MATH Help me help DD

[Ruby Rose]

Ok, so dd is about to start 3rd and Math is a real issue. We used MM the last 2 years and she hated it. Honestly, it made me a little crazy too, but it's what we had so we used it. She does not have any facts memorized. :( we were discussing plans for school together and the poor child almost cried thinking about math. She said all she does is sit with a work book and do problems. Yes, the pages overwhelm her despite my only assigning partial problems.

 

I bought Miquon thinking my DS would enjoy it. Then I thought it might be beneficial to Dd too as long as I could keep my fear of being behind in check. I'm scared to death I am going to screw up math for her. She is a lot like me and I definitely fell through the cracks in school.

 

So, my plan was to just just use Miquon with both. Now I'm wondering if maybe I should also use Singapore 3a with her. I don't know if I should give her some time with just miquon or add something else (singaore?) in right away. OR should I just use miquon for 3rd and move to Singapore next year. Althought I'm not sure how quickly she will move through Miquon and it may take her 2 years. ???

 

Anyone been where I am that can help me???

 

 

 

[PachiSusan]

I don't know about Miquon or Singapore, but I know about a DD who cries about Math and seems to have a block about it.

 

Your daughter is a rising 3rd grader. You have plenty of time to give her a slow reintroduction to Math and let her gain some mastery and confidence. I say let her do Math with your DS and let her go as fast as she is confident with. She won't be behind forever and remember, most of us choose to home educate so we can go at our child's pace. We always think it will be at accelerating them, but sometimes we have to slow down and help them get back on track.

[UrbanSue]

If she doesn't have a learning disability of some kind, then my guess would be that she missed some foundational conceptual ideas. Miquon is very strong in laying a good conceptual foundation and it is really different from other math programs I've worked with. We started it this year and I have all my kids doing it even my rising 4th grader who doesn't really need it but the concepts are presented differently enough that it is enriching his math understanding. We call it "Math Lab" which they love and I print them "lab sheets" from the pdf files of the books. My workbook-hating ds hasn't complained, yet.

 

An older child, given the chance to attain full understanding, will probably progress very quickly. And, even if she does end up a year "behind" wouldn't you rather she not make it to Calculus in high school but WITH a really solid foundation in math?

 

Also, I'm not sure how deep her lack of understanding is--you only specifically mentioned not having her facts memorized. My ds didn't going into third grade, either. Some kids don't easily memorize the facts. But I knew from working with him that his conceptual understanding was solid so we kept moving. Math had been maddening but once I started moving at his conceptual speed (and made a curriculum switch) he started to flourish. His math fact speed has improved dramatically in the last few months just from having to use them constantly.

 

So I would try Miquon because it will be, probably, a very nice change. It's a solid program. And it can be really fun. Check out the educationunboxed,com videos if you are totally new to c-rods. Lots of good stuff there. But I would hold off on adding in another program, I think. At least for a little while.

[Ruby Rose]

Thank you for your input and support. It means a lot. Sometimes HSing feels like the weight of the world and you child's entire life depends on the choices you make. Failure is not an option. :)

[pollo_la]

Well, you could just focus solely on math facts for her third grade year, and then start Saxon 5/4 with her in 4th grade... no fears about being behind then. Originally Saxon 5/4 WAS the first saxon book. They came out with 1-3 later on. All a child needs to know prior to 5/4 is their facts! I can say that with confidence because I did no formal math with my oldest dd. We simply worked on mastering math facts and then she started Saxon 5/4. She's averaging 92% correct on the homework and 95% on the tests. So, if you wanted to work on facts maybe have her go through a set 10-15 minutes, twice daily. Maybe once or twice a week throw in some "hands on" practical math and let her help you cook or count some money... maybe play uno. :-)

[Jess4879]

My oldest has struggled with memorizing math facts as well and on the advice of a post here, we tried out http://www.reflexmath.com/home and it's been going wonderfully. We've been using it for maybe a month total now and both kids love it and are gaining fluency with math facts.

 

MM is a strong program, but it's workbook based. Maybe your kiddo needs something more visual? I know this was the case with my oldest. MM works wonderful for us as a supplement, but it is not a great core for us. We are switching to TT with a MM supplement next year.

[letsplaymath]

... she hated it. Honestly, it made me a little crazy too ... the poor child almost cried thinking about math ... I'm scared to death I am going to screw up math for her. She is a lot like me and I definitely fell through the cracks in school. ...

 

Several assorted thoughts:

 

First, consider for a moment the emotional atmosphere you have described. Nobody can really learn anything in that atmosphere, except to hate math! Math Mammoth is a fine program, especially when you do it buddy-style, but no math program could teach through those emotions. If you think your daughter will enjoy Miquon, that sounds like a great change!

 

Second, Miquon is an excellent program that gets into relatively advanced topics. A third (or even fourth) grader doing Miquon is not in ANY way "behind" in math!

 

Third, did you know that up to 80% of what is taught in math textbooks each year is just a repeat of the year before? If you take a year for Miquon and then decide to go back to a different 4th grade math program, that repetition will help you "catch up" on any areas you've missed.

 

Fourth, even if your daughter learned absolutely NO math for the next three years (and how likely is that?), you could teach all of elementary arithmetic in less than one year in middle school.

 

Don't worry. Your daughter will do fine! Just keep trying things until you find a program you both can enjoy learning together.

[ktgrok]

Do have her memorize the facts. It will let her feel "smart" and it will be one less thing to worry about when approaching a new problem. It frees up her working memory for figuring out the problem, instead of having to figure out the fact and the problem. I made that mistake with my son. I won't make it with my daughter.