• WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? – Use photos, pictures, or the actual game (Webber Photo Cards order here ). Learner guesses by face expression and the props in the picture what the person was thinking.

• PROBLEM SOLVING – Move from math story problems (http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-2 – Try B7, E14, or F9 ) to more and more involved or abstract problems that crop up around the house (Example: “My pots and pans are so hard to get out of the bottom cabinet. What could we do?”). Use brainstorming whenever possible, and use sketch paper to make it more visual.

• CAUSE-EFFECT ACTIVITIES – http://www.quia.com/mc/94601.html The Learner connects possible effects to a given cause, then learns possible causes of a given effect.

• WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? – Talking with Learners about the worst that can happen is a slippery slope, because the objective should be to show that a disappointment or unmet need might not be all that bad.

• WHAT’S MY PLAN? HOW DID MY PLAN WORK? WHAT WILL I DO DIFFERENTLY? Getting Learners to be strategic (more task-involved, less ego-involved) is a matter of being a guide on the side, constantly reminding the Learner to have a Plan before they start, and reflect on the Plan after they finish. When the Learner realizes that their ego isn’t being criticized and that the focus is on making better and better Plans for things, the Learner’s “Worry Channel” can be used as a “Planning channel” instead. Learners who have trouble getting started aren’t planful; they don’t how to start because they don’t know what it is they need to start.

Head over there now and try it out (you get around 10 questions in any area free), but the real advantages are the heuristics (the computer adapts to your child’s abilities in each area of math) and the reporting (you get wonderful information about how many minutes, problems,  trouble spots, what’s been mastered, etc., complete with graphs. We targeted 25 Harley students who we thought would profit the most from this visual, computer-based, repetitive, heuristic style of practice, and it’s working great for those who are spending time on it.