BA is hard for the wrong reasons

[4KookieKids]

DS enjoys math, but recently has been complaining about his BA, saying it's too hard. When I checked where he was, he's on the multi-digit multiplication, where they want you to actually write out all the cross terms and then add them together. So he's been choosing to continue through Singapore 5 instead of doing BA 4. He has a hard time with fine motor skills, and I suspect that's most of the real issue, because when I sit with him and scribe for him, he still flies through it pretty quickly and cheerfully. Is there any harm to me just scribing for him through this chapter, and having him do it independently again after? Or are most of the chapters from here on out heavier on writing? I don't want to set up him up to only do it with me, bc I have lots of other kiddos that need me too, but I guess I'm thinking that my method for dealing with this may depend on what will be coming along later in BA. If it's lots more writing, I may have to re-think how we're going to do it. If this is just a brief phase, I'll just power through by scribing for him and hope things return to "normal" thereafter. 

FWIW: we had the same issue when he covered long division in SM. So instead of having him do actual long division, I let him do a "cheater version" where he just wrote down the remainders at each step, instead of the product and then subtracting (see attached picture that I wrote as we were talking about long division).

               

[maize]

Another option that works for some kids is to work the problems on a white board.

[Dmmetler]

I scribed for DD for a long time. PA was the transition, and a major reason why we did one year of LOF and Keys to Algebra and then a year of AoPS.

[Jackie]

We're in that same multiplication chapter. I pulled down the large-grid graph paper and made much larger writing areas for DD to work the problems. She also uses it as her scratch paper for the chapter, so she can keep her numbers lined up.

 

I don't see harm in scribing, but it may be less work for you to transfer the problems themselves to paper that has more space. (At least, it would be less work for me, because I could do that during any spare bit of time during the day.)

[4KookieKids]

Thanks all, for the input!

 

We're in that same multiplication chapter. I pulled down the large-grid graph paper and made much larger writing areas for DD to work the problems. She also uses it as her scratch paper for the chapter, so she can keep her numbers lined up.

I don't see harm in scribing, but it may be less work for you to transfer the problems themselves to paper that has more space. (At least, it would be less work for me, because I could do that during any spare bit of time during the day.)

Hmmm. I'll think about this. I don't find the issue a lack of space. Because he insists on doing it in his head still, bc he insists that doing it in his head is just less work than having to write it all out. So most of his page is still blank at the end, and he'd rather re-do ones he missed from scratch than show his work by actually writing stuff out. lol.

 

[SeaConquest]

I would scribe if you are able to, for now. The good news is that Beast Academy Online will be out next year. Sacha is using it now for his AoPS Academy class (for BA5), and it is all done online. He keeps track of his math using one of those online pens (though he still prefers to do a lot in his head --- grrrr). He loves BA online, and I think most will find it a great fit for AL's with fine motor issues.

[Jackie]

Thanks all, for the input!

 

Hmmm. I'll think about this. I don't find the issue a lack of space. Because he insists on doing it in his head still, bc he insists that doing it in his head is just less work than having to write it all out. So most of his page is still blank at the end, and he'd rather re-do ones he missed from scratch than show his work by actually writing stuff out. lol.

Yes, different problem. This is the first chapter DD has done significant writing for instead of doing it all in her head. She doesn't like having to re-do work, though, so the first time I erased an entire page of answers on her was enough.

[Julie of KY]

I agree. Scribe the sections of BA that are difficult to write. No reason to drop BA just because he doesn't want to write out the distributive property. Most of BA does not require a bunch of writing.

[4KookieKids]

Thanks all. I let him take a break from it for the last week and hope to try it again today with me scribing! :)

[4KookieKids]

Well, I'm not sure I can do it *all* the time, but scribing has mostly solved our issues. In just one week of me scribing for him, he went from telling me it was his least favorite part of school to again singing about how fun it is and how great it is to have a mom who's into math. :) So I'm going to make a concerted effort to do it with him more often to hopefully keep the fun alive. Thanks for all the thoughts!

[daijobu]

Scribing has other advantages.  You can model good math behavior such as lining up your equal signs to make equation chains easier to read.  You can avoid stream of consciousness equations.  Drawing geometry diagrams that are clear and well labeled.  These are good habits for them to observe that lead to avoiding computation and logic errors.  And hopefully they will adopt once their fine motor skills catch up with their academics.