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Need an advice for a bright 7 y.o. boy


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Hi, my friend has a bright son who just turned 7. She has been homeschooling him since he was very young. He was a late reader due to some speech (pronunciation) problems. Now he reads very well and do not have any speech deficiancy at all. At young age her son was extremely good at math and logic, and then he slowed down but still was very good ( He could operate with large numbers in his head without writing anything down; he could not write that time anyway). After he learned all his phonics rules and start reading fluently, his math fluency disappeared. Her son is struggling with simple operations trying to do them in his head and keep forgetting what he was doing. He doesn't want to write things down because he remembers doing simple operations in his head. I tried to help the boy encouraging him to write things down and he is slowly moving that direction but it still takes him so long to solve the simple equation. We asked him what was the problem. He answered that all those phonics sounds messing him up and he is very confused. He understand numbers but struggling with word problems. My friend is wondering if she needs to go back and repeat last year math with him. When we asked the child he told us he would rather not go over last year math because he knows it. His math curriculum is a combination of Russian math and Singapore math. He uses AAS/AAR for language art.

 

 

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Sometimes it helped dd to know to what goal a certain step is.

 

She used to 'see' 'at once' what the answer was, when she had to calculate she thought she was failing in math.

So after a while I learned when I had to introduce a new concept, I must not use the examples in the book, but use more complex examples.

 

When dd refused to write out her problems because she knew it in her head, I gave her exercises she couldn't do it without writing out.

 

I don't know if it helps but some children work better with a little more complex problems.

Dd still makes most mistakes in the more easy exercises

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I agree with Heigh Ho's implication that there might be a vision problem. My son passed his vision exam with flying colors, but was late to read (for my expectation - he was within normal limits), hated to read (although he loved audio books), and rubbed his eyes during reading. It turned out he had convergence insufficiency. Normally a COVD optometrist diagnoses it and gives vision therapy.

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 Her son is struggling with simple operations trying to do them in his head and keep forgetting what he was doing. He doesn't want to write things down because he remembers doing simple operations in his head. I tried to help the boy encouraging him to write things down and he is slowly moving that direction but it still takes him so long to solve the simple equation. 

 

I have two kids who do/did this - my oldest and #3 (9 yro).  Both of them use(d) Singapore Math and I always wondered if there wasn't something about Singapore that encourages them to try mental math with EVERYTHING.  My 9 yro still insists on trying to do everything in her head and will sit there frustrated even if I try to write things out for her, but my oldest daughter has completely stopped doing that.  She started Algebra 1 this summer and there is no way she can get through algebra without writing out the steps.  At the beginning of the course, she would insist on doing everything in her head, but found she was starting to make dumb mistakes and get lost in the problem (which would upset her)...so now she completely writes everything out.   :thumbup1:

 

Also, from watching my oldest over the years, she would have a year where she would progress very slowly and then she would have a year where she just took off.  Before 3rd/4th grade, I think she was actually a little behind in math...but had a huge leap in ability around 4th grade.  Sometimes it feels like they regress and then you panic...and then they zoom ahead.   :confused:

 

I don't have any experience with the vision thing.  My oldest has worn glasses for years...but that's the extent of my experience.

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