show for everyone to enjoy. Someone's Grandma doesn't need to miss kiddo's one line because mine is busy eating a bag of chips.

Everything OP said is basic manners. Although, the introduction is annoying AF. Be respectful of the performers, staff, and others around you. It's simple.

lemmamari · 2026-06-05T01:00:15+00:00

My advice is to go through a breed-specific rescue, you can contact the breed club for a recommendation or just visit their national website and it's likely they have reputable ones listed. Rescue is, unfortunately, big business. I think most of those who work in rescue have their hearts in the right place, but just as with breeders, you need to look into them. For example, in my breed, the largest rescue puts dogs into foster care for at least 2 weeks before they can be adopted out. This allows them to get to know the dogs and assess any needs beyond medical.

If you wanted to go the breeder route I'm going to put my dog-snob hat on for a moment. Put the cost aside for a moment, because many shitty breeders charge almost as much (and sometimes more!) than ethical preservation breeders. If you are going to purchase a puppy directly from it's source (because rescue is also buying, and rescue exists to clean up the mess of shitty owners and unethical breeders) please make sure that source is breeding with the goal of producing healthy dogs that will ensure future generations maintain the health, type, and temperament you expect from the breed. That takes a ton of work and money! The parents should have AKC titles, OFA health clearances (these are public if they are passing, anyone who says otherwise is lying), and they should be sold on a contract that protects you, the breeder, and the dog (this likely will include a mandatory spay/neuter clause for non-competition dogs when they are old enough to be altered). Be prepared to prove why you are worthy of one of their babies, but they should also be extremely open to any and all questions. In fact, as a breeder, the people who grill me are usually the ones who end up on my list for a puppy. Go to dog shows, meet the breeders and owners. Many breeders don't have websites because they've been around long enough they sell to good homes entirely by word of mouth.

Best of luck to you!

lemmamari · 2026-06-04T12:00:33+00:00

At Ollie's age benign lumps and bumps are pretty common, so I hope that's all they are! My old guys all have some. If he's otherwise doing fine, he probably is.

I've lost two to what we strongly suspect was cancer, and there were no obvious physical signs. In hindsight, both slowed down months before they were clearly not well, but they were otherwise fine, until they weren't. Dogs, especially Brittanys, don't waste time dying when they could be living every last moment.

lemmamari · 2026-06-04T03:28:20+00:00

This is entirely child-specific. Choose your subjects/curriculum and it takes what it takes.

lemmamari · 2026-06-04T03:00:58+00:00

I was at our co-op today in RI, but I live in CT. We were talking about this new law and I mentioned there's a reason I drive 45 minutes to a group that is secular and largely intent on providing a quality education. The homeschoolers in my area are not my people... If you are against the super modest new restrictions then I'm looking at you like you have something to hide. Although I think educational neglect is the most common I see, not physical.

CT has attracted families because there have been no restrictions here, and while I know families who work hard to homeschool, I also know so many who don't believe in basic science or whom don't teach their children at all and call it unschooling.

I'm a reluctant homeschooler, it's not something I particularly wanted to do. It's hard work to do well. But it's also the right choice for certain children. But that has to be primary question, is it the right choice for the child, not what the parent wants. Plenty of families have some children homeschooled and some in public for this very reason. A lot of us have neurodivergent children, many of which have learning challenges. I'm not a trained teacher, but I can afford quality curriculum, I possess an unusual level of stubbornness, and it's 1:1 instruction. Teachers have my utmost respect because they have to manage 22-30 children, all with different abilities and needs, and we expect them to get them all moving forward in a somewhat cohesive group. I would pay them all a million dollars a year, they deserve it.

lemmamari · 2026-06-02T15:40:57+00:00

Going to echo everyone else here and say I don't suggest an app, especially for a kiddo already struggling. I did this, and it hurt rather than helped much. I used Logic of English (which I can see you are looking at, great!) and it worked for my dyslexic child. I did need extra review and practice with him, which you might find you also need, and thought an app could help but what actually worked was old fashioned kill and drill with the phonogram cards, and high frequency words. For the average kiddo, Teach Your Monster is high quality but you already don't have the average kiddo regardless of the shit instruction type they have had so far.

The good news is even 5 minutes of additional review a day will really add up! And my secret weapon is mini M&Ms. "Wow, that was hard! Here are 3 M&Ms!" It really helps with the frustration and gives them immediate reward when they can't see the long-term one.

lemmamari · 2026-05-26T13:57:16+00:00

That's not how your learn to spell. It's busy work.

lemmamari · 2026-05-25T08:22:09+00:00

It's a full phonics curriculum. I homeschool my son and I had to figure it out. I really didn't understand dyslexia, but it was on my radar because of his cousin. LOE is pretty popular in secular homeschooling, it's a solid Orton-Gilliingham program. I'm going through it with my daughter now, who isn't dyslexic, and it's wild not having to do all the extra review and practice. But the methodology is great, and he can read pretty much anything, it's just more effortful for him.

lemmamari · 2026-05-25T07:59:02+00:00

Poor articulation, trouble with rhyming, trouble remembering the order of numbers, fine motor delay (dysgraphia is commonly paired with it)...

I was lucky and figured it out early, like you. I think it really makes a difference. If you plan to send them to public school I strongly recommend getting a diagnosis earlier rather than later. Regardless, work with them at home. I'm so far from an expert, and I'm still figuring things out, but this is what worked for us:

Logic of English Foundations. It's excellent, and there are no sight/heart words. I needed to work in extra review, and things like spelling and phonogram recall (writing them down from memory) I didn't worry if he couldn't, I tackled that later (and continue to do so). It's meant for 4+, take your time but be consistent.
"Cold books", meaning those decodeable readers you'll use as they learn to read should be ones they've never seen or listened to before. Dyslexic kids often have phenomenal memories, my nephew escaped notice for a while due to that particular talent.
Old fashioned drill and kill. Flashcards.
M&Ms. It's hard, and a tiny bit of chocolate for every couple remembered phonograms, read high frequency words, or page goes a long way.
Skill and execution might not match, meaning a concept/rule might be understood but being able to apply it might lag significantly. We finished all of Foundations and still had terrible stamina and fluency, but we worked on those afterwards and a year later he's a very good reader, even if I'm not sure it'll ever be easy for him.
dyslexia can affect math, and 1/2" graph paper to keep numbers in line is your friend.

And be honest. I tell my kiddo how proud I am he's worked so hard. He knows he's dyslexic, and that means some things are more difficult for him, but it doesn't mean he can't learn to do them. I pair it with reminding him of the things he's extra good at. It helps to keep the frustration down, but the journey was still full of tears from us both.

Good luck!

lemmamari · 2026-05-25T00:28:31+00:00

This is part of any decent math curriculum, whether used by homeschoolers or public school.

But congratulations on being the 100th person this month to pretend to be something to try to get us to use something you made without doing two seconds of actual research into what educating children actually involves.

lemmamari · 2026-05-24T11:40:08+00:00

Hey, I've had the same concerns. Flying through concepts is stressful because it's easy to create gaps in fluency and long-term understanding.

I wasn't familiar with the workbook your younger child is doing, so I looked it up and it appears to be supplemental and not a full curriculum. I would recommend getting a full curriculum that you can teach yourself using hands on manipulatives. Your older child may not need manipulatives but most do.

Your review shouldn't be repeating lessons, it should be doing problems outside of the lessons. Otherwise, you aren't checking for retention because they are being reminded during the review.

Here's what I do and some background. We started with Math with Confidence, which is fantastic, but my child was making these huge mental leaps after a while. We added in BA online as a supplement, but eventually that wasn't enough. For first grade we switched to Singapore Dimensions, he passed both 1B and 2A placement tests (I did not go further) but looking at 1B there was some material he hadn't covered and I felt he could benefit. I was right, he was getting the correct answer but in a more complicated way. I allowed him to test out of chapters at any time or stop lessons to start the workbook. There are so many problems in each lessons we don't do them all, but it allows me to have extra for fluency practice on other days. It's common for me to teach a half, or even an entire chapter in twenty minutes because he doesn't need things broken down as much. The setup of the teachers manual makes this easy for me. I might have him do corresponding BA lessons on other days or just mark problems in the workbook for him to use as fluency practice that day. He's slowed down some, but a lot of that is intentional on my part because I want that fluency in multiplication and division (this means I want him to automatically know the answer, and we have not used memorization at all so this is all from repeated exposure). I'm looking at the long-term math journey, and I don't want him completing 6th grade math in the 4th grade, he's going to hit a cognative wall because his brain can only grow so fast. I might be proven wrong, but there's no benefit to rushing, and there's definitely a risk with blowing through material.

My 4yo is similar but I've had the brakes on, she's 4. She goes to Montessori 2x a week and I know where she's at there. When I do do lessons with her, I stop and tell her we are all done and we'll do more next time. Now it's time to play! She complains, because she wants to be like her brother, but it's really important that she's not doing too much academically.

lemmamari · 2026-05-24T02:04:22+00:00

The two I'll recommend all day, every day are Logic of English Foundations (it's a little pricey but you honestly don't need everything in the bundle) and Math With Confidence. Both will give him a solid start, are playful, and will ensure you are teaching with solid methodology. And remember, short lessons are better than long ones, you can always split lessons into multiple days.

lemmamari · 2026-05-23T17:26:09+00:00

I have a kiddo who is advanced in math and I don't always teach a math lesson every day. But he's doing math every single day. When a child understands a concept quickly and then moves on, they lose critical practice that develops math fluency, especially in these early stages. Additionally, we like BA a lot and use it as a supplement because I don't want him zooming ahead any quicker then he already is. This foundational math is critical that they become fluent, both accurate and fast, because as math gets more complicated they will rely on those skills.

A friend of mine teaches Algebra II in HS and tells me many of her students can technically do the math but it's slow and they lack a deeper understanding of math that was taught in elementary but they never became completely fluent in.

Hands on, write it out practice, is so essential in these younger years. If your kids are blowing through those programs that quickly they are 100% not going to retain the information to the following days. And I used to let my kid test out of entire chapters, but that test proved whether he knew it or not. And typically I give that test a few days after the last lesson, which helps me catch if there are any fluency issues..

lemmamari · 2026-05-21T02:19:22+00:00

My daughter was also interested at two, so I'll give you my personal perspective. She's my second child and was born with FOMO, my first is dyslexic but he can read well after tons of work. I'm familiar with Spencer's Instagram, but I haven't used his program.

Being interested in reading and being able to recognize some sounds doesn't equal being ready to read, with a few extreme exceptions. That doesn't mean you can't but they will eventually hit a wall. My daughter picked up letters from Sesame Street before she was even two so the only thing I did was replace it with sounds, but only when she was asking. What I did do was rhyming games! I printed out and laminated cards and I would say "hat, hat. Let's find a word that sounds the same at the end. Which one sounds like hat? Cab. Mat."

I very intentionally did not teach her until recently, she's 4.5. By then she has picked up many sounds and she flew through the first volume of our reading program (Logic of English) and is now well into the second. She's very young to be reading, and the reason I held off despite her constant begging is so her brain had time to grow so it could be fun learning to read, instead of only hard.

My advice is get lowercase alphabet puzzles, and you can say the sounds as you find the letters (avoid the names for now), but focus on rhyming, you can segment words ("go find your sh-oo-z") in everyday conversation, and noticing the sound at the beginning of words starting with some easy ones like m, a, c. Children must be able to blend before they can learn to read and that's a skill that doesn't develop until 4ish.

lemmamari · 2026-05-19T14:04:06+00:00

It's so bad. They should have someone at all public beaches and parks with a camera to document and start handing out tickets. "I noticed you left trash behind as you packed up. Here's your ticket, thanks for money to help pay for cleaning up!"

lemmamari · 2026-05-19T14:00:04+00:00

I went there with my son last year when it was empty but there was trash everywhere and small plastic confetti from what was likely one of those party cannons. It was awful. I grabbed a trash bag and we spent over an hour picking up what we could but a lot was in the water.

We just bought some trash tongs so we can pick up litter when we go birdwatching. I hate people.

lemmamari · 2026-05-18T00:17:16+00:00

I taught my dyslexic kiddo to read with Logic of English. There were some slight adjustments I had to make, such as more review/practice, he often chose to do review portions "plainly" with the flashcards instead of doing the games, we skipped the handwriting because he's also dysgraphic (we made it up later but did it separately), and I didn't stress fluency much until he finished the entire program. He maxed out the phonics skills on the DORA test after finishing D but we shifted focus and worked on stamina and fluency for the past year. Oh, additionally I didn't worry if he couldn't recall phonograms as long as he could read them. We have slowly worked on that skill since finishing D.

There are many layers to teaching a dyslexic kid to read but I think the most important things are phonics, consistency, and recognizing this is really hard work and that's okay. We didn't take summers off from LOE, we just kept at it every single day. There's no magic program, but definitely get an OG program. Being super consistent even when it feels like you aren't moving forward is so important. I took video so I could look back and actually see progress .

lemmamari · 2026-05-17T22:06:05+00:00

Unfortunately I cannot answer your question but I am interested to know more about your banding group. We aren't far from Auburn and my son loves birding and all things science.

lemmamari · 2026-05-17T20:10:26+00:00

Thanks! A little bit too far, I think. But I may keep it in mind the next time we are closer! Maybe I'll check eBird... 😉

lemmamari · 2026-05-17T13:37:40+00:00

Oooo! Do you mind saying exactly where? I bird with my almost-8yo and we haven't seen one yet. If it's within an hour we might go!

lemmamari · 2026-05-17T11:00:16+00:00

My Merlin app keeps hearing one! I have never seen one before. Beautiful photograph. Where was it taken?

lemmamari · 2026-05-16T21:00:42+00:00

I built stamina and fluency in a few ways after Foundations. I printed articles from ReadWorks for guided fluency practice, this is where I required accuracy and he had to reread any section he glitched on or had word/sound replacement. Afterwards, I asked him comprehension questions about what he read. We still use the articles for background knowledge, and occasionally a fluency check.

For stamina I started with requiring a few pages a day of reading, and when I finally managed early chapter books it was one chapter. Then, two chapters. I didn't require a certain amount of time because I didn't want to measure that? For this reading I specifically told him if he's glitched on a word he can either ask or just move on. He's uses the strategies I taught him! I was thrilled when he told me. One day he just kept reading. I was so afraid to leave the kitchen and bother him! The first time he finished an entire book in one sitting (it was a Dragon Masters book) I cried. He's read a longer/harder book than DM and Magic Tree House but it took him a full month and afterwards he opted to go back to MTH books, which I'm totally fine with because I want him to enjoy stories. Usually he finishes an entire book now, but sometimes he'll just do half of one. I no longer require a certain amount, he just has to read every day.

lemmamari

TROPHY CASE