Sooooo FRUSTRATED with FRACTIONS!!!!

[mothergooseof4]

Ds 5th has covered fractions SOOOOOO many times. He just finished TT6. We did MM Fractions 1 a few months ago. Now, he is doing some supplemental work and has forgotten everything!!!!! ARGH!

 

He cannot remember that to add or subtract, you first have to find common denominators. Once we got that, he couldn't remember how to find the common denominators. Then he can't remember how to borrow with fractions. Or, that he needs to reduce his answer.

 

He gets this when we work on it for a while. Then, with no practice for a while, he completely forgets EVERYTIME!

 

We are working out the problems together, with both of us very frustrated. He is moving on to TT7 this week and we are supplementing with LOF Fractions. I guess I will just have him work a few fraction problems EVERYDAY!!!!!

Edited April 8, 2011 by mothergooseofthree

[Surfside Academy]

I've heard the Key to...books are really good and they do have one of fractions.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Ds had trouble retaining how to do long division, I mean he got it then a month later total lack of comprehension. So now even though we've moved on he does 1-2 problems of long division every single day, he really hates it, but I think it will do the trick.

[laurad1125]

I've heard the Key to...books are really good and they do have one of fractions.

 

They have a set of 10 books on fractions. We called it fraction bootcamp and worked on it several hours a day for a couple of weeks about a year ago. It worked and ds12 KNOWS fractions.

[mothergooseof4]

I would have thought that working through MM fractions would have cemented this. Is Keys to...better than MM at this? I have MM fractions 2 I could print out. Or, should LOF help this? He is only on lesson 6 in LOF. I hate to buy something if one of these will work, but I will if necessary.

 

Poor guy! He got so mad at himself. His words,What's wrong with me? I used to know this!"

Edited April 4, 2011 by mothergooseofthree

[ChrissySC]

For our trouble areas or more complex problems that need detailed steps or even just need the steps, I created an examples book. I took several sheets of white card stock and comb-binded these with a cover. On each page we the steps explained in words as well as sample problems of various types. I use a big pack of colored sharpie markers to show each step in a multi-step problem. I draw arrows from the steps. I even go as far as to write down the "thinking steps", such as when trying to decide how many 3's will go into 21 for long division.

 

:) HTH

[Surfside Academy]

I would have thought that working through MM fractions would have cemented this. Is Keys to...better than MM at this? I have MM fractions 2 I could print out. Or, should LOF help this? He is only on lesson 6 in LOF. I hate to buy something if one of these will work, but I will if necessary.

 

Poor guy! He got so mad at himself. His words,What's wrong with me? I used to know this!"

 

 

I love LOF but I think it works well with students who already have a good grasp of the subject or kids who are very intuitive with math. I think it would frustrate a kid who's already struggling with the subject.

 

I'm not familiar with MM but a friend is using the Keys to series with her son who struggles with math. She said it's been a great success for him.

[tampamommy]

It sounds like he needs math manipulatives to really have this sink in.

 

Here's an easy idea for you:

 

Create accurate pie charts out of colored construction paper to reflect quarters, thirds, halves, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths, and tenths. If you prefer strips of paper to pie charts, you can do sections of strips of paper instead, reflecting the same fractions. It would be great if each pie chart or strip is a separate color. I would suggest first making a pie "background" and drawing black lines to show the pieces. Then make an identical pie, only cut up in pieces. So the pieces can be put on top of the pie background.

 

Then add and subtract fractions using the strips or pie charts. It will be easy to see how two red 1/4's of a pie equal one half of the pie. As you do the problems, also write them out, so he can see how 1/4 + 1/4 works because the denominator is the same and the pie pieces are the same color.

 

Then have him try to do some problems across pie colors (i.e. without common denominators). 1/2 + 1/4 won't work because the slices are different sizes and colors. But if you make the colors match (and therefore the denominators), 2/4 + 1/4 lines up easily with 3/4 on the pie background.

 

Take a deep breath and be patient. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to go slow and get these basics of math down. Don't rush him. Give him time. Just go over it a few minutes every day. Also, why not put aside his regular math lessons until he gets over this hurdle? It won't hurt if he gets a few weeks or even a few months "behind." Really it won't. But if he doesn't get the basics down "backwards, forwards and inside out" (as I say to my dc), he will struggle more and more with every year.

 

Each of my dc ran into a couple of math challenges between 2nd and 6th. I sloooooooowed down with them and paid no attention to the fact that we were getting behind a bit. When they understood finally, we moved on. By way of encouragement, my rising 9th grader (who starts in May) wound up testing out of 8th grade math and did great in Algebra I in 8th grade (he just finished it last week). My rising 7th grader seems like she's following in his footsteps.

 

Hang in there mama. It will be worth it!:)

[oleladyintheshoe]

This is why I love the spiral approach. We do at least 2 fractions probs every day so we never have a chance to forget. That's what I always needed for math so it just seemed logical for my child.

 

I thought LOF was gonna be so great. And fun. And once we got past the 1st chapter, my daughter was NOT enjoying herself:(

[cschnee]

You may want to use these three books by Marilyn Burns http://www.mathsolutions.com/index.cfm?page=wp15&crid=323&contentid=953 (Lessons for Introducing Fractions, Lessons for Extending Fractions and later on Lessons for Multiplying and Dividing Fractions.) I have done the first two with my daughter and she can add fractions in her head without finding a common denominator because she is so familiar with the actual fractions themselves. In the first book, you will be making a fractions kit, essentially what the previous poster suggested. I can't say enough great things about these books for understanding fractions.

[mothergooseof4]

It sounds like he needs math manipulatives to really have this sink in.

 

Here's an easy idea for you:

 

Create accurate pie charts out of colored construction paper to reflect quarters, thirds, halves, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths, and tenths. If you prefer strips of paper to pie charts, you can do sections of strips of paper instead, reflecting the same fractions. It would be great if each pie chart or strip is a separate color. I would suggest first making a pie "background" and drawing black lines to show the pieces. Then make an identical pie, only cut up in pieces. So the pieces can be put on top of the pie background.

 

Then add and subtract fractions using the strips or pie charts. It will be easy to see how two red 1/4's of a pie equal one half of the pie. As you do the problems, also write them out, so he can see how 1/4 + 1/4 works because the denominator is the same and the pie pieces are the same color.

 

Then have him try to do some problems across pie colors (i.e. without common denominators). 1/2 + 1/4 won't work because the slices are different sizes and colors. But if you make the colors match (and therefore the denominators), 2/4 + 1/4 lines up easily with 3/4 on the pie background.

 

Take a deep breath and be patient. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to go slow and get these basics of math down. Don't rush him. Give him time. Just go over it a few minutes every day. Also, why not put aside his regular math lessons until he gets over this hurdle? It won't hurt if he gets a few weeks or even a few months "behind." Really it won't. But if he doesn't get the basics down "backwards, forwards and inside out" (as I say to my dc), he will struggle more and more with every year.

 

Each of my dc ran into a couple of math challenges between 2nd and 6th. I sloooooooowed down with them and paid no attention to the fact that we were getting behind a bit. When they understood finally, we moved on. By way of encouragement, my rising 9th grader (who starts in May) wound up testing out of 8th grade math and did great in Algebra I in 8th grade (he just finished it last week). My rising 7th grader seems like she's following in his footsteps.

 

Hang in there mama. It will be worth it!:)

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I actually have some plastic manipulatives that are exactly like this. I will dig them out for a demo tomorrow.

 

You may want to use these three books by Marilyn Burns http://www.mathsolutions.com/index.cfm?page=wp15&crid=323&contentid=953 (Lessons for Introducing Fractions, Lessons for Extending Fractions and later on Lessons for Multiplying and Dividing Fractions.) I have done the first two with my daughter and she can add fractions in her head without finding a common denominator because she is so familiar with the actual fractions themselves. In the first book, you will be making a fractions kit, essentially what the previous poster suggested. I can't say enough great things about these books for understanding fractions.

 

These look interesting. I am going to look at them more.

 

Keys to....looks great. But, unless someone can tell me that they are better at explaining than MM Fractions, I think I could just print more MM pages and go through this step by step with him. He worked through Blue series fractions 1, but we could go through the instructional part and do the problems in the Green series for extra work.

 

I think the problem is that once you get past the basics of writing a fraction for a section of a shape or for a parts of a whole set of things, he really doesn't understand what it all means. He has memorized the process in the past and could do the steps, but if WHY hasn't set in, then he forgets the process once he has a break from it.

 

This is soooooooooo hard for me because math just clicks in my accountant's brain. We butt heads HARD over math, which is why I put this kid in TT.

 

As for spiral, TT does some spiral, but I noticed that after the fractions chapter, they dropped any review of fractions for the rest of the book. If we are going to switch, it is a great time. I just don't know what I would switch to. TT has been a God send and really improved our relationship. Is there anything similar that has a spiral approach? CLE did NOT work here!

[txhomemom]

I have been working through the Key to books this year with my dd and we are about to finish the fraction books (on the last book). I don't know how it compares to MM since we never used it, but I would say they are probably similar in concept. I find the Key to books a little easier on the eyes with less problems on the page though. My dd is sometimes forgetting things when she is working fraction problems or really any kind of math problems. I don't know if it is the age or what. So, if you have already been using MM, then Key to might not make any difference. You might want to consider a spiral program for a while.

 

This summer I am reviewing a lot of math with my dd before we move on...multiplication, division, pretty much everything we have ever covered. I just want to make sure she has the understanding and the speed so that when she gets to prealgebra she does not have to get stumped on the easy parts of the problems.

 

We have Chalkdust Basic Math with the videos that we will review from, a little bit from some old K12 math books, Mastering Mathematics books that covered everything from addition to fractions, percents, etc and I am thinking about maybe trying these:

 

Excel Math Summer Review Books

 

Obviously, I won't get all of this done, but I am just going to try different things until we find what works.

 

I think you should go with your idea to work fraction problems every day. Whatever math weakness there is, just keep plugging at it as much as possible...the repetition helps more than which math program you pick.

[Mandy in TN]

 

Keys to....looks great. But, unless someone can tell me that they are better at explaining than MM Fractions, I think I could just print more MM pages and go through this step by step with him. He worked through Blue series fractions 1, but we could go through the instructional part and do the problems in the Green series for extra work.

 

I have Key to Fractions, MM Blue series Fractions 1 and 2, and LoF Fractions. Fractions are fractions are fractions- they are explained basically the same way in every program.

 

Some of the things make Key to Fractions stand out from the other two are that it assumes absolutely no prior knowledge and it moves very slowly from one step to the next allowing a child to get a handle on a skill before being asked to apply it. Also, the pages are uncluttered, the font is large and there are only a few problems per page. This design is less stressful for a student than the full cluttered pages of MM or having to read a story to get to a little lesson that doesn't provide enough practice for a confused student like LoF.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[scrapbookbuzz]

At Enchantedlearningdotcom they have math "books" that require some hands-on doing. (You print them out - all at once or one page at a time.) Some of them cover fractions. that may help.

[mothergooseof4]

ARGH! He is loving LoF so far. He actually wants to do it, but if it is going to lead to more fraction frustration, we may have to put it off for a while.

 

I will spend my evening looking through these ideas and do something.

 

Tomorrow I will be using those manipulatives and doing as tampamommy describes. Maybe this will help.

[brendag]

I don't have any experience with this yet, but have heard great things about Khan Academy. The videos are all free too!

[mothergooseof4]

I ordered Lessons for Introducing Fractions and Lessons for Extending Fractions. I am anxious to look through them and will probably implement some of the lessons with my younger two as well.

 

The last couple of days, ds and I got out the pie shaped manipulatives and started with finding common denominators. How it takes two 1/4 pieces to equal a 1/2 piece, four 1/8 pieces to equal 1/2, and so on. I know he has seen this sort of thing on paper, but I don't think he has ever held it with his hands. This kid HATED manipulatives when he was younger and called them babyish when I pulled them out this week. We then went into simple addition and subtraction with different denominators and worked them out with the pieces. I think he SAW why he needed to find a common denominator first. After a few problems, he said, "Mom, I think I see it now. I never really understood why I had to do this." After his frustration the other day, I told him that this was just a skill to work on and that I felt that the reason he could not remember how to do this is that he had always just memorized HOW, but never understood WHY. He felt better after working on it for a while.

 

Then after all of this, the kid tells me that when he did MM Fractions, he didn't read the explanations. He said that there were too many words and it was too confusing. I should have known this. I put him in CLE LA and math last year and independence didn't work. He needs to see and hear something in order to learn it. He can read history, science, etc. and tell you everything that happened. But, skills....he needs them explained and demonstrated out loud. That is why I switched him to TT for math and do LA with him now.

 

So, I haven't decided if I am going to pull out MM Fractions again and do the lessons with him, work a few problems, and then have him complete it on his own. Or, if I want to order Keys to Fractions and see if it appeals to him a little more.

 

Maybe someday this kid will become an independent learner. But, for now, all of my kids still need me more than I wish.