FairProspects Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 He does not have all his addition/subtraction facts memorized, but many of them are. He could use maybe another week on making tens, but he is fabulous with graphs and probability and is bored with addition/subtraction. He has played around with multiplication/division on his own, but I haven't done anything formal. Do we just keep moving forward? He tested end of 1st grade math on standardized testing in May, fwiw. I'm just hesitant to accelerate him b/c of his age. I don't want to push him or burn him out, but I'm afraid I'm ruining math for him each time I hand him another addition/subtraction worksheet. The other day he didn't even pick up a rod but filled it out from memory. I don't know what to do with a fast processor! I've paged through Singapore 1 and other than maybe some word problems and telling time he's through it already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Yes, I'd keep moving forward. FWIW, my ds6 is not fond of addition/subtraction either, though he needs more work with bigger numbers on paper (his mental math is pretty good, as we practice a bit at bedtime, orally). He hasn't been taught a few key things yet ;). However, he loves, loves, loves multiplication. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with moving forward while continuing to practice addition/subtraction. As for facts, I'd try to make it fun, by using either real life games or games on the computer. That reminds me, I was going to show him Matho today, which my other kids found fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 I think we will move on, I'm just hesitant because then we are 2 grade levels ahead of age, and it just seems too fast or something, like it can't be real? I know many kids here are working like that, but it is really strange among my RL friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I'd move ahead in Miquon or MEP. They keep the fun, puzzle/play aspect of math while moving on into brain-stretching areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Just wanted to encourage you to think about math outside of the +/-/*/ skills. Games like Mancala, Othello, Advanced Mastermind. chess, Blockus......on days that you think he needs a break from the basics play games. Those types of multi-step strategy games do develop reasoning skills that are vital to mathematical thinking. Also, play add/sub dominoes, 2 card flip up war (have to add the cards together to determine who wins), race up to 100 by rolling a die (have to add your new roll to your old score), etc. But worksheets.....those I would use sparingly. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 I'd move ahead in Miquon or MEP. They keep the fun, puzzle/play aspect of math while moving on into brain-stretching areas. Miquon is what he is doing, but he is just whizzing through it. It actually has too many problems for him. He really only has to try something once and he gets it, twice and it's memorized. He is just a quick study. Just wanted to encourage you to think about math outside of the +/-/*/ skills. Games like Mancala, Othello, Advanced Mastermind. chess, Blockus......on days that you think he needs a break from the basics play games. Those types of multi-step strategy games do develop reasoning skills that are vital to mathematical thinking. Also, play add/sub dominoes, 2 card flip up war (have to add the cards together to determine who wins), race up to 100 by rolling a die (have to add your new roll to your old score), etc. But worksheets.....those I would use sparingly. ;) I may have to play those games with him myself - he doesn't want to play them with his very spatial brother because he always gets beat. :lol: I don't know if they have figured out the point of Mastermind yet, last time they tried it was mostly guessing, but my older may have better strategy now. I should probably pull out SET too, I haven't tried that with him yet, but they play a lot of Battleship, Shut the Box (which is kind of like dominoes), and Checkers. My older likes chess too, but I'm ashamed to admit I never learned how to play, so I'm not much help there. :blushing: I can't wait until they are old enough for Rummikub, that's my all-time favorite game. I'm just so bad about thinking about these things as math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2smartones Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Yes, I'll second the suggestion of using strategy games in place of math once or twice a week. FWIW, my oldest learned multiplication before addition. Move on... if you're a little ahead or learning out of order, so what? Either you'll end up with a math whiz or you'll eventually hit a wall and be able to slow down for a while. This young, forget about it. Just keep moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ednkirstin Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Move on... if you're a little ahead or learning out of order, so what? Either you'll end up with a math whiz or you'll eventually hit a wall and be able to slow down for a while. :iagree:I'd keep moving on. I have 2 kids that are particularly bright with math. DS10 will be doing Saxon 87 this year, and DD7 is almost done with Saxon 3, has mastered addition, subtraction and multiplication with Xtramath.org, and is working on division. In our case, my kids who love math seem to thrive when given more. It's like a game to them and they can't get enough. They lose interest when it's too slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laf919 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 as someone else here recently said (sorry I don't remember who) there is so much more interesting math when you get past arithmetic - let him move on to get to algebra and the fun stuff. And go ahead and teach him rummikub - my girls started playing it at 5 with some help and really enjoy it. Might as well do something you find fun, too!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebunny Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 DD does math worksheets 3 days out of a week (accelerated), and the other 2 days, we use living math books and games such as the ones below. Origami Mastermind Connect 4 Think fun math dice Rush hour Tangram puzzles Pentominoes Kakuro -addition Sudoku Checkers/chinese checkers HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Miquon is what he is doing, but he is just whizzing through it. It actually has too many problems for him. He really only has to try something once and he gets it, twice and it's memorized. He is just a quick study. I may have to play those games with him myself - he doesn't want to play them with his very spatial brother because he always gets beat. :lol: I don't know if they have figured out the point of Mastermind yet, last time they tried it was mostly guessing, but my older may have better strategy now. I should probably pull out SET too, I haven't tried that with him yet, but they play a lot of Battleship, Shut the Box (which is kind of like dominoes), and Checkers. My older likes chess too, but I'm ashamed to admit I never learned how to play, so I'm not much help there. :blushing: I can't wait until they are old enough for Rummikub, that's my all-time favorite game. I'm just so bad about thinking about these things as math. I do sit w/my little ones while they play these types of games. Lots of times, they are my "partner.' Othello and Mancala they can play on their own but they don't have strategy and I help them think through their steps. Dice games/dominoes/card "war".....those are math time w/me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Those ideas sound great. This is a question rather than a real suggestion, due to my ignorance, but is it possible that a game like "Go", the Chinese button placing game, could develop spatial reasoning? (I was trying to think of a game that relates to the skills in geometry.) We also used to play a game where you turned cards face down in a rectangular array, and tried to remember where their duplicates were, concentration? Kids are often better at this than adults, which is fun for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 When we encountered this we moved on to MEP where the numbers are small and they work towards automaticity with those facts, but they still work with interesting puzzles and concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Just throwing out there, if the child doesn't tolerate games (as in, Button) we had good fortune with the Wrap-Ups and daily Jumping Math drills (pick a set of facts, I ask a question and hop, he answers and hops, repeat. Not easy in the third trimester, though :). In that case you do Waddle Math ... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in LV Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 When we encountered this we moved on to MEP where the numbers are small and they work towards automaticity with those facts, but they still work with interesting puzzles and concepts. This is what we're doing as well. The MEP "puzzles" are great for helping to cement the math facts without a lot of boring repetition. I'd recommend browsing through the worksheets in MEP Level 1 & just pick out those you think would be interesting - you don't need to do every one. And we supplement with games, living math books and random math activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) Just wanted to encourage you to think about math outside of the +/-/*/ skills. Games like Mancala, Othello, Advanced Mastermind. chess, Blockus......on days that you think he needs a break from the basics play games. Those types of multi-step strategy games do develop reasoning skills that are vital to mathematical thinking. Also, play add/sub dominoes, 2 card flip up war (have to add the cards together to determine who wins), race up to 100 by rolling a die (have to add your new roll to your old score), etc. But worksheets.....those I would use sparingly. ;) :iagree: Also, I'd try adding in a month of Dreambox. (I sound like I'm a Dreambox rep, but I'm not. :tongue_smilie:) Edited July 17, 2012 by jenbrdsly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EinsteinBlueprint Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 At his age....I would recommend introducing geometry, mental math tricks, yes - chess, etc. But don't shy away from worksheets. While they seem painful, they are necessary for acceleration and won't (in my experience) turn your child off math in the long-run. In fact, they make kids *faster* and that is one of the major keys to advancement AND confidence. I pushed the worksheets on my son from an early age. Yeah he cried a few times....but now he's teaching himself calculus and still only 7.5 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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