XPOST: Right Start users... HELP!!!! That Darned CD!

[lighthouseacademy]

My son BREEZED through level B. I have posted about him before. He grasped the concepts of regrouping the numbers into simpler numbers to add mentally before it was ever taught. He REFUSED to use the abacus when I tried to help him to SEE what was happening and he could readily explain to me what was going on without ever being taught it... He got a hold of that CD and now if I ask him what is 24+67 or any other 2 digit plus 2 digit, he tells me it is too big a number and he doesn't know!!! Then when I encourage him to think about the numbers

he chastises me in the EXACT words of the CD not to take away the abacus too early because the child will decide when he is done with it. I never took it away, he told me he didn't need it. Now he REFUSES to do the mental math not because he doesn't understand the math or because he can't visualize it yet but because he realizes it is much EASIER To push a few beads like a calculator!!!! Now what!?

Marisa

[Reya]

Whack him on the head with the abacus a few times? Gently? ;-)

 

Seriously, I don't have any brilliant advice. (I do actually gently whack my kid on the head with the wire part of the abacus when he's out in left field. It always gets a giggle and gets his attention back on the matter at hand. He, too, is rejecting the abacus more and more because he can do it faster in his head and the abacus to him is giving up now, so it's mostly been used for, well, whacking for the past two weeks....)

 

Honestly, what I'd tell him is that he's just ahead, and I'd give him all sorts of praise about doing big boy math without the abacus. I'd say things like, "Most X-graders have to use the abacus. You're doing it like a Y-grader!" That's really the only external motivation that works at all with DS because he wants to be like the big kids.

[PeterPan]

He's playing a game with you. Put away the math and say no math till he starts treating you respectfully. He sounds like a very smart cookie who's trying to pull your chain. Don't play the game. If he does need the abacus, a break won't hurt him. If he loves math and is just toying with you, then he'll get sick of no math and will chill with it.

[Kathie in VA]

Aw, poor guy. Looks like that screen time really backed him up in math! It happens here too. Sounds like he needs to stay away from screens for awhile, at least until he can get back to where he was before the incident. I'd let him use the abacus since he'll most likely have extra time on his hands while all screen time is on hold (computer, TV, hand held computer games, etc). In fact, he should use it for everything, evertime he thinks about numbers... like deciding how much time is left till lunch, how much time till he can go out to play, how many extra steps he as to take because he forgot to do something, how long till bed time, etc.

 

:lurk5:

[lighthouseacademy]

Aw, poor guy. Looks like that screen time really backed him up in math! It happens here too. Sounds like he needs to stay away from screens for awhile, at least until he can get back to where he was before the incident. I'd let him use the abacus since he'll most likely have extra time on his hands while all screen time is on hold (computer, TV, hand held computer games, etc). In fact, he should use it for everything, evertime he thinks about numbers... like deciding how much time is left till lunch, how much time till he can go out to play, how many extra steps he as to take because he forgot to do something, how long till bed time, etc.

 

:lurk5:

 

He hasn't had any screen time except MAYBE 15 minutes for a reading comprehension quiz in 2 or 3 months. We don't allow video games and we don't let the kids watch TV hardly ever and then it is a special treat of half an hour. It was the CD that he listened to on his little radio!