Finding math that works (or, teach me how to make a math program work?)

[mommymonster]

I am struggling a bit to figure out how to deal with math with DS6. He's allegedly profoundly gifted, but he's not interested in school. He loves working with his hands, and we have a house full of disassembled pens, small appliances, and fishing lures. He loves crafting and building things (to counterbalance the destruction, I guess). DH is an engineer and likes to do projects.

 

We started the year with McRuffy Math2, but DS6 was bored and reluctant to do it. We then tried CLE2 because he asked to (DS10 likes CLE). We then tried Beast Academy, which is less successful because: (i) it's too wordy and DS6 is still solidifying his reading; and (ii) it's a mastery program so he has to keep doing the same topic repeatedly. He's comfortably in Beast 3, but still isn't actually liking it. At this point, we're doing a little CLE and a little Beast, but DS6 is pretty much pitching a fit for the entire 10 minutes per day we do math. 

 

Now, I fully own some responsibility for permitting him to jump curriculum. I hate jumping, and yet it has been hard to determine an appropriate level. If I explain something he got wrong in a placement test, he can generally do the problems. I'm probably boring him silly with all the CLE review (we just do a few problems per lesson). But at the same time, my oldest has learning challenges, so I'm more used to dealing with remediation than acceleration. I'm so frustrated with this situation. He has this lovely, intuitive knack for math. It's graceful, even, how he can solve problems. How do I facilitate this? How do I teach him or enable him to move forward?

 

I get he's six. I don't need him to be doing algebra by age X. I would like us to be able to focus on math for 15 minutes per day without either of us crying. 

 

 

 

 

[8circles]

I would scrap the curricula and do math games. Also invest in cuisinaire rods and a workbook to go with... We have one that is about the alphabet and another with puzzles.

[Mike in SA]

Don't be afraid to wait. We did with younger DS (we held off until 7), and you can see in my other post how much he has suffered as a result. At 9, he has a better math foundation than many high school grads. That's just a shade under 3 years.

 

Your child should let you know. Just play math games, goof off, or throw math trivia around as a family hobby.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

:iagree:  Games, games, games.

 

 Games like Monopoly and Yahtzee are great, but I also used heaps of print+laminate maths games that covered everything for the early years in a really fun way.

 

Most of ours came from the site Teach This. http://www.teachthis.com.au/

This was one of the best investments for our early years of homeschooling.

 

Also, I always had lots of real-life maths stuff around - measuring cups, scales that are accurate to hundredths, measuring tapes, compass etc. These would just be incorporated into the other things we were doing eg measuring and comparing how far our paperplanes went. It wasn't called 'work' or 'school', it was just maths built into the fun.

 

For us, those early years were a really fun period of time and I never felt the need for a curriculum as such.

[8circles]

I think we forget that just like early reading skills are linked to a print-rich environment, early math benefits from number-rich environment.

 

Do math things yourself, talk about math out loud. Show him that it's relevant. Watch VI Hart videos on YouTube. Do origami, tessellations, play with symmetry. Have fun.

[mommymonster]

We are very much a living math family -- games, movies, books, projects and whatnot. At this point it is pretty organic -- we bake a ton, build silly projects incessantly, and play games. Maybe I will just chuck the curriculum and read more living books and do even more projects. (Heavens help me.) We spent a goodly amount of time on cuisinaire rods when he was four and five, just because he enjoyed goofing around with them. Perhaps I'll pull them out again and see if they are something he'd be interested in goofing around with. 

 

Thanks for weighing it. It's always good to have a reality check.

[8circles]

We have these

 

https://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=061844&subject=Mathematics/10&category=Cuisenaire+Rods+%26+Activity+Books/2351

https://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=061846&subject=Mathematics/10&category=Cuisenaire+Rods+%26+Activity+Books/2351 

 

My 5 and 8 year-olds enjoy them both.

[LisaKinVA]

Kitchen Table Math is what AoPS recommends (I've seen it recommended here, too).  Ditch the formal curriculum and play with math.  Tangrams, puzzles, using math as a part of the every day.  Curriculums work with accelerated younger kids who are also "work-booky" -- they like "doing" the work (I've had a couple who insisted the games weren't math, and just had to have that worksheet).  My oldest liked Singapore the best at that age, my others have mostly used Math Mammoth.  But, math games/manipulatives and just using math everywhere is how the baseline was always created/nurtured.

[Alessandra]

Let's Play Math has great ideas for games. It's available on Amazon as print or Kindle. Excellent recommendations, and I think the author may be a WTMer. 🙂🙂🙂

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Play-Math-Families-Together/dp/1892083205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460639531&sr=8-1&keywords=let%27s+play+math

Edited April 14, 2016 by Alessandra

[Janeway]

I would let him do whatever he wants with his hands and make up the lessons as you go. Get a dry erase board and mount on wall. That usually helps.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I highly recommend a combo of Miquon and Kitchen Table Math.

[MotherOfBoys]

Tangrams, Verbal Math books for car rides. Then, we also liked math mammoth 1-6 digital download. It's cheap and I can pull the sections I want, print as many times as I want, and have an outline of what to cover. I'm a box checker at heart.

[mckittre]

Verbal math puzzles are fun. Our favorite is "magic function".  Person A comes up with a function. Person B says a number. Person A says what the function would spit out. Repeat until person B can guess the function. Switch roles. My 6yo played this every day for awhile, and it can comfortably span the range from functions like  "x+2" to functions like "the square root of (x-2)"  Biggest plus is that kids can stump parents with these also.  

 

Another one my son really liked (we played a lot of these on a long hike when he was 6) were "bottle problems".  Pretend that dad has a bottle twice as big as moms, which is twice as big as the kid's, which is twice as big as little sister's.  Say little sister doesn't like her juice and pours it all into dad's bottle -- how full is it? Say mom drinks half her water, then splits the rest evenly between the kids. How full is each of theirs? Limitless possibilities, and you can make up funny stories with them. Later, we ended up talking about infinite series with this one, adding leaking bottles, etc...

Edited May 3, 2016 by mckittre

[visitor]

We use Singapore math & miquon math . I bought Miquon Math for DS2 (5 years old) but Ds1 also loves it. They love Singapore Math as well .

[epi]

How about EPGY?

https://giftedandtalented.com/course-detail/-/course/redbird-mathematics-advanced-edition-144

It's online, automatic, self-paced, includes instruction. I think it's solid for elementary.

 

[Arcadia]

For my boys that love dismantling and building, geometry got them through the not so interesting portions of algebra.

 

Math manipulative - no interest

Cuisinaire rods - no interest

Tangrams, pentominoes, origami - on and off interest

Zoomtools - they love their basic set but they broke some and we need to buy more

Compass set - love it

 

Patty Geometry - we didn't try it but looking at the samples, we did those one way or another

http://www.michaelserra.net/weblog/patty-paper-geometry-1.html

 

ViHart and Numberphile - they watch every video on YouTube

 

My boys did like 10mins of book math with SM at that age. The rest is just exploration.

[Janeway]

I hate to suggest another program, and I usually do not, but I would do Singapore with him. Use the US Edition. It does not have much review, so that is perfect for the child who learns quickly. Use their placement exams.

[SilverMoon]

We are very much a living math family -- games, movies, books, projects and whatnot. At this point it is pretty organic -- we bake a ton, build silly projects incessantly, and play games. Maybe I will just chuck the curriculum and read more living books and do even more projects. (Heavens help me.) We spent a goodly amount of time on cuisinaire rods when he was four and five, just because he enjoyed goofing around with them. Perhaps I'll pull them out again and see if they are something he'd be interested in goofing around with. 

 

Thanks for weighing it. It's always good to have a reality check.

 

The Gattegno math books are based on C Rods. You can view some of them for free on the Issuu website; they'll turn up on a quick Google.

 

 

My 5.5yo has really been enjoying Family Math lately.

[ElizabethB]

Singapore. But I would get the Standards editions, you,can skip the reviews if need be. I skipped a few with my daughter and most with my son, but they are there if need be. The HIGs for standards are much better.

Edited May 18, 2016 by ElizabethB

[Targhee]

He may be PG, but he is still only 6. I would do the living math, expecting the autonomy (reading, self-direction) and output (writing, sitting still) of a 6 year old.  

[SanDiegoMom]

At 7 my son started Singapore Intensive Practice.  We needed to do written math so that I could substitute the school math he was given since he was working three levels above. It was a great fit.  But he enjoyed even more the extra books -- Murderous Maths, Why Pi, Go Figure, The Number Devil, and Penrose the Mathematical Cat. He also enjoyed Life of Fred. I think he loved those much more than the actual math we did:-)

[EKS]

If reading is a problem, read everything aloud.  If writing is a problem, either scribe for him or use a whiteboard (or both).  If pace is a problem, skip problems or do whatever you need to do to move things along.

 

I never used BA because my son was beyond it when it came out, but you might want to try Singapore for a while.  It moves along fairly quickly, especially if you modify it to go faster.