Working with an adult with balance challenges

I am working with an adult with balance challenges.  These balance challenges also make it difficult for her to learn math.  She reads well and wants to learn. Her parents have taught her to count money. It is obvious that counting money is difficult for her.  I am trying show her that she has the ability to learn math and already knows more than she thinks.  We are using a lot of patterning activities. She struggles with these but is willing to learn and try.
 When she uses the balance board, I  hold onto her hands. I put a chair on each side for her to hold onto to keep from falling.   She fusses at herself when she does not do things perfectly.  I stop her each time and tell her not to fuss at my student as she is doing well. Walking on the balance beam is a challenge and she holds onto the wall.
I use patterning with the sky balls.  At first she did not think she could do this.  She was excited when she found she could do this with two balls. I gently and with control bounce a ball with my right hand to her left hand. Then she needs to put the ball in her right hand and bounce it to my left hand.  This makes a pattern. When she can do this we reverse direction. Once she can do this, I add an additional ball.  When I bounce a ball to her left hand she also bounces a ball to my left hand at the same time.  The smile on her face when she finds she can do this is rewarding to both of us.
 She takes a lot of physical effort to work with to make sure she does not fall.  She is also rewarding to work with because she really wants to learn. I do not know yet how much she can learn.

I can not write that much, learning to do a rewrite, Barron's Painless Reading Comprehension

I am working with a child that has failed miserably at public school. He does not believe he can succeed.  He desperately wants to attend public school like a normal child. He neither wants to nor knows how  to put forth the effort to succeed. We are slowly, persistently working to change this belief.  It is like pushing a rope that does not want pushed.  He comes to my house everyday to homeschool. Without his parent's support and help, we could not succeed.  

We are in the process of working in the book, Barron's Painless Reading Comprehension.  He often tells me it is not Painless.  We are on page 99 with a selection by Charles A. Ohiyesa Eastman.  It is called An Indian Boy's Training.  We followed the directions and he wrote a page long letter to a friend about this selection.  It took a week to get a corrected rewrite done.  He came across as not wanting to rewrite the letter.  I am sure he thought it was unnecessary as this was more than he was accustomed to doing in the first place.  It took me a week to get him to rewrite the letter.  He was really pleased when it was finished.  I am not sure how much was a refusal to cooperate or how much was his belief that he could not succeed.  He can find many ways to avoid school and his delaying tactics are persistent.  I am determined he will succeed so I just keep being more persistent than he is.  He does much better than he did three years ago, but still has a long way to go. 

We need another week to play monopoly

My grandson has been over during the holiday/Christmas break and we have played some monopoly.  I would say we have played a lot of monopoly.  My grandson would probably say we played some monopoly.  I only play monopoly to teach.  Each day we found or made time for monopoly, we did not finish the game.  Therefore, we put our money and playing pieces in a bag and put our names on the bag for the next time. We usually only had time to play for an hour or two. At one point during the game, my grandson offered to sell me a complete set of property for 500 dollars. I told him it was a great deal for me but a poor deal for him.  I told him I would not consider buying it from him until my next turn.  He wanted to buy hotels and did not have enough money.  When I showed him what he had paid for the properties and the income potential for him, he refused to sell me the properties for 500 dollars.  I offered to take his 500 dollar deal many times.

In our life we want so many things instantly that learning to play a game of monopoly can be an important tool.  How often in real life would we have been better off had we given ourselves a little time to decide if we needed to buy something?  We finally sat down during the week he went back to school to finish the monopoly game. 

Geometry,Staples Notebook graph paper, and a straight edge or ruler

Often a student will draw the problem on their notebook paper when they really need graph paper.  Without the graph paper there is more room for error.  Graph paper is not expensive, comes in a spiral bound notebook and helps a struggling student.  Graph paper allows the student to make neat efficient examples of the problem they are solving.  Tonight we were working with a student and when the student saw the problem on graph paper, the student was able to understand the problem solution. Using Graph paper instead of a makeshift graph gives a realisticvisual presentation of the problem.  Please make sure your child or student has the proper materials to do their work.  This includes a straight edge or ruler and graph paper.

Reading Comprehension, Barron"s Painless Reading Comprehension by Darolyn " Lyn" Joned, Ed.D.

The young man I am homeschooling and I are reading this book aloud together.  We began August 14, 2014.  I read the book aloud and he tries to ignore me.  On page 4 there is a reference to the Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins.  He looks up and ask, " Is that really in there or did you make it up?" I show him the words in the book.
I have continued to read this book several times a week aloud to him.  I know if I do not read it aloud to him, it will not be read.  One reason it will not be read is he will not understand it.  He does not try because he has failed so painfully in formal school. When there are suggested activities, I do the activity with him. When I am not sure he understands a word, we discuss it together.  I have him type the word in the computer to find the meaning.  
On December 4, we are only on page 92.  Some days we only read half of a page.  We work to make sure he understands what that half  page means  Yes, this is slow and at times I want to do something else.
Page 90 begins a section on Skimming for Information.  There are  five questions to answer on page 91.  I have him copy that page to make it easier to look at the questions as he reads the selection back on page 20.  We discuss the meaning of some of the words in the questions.  I have him try each question on his own. When he can not figure out the answer, we discuss the question and I have him try to find the answer again.  Then I need to read the section to him and discuss what it means.  Finally he can answer the question.  If I get flustrated or impatient with him, I have just told him that yes he is dumb and I am wasting his time anyway.  He does not believe that sometimes I am flustered with myself for not having an easy way to teach him.
On December 5, we are doing the second half of page 92.  It is a Let's Practice section on the meaning of a selection on page 49.  Once again, I have him copy on a copy machine the 5 questions
I want him to answer.  This time he is able to answer the questions by himself.

Learning clocks

This set of clocks helps the learner that struggles to figure out problems that ask how long between when a trip began and when the trip is completed.

This child needs to talk aloud to learn

The child I am homeschooling has figured out that he needs to talk out loud to himself to work more efficiently.  He struggles to finish his math papers in a timely fashion.  He could not pass his timed math facts test.  Once he started saying his answers out loud as he took the test, his scores improved.
As he gains confidence in his ability to learn his math facts, I expect he will not need to talk as much.  I am learning to listen to how he needs to learn instead of how I want to teach. Success is easier for both of us.