Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) Some of you may remember me asking for Math help a few weeks ago and now I need some more. We are doing K this year and RightStart Math A. I love it and in the beginning DD liked it as well, but it has become a huge frustration for her. She shuts down as soon as she does not get it immediately. I see glimpses of the answer in her, sometimes she gets it and some times she just shuts down and refuses to try. I keep Math very short and try my best not to show any frustration. Two weeks ago I came here for help to find living math resources and we have spent the two weeks playing games and reading books and she loves that. Then I tried to go back to the manipulatives and work book and she just stops trying. We school all year round so I thought of doing games for all of summer and then starting B in the fall, but now I wonder if I should find another Math program for her. She is a complete perfectionist, reading comes easy to her and she is bright, but she has a mental block when it comes to math. The way I see it I have two options. Put it away for a few months and just do games or look for another program. She may just not be developmentally ready for the visualization or she may be bored, I do not know how to tell. DH and I both hated math as kids, but love it now. We both have similar experiences that school math was a huge chore and felt like it had no relevance to real life. I am trying to avoid that with her, but I do not want to miss something and not cover the basics. I probably make no sense at all. If you can make sense of all this, What would you do? Edited March 6, 2010 by Melenie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 If you school year round, I would slow down curriculum or put it away for a bit. Maybe try a different approach for a bit. When we hit a rut, my kids like to do worksheets. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Have you thought that maybe it is the program you are using that is just not a good fit? I know I have been saying this a lot on here lately, but have you checked out McRuffy? It is a really great program! My ds got that way with Right start and Horizons, now he just loves math. McRuffy has the worksheets, games, manips all of it. The lessons are short and sweet, yet straight to the point. Not too much repetition to make it boring, just enough to know they are getting what they need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 Have you thought that maybe it is the program you are using that is just not a good fit? I know I have been saying this a lot on here lately, but have you checked out McRuffy? It is a really great program! My ds got that way with Right start and Horizons, now he just loves math. McRuffy has the worksheets, games, manips all of it. The lessons are short and sweet, yet straight to the point. Not too much repetition to make it boring, just enough to know they are getting what they need. I have really tried to avoid a change, but I think it may have come to that. I think we need a change from RS (I do not want to though). I like the look of McRuffy, it is colorful and has animals something that will appeal to her. When I asked her what she did not like about Math she said she does not like the abacus or the work sheets (colorless and dull really). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmomma Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Some of you may remember me asking for Math help a few weeks ago and now I need some more. We are doing K this year and RightStart Math A. I love it and in the beginning DD liked it as well, but it has become a huge frustration for her. She shuts down as soon as she does not get it immediately. I see glimpses of the answer in her, sometimes she gets it and some times she just shuts down and refuses to try. I keep Math very short and try my best not to show any frustration. Two weeks ago I came here for help to find living math resources and we have spent the two weeks playing games and reading books and she loves that. Then I tried to go bath to the manipulatives and work book and she just stops trying. We school all year round so I thought of doing games for all of summer and then starting B in the fall, but now I wonder if I should find another Math program for her. She is a complete perfectionist, reading comes easy to her and she is bright, but she has a mental block when it comes to math. The way I see it I have two options. Put it away for a few months and just do games or look for another program. She may just not be developmentally ready for the visualization or she may be bored, I do not know how to tell. DH and I both hated math as kids, but love it now. We both have similar experiences that school math was a huge chore and felt like it had no relevance to real life. I am trying to avoid that with her, but I do not want to miss something and not cover the basics. I probably make no sense at all. If you can make sense of all this, What would you do? Wow! I could have written this whole post! This same thing just happened to me with my daughter. This is what I did: http://magnificentmath.blogspot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabrett Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I did half of RS A and one 9 weeks of RS B. My dd did the same thing. I have found out she just doesn't like manipulatives! I switched to CLE and it has made a huge difference. I try to add in RS manipulatives and she still resists. She will do use the manipulatives and once she understand won't touch the manipulatives again until I make her. She has learned much, much more using CLE. I LOVED RS, but it was not a good fit for my dd.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) Wow! I could have written this whole post! This same thing just happened to me with my daughter. This is what I did: http://magnificentmath.blogspot.com/ I saw your blog last week and love the idea, but I am petrified to take such a step. How do you know that you are covering everything? Do you plan to use RS, Singapore and games all together and come up with your own format? We did this for 2 weeks and she loved it, but I am not sure that I have the Math confidence to continue this for a year or more. Edited March 5, 2010 by Melenie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 There's a school of thought that advocates delaying formal math instruction until 3rd grade. I think it's maybe the Practical Arithmetic series that does that? Not 100% sure on that. My point is that I think you'd be just fine doing math informally until the fall and then trying a 1st grade curriculum at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmomma Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I saw your blog last week and love the idea, but I am petrified to take such a step. How do you know that you are covering everything? Do you plan to use RS, Singapore and games all together and come up with your own format? We did this for 2 weeks and she loved it, but I am not sure that I have the Math confidence to continue this for a year or more. My plan is to use Singapore (you could use whatever math you wanted as your base). Basically, I will start the week off with reading a book about the content that we will cover for that week, then play games and do activities to cover the content using Family Math and internet resources, then add in some Singapore to make sure that I'm covering all of the bases. I won't do every page in Singapore, because it often repeats itself. For instance, there are tons of pages in SM EB book A about graphing, but once I'm confident that they understand throught the games and activities, then I will have the children do a page or 2 and be done with it. Does that make sense? I like having the Singapore as a guide, but I don't want it to run the show. Let me know if you have any other questions about what we are doing, but remember that I'm very new to this myself. I thought for sure my kids would like RS. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 My plan is to use Singapore (you could use whatever math you wanted as your base). Basically, I will start the week off with reading a book about the content that we will cover for that week, then play games and do activities to cover the content using Family Math and internet resources, then add in some Singapore to make sure that I'm covering all of the bases. I won't do every page in Singapore, because it often repeats itself. For instance, there are tons of pages in SM EB book A about graphing, but once I'm confident that they understand throught the games and activities, then I will have the children do a page or 2 and be done with it. Does that make sense? I like having the Singapore as a guide, but I don't want it to run the show. Let me know if you have any other questions about what we are doing, but remember that I'm very new to this myself. I thought for sure my kids would like RS. Oh well. That makes sense, thanks for explaining. I do this with every other subject, but for some reason did not feel comfortable doing it with Math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 There's a school of thought that advocates delaying formal math instruction until 3rd grade. I think it's maybe the Practical Arithmetic series that does that? Not 100% sure on that. My point is that I think you'd be just fine doing math informally until the fall and then trying a 1st grade curriculum at that point. I think that I may do something like this. Pick a new curr for 1st and informally teach up to the 1st skill level and start off in the fall. I like the idea of incorporating living math as well, thanks for all the ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) double post Edited March 5, 2010 by Melenie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 The reception level of MEP is really fun, involves a lot of game playing and drawing/coloring. The first year has more structured activities. The manipulatives tend to be things like buttons or any other thing you have around. It's free so you could give it a whirl and see what you and she think about it. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmomma Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I think that I may do something like this. Pick a new curr for 1st and informally teach up to the 1st skill level and start off in the fall. I like the idea of incorporating living math as well, thanks for all the ideas. If it were me this is what I would do. I also don't believe in formal schooling until later. I lean more towards about 7 or 8 years old, but that's just me. I do LA, but in a gentle more CM way even though my curriculum is not necessarily that gentle on it's own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathkath Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 have you looked at mathonthelevel.com? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 have you looked at mathonthelevel.com? No I have not, thanks. I will check it out now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melenie Posted March 5, 2010 Author Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) I did half of RS A and one 9 weeks of RS B. My dd did the same thing. I have found out she just doesn't like manipulatives! I switched to CLE and it has made a huge difference. I try to add in RS manipulatives and she still resists. She will do use the manipulatives and once she understand won't touch the manipulatives again until I make her. She has learned much, much more using CLE. I LOVED RS, but it was not a good fit for my dd.:glare: I Have looked at CLE a bit and I like that I do not have to spend a fortune on anything upfront. DD will also like the math drill, she loves memory work. Would you mind giving me an idea of what a typical math lessons looks like? I have seen the sample pages, but would you give me an idea of what you do per lesson? ETA: Just found it on the website, I was looking in the wrong place. Edited March 5, 2010 by Melenie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 We have just started CLE and my 6 yo is loving it. We are playing catch up so we do 2 lessons a day but it starts with oral review: count by 5's to 75, count by 10's to 100 then back down by 10's, talk about characteristics of a nickel. Then we have a new fact we learn each day. Today we continued from the new fact to the fact family (2+3, 3+2, 5-2, 5-3). Then I read a story problem that she answers in her book. We drill flash cards - they suggest which ones to do - and do the speed drills located in back of book. Next is "I can do this". Roughly 2 pages she is expected to do on her own. I know we will slow down but this takes about 25 min total to do 2 lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FawnsFunnyFarm Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 I'm going to throw another suggestion for McRuffy out there for you. I LOVE everything about it... and my kids are begging me to do math every single day because they love the manipulatives and games that come with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterbabs Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 We love CLE here. Yacko has major gaps and CLE is filling them. Wacko is somewhat mathy, and CLE suits him. Dot blew through the 100 level math is no time and will start the 200 level in a couple of weeks. It's academically top-notch, easy to administer, CHEAP, and independent. Dot was sick last week and still managed to do her lessons every day but Friday because they *can* be done quickly. The material is also VERY portable, so we can take it to the park or whatever, work for an hour or two and play the rest of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystika1 Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 My daughter did the exact same thing with RS A and part of B. To this day when she sees an abacus she gets a glazed look in her eyes. I know it works great for some kids but my daughter hates it. Since then I have tried MUS(I liked it but again my daughter reacted badly to the manipulatives). I am now using Math Mammoth and she really loves it. The pictures replace manipulatives for the most part. I still use real money to teach money and the MUS blocks for hard stuff. I bought the Blue Series as I wanted to choose the topics we want to cover. It gives me the freedom to cover things as thorough as needed. She has yet to complain with MM. She told me that she really likes it better than all of the other materials we have tried. I plan to stick with it as long as it works. Hope you find a solution. I know how it feels to have this kind of frustration. HTH, Penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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