Is she bored, or struggling?

[Seeking Squirrels]

I'm really not sure what to do with my DD7 for math. I can't figure out if she is struggling or if she's just bored. She has SPD and maybe more going on, so that's a factor. One day it all seems too easy for her and she answers everything without me even teaching her the lesson. Then the next day she freezes up and simply cannot (or will not) do simple problems. I really have no idea at this point if I should be accelerating her to get her to a point that challenges her, or slowing down to make sure she gets these concepts that she sometimes "struggles" with. We used Singapore for K & 1st but switched to RS this year for something more hands-on for her. (ordered through our charter, I didn't invest in it) She's doing level C. When I did the placement assessment for her last week it said level D, but the rep on the phone said to stick with C so we don't miss anything. I've always planned on beast academy in 3rd and she saw it and wants to do it, so I ordered 3a, but I'm not sure if we should start it or if I'll be setting her up for failure if it's too much. I also have SM2 already because that's what we were originally going to do. Math every day is a major struggle. She says she loves math, but she has a meltdown almost every day when I say it's time for it.

 

So....press on with RSC right where we're at, switch to SM (IDK, is it RS she's not clicking with even though she says she likes it?), or start BA? Or something else? I just want to ease one of our major daily struggles and I'd really like her to come out the other side of second grade still saying she loves math.

 

[Jackie]

Well, I switched DD to BA about 2/3 of the way through RS C and it's going fine so far. Because I wasn't sure if her subtraction was solid enough, I picked up Math Mammoth's blue series guide on addition and subtraction for additional practice, but it's definitely her "easy math" for days she wants a break from all the thought BA takes.

 

Maybe start her on BA and finish up RS a couple days a week or when she needs a break from BA?

[Cake and Pi]

I've got two thoughts on her fluctuating performance.

 

First, maybe it has to do with her SPD.  My SPD kid has well regulated days and disorganized days.  It took me YEARS to figure it out, but for him it seriously has a lot to do with the weather.  When I brought it up with his ABA she said that I really wasn't crazy and that sometimes these kids can be hypersensitive to pressure changes.  So some days I just have to throw in the towel with lessons.  They are not going to happen if he's in a highly disorganized state.  It's one of the reasons we homeschool year round.  We can do lessons just 3 or 4 days per week and not fall behind.

 

My other thought is that it could possibly have to do with her predominant learning style and how you're presenting content/questions.  Have you noticed what kind of learner she is?  Are you consistently teaching to that strength or do you switch it up sometimes?  My extremely visual learner is in RS-C.  I love RS.  But sometimes he has difficulty with the lessons because they are so heavily verbal.  Here's a great example of what this can look like in my house:

 

Me: Write and tell me the multiples of 3, backwards. Start with 30.
DS#2 (reading them off as he writes them): 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 0, *pause* NEGATIVE 3, negative 6, negative 9 --
Me: Okay, okay, that's good. *turns hand held dry erase board with expression written on it toward him* How about 46+87?
DS#2: 123... 133!
Me: What number comes before 26?
DS#2: What!? *throws self into heap on floor* I don't knooooooooow! It's too haaaaaard!

 

I get a good chuckle out of this, but it demonstrates what a huge impact his learning style can have on his achievement.  He was fine with much harder questions, as long as he could SEE what was going on.  I asked him one incredibly simple question entirely verbally, and his performance disintegrated.

 

Of course, none of the above may have anything to do with your DD.  But perhaps there's something else, some other non-standard variable, effecting how she does.

 

Edited for privacy

Edited November 25, 2015 by Lace

[Seeking Squirrels]

Well, I switched DD to BA about 2/3 of the way through RS C and it's going fine so far. Because I wasn't sure if her subtraction was solid enough, I picked up Math Mammoth's blue series guide on addition and subtraction for additional practice, but it's definitely her "easy math" for days she wants a break from all the thought BA takes.

 

Maybe start her on BA and finish up RS a couple days a week or when she needs a break from BA?

 

Subtraction is the area I'm not positive she's solid on. Some days she does fine and some days she just doesn't. I like the idea of easing into BA without completely abandoning RS. My friend suggested similar, that we start with BA once a week and if it's hard we just keep doing it as something fun and take as long as we need. If it goes really well, we can up it to 2 days BA, 2 days RS....then slowly get to all BA if she's ready for it.

[Seeking Squirrels]

I've got two thoughts on her fluctuating performance.

 

First, maybe it has to do with her SPD.  My SPD kid has well regulated days and disorganized days.  It took me YEARS to figure it out, but for him it seriously has a lot to do with the weather.  When I brought it up with his ABA she said that I really wasn't crazy and that sometimes these kids can be hypersensitive to pressure changes.  So some days I just have to throw in the towel with lessons.  They are not going to happen if he's in a highly disorganized state.  It's one of the reasons we homeschool year round.  We can do lessons just 3 or 4 days per week and not fall behind.

 

My other thought is that it could possibly have to do with her predominant learning style and how you're presenting content/questions.  Have you noticed what kind of learner she is?  Are you consistently teaching to that strength or do you switch it up sometimes?  My extremely visual learner is in RS-C.  I love RS.  But sometimes he has difficulty with the lessons because they are so heavily verbal.  Here's a great example of what this can look like in my house:

 

Me: Write and tell me the multiples of 3, backwards. Start with 30.

DS#2 (reading them off as he writes them): 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 0, *pause* NEGATIVE 3, negative 6, negative 9 --

Me: Okay, okay, that's good. *turns hand held dry erase board with expression written on it toward him* How about 46+87?

DS#2: 123... 133!

Me: What number comes before 26?

DS#2: What!? *throws self into heap on floor* I don't knooooooooow! It's too haaaaaard!

 

I get a good chuckle out of this, but it demonstrates what a huge impact his learning style can have on his achievement.  He was fine with much harder questions, as long as he could SEE what was going on.  I asked him one incredibly simple question entirely verbally, and his performance disintegrated.

 

Of course, none of the above may have anything to do with your DD.  But perhaps there's something else, some other non-standard variable, effecting how she does.

 

Edited for privacy

 

This so sounds like a day at our house! Not the exact ups and downs, but how she will do several things in a row fine, and then break down over something that's often technically easier. I will have to pay closer attention to watch for a pattern with what she does easily and what causes her to throw in the towel. She does exactly as you describe, though. Throws herself on the floor and cries "I don't knooooooooow! It's too hard!!!!! I can't do it!" And usually to something she should definitely know.

 

She's a kinesthetic learner. I try to teach to that as much as possible. Which is why I switched to RS in the first place, for all the games and manipulatives. Sometimes she does break down when I ask her to do a problem in her head without the abacus. I only ask this on problems I know she doesn't need it for because I don't want her to rely on the abacus for simple stuff. But maybe it does just put her in panic, don't know what to do mode. Friday it was 14 - 7 that caused complete meltdown. But this was the third mental subtraction problem from the teens that I'd given her. So I don't get why she answered the first two just fine but then panicked on a third that was just the same. That's where I don't know if she was tired of the review and wanted to move on already, or if she really couldn't recall how to solve it. And if the later, what set it apart from the other two problems?

 

So in your example, do you then write the number 26 and ask him again? Or do you push him to think about the answer even though it's outside his dominant learning style? I never know when to push her to do problems as they're asked, because she does need to be able to do it without the tools, and when to let her do it the way she's comfortable with.

 

I will also have to watch for any patterns with the weather. I've never really stepped back to examine the day as a whole and if she was well regulated or disorganized. I still feel so new to this even though we've had the dx a year now. We go back to OT in a couple of weeks, so maybe that will help from that end and a better pattern will emerge.

 

[Cake and Pi]

So in your example, do you then write the number 26 and ask him again? Or do you push him to think about the answer even though it's outside his dominant learning style? I never know when to push her to do problems as they're asked, because she does need to be able to do it without the tools, and when to let her do it the way she's comfortable with.

.

 

Depends on how well I think he's recovered from the meltdown.  If he seems totally fine again, I would ask him to write 26, or I might ask him to enter the number on his abacus.  If he seems on edge and like he might freak out if I were to demand more, I would write or enter the number myself and then ask what comes before. 

 

I do not intentionally try to push him by totally jumping out of his comfort zone.  Sometimes I forget, like what happened with the number before 26 yesterday, because my DS#1 is the opposite (very auditory with trouble assimilating visual input) and I've just been teaching that way longer.  However, I am trying to build up his auditory skills gently by, for example, asking him to close his eyes and picture what he wrote or entered on his abacus.  We're working on his auditory memory through language arts (WWE and FLL).

[CadenceSophia]

This sounds just like how my son behaved with RS. He'd get all the hard problems and melt down on the simplest.

 

He had been most of the way through B but I stuck him back in Singapore IP 1B this summer. There was a lot of wailing over the different language but once he got it out of his system we have been flying through Singapore with ease and dare I say, something closer to joy :) I am pacing him to have him done with 3B this summer and so far it is going smoothly. I think a big part of his failure with RS was that not having his own book meant he had no idea how much he would be expected to do in a day. He thought every question I asked should be the last one. He definitely has significant on and off days so we might roll through 8 pages on a good day and only 2 on a bad.

[Seeking Squirrels]

This sounds just like how my son behaved with RS. He'd get all the hard problems and melt down on the simplest.

 

He had been most of the way through B but I stuck him back in Singapore IP 1B this summer. There was a lot of wailing over the different language but once he got it out of his system we have been flying through Singapore with ease and dare I say, something closer to joy :) I am pacing him to have him done with 3B this summer and so far it is going smoothly. I think a big part of his failure with RS was that not having his own book meant he had no idea how much he would be expected to do in a day. He thought every question I asked should be the last one. He definitely has significant on and off days so we might roll through 8 pages on a good day and only 2 on a bad.

 

I wonder if this could be part of DD's issue with it. Maybe I will try writing out a simple checklist before the lesson of what we're going to do so she can see the progression of the lesson. It's worth a try. Thank you for sharing and I'm glad Singapore is working out well for you!