"Mommy, this is easy math; it's boring."

[shannatheshedevil]

...is not what you want to hear when you just spent good money on a new curriculum. Just sayin'.

 

Currently, we have ONE workbook that he deems worthy of his time and attention: a Spongebob Squarepants 2nd grade math workbook that I found on clearance and picked up for $1 for later use- honestly, I expected to but out the pictures and use them for crafts, not to actually use the book. I have nothing higher than this. We started off with Singapore (boring, already knew it, sold it) and I just bought Miquon (just got it this week and apparently, it's also boring). Do I buy another curriculum? Pick up more workbooks? Surely he can't just learn from workbooks, right? :confused:

[rootsnwings]

If you have a "mathy" child they won't need mu h more than a workbook until 3rd/4th grade... We did MUS gamma last year for ds to nail down his multiplication facts but before that we just used workbooks on his level from barnes & noble, etc... This year we're using Singapore and while he likes it he says it is much harder that what he was doing before. If something like Singapore was "too easy" for your ds you probably just need to move up a level til he's challeneged by the work.

[regentrude]

.Surely he can't just learn from workbooks, right?

 

Sure he can. For elementary math, if he "gets" it, all he needs is doing practice problems to get the arithmetic skills automatic and fast.

There are kids who "see" that math and do not need manipulatives, complicated explanations, analogies etc. They just know how to add , subtract, multiply etc.

In order to avoid spending lots of money on stuff he finds easy, you can find many free math practice sheets on the Internet. I'm pretty sure you can cover all elementary math with just worksheets.

[Barb_]

A word of caution though. Be careful with responding too quickly to complaints of boring. It can quickly become a catch-all word to apply to anything he doesn't feel like doing. I have personal experience with this. I was sensitive to cries of boredom because I spent all 12 years of school mind-numbingly, tortuously bored and I never wanted any child of mine to experience the same. Over time I realized boring had morphed to mean tedious, uninteresting, too much like work, the opposite of doing what I want to do, or even sometimes, too hard. I learned to ban the word boring and encouraged my kids to describe specifically what they didn't like about a curriculum. Often it isn't the curriculum at all but an easily remedied part of the implementation (wrong time of day, too many practice problems, not moving quickly enough, not enough variety, etc). Other times I just need to pop up a level or two to find a good fit.

 

Barb

[MissKNG]

...Surely he can't just learn from workbooks, right? :confused:

 

 

My big girl thrives on workbooks. Have you been using any placement tests? My big girl complained that Horizons K was "baby math" and we had just started book 2. So I gave her the Horizons placement test and she placed into Horizons 1. I dropped the K and went into the 1st grade stuff.

[shannatheshedevil]

A word of caution though. Be careful with responding too quickly to complaints of boring. It can quickly become a catch-all word to apply to anything he doesn't feel like doing. I have personal experience with this. I was sensitive to cries of boredom because I spent all 12 years of school mind-numbingly, tortuously bored and I never wanted any child of mine to experience the same. Over time I realized boring had morphed to mean tedious, uninteresting, too much like work, the opposite of doing what I want to do, or even sometimes, too hard. I learned to ban the word boring and encouraged my kids to describe specifically what they didn't like about a curriculum. Often it isn't the curriculum at all but an easily remedied part of the implementation (wrong time of day, too many practice problems, not moving quickly enough, not enough variety, etc). Other times I just need to pop up a level or two to find a good fit.

 

Barb

 

Yeah, that's the B-word around here- I can't stand to hear it. I made him put-up-or-shut-up and do a page from the back of the book (which he did, no problem).

[kimo]

I hear the same thing frequently. I too believe that sometimes it is just tedious and not necessarily that he has it mastered (with my 6yo at least). I use the assessments and intensive practice problems to see if he really does know it. If so, we move ahead. I also purchased a couple of math games (board and computer). I also throw in some projects from Family Math to keep it somewhat interesting.

[Irishmommy]

Why does he think Miquon is boring? Have you let him just explore with the rods? Does he not like the rods? Have you posed questions to him like, "How many different rod combinations can you find for blue?" I did this for my 4th grader and he set out to find out all the combos. I made a solution "worksheet" based on one that I had seen in a Marlyn Burns book. It just has a blank at the top for a problem, then a big square for how the child might solve the problem. You might look into these books:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0201480417/thehighlineadvanA

 

These are pretty good books. She has several of them. I'd try to stick with the miquon and maybe get the RS math games.

[Barb_]

Yeah, that's the B-word around here- I can't stand to hear it. I made him put-up-or-shut-up and do a page from the back of the book (which he did, no problem).

 

Did you use the placement test? Maybe he's just in the wrong level. We used nothing but Singapore for the older girls. Yep, just the workbooks and the CWP. They learned Math so well from the workbooks that they each taught themselves the whole high school math sequence from Algebra I to Calculus I by the time they were 16. Teaching gifted kids is exhilarating but expensive :D

 

Barb

[shannatheshedevil]

Did you use the placement test? Maybe he's just in the wrong level. We used nothing but Singapore for the older girls. Yep, just the workbooks and the CWP. They learned Math so well from the workbooks that they each taught themselves the whole high school math sequence from Algebra I to Calculus I by the time they were 16. Teaching gifted kids is exhilarating but expensive :D

 

Barb

 

I might do that. Maybe it would give me some insight as to where we need to work. Thanks so much for your help. I don't feel like I'm about to run and hide so much now. :laugh:

[nmoira]

Consider giving MEP a try. It might take awhile to find his level, but its is a fun, puzzle-y yet rigorous approach. The more I see of MEP, the more I like. Since it's free, you can try it without worrying about throwing money away.

[Crimson Wife]

You could try an online program like EPGY Open Enrollment or ALEKS that will figure out where he should start and will allow him to go as quickly as he wants.

[skaterbabs]

My big girl thrives on workbooks. Have you been using any placement tests? My big girl complained that Horizons K was "baby math" and we had just started book 2. So I gave her the Horizons placement test and she placed into Horizons 1. I dropped the K and went into the 1st grade stuff.

 

 

Dot does too - we're halfway through her 2nd level of CLE and she's doing really well with it. She blew through the 100 level in no time. We just skip some of the review problems once I'm certain she's mastered the concept.