My son is very frustrated doing Saxon 5/4...help

[Blessed with seven]

He just doesn't get it, it is so frustrating for him, I am wondering if the Teaching Tapes would help him, does anyone use those, Saxon Teacher. He is just having a hard time understanding the concepts, I don't he needs more of "watching" something being done first?

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

Kim

[EKS]

Are you sitting with him, explaining concepts and procedures, and doing the practice problems with him to see what is hanging him up? If not, this is what I would try first.

[athomemom]

He just doesn't get it, it is so frustrating for him, I am wondering if the Teaching Tapes would help him, does anyone use those, Saxon Teacher. He is just having a hard time understanding the concepts, I don't he needs more of "watching" something being done first.

 

We started using Saxon with the teacher this year (we are now in 7/6). It's awesome! My ds had a hard time in Saxon 5/4 as well. I wish someone had mentioned "the teacher" to me.....plus the cd goes through each problem *IF* you need her to explain it. It's great & it gives a little bit of independence to my dss as well.

 

HTH

[Tenaj]

Are you sitting with him, explaining concepts and procedures, and doing the practice problems with him to see what is hanging him up? If not, this is what I would try first.

 

My fourth grader is doing 5/4 and I have finally determined that this is what I need to do. I started going through the lesson with him the last five or so days before Christmas break and there was a wonderful difference in his attitude and his work. We had been using the DIVE CD but that wasn't quite enough for him. Now he does the warmups and the drill. I sit down with him and work through the examples in the book and we work on the practice problems together then he goes to work by himself on the problem set.

[KarenNC]

Try contacting Art Reed and see if he has any suggestions for you. He's a veteran Saxon teacher and worked for Saxon Math at one point. If you email him your phone number, he will call you to discuss your concerns for free, no strings. I found him very helpful.

 

http://www.homeschoolwithsaxon.com/

[Moniksca]

Are you sitting with him, explaining concepts and procedures, and doing the practice problems with him to see what is hanging him up? If not, this is what I would try first.

 

:iagree:

This is what I do as well, especially since the format changed from Saxon 3 to 5/4 it took awhile for my ds to get use to it. I have the Dive cd as well but found it didn't work well for him. When I go through the new material with him I can see what he needs help with.

[Tammyla]

We've used (are using) both the Saxon Teacher cd rom and DIVE cd roms here. They can be a valuable teaching resource. What kind of trouble is he encountering. I'll second sitting and working with him, if you aren't to find out why he is struggling.

[Blessed with seven]

Yes...I do sit with him but maybe not enough. For some reason the problems where they do 87 - A = 42, he keeps adding, I have gotten out the dry erase board and showed him, he will get it right for awhile but them go back to adding 87 + 42. I don't think he fully "gets it" in problems like these, everything else he does great, no problems.

 

Kim

[Tammyla]

Hmmm, you might try reminding him to look closely at each problem, and even use a highlighter to mark + or - for a while as a visual cue.

 

Yes...I do sit with him but maybe not enough. For some reason the problems where they do 87 - A = 42, he keeps adding, I have gotten out the dry erase board and showed him, he will get it right for awhile but them go back to adding 87 + 42. I don't think he fully "gets it" in problems like these, everything else he does great, no problems.

 

Kim

[silliness7]

Yes...I do sit with him but maybe not enough. For some reason the problems where they do 87 - A = 42, he keeps adding, I have gotten out the dry erase board and showed him, he will get it right for awhile but them go back to adding 87 + 42. I don't think he fully "gets it" in problems like these, everything else he does great, no problems.

 

Kim

 

A couple of things I do

 

1) I lie. :001_smile: The bigger number ALWAYS comes first in a subtraction problem. What's the first number? 87. If you ADD 87 to anything else you are going to get an even bigger number. DON"T DO IT!! :lol: My oldest is now working with negative numbers and my lie didn't seem to harm him. He transitioned just fine.

 

2) I make them write out the fact families. 87 - A = 42, 87 - 42 = A, 42 + A = 87, A + 42 = 87. Then I have my student pick the problem where A is all by itself and solve that problem.

 

3) If my student said A was 129, I would have them check the problem with 129 in place of A. Doesn't work does it? Why not?

 

ETA: I think this is a fairly common math error for young students. So I wouldn't despair.

Edited December 23, 2010 by silliness7

[Blessed with seven]

A couple of things I do

 

1) I lie. :001_smile: The bigger number ALWAYS comes first in a subtraction problem. What's the first number? 87. If you ADD 87 to anything else you are going to get an even bigger number. DON"T DO IT!! :lol: My oldest is now working with negative numbers and my lie didn't seem to harm him. He transitioned just fine.

 

2) I make them write out the fact families. 87 - A = 42, 87 - 42 = A, 42 + A = 87, A + 42 = 87. Then I have my student pick the problem where A is all by itself and solve that problem.

 

3) If my student said A was 129, I would have them check the problem with 129 in place of A. Doesn't work does it? Why not?

 

Yep...it is funny, I have been lying also :001_smile:, my husband heard me tell him that in Subtraction the biggest number always come first and he goes "no it doesn't"....I said...OK...yes it does for now! I tell him to check it by adding it back, I expain that if he adds there will be a bigger number than the first one and that won't work and he sort of shrugs and says "ok" and works the problem but it isn't "sticking" He is doing what I suggest but he still isn't getting it.

 

I might get out some hands on stuff and show him, I have an abacus and the RS activities manual, maybe I just need to stop for a bit and work on this area w/ some hands on stuff...

[EKS]

Yes...I do sit with him but maybe not enough. For some reason the problems where they do 87 - A = 42, he keeps adding, I have gotten out the dry erase board and showed him, he will get it right for awhile but them go back to adding 87 + 42. I don't think he fully "gets it" in problems like these, everything else he does great, no problems.

 

Kim

 

My son got hung up on these as well. I spend about an hour with him one day using manipulatives (linking cubes work great) until he got it.

[Moniksca]

We spent a whole day doing these type of questions and writing out the fact families. I'll probably have to do it again before we start math again after the holidays. My ds still gets hung up on these q's but he gets pretty much everything else so I'm not worried. It's something that he just needs to work on consistently. He finds the answer and then has to check it by putting it back into the question. That way he can see what he did wrong.