5LittleMonkeys Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Dd8 has been doing really well with MM but we work on math for an hour each day and I'm wondering if we could cut back a bit. She is a slow worker and wants to talk about every single problem...hence why it takes us an hour to do 2 pages (front and back). I've been working on speeding her up a bit and not being as rigid about doing every single problem. If she works efficiently though, is 30 minutes 5x a week sufficient for 3rd grade? I know there is no hard and fast rule...indulge me though and give me your opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 We spent about 30-45 minutes on MM 3. Much longer, and we'd put it away and come back to it later (if he was in a dilly dally mood). That's good that she wants to talk about the problems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 We use CLE. It is about 15 minutes to do new concepts then about 20 minutes to do review. This is normally about 2 pages front and back. Although I thin MM has more problems per page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 That's good that she wants to talk about the problems! When she first started doing it I was thinking how great it was that she could verbalize every step she was taking to find the answer\solution. Of coarse with MM it is all mostly mental math so it is nice to "see" her processes since I can't see them on paper, but....oh, I makes math time go soooooo slow. At least I've gotten her to stop making up stories to go with each problem. Whew, it took an hour just to do one page then.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 At least I've gotten her to stop making up stories to go with each problem. Whew, it took an hour just to do one page then.:tongue_smilie: :lol: I feel your pain, because my 4 year old does that, and I'm afraid he'll still do it in 3rd grade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Oh, and I don't assign all the problems. I look at the topic and assign what I think DS needs in order to master it. If he's understanding something really well, I'll just give a handful of problems and move on. If it's not quite clicking right away, I'll assign more problems. He tends to dawdle a lot more if he has a lot of problems that he already knows how to do backwards and forwards. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Mom Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) I think an hour for math in third grade is reasonable, but I seem to be in the minority here. Edited August 31, 2011 by Medieval Mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison in KY Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We only do math for 15-30 minutes at that age. Actually, my 6th grader doesn't do math for much longer than 30 to 45 minutes daily. I usually set a timer and when it goes off they can stop. I especially use the timer if it's a harder concept that is taking them awhile on. If it's something they know, then I'll just assign based on how much I think they should get accomplished. Alison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I'd say with MM3, we did no more than 30m or so. If she was dawdling and not getting enough done then I'd let her break 5m and do 15-20more. If it was not much done bc it was hard material, we'd stop at 20-30m. As a 5th grader (not MM) she spends 30-45 a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We use MUS and supplement with other more 'fun' books. It takes about half an hour a day, depending on his familiarity with the concept and whether or not we have to watch the DVD for the MUS lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 Thanks everyone...I feel better about the 30 minutes now. I think I'm going to try out hubby's sound proof headphones that he uses at the shooting range for her. For some reason during math, every single little noise distracts her and then of coarse we have to start back at the beginning of the "discussion" again, even if we were almost at the answer.:willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Oh, distractions abound. We try. I want to make it 25-30 minutes on Mondays (includes explanations), 20 minutes daily for the rest of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 My third grader is doing 30 minutes, sometimes 45, but she gets burned out with anymore than that. Sometimes I assign 2 pages, sometimes a page and a half. It depends on how much is on the pages. She's still moving from a traditional math to mental, so we are doing 2B still. She has about 50 pages to do before we get to 3rd. I'm trying not to freak out about that. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillysmom216 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We spend a hour a day on math. That includes about 15 min. doing Singapore challenging word problems( which is like candy to her) and 15 minutes playing some math game. We do Singapore M-Th and MM on Fridays. We are loving Singapore here. Thanks to all that suggested it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I consider an hour of math a day quite reasonable by 3rd grade or so. Now, if she's dawdling and delaying, that's one thing, but building skill and fluency in math is so vitally important. No one ever says, "Is an hour of reading a day too much?" We work to build language-rich environments for our kids, we make sure they read and write all day long, in various ways. Sure, when they're little, we take their attention and individual personalities into account, but by mid-elementary school, we expect the kids who are "good" at reading and language arts to spend time on them each day and we expect the kids who struggle to spend time improving each day. I have one child who was (is) very, very good at math. It comes naturally to him, so we could spend our time on math each day exploring and experimenting and broadening his horizons (as well as doing some drill so that he didn't have to waste time on calculations while we were playing with concepts). I have another child who really struggles with math. We spend more time on it (in various approaches) so that she can get better and have a strong foundation even when it doesn't come so easily to her. I see two different questions in your post: 1) Is an hour a day reasonable for 3rd grade math. My answer: absolutely. 2) Is your dd wasting time and dragging out her 2 pages of MM each day? My answer: Quite possibly. I would work to keep her on track and moving forward. If "discussing" problems means talking through the *math* and exploring various possibilities, let her. If it means speculating on what Sally is going to do with the 39 apples once she has them. Well, no. Smile, poke her in the ribs, say, "Dawdling! Next!" and move on. Don't cut back on the number of problems, 'cause then her stratagem is working. You *want* her to do all of the math and get through it in a reasonable amount of time. You don't want her to learn that if she dawdles and delays that she can get you to cut her work in half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBearMO Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Dd8 has been doing really well with MM but we work on math for an hour each day and I'm wondering if we could cut back a bit. She is a slow worker and wants to talk about every single problem...hence why it takes us an hour to do 2 pages (front and back). I've been working on speeding her up a bit and not being as rigid about doing every single problem. If she works efficiently though, is 30 minutes 5x a week sufficient for 3rd grade? I know there is no hard and fast rule...indulge me though and give me your opinions. One thing that helped my son 'get with the program' and do his work was to explain to him that every time he was dawdling, it was HIS time he was wasting, not mine....each minute he wasted doing everything but his lesson, was a minute of HIS time he was taking from his play time, so he was free to dawdle all he wanted, I had all day! Within a couple of days, he started to focus more and do the lesson because he realized that if he just did it, he'd be done and then he could go and play! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 My 3rd grader works for 20 to 30 minutes per day on math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 I think an hour for math in third grade is reasonable, but I seem to be in the minority here. :iagree: My ds's virtual charter school expected an hour of math per day, 5 days a week:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 My 3rd grader right now is spending between 30-45 minutes on math. That is 1 TT lesson plus Xtramath fact practice (which is about 5 minutes). That will probably increase to an hour or more as we move on to newer concepts later in the year. In my experience, math lessons from just about any curriculum are easier/quicker at the beginning of the year, because much of it is review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 If she works efficiently though, is 30 minutes 5x a week sufficient for 3rd grade? I think so. Last year, my dd in 3rd grade did 30 minutes, gradually bumped up to 35 minutes over the course of the year. Currently we are at 37 minutes, to be gradually bumped up to 42-45 minutes by the end of the year. My dd completed both 3rd grade MM books and got 1/3 of the way through the first 4th grade book at that pace, and we didn't even start MM until (I think) October. She's in 4th grade now and is 75% done with the first 4th grade book. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayb842 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We use Calvert. Ds usually take an hour to work through it. He also has math homework with multiplication facts nightly. Jenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Dd8 does 90'ish minutes daily (including a couple TT lessons or a chapter or so in Singapore and/or a few cwp). Dd7 does math for 1 hour. They enjoy math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMom Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We spend about 40-45 minutes here. However, Saxon has a lot of drill. I let him skip the second side if he gets all of the first side correct. I do make him do flash cards that aren't part of the curriculum that adds time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Math is the hardest subject here. At PS, she gets an hour and fifteen minutes a day, and at home an additional twenty. So it's a bit over an hour and a half a day on regular days, but we do practice 7 days a week here, the off days of weekends etc. being at least twenty minutes a day in 2 sessions of 10 minute bursts. She really struggles with retention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 Well, it seems people are all over the place with time. :D I kept track so far this morning how much time we are doing all types of math because I haven't counted math games, online games and practice or everyday math (the math we talk about within the scope of our daily lives). So this morning we talked about fractions while we were making pancakes then she did an online multiplication game for about 15 minutes while I worked with ds. We did about 35 minutes of MM and right now she is playing Math Mart with dd12, which they will probably play for about 15 minutes or so. So I guess we really are doing more than 30 minutes of math during the day. The headphones worked great this morning. Before the headphones went on though I spent about 5 minutes going over the concept and did some work with manipulatives (she loves seeing how the number relations look with the manipulatives) then I circled 4 problems on the page and had her 'discuss' those with me and then I put the headphones on her and asked her to see how many problems she could get done in 20 minutes. She did a page and a half! We spent another 5 minutes doing the rest of the second page orally...I asked her not to talk about them; just to give the answer. So it went well! I'd love to spend hours on math with her because she really loves it but unfortunately I have 3 other dc to teach and a 2yo to contend with. I just don't have the ability to devote that much time to 1 student and 1 subject. Anyway, thanks for all your input. It's helped me to solidify my plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 My 3rd grader works for 20 to 30 minutes per day on math. :iagree: We just started using Teaching Textbooks this fall, and my dd8 spends about 20-25 minutes on a lesson. That includes the lecture, practice problems, and problem set. I think it is an adequate amount of time for math! We also do applied math during the day though, just here and there - measuring (cooking), how to divide things (with her brother), games, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HLDoll Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 My son is 2nd grade and doing MM3A, and it's taking him almost an hour to do 2 pages (front and back of one sheet). We've only been at it for a few days so far, and I was attributing the slowness to a couple of factors. We didn't do much math over the summer, we've switched to MM from MUS and the presentation is a little different from what he is used to, and there seem to be more problems on each page than MUS. I'm hoping he'll get used to the new format and pick up some speed. He also feels the need to verbalize every step of every problem and there is some dawdling going on since we're still settling in to a new routine. I sure hope it doesn't continue to take an hour every day, all year long. MUS only ever took him 20-30 minutes to do 2 pages and we much prefer that time slot for math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaP Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 We spend about 30-40 min. on our 3rd grade math. We are using Rod and Staff and if we do flashcards that day then we can take up to 40 minutes. Sometimes we're done in 20 minutes. It then takes her about 15-30 minutes to do her work. I set a timer and after 15 minutes she can start on something else and then come back and set the timer for another 15 minutes. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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