lisamarie Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 DS is stuck on long division. He can do it in his head, but the whole "write it out" concept is a real challenge for him. We've been slogging through it all week, doing 5-10 problems a day with me sitting right there walking him through the steps (he usually does his math completely on his own without any help from me so this is very unusual). He's starting to make progress, he can do a problem mostly on his own, but the next day, he will forget and I'll have to sit down and work him through the steps yet again. DH says to give up and give him time to mature. He's 7, will be 8 in Oct. He's going into 3rd grade and got halfway through saxon 5/4 before summer break when I said he could switch over to SM 3a because he likes it better. So he's definitely ahead in math. Do you keep slogging through a tough concept or do you take a break and give them time to mature and revisit the topic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailmegan Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 My ds7 went through the exact same thing a few months back with Saxon 54. I would have to sit with him and remind him, "Divide, multiply, subtract, bring down.." I wasn't stressed about it since he is so young and he wasn't struggling with anything else. The nice thing about Saxon is the spiral approach gave us opportunity to practice a little each day and after a couple weeks he could do it himself. I would just relax and help him practice, but there's no harm in slowing down if he really doesn't seem to get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Were not there yet but back early in the year we hit a roadblock in Math. We took a bit of a break from that did some easier things and then came at it from a different angle. It was a good break for both of us and when we came back to it and since then he has taken off. I felt bad about it but really felt it was what he needed and it worked well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Definitely take a break from long division. In my own experience, my dd has had to age into certain math concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Press on, but take a step back first. How can you reteach it? What can you say or draw to help him understand it conceptually? Perhaps these will help: http://www.youtube.com/mathmammoth#p/u/26/8TwOOJvUFNY http://www.youtube.com/mathmammoth#p/u/27/dj1p_U4jPL0 Maria Miller of Math Mammoth has posted at least 34 videos on YouTube. I have found her teaching videos to be so helpful for teaching math at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 He's stuck on the Singapore 3A chapter on long division? I have to say that I'm not surprised. That chapter is IMHO *HORRIBLE*. Truly, the worst in all of the SM books I own (1A/B, 3A-5A, 6B) for making conceptual leaps. Do your son a favor and download the Math Mammoth "blue" Division 2 worktext. The way Maria Miller walks the student through this tricky concept step-by-step-by-step is awesome! Totally worth the cost to purchase and print :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverland Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Take a break, then try again with a different method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisamarie Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 He's stuck on the Singapore 3A chapter on long division? I have to say that I'm not surprised. That chapter is IMHO *HORRIBLE*. Truly, the worst in all of the SM books I own (1A/B, 3A-5A, 6B) for making conceptual leaps. Do your son a favor and download the Math Mammoth "blue" Division 2 worktext. The way Maria Miller walks the student through this tricky concept step-by-step-by-step is awesome! Totally worth the cost to purchase and print :001_smile: Wew! So glad to know I'm not alone in this. I was on the phone complaining to my DH that I didn't know if we'd ever get past long division. I am doing what the teacher's guide says, but it's not clicking. I will try MM to see if that approach works better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I used Miquon at that point - and base 10 blocks. I made my son demonstrate the division with base 10 blocks one day with me writing out work. The next day he wrote out the work as he worked the problem with the blocks. The third day he tried using the algorithm but if he got a problem wrong he'd have to show me with the blocks. I love base 10 blocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 He's stuck on the Singapore 3A chapter on long division? I have to say that I'm not surprised. That chapter is IMHO *HORRIBLE*. Truly, the worst in all of the SM books I own (1A/B, 3A-5A, 6B) for making conceptual leaps. Do your son a favor and download the Math Mammoth "blue" Division 2 worktext. The way Maria Miller walks the student through this tricky concept step-by-step-by-step is awesome! Totally worth the cost to purchase and print :001_smile: :iagree:And watch her video links that I posted, they are well worth watching (for the teacher). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Personally, since he's only 7 I would give him a break. It's amazing what a little time can do. Let him keep up his multiplication and division facts by playing some fun computer games or such over the summer... then try again. I'm guessing his brain just needs a little maturation time!:001_smile: And I'd 2nd Math Mammoth. We love it here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 My own experience is that the best approach depends on the child and the type of learner he is. When my older, who is a whole-to-parts learner, got bogged down on 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication, we pressed on. In so doing we sort of took a break from that topic in particular (we use MUS), but we moved forward onto other topics, including even more complicated multiplying (3-digit by 3-digit, briefly), as well as factoring and division. He seems to need this time to assimilate the info, and needs to see further 'ahead' to make sense of the material. When we returned after a few weeks to the 2-digit by 2-digit topic again, he could do it without help, and explain to me what he was doing the whole time. For my younger child, who got stuck on the concept of place value early on (when he was only 5), I dropped MUS entirely for a while. We still played games and read living math books etc. but he just wasn't developmentally ready. And as he is a parts-to-wholes learner, building more math scaffolding upon a shaky base (he _really_ didn't get place value--at all!) was pointless. When we picked MUS up again after a few months, he breezed through the material. Do you have a sense of what sort of learner your child is? Unless you know for sure that he's a big picture to little picture learner, I'd drop long division for now and come back when he is a bit older. Unless he is really wanting to master it--then I'd try different approaches / curricula, like MM, watching Kahn Academy videos, finding math readers on the topic of division, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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