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Saturday math classes weren't such a good idea for us.


SKL
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Just sharing an experience and change of direction.

 

I put my kids in 12 weeks of one-hour "fun, game-based" math classes, which ended today.  My kids mostly enjoyed the format.  The problem was the content.  I thought they would be helping kids learn / solidify concepts and so increase their confidence approaching school math.  Instead it was mostly "strategies" aka tricks.  They would teach a new trick each week, not giving enough time for the average kid to understand why it works or how it connects to math concepts.  Then they would play some games.

 

My kids did miss about a third of the classes due to scheduling conflicts with more important stuff.  When I sat down to help get them up to speed on the missed work, I didn't recognize some of the "tricks" myself, so I decided we would just skip that.  Which was a relief, since my kids' schedule has been brutal this fall anyway.

 

In the course evaluation, both of my kids were criticized for using conventional methods to solve problems instead of "the strategies taught in class."  Which goes against what the manager told me, but whatever.

 

So we will go back to me giving them some Mom work on the weekends, for now.  I'm thinking Beast Academy for starters.  They may be old for that now, but we'll hopefully zip through the obvious stuff.  I also have some Sylvan and Kumon workbooks we can use.  And some age-appropriate math storybooks.  I hope I get some cooperation.  :P

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Sorry to hear it didn't pan out as you expected. It is disappointing when you think you found the right activity to help your kids only to be let down. Was this at a Mathnasium by any chance? I wonder because the class description sounds like what they offer. I have been tempted to try it out with my kid.

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Sorry to hear it didn't pan out as you expected. It is disappointing when you think you found the right activity to help your kids only to be let down. Was this at a Mathnasium by any chance? I wonder because the class description sounds like what they offer. I have been tempted to try it out with my kid.

 

This was called "Math Monkey."  I signed them up because they have taken some summer classes there and that went well.  My kid says they actually taught more real math / concepts in the summer classes.  They recently changed management, so I wonder if that means the quality of the summer classes will die too.  :/

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Thanks for sharing. I had not heard of Math Monkey. It seems they base their methods on Vedic math, which is an ancient math system from India. They have been established in Singapore for a few years. That's all I have been able to find out. Good luck with your daughters being open to working for mom.

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Math Monkeys is done here, and both my kids, who are admittedly quite a bit younger, both really enjoy their classes and get a lot out of them. It could indeed be the management at your program, but missing 1/3 of the classes probably contributed to the problem. Last year, my oldest learned the "trick" of using dots on numbers to help with counting on, which I considered quite complementary to the "trick" his school taught him for counting on with his fingers. His class now is doing place value and time, and his brief homework is very conventional (and gets done with no problems because he likes his class). 

 

If they were teaching mental math strategies for multiplication for example, and the kids missed the classes, it would indeed be hard for them to enjoy subsequent classes. Just my two cents. 

 

FWIW, my youngest had his class Saturday, and we moved it to Wednesday because he didn't like missing out of Saturday time. Saturday may just not be a good day for your children, especially considering how many classes you had to miss.

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We chose Saturday because I work, and my kids have too much homework and other weekday commitments.  Plus, there are no math classes offered less than a half hour away from us nor later than 5:30pm.

 

The other issue with any afternoon classes is that I never know my kids' school activity schedule before I need to commit to the paid classes.  That's kind of annoying - basically it means I have to keep afternoons free to accommodate whatever the school eventually decides to do.  Right now my eldest (the one who needs the most math help) is busy with school activities 3-4 days per week, none of which were known early in the school year.  It has required us to make a lot of compromises.

 

The Saturday class is not without its own stress.  I've been rushing my kids out of horse riding early to get there.  I take my computer and try to work in their waiting room.  I'd honestly rather do math on our own schedule, if the classes aren't giving us a very good bang for the buck.

 

The other thing is that my kids say the main class teacher is kind of snippy and not willing to give help when asked.  There is an assistant who is nicer, but that's not enough to keep me there.

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One thing that may help is just to drop the kids off at school early one or two days a week.  Their homeroom / math teacher gives math help in the mornings before school.  My kids normally take the bus, but I can drive them if there is a good reason to.  I would still do some additional work with them at home on the weekends.

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I would think about focusing on math projects, challenges, and games instead of more book work (except for areas where they clearly are not getting the concept, those I would redo). 

 

My kids are much older now, so I can't remember what we did at specific ages, or game/book titles, but they learned quite a bit this way (homeschooled, but regular math lesson, then extras to reenforce and enrich). 

 

We read books like Sir Cumference (younger), Number Devil, Phantom Tollbooth - they have a lot more now than they did ten years ago! Also math project books; search stuff like math challenge, math hands-on, math project. One of mine really liked the Highlights Mathmania books; they aren't expensive, and we had great luck finding them at thrift shops. 

 

Lots of board games will shore up counting skills. SET is a great 'ordinary' game that hones visual perception and reasoning, which only become more important in math. Callisto is another good one. Equate is mathematical Scrabble, it works best when players are at roughly the same skill level. 

 

Codes and code breaking is usually a hit with most kids, especially when 'marketed' alongside tales of secrets and spies. 

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I would think about focusing on math projects, challenges, and games instead of more book work (except for areas where they clearly are not getting the concept, those I would redo). 

 

My kids are much older now, so I can't remember what we did at specific ages, or game/book titles, but they learned quite a bit this way (homeschooled, but regular math lesson, then extras to reenforce and enrich). 

 

We read books like Sir Cumference (younger), Number Devil, Phantom Tollbooth - they have a lot more now than they did ten years ago! Also math project books; search stuff like math challenge, math hands-on, math project. One of mine really liked the Highlights Mathmania books; they aren't expensive, and we had great luck finding them at thrift shops. 

 

Lots of board games will shore up counting skills. SET is a great 'ordinary' game that hones visual perception and reasoning, which only become more important in math. Callisto is another good one. Equate is mathematical Scrabble, it works best when players are at roughly the same skill level. 

 

Codes and code breaking is usually a hit with most kids, especially when 'marketed' alongside tales of secrets and spies. 

 

Thanks for those recommendations - I added several to my Amazon cart for Christmas.  :)

 

I may also try some brown paper bag books that I had put aside due to lack of time.

 

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Yes, they still use SM.

 

What I'm trying to accomplish for one kid is more practice and confidence with the math concepts they use in school.  For the other kid, the idea was to expose her to new concepts.  (They claim to meet different kids where they are and all that jazz.)  To be honest, the more advanced kid is really just tagging along, but since she had always enjoyed the classes in the past, I thought she'd be happy to participate.

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I would think about focusing on math projects, challenges, and games instead of more book work (except for areas where they clearly are not getting the concept, those I would redo). 

 

My kids are much older now, so I can't remember what we did at specific ages, or game/book titles, but they learned quite a bit this way (homeschooled, but regular math lesson, then extras to reenforce and enrich). 

 

We read books like Sir Cumference (younger), Number Devil, Phantom Tollbooth - they have a lot more now than they did ten years ago! Also math project books; search stuff like math challenge, math hands-on, math project. One of mine really liked the Highlights Mathmania books; they aren't expensive, and we had great luck finding them at thrift shops. 

 

Lots of board games will shore up counting skills. SET is a great 'ordinary' game that hones visual perception and reasoning, which only become more important in math. Callisto is another good one. Equate is mathematical Scrabble, it works best when players are at roughly the same skill level. 

 

Codes and code breaking is usually a hit with most kids, especially when 'marketed' alongside tales of secrets and spies. 

 

What age is Mathmania for? The "Age group" on Amazon is pretty young -- ages 4-8.

 

Equate game looks like the game I bought for my 4th grader for Christmas -- called Mobi (Except that this doesn't involve holding onto a board): https://smile.amazon.com/Mobi-the-Numeric-Tile-Game/dp/B00XGW433Y/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479846515&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Mobimath

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