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My son just flunked his end of year Rod and Staff math test


Shanaudria
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He is almost 12 and just finishing up the 5th grade book. (Technically he ought to be in the 6th grade book based on his age and when he started school.)

 

Now what do I do?:glare:

 

I really want to stick with Rod and Staff math, but I am so discouraged. Why oh why did this child flunk this test????????? :confused: He is at least of average intelligence. No learning problems. He was struggling all through the book to get very good scores on the tests, so I should've seen this coming.

 

He only does a half hearted job with any of his school work. Ever. I find it truly aggravating.

 

I have now banned him from all computer and movie time. We don't have video games or t.v.

Edited by Shanaudria
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Ok, look at the test carefully.

 

-Were there specific areas he did badly in or was it scattered throughout?

 

-Were the mistakes computational (added/multiplied a number wrong, thus making the answer incorrect) or theoretical (didn't understand how to do the problem)?

 

This will tell you which direction to go. If the computational stuff is the problem, then you might want to do drills, flash cards, worksheets with those type of problems, etc. The goal would be to get him to know his facts & to CARE that he makes the mistakes. (As SWB would say, make it more work to redo than if he just did them right the first time.)

 

If it is theoretical, you look at what he is having trouble with and reteach each topic - hands on, if necessary. (The Math Mammoth Blue Series is good for this.)

 

You need to make sure he has a good foundation & not promote him until he's got it down (esp. if it is theory).

 

The half-hearted schoolwork is a completely different topic & must be dealt with separately and thoroughly. It would be a topic for a separate post. :driving:

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Does he choke because it's a test?

 

I do that.

 

Was given a written history exam and failed it, being homeschooled Mom was horrified. She didn't tell me I'd flunked but sat there asking me questions while looking at the test. I could orally answer each one correctly. She rewrote my answers and called it a day.

 

I STILL freak out when it comes to tests.

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Is there a possibility he just had an off day? I have noticed that when my dc have an off day, often times they are coming down with something and it just has not quite hit them yet where there were outward signs for me to see. The next day, however, I realize what the problem was. Just something to think about.

 

Do you give him the unit tests? How does he do on them? How does he score on his daily work? If he consistantly does well daily, it is possible he is just not a good test taker. Some children just aren't, and it has nothing to do with whether or not they understand the concepts.

 

We were using Rod & Staff for a while and I noticed my oldest was have a lot of trouble writing out all of the problems. I should have realized this sooner since he had some fine motor issue with handwriting. We switched to CLE since I wanted something with a lot of review. I am finding that spiral/incremental works best for his learning style. I has been smooth sailing ever since, and we have no more "writing" issues. Since it spirals he does not have a chance to forget anything and almost never does. I wouldn't normally recommend switching programs but it is similar to R&S, and it has helped us so much, I just cannot help praising it. Our math issues have magically disappeared, yet it is not due to lack of work or a minimal amount of problems and he is truly understanding.

 

You could also do some topical worksheets for any concepts you find lacking as pp recommended.

 

Good luck!

Edited by MyLittleBears
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Live and learn but DO go onto R&S math 6. Review everything he got wrong and move on. Just know that he needs lots of test prep to do well on tests in the future.

 

Do you do the oral/board review with him everyday from the TM? Doing the review may help.

 

:iagree: with the idea of moving on. There is a lot of review in R&S math. Depending on where he is having difficulty perhaps he could benefit from some type of "cheat sheet" for the tests? When I was taking Geometryand Statistics we were allowed formula helps. We still had to do the math, but the formulas helped with the overall process . . .

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Live and learn but DO go onto R&S math 6. Review everything he got wrong and move on. Just know that he needs lots of test prep to do well on tests in the future.

 

Do you do the oral/board review with him everyday from the TM? Doing the review may help.

 

:iagree:

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