Dark, hidden, black-box math - its a good thing!

Ok, I admit that when I was in high school I wanted to be in all the clubs (just to say I did and it was a contest between me and my best friend - from what I vaguely remember, that was so long ago!). I joined just about everything. Science, Pente, Latin, Spanish, French, German, etc. I also joined Math club because 1) it was a club, and 2) I thought it would be good to buck up my math skills (also had several friends in it).

Anyways, the first thing the Math Club advisor does is give me a timed math test, a sheet filled with simple arithmetic and I realized that I was not going to like it. That sheet was so intimidating! I kept up with the club and went to competitions but those reminded me too much of swim team (on which I LIVED in high school and that was just a bit much) so I was not a long term Math Club member :-/.

I find myself now working with Q on sheets of math practice that are just as intimidating (but not timed!)



She has additional challenges that make it even more overwhelming than for me so we came up with a solution that is working for us, it might work for you!

Its simply a matter of cutting a small window out of a sheet of black construction paper and using that to mask the other problems. Now she powers through pages that took all day of agony before.



This might seem like a gimmick but it works, Q doesnt feel like I am pulling the wool over her eyes, she knows that she was being distracted and she could not manage it. This way we both assert control!
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