s/o Math frustration - which new curriculum?

[EmilyGF]

Hi all,

 

I'm spinning off my own thread.

 

Let's say my 8-year-old has good conceptual understanding (based on the work she does) and strong skills but is very frustrated with RightStart Math E (she is about 40 lessons in).

 

I'm thinking about jumping ship and backing up a bit into a different curriculum (which I've done with all kids at some point between D and late E). Big sister jumped into MEP and it has been exactly right for her (big picture thinker, doesn't want someone breaking things down into nitty gritty details). Big brother did Singapore Math 5 and 6 as independent study before beginning AOPS, which he's been very successful with. Both enjoy math now, though Big Sister didn't at the time of leaving RightStart.

 

I'm thinking she needs to feel successful, so I'll probably back her up. I think she needs variety each day because she can solve problems well but gets easily overwhelmed when there are a lot of one type. I insist on conceptual understanding and not just algorithmic. We'll probably split math into two sessions each day, and one can be game playing - I have some fun games that aren't "math" games but are good for math.

 

I'm fine sitting by her for up to 45 minutes a day (which is what I had to do for the first 3 months of MEP with her older sister) and working through every little bit with her and I don't think independence would be a virtue for her.

 

What curriculum might be good for her?

 

Thanks,

Emily

[EmilyGF]

Any suggestions? 

[Farrar]

Is there a reason you don't think MEP or Singapore are right for her?

 

Beast Academy is out there now if you think she needs a bigger challenge. 

[displace]

Is that a gifted level for her (I don't use right start)? Is it possible she needs to slow down a little? Does she enjoy the program? I think it depends on what you want. Any program can be tailored to decrease the number of repetitions of problems, just have her so every other or every few.

[Loesje22000]

Horizons Math?

Dd liked the variety.

She too disliked 'one page of the same problem type'

[Julie of KY]

Beast academy.

[Jackie]

Beast Academy may work. It is mastery, but because they give fairly few problems for each piece of a concept, there's more variety than other mastery programs I've seen.

[EmilyGF]

OK, so we're three weeks into Singapore and she's liking it. 

 

She asked me why I chose it for her and I told her (without thinking), "Because it has cute pictures and you like cute pictures!" She loved that answer and works hard so that she can spend 2-4 minutes "decorating" unillustrated pages at the end of her lesson. 

 

We were cleaning out her old math drawers which included some things like Beast Academy and math games. She asked why we had those programs and I said, "I thought those would be fun math."

 

She said, "But the new math is the fun math!" 

 

So I think it is a win. Since she's a perfectionist, she rarely makes careless errors and I placed her at a level she could be overwhelmingly successful at. I only have her do about half the problems (because she gets them all right). I show her what needs to be done for the week so she knows that I won't just add bunches of extra work like I used to do when we had math games and "fun" math. I think she likes the predictability.

 

Emily