8th grade dd having "Math Stalls"... need advice!

[hmsch4me]

I've been homeschooling my dd (age 13) since she was in 3rd grade. One of the reasons was due to her math. She just wasn't getting it. We used MUS with good results for 3 years. She grew tired of the format and style so we switched to something else for one year then went to TT Math 7 last year (which seemed a great fit). This year she is doing the TT Pre-Algebra and moving along.

 

Here is the problem. She's not a big fan of math and I really am beginning to think she processes math very slowly. She can be in the middle of a simple multiplication problem and suddenly stop, stare at the problem, and forget where's she's at. Clearly distracted as this doesn't come up in any other areas. She also STILL struggles to pull the multiplication facts up quickly. We've done these for years and she is just slow on getting the answer - not on all, but some. She can blank out on 9x2 sometimes. All this hasn't kept her from learning new topics, etc. - she's a whiz on fractions, percents, decimals, reducing, etc. I also think she struggles with making connections. We've been working on negative numbers these past two weeks. She just learned about multiplying negatives today. My dh asked her what a (-)(-) was, etc. and she did fine, until he asked her what (-2)(0) was. She was stumped. He told her to think about it and let him know. WHAT? I don't get this. What am I missing here?

 

This all concerns me for many reasons. I know some are better at math than others and all that, but this can scare me sometimes. I need to know what you all think and what you would do? Do I continue multiplication drills, etc?

[LisaNY]

Her age could be a factor, too. My dd seemed to draw lots of blanks and forget things while she was 12 & 13. She just turned 14 last month, and things seem to be clicking better for her.

 

12/13 is a difficult age, for so many reasons, and it does affect learning during that time.

[hmsch4me]

I even remember reading about this on a board. Yes, I need to keep these things in mind.

[Carol in Cal.]

...is to separate the facts practice from math itself.

 

I did this using Quartermile Math, when DD learned and forgot her multiplication tables two different times. I concluded that she needs to practice all the time, but at a low level.

 

She does 15 minutes of quartermile math most days, and if I notice a recurring problem I ask her to focus on that area. She is 12 and is in Saxon 87--Pre-algebra, so this is long past the time when I thought we would need this.