1.) Challenges

Frustrated by her eleven-year-old son’s lack of progress in the public-school system, Samantha pulled him. Although she believed that homeschooling was the only viable option for Colby, she admits that “It’s been a battle because honestly, I’m not trained to teach anyone with his type of learning disabilities.” Colby was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADD. “He had fallen so far behind,” says Samantha, “that he had just given up.”

Meanwhile, nine-year-old Shiya has no known disabilities, but she often lacked the confidence to try. It is essential for Shiya that she does well, and she is very proud of herself when she achieves it. “At the first sign that she isn’t doing something correctly, however, she reverts into her shell protecting herself from getting something wrong,” says Samantha.

Although she had been homeschooling her four children for the last three years, Samantha was still very concerned by their reluctance to try. She tried to teach her children that getting something wrong isn’t a bad thing at all. “That’s how we learn. We learn from our mistakes.” She adds, “I have always felt getting something wrong is just as important as getting something right.”

2.) Finding Elephant Learning

Samantha began searching for something that could help her deliver the math curriculum and help her children catch up to where they should be in terms of their math skills. At the same time, she wanted to ensure this help could address Colby’s learning disabilities and encourage Shiya to take chances and gain confidence in math.

She found Elephant Learning online and was immediately encouraged by the reviews she read.

Related: Delilah and Lee Don’t Let Extreme Shyness and a Fear of Failure Slow Down Their Math Learning

3.) Colby and Shiya’s Experience With Elephant Learning

Related: Annabelle Reaches Her Potential, and Then Some, With Elephant Learning

Samantha’s investment in Elephant Learning had an immediate payoff. With a targeted, gamified approach to teaching mathematics, it took the fear of failure out of the equation for both children. Within six months of using the app, both children had regained much of the ground they had lost in the public school system in terms of their mathematics learning. Shiya gained two and a half years’ worth of mathematics, and Colby gained over three years!

4.) Colby’s Results: 

• Age: 11.1 years
• Starting Elephant Learning Age: 7.8 years
• Current Elephant Learning Age: 11.1 years
• The difference after six months: 3.3 years

5.) Shiya’s Results: 

• Age: 9.3 years
• Starting Elephant Learning Age: 6.3 years
• Current Elephant Learning Age: 8.8 years
• The difference after six months: 2.5 years

“He had fallen so far behind, he had just given up.” - Mom, Samantha