Algebra insanity

[Carrie12345]

Ds is still wrapping up last year's Algebra (Saxon). He was working through the summer, but spent an extra few week's at his father's house, unexpectedly.

 

Ds "gets" all of the lessons. He understands the concepts and has every formula memorized. But he always makes careless errors. A dropped sign on one problem, a skipped variable on another, copying incorrectly on the next...

 

He doesn't rush, but his hands have a hard time keeping up with his brain.

All year, I had him correct every error. It was a nightmare. He threw fits. ASpergers would go into high gear, even when using the whiteboard, which he loves. Half the time, he'd get the right answer in seconds. The other half would be careless errors, over and over again. Attitude, tantrum, meltdown.

 

So here we are again today. I can't keep it up. He's already annoyed that I made him do pre-algebra before this (he had tested into algebra, but I knew we'd have these kinds of issues. He really just wants to jump to Geometry, which is on our shelf, waiting. I know I can't allow that. But how much of a disservice would I be doing if I quit insisting on full corrections except in cases where it's truly done WRONG? He has about 20 lessons left.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Make it a game of sort.

Any exercise that's truly wrong has to be re-done.

Any exercise that's a careless mistake, he gets a choice of redoing the exercise, or giving you 5/10/20 pushups. (the number depends on how in shape he is - if he chooses to do push-ups, make sure you increase the number eventually).

[Carrie12345]

Make it a game of sort.

Any exercise that's truly wrong has to be re-done.

Any exercise that's a careless mistake, he gets a choice of redoing the exercise, or giving you 5/10/20 pushups. (the number depends on how in shape he is - if he chooses to do push-ups, make sure you increase the number eventually).

 

Ooh! That could be interesting! I may give that a go. Thanks!

 

 

And sorry about the dead kitten. I'll blame it on the iPad.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

You may also throw in a chocolate bar for each exercise that's done right on the first attempt. Again, change the trick according to the boy. If he's struggling with his weight, a chocolate bar wouldn't be a wise choice. Maybe a Yugiho card? Or whatever he's into...

[Teachin'Mine]

Since he's really getting it and it's just simple mistakes, I'd let it go for the sake of peace. A lot of the simple errors have a lot to do with their age at this stage. :) As was suggested, definitely have him re-work it if he's doing the problem wrong and maybe just mark his work to show him where he made an error on the others. I hope you have a good year with geometry. :)

[Clover11]

I've always had ds redo all missed problem in mixed practice until this week... I spoke with Art Reed on the phone because I'm having the same problem as you (we use his dvd lessons). He told me I was burning my son out on math. He said to check & make sure he was doing the mixed practice, but NOT to grade it. As long as he is getting 80% or above on his tests we are fine.

 

He said I'm to grade the test with no partial credit. If he misses anything due to a careless error- mark it wrong. No leniency. If he gets less than 80% on two tests in a row then we need to back up and redo some lessons.

 

We're going to give it a shot. Ds was VERY happy and he seems to be working more carefully already. He's even asking for the solutions book to check a few of his mixed practice on his own.

 

Here is the newsletter article where he talks about this. Scroll down to The Student is Required to Re-do Math Problems from Yesterday’s Lesson.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Clover11

[atozmom]

DD just finished Saxon Alg 1 over the summer and is now in Alg 2. After she completes a lesson, I go over it. (Using the solution manual :)) If she gets a problem wrong just because of careless error, I do not have her redo it. If she has had several careless errors in one lesson, I do point them out just so she knows she needs to slow down. The problems she misses because she has done them wrong, I have her look back over. If she can tell me where she went wrong showing me she really did understand it, then I don't make her redo it on paper. If she is not sure, then she does the problem over again, working it right along with the Saxon Teacher CD.

[Cindyg]

My opinion: I don't make ds totally redo the problems. The ones he misses we go over orally. It's usually obvious to me whether or not he understands why he missed it. And it's usually obvious to him why he missed it. And, to me, that's the main thing: the understanding.

 

Yes, I realize math does have to be perfect because if your calculations are off on your space shuttle, it might crash. But, really, we're not launching space shuttles, and I don't want our school day to crash either.

[Carrie12345]

I greatly appreciate all of the feedback! I know ds sure will, too!

 

I have been very concerned with the fact that wrong answers from careless mistakes make for disasters when applied to professional use, particularly when he talks about being a meteorologist, lol, but it's true- he isn't one today!

 

I desperately hope that maturity will step in and fix this one day! In the meantime, he really does need a break from this insanity, and I feel a lot better about allowing it now!

 

I'm so relieved that, yes, every sentence DOES call for an exclamation point!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

It really depends on what percentage of the problems he's doing wrong. My son is near 100%, all due to careless mistakes. It's not just once in a while.

My son needs to learn to pay attention and slow down and concentrate.

If it was at 30%, I would agree with just letting it go. Careless mistakes will always happen at that age. But for them to be on every single exercise is not acceptable.

 

So there's a line to walk there, and it's not always a fine line.