DD 1st grade now crying during math

[Mallorie]

She did Saxon K at school last year. This year we started with R&S and switched back to Saxon 1. We're halfway through, and she is .done. She does not like having two sides to the worksheets, but likes the math fact sheets fine. She will do the meeting book, but does not care for it. She is sick of the same thing every day. All I need do now is say "math" and she starts fighting me.

 

I finally started reading Cathy Duffy's book, and I'm thinking she's a Wiggly kid, mixed with some Social Sue. If it's any indication, we do AAS as well, but she will never use the tiles. It's either her lap dry erase board, or she will recite the spellings out loud while upside down in her chair or playing with something in her hands. She sits for CLE bible and reading just fine. :confused:

 

So...i'm up reading again. I've tried to make Saxon work, i've switched it up, only required one side and her practice sheet, skipped meeting book every other day, tried it at different times of the day, tried having her do it orally. It isn't helping.

 

Duffy recommends MUS, but I do NOT want to dump a ton of money again to start over. I know I may have to if it's the right fit, but I want to make sure as much as I can before I buy again.

 

Advice??? :confused:

[Chris in VA]

If you want to make Saxon work, I say change the way you do the meeting.

Throw out the book.

 

Get a big poster calendar (like they use in ps 1st grade) for the wall, and mark the dates on cute post-it notes, then write the whole date on a sentence strip (eraseable).

 

Make patterns on a pretty, colorful sentence strip--you can bind them together with a notebook ring and have her review a couple instead of making a new one every once in a while, or make a clapping pattern or a hopping/jumping/walking pattern (use her body, incorporate movement).

 

Do one side of the worksheet but save the other one for later in the day. Use colored pencils.

 

These "fun" ideas might make it more palatable.

 

If it doesn't work, THEN switch. But try everything to make it work, first.

[susankenny]

We really like CLE for math. It's inexpensive & if your child does well with CLE Bible, the math would probably be a good fit too. You could buy one LU (a few dollars) and it wouldn't be costly to try it out. Saxon & MUS were bad fits for my child, and were costly mistakes (although I think both curriculums were very good, just bad fits for my kids - plus we kept the manipulatives from Saxon & MUS).

 

Susan

[boscopup]

I know exactly what she means about the worksheets being the same thing everyday. My son used Saxon K and 1 in school, and in Saxon 1, *I* was getting bored of seeing the same thing everyday, and I didn't think he needed to practice some of those concepts that were drilled over and over because he was already using those concepts to do the newer material (which he was doing just fine), so if he could do the new material, it was obvious that he understood the older stuff (like if he can add, it's obvious that he already knows how to count).

 

Anyway, can you maybe do the worksheets on her little white board, since she likes that? Maybe do some of the problems orally and have her write on the white board as needed. Or if it says to count the apple seeds yet again, draw acorns and have her count those. :lol:

 

I switched DS to Math Mammoth when I brought him home, and that fits his learning style (and my teaching style) MUCH better. But I don't know if that would fit your daughter's learning style.

 

Have you looked at MEP? It might be more enjoyable. You could start with 2A. We jumped into MEP 2A worksheets very easily after doing half of Saxon 1. MEP is free (except cost of ink/paper to print it), and the lesson plans involve some fun stuff. She might really like it. The worksheets included are just 4-5 problems on one page. VERY easy to do. Watch the video on the website of a teacher teaching it in a classroom situation. She'll do some of the lesson, then have them do one correlating problem on their worksheet, then do more of the lesson. You could continue with the facts pages from Saxon 1 for drilling those, especially since she likes them.

[Susie in MS]

I was thinking you could try a math with much variety in each lesson. CLE mentioned above and ABeka come to mind. But you may have to shorten the lesson due to the wiggles.

 

I have R&S and have done a few lessons with my dd, but she, too, has the wiggles. She will sit in her desk (we use desk only for written work) and swing her legs and start singing. At times when I am teaching her other things she, too, will hanging upside down.

 

I have put away the wkbk for now and am just doing hands on math. Play with a clock, measure something with a ruler, compare 1/2 cup-1 cup- 1 pt- 1 qt- 1/2 gal- 1 gal jars, do word problems, count with a number line, domino math, things like that.

[boscopup]

I was thinking you could try a math with much variety in each lesson.

 

Saxon 1 has variety within the lesson (it's an incremental spiral - very incremental). Each problem is different from the others on the page. The problem is that the next day, it's the exact same types of problems, but with different numbers plugged in (or different objects in the word problem). And really, one can only take "count the apple seeds" so much before they go insane. :lol: There is usually some teeny tiny little difference from day to day, but that's the "incremental" part. It's teeny tiny. Sometime during the latter part of the first semester, I did see a major change one day in the worksheets, where they changed from one format to a different format, but then it was back to the incremental teeny tiny changes that are hardly noticeable, so the kid feels like they're doing the same worksheet every day.

[Mallorie]

If you want to make Saxon work, I say change the way you do the meeting.

Throw out the book. This made me LOL!! I think I WILL!!

 

Get a big poster calendar (like they use in ps 1st grade) for the wall, and mark the dates on cute post-it notes, then write the whole date on a sentence strip (eraseable). Where can I find one of these? I would have to order on-line because we don't have a lot of resources here. I think she would enjoy this no matter what route we go.

 

I really have been trying to make Saxon work with different ways. It's just that now even seeing that binder come out, she's mad. I recently switched my ds to CLE Math 4, and I like it. It's a bunch of pages, but it's quick and painless.

 

I will look at the MEP, and I've also considered just throwing out the books (figuratively) and "playing" math with her.

 

Another switch I am considering is moving to KONOS or TOG with all the kids, so that she gets more variety satisfied there, and will sit through a quick math lesson. That would not be implemented for a while, but I wanted to throw that out there for critique, considering our personalities. My oldests is a "competent carl", my youngest is a "wiggly willy/social sue", my middle is all over the board, he's just so easy-going, and my highest categories as a a parent are unit studies and unschooling, with Charlotte Mason close behind.

 

This is *such* a learning year for us, and I realize i'm all over the place with my thoughts, so please bear with me. That book has really helped me realize some things about our personalities and which direction we need to move with our homeschool. Now I just gotta figure out how to do it. Having dd's math figured out will be a great first step.

[Ellie]

You might try this: no formal math before 3rd grade-ish. I did this--accidentally, as it were--with both my dds, and they aced their college-level maths.

[shinyhappypeople]

I really, really encourage you to check out Mcruffy Color Math.

 

My older DD sounds a lot like yours. First grade (last year) there were many tears and much frustration. In McRuffy, the lessons are *short* (10 min, usually) and there aren't too many problems on the page. There's also a lot of hands on stuff is mixed in (pattern blocks, copying patterns onto a laminated geoboard with a marker, etc.) Anyway, DD LOVES it. Every day is different.

 

The spiral drives ME batty, and I was tempted to switch her, but she wants to keep going with it, so we are.

 

I know the thought of buying another math program stinks, but I really think McR might be a good fit for her. Seriously.

[johnandtinagilbert]

She did Saxon K at school last year. This year we started with R&S and switched back to Saxon 1. We're halfway through, and she is .done. She does not like having two sides to the worksheets, but likes the math fact sheets fine. She will do the meeting book, but does not care for it. She is sick of the same thing every day. All I need do now is say "math" and she starts fighting me.

 

I finally started reading Cathy Duffy's book, and I'm thinking she's a Wiggly kid, mixed with some Social Sue. If it's any indication, we do AAS as well, but she will never use the tiles. It's either her lap dry erase board, or she will recite the spellings out loud while upside down in her chair or playing with something in her hands. She sits for CLE bible and reading just fine. :confused:

 

So...i'm up reading again. I've tried to make Saxon work, i've switched it up, only required one side and her practice sheet, skipped meeting book every other day, tried it at different times of the day, tried having her do it orally. It isn't helping.

 

Duffy recommends MUS, but I do NOT want to dump a ton of money again to start over. I know I may have to if it's the right fit, but I want to make sure as much as I can before I buy again.

 

Advice??? :confused:

If she won't use the tiles, I would NOT get MUS, she will probably dislike the manipulatives.

[Doodle]

...If it's any indication, we do AAS as well, but she will never use the tiles. It's either her lap dry erase board, or she will recite the spellings out loud while upside down in her chair or playing with something in her hands...

 

Oh my! This is what Doodle does too for AAS! We also did Saxon K and then Saxon 1 last year. I finally ditched it and we are now happily doing Singapore. Doodle is very wiggly and very social.

[Molly]

Are you moving on to the next step once she seems to have mastered something or are you making sure she does every page? I would move her through faster if she is having issues with doing the same thing over and again and can do it quite easily. Challenge her, see how many pages she can get done in a certain time, but of work that she has just learnt, not work that she has mastered. After you have taught her the new concept, let her know you are there to help if she needs help but otherwise leave her to do it, as in don't sit over her, even if you just sit beside her reading a book.

 

She is obviously frustrated about something, see what you can change with what you have and make a difference that way. I did see some other great suggestions from people who know the programme, so please feel free to ignore my comments, but try to lesson her frustration and encourage a love of learning.

[Tracy]

My Social Sue was also telling me how much she hated math when we used a worksheet-based program. I switched her to CSMP, and she is so much happier. There are not a lot of manipulatives, but there is a lot of teacher-student interaction. It also introduces higher math concepts very early on without requiring mastery of them, so it keeps her challenged but not frustrated. She now asks for more math. It is free online, so maybe it is worth a try.