2nd g Math--Singapore--how much time, etc.

[Aubrey]

This is a x-post from the general board. You guys were so helpful last time I ran into problems w ds's math, I thought I'd try here again. (About this time last yr, actually!) I may only need reassurance; I'm not sure.

 

For background: we were doing Saxon last yr, & you all suggested a move over to Singapore, which has been wonderful. He's moved through it pretty quickly, but I've slowed him down to app. 2pp from the text & 1 ex. from the WB ea. day. Basically, the space from where one ex is introduced to the next. Sometimes it's very little. On the Practice pages, we do the whole thing on the dry-erase board w/ no exercises.

 

He's about to finish up 3A, he's in 2nd g, & we just started long division a week or two ago. Maybe three, now that I think of it. Anyway, it was hard at first, but he's caught on, & we're at the point that it's a relatively pleasant challenge--not too easy & (most days) not too hard.

 

Friday, I had him do a Review out of the book, & we had a meltdown. In retrospect, I think it was because he was being asked to use so many different skills (some advanced addition, multiplication, long division, etc.) all on the same assignment. But we were also off-schedule that day. Ok, so my question:

__________________________

 

WTM says to allot 40-60 min/day for math in 2-4th g. I just looked it up to make sure.

 

Ds7 spends that much time on math. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm only assigning 30 min worth, actually, but it takes him 40-60 min *at least* to look out the window, whine, etc.

 

Every day is not like this, that's how I guage. Some days--maybe even most days--are fine. Math is his best subject, & it's usually one of his favorites. He's just very emotional about it, kwim?

 

So it goes like this: learn a new concept, & it's kind-of exciting the first day. Second day...less exciting. By the third day, it's the hardest thing on earth, math takes forever, and life would be good only if math were gone.

 

By the end of that week or the one after, he's a whiz again, & he'll tell you so himself. New skill mastered, all's aces. For a day or two. Then he's bored w/ new skill, & gets mopey & slow, almost depressed & impossible to motivate.

 

So slowing down doesn't help. Speeding up isn't an issue. I guess my question is, on those days that I question myself, how can I know for sure (well, pretty sure, at least) that I haven't assigned too much? That the assignment *should* take 30-60 min, whether he chooses to drag it out for 4 hrs or not?

 

Not that I generally let him drag it out that long, but you know how it is once in a while, you assign something & you get up to chase the baby & come back & help w a problem, etc. only to look up at the clock & some huge amt of time has passed, & he's staring at the page, having done NOTHING. (And asked no questions.)

 

We've been out of the house more than usual lately, & I *know* that's made things harder for me, so I think that's why he's feeling frustrated, but...I just want to make sure I'm not pushing too hard/expecting too much, etc.

 

TIA!

[chai]

My dd will have math meltdowns sometimes as well. It always comes out of the blue, because I really think that she gets the concepts.

 

A few things that we do:

 

We keep to a strict cut-off time--even with the dawdling. At age 7, she was only doing 20-30 minutes of math unless she wanted to extend it. Now, at age 9, we do 45 minutes. If she doesn't complete the exercise, we stop and move to our next subject. I do try to give incentives to complete the exercise though. Sometimes the incentives are stickers, M&Ms, or pennies. Lately, I started letting her fill the remaining time with on-line math games if she finished the exercise early.

 

Another idea is to have a supplement planned for midweek, when your ds seems to be having his meltdowns. He might just need to have a break of some kind.

[Closeacademy]

We are just getting to the long division in 3a.

 

How I schedule this:

 

We do the work in the text if needed. If she has it down after a couple of problems worked together I hand her the workbook.

 

In the workbook, I schedule:

 

A page like 69 where there is 9 problems and a puzzle--that is the only page she does that day or if the next page is word problems we will do 3 of them.

 

Pages like 72-74 which is part of a review. We would do all 3 pages.

 

Exercise 26 which is p. 79-80. We would do both pages.

 

Exercise 28 which is p. 83-85, I would give her the option of doing this in between 1 to 3 days depending upon her mood, focus ability, etc.

 

If we become stuck, then I only work out of the text and save the workbook for when we have the concept down. We may only do between 1 to 4 problems per day out of the text but I feed it to her in small bits until she has it down.

 

I really don't time math--instead I base her assignments on what she is capable of doing on that particular day. She picks it up easily but she is pencil-phobic and she is working ahead of her grade level.

 

Good Luck.:001_smile:

[Storm Bay]

For those long reviews, I assign them over more than one day, especially now that dd is in SM 5. She raced through 2 & went quickly through 3, then lost her momentum and decided she only wanted to do one grade a year. We do supplement with MUS, so she gets variety. Also, she doesn't get every concept the SM way. Sometimes neither MUS or SM works for her and I come up with another way to teach it. We get those same mood variables with my 9 yo when it comes to math, even now when she's 9. Most days math isn't a big problem for her, but some days...