No worksheets for about a week now..

[Bang!Zoom!]

And I'm telling you, this is killer stuff. I'm having her do everything but her final transcription of the day longhand and copied.

 

Benefits? Yep, I'm seeing all sorts of them, math is much clearer making her write out every single twist and turn instead of just "straight out of her head."

 

Drawbacks? Yep, it's very "assisted" work when reading this much aloud to her. I hold the book facing me, and she has to listen. I've caught myself making errors speaking.

 

I went to explain a division problem to solve today and found myself saying "O" instead of "zero"- and I've noticed I abbreviate too much also.

 

111- comes out "one eleven" - Not "one hundred, eleven" and such.

 

I said a million times today "dot" instead of "decimal point". Gah.

 

I'm still absolutely mystified at how she can skip through the steps in her head, but when it comes to writing out longhand, she really can't explain it in short terms.

 

So we are both learning and refining; trying to speak aloud in math is actually pretty challenging for the both of us.

 

Does anyone else see/know of kids with math and why they do that mental math but somehow melt into goop when it comes to writing it out longhand?

 

Something in the visual/verbal transferring process seems clunky right now.

 

Any tips?

[Kathy in Richmond]

When my daughter was at a similar age and resisting showing all of her work in math, we bought some small whiteboards. She absolutely loved working her math problems that way, with lots of different colored markers, of course :D. She'd eagerly write out elaborate solutions and diagrams just for fun. Might be worth a try!

[Bang!Zoom!]

Today, she wouldn't work on her problems while the sheets were in the notebook - she had to take the single paper out, lay it on the table..she kept tapping the pencil tip on the surface of the paper till it made a sound..like a light "click" or tap...

 

She did this for five hours today, kept saying she "needs" that sound to get it down on paper.

 

She has so many odd little "things" already- really a routine kind of girl..I keep thinking that she would be fantastic with a chalkboard due to the sound.

 

Is there somewhere they sell say like...sheet size chalkboards somewhere?

 

We had a whiteboard for a while with all the jazzy markers to work out different portions of problems. It finally went to the great whiteboard in the sky as it got worn out..guess I'd forgotten about that, good idea!

 

I saw a really neat (very short) documentary on "defense of a chalkboard" - let me go find the link, it was in it's own way, pretty philosophical.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Chalkboards are a good idea.:) My dd had a lap-sized chalkboard; we picked it up at the local teacher supply store, I think. I still remember chalkboards fondly from my math professor days.:)

 

You just have to keep trying till you find what works for her.

 

I think my VSL (highly visual) girl liked her whiteboard because it erased cleanly. No fear of mistakes & lots of color.

 

We had lap-sized boards and a large wall board, too...hubby picked up shower board at Lowes and cut it to size. Pretty inexpensive.

 

Eventually she transitioned to paper & pencil and also math typesetting software - LaTeX - you can download it for free and find tutorials on the AoPS website.

[Bang!Zoom!]

Kathy, weird question, but hey..

 

Do you think there is anything different about working it out standing and facing a board, say..vs. sitting?

 

This kid is extremely temperamental with environment, visual and auditory. She needs (or does best with) silence and zen white space. It's pretty pronounced in how she does work. It's a quirk thing.

[Bang!Zoom!]

I think you are my DD but in grown up form talking... :D

 

Interestingly enough, I came across this video tonight on TED talks by Conrad Wolfram.

 

He talks about math, how we make it "stupid" by making children learn it with books and paper..he's extremely pro computer based learning.

 

I don't know whether to critically regard what he says, or just sit here and go "Thank God you don't have access to the kids mind...."

 

 

edit: AHA!

 

I found the "In defense of Chalk" video, this is pretty good:

 

Edited September 15, 2012 by one*mom

[Dmmetler]

For a small chalkboard, especially one with a nice "Feel", check threads for people selling HWOT PK and K materials-they have actual slate chalkboards in their kit. They're not big, but they'd work for a few math problems. The double line board would work as well, and it's larger, but the feel isn't the same.

[stripe]

I said a million times today "dot" instead of "decimal point". Gah.

 

 

Just say "point."

[Woodland Mist Academy]

 

I think math is an integral part of The Great Conversation; maybe to a lesser extent than literature, but still. Having equations outputted in a nanosecond reduces Eratosthenes, Thales, Pythagoras and even Hypatia to a mere blip in history. There simply can be no appreciation of what what accomplished B.C./ancient A.D. if you don't even know what went into the equation the computer popped out.

 

 

We just finished reading String, Straight-Edge, and Shadow: The Story of Geometry. I think it gave my daughter a new appreciation for math.

 

(I have not followed this thread closely or watched the video--this post just reminded me of the book.)

Edited September 15, 2012 by Hilltop Academy

[Beth in SW WA]

I think you are my DD but in grown up form talking... :D

 

Interestingly enough, I came across this video tonight on TED talks by Conrad Wolfram.

 

He talks about math, how we make it "stupid" by making children learn it with books and paper..he's extremely pro computer based learning.

 

I don't know whether to critically regard what he says, or just sit here and go "Thank God you don't have access to the kids mind...."

 

 

 

edit: AHA!

 

I found the "In defense of Chalk" video, this is pretty good:

 

 

 

I like Wolfram. :)

[Bang!Zoom!]

Thanks for the links, and thoughts...read all of them. Going to let things gel over the weekend and see what comes to light in the beginning of the week.

[lewelma]

she kept tapping the pencil tip on the surface of the paper till it made a sound..like a light "click" or tap...

 

She did this for five hours today, kept saying she "needs" that sound to get it down on paper.

 

My ds needs sound. If the classical radio is not on, he will sing while doing his work. If I tell him to stop singing, he will kick his desk -- just for the sound. Once when he was 11, I came in and found him listening to a discussion about classical music while simultaneously working on AoPS Intro Algebra. He proceeded to explain the lecture and the math to me. :001_huh: Apparently, he does this every day from 12 to 12:30.

 

He seems to have a desperate need to fill the space in his working memory. And his working memory is HUGE.

 

Ruth in NZ

[quark]

My ds needs sound. If the classical radio is not on, he will sing while doing his work. If I tell him to stop singing, he will kick his desk -- just for the sound. Once when he was 11, I came in and found him listening to a discussion about classical music while simultaneously working on AoPS Intro Algebra. He proceeded to explain the lecture and the math to me. :001_huh: Apparently, he does this every day from 12 to 12:30.

 

He seems to have a desperate need to fill the space in his working memory. And his working memory is HUGE.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

We do the same. The music helps DS focus. I used to think it would distract him but he *needs* the music. This is more so when he is working independently. If I'm working with him using the whiteboard he doesn't need the music as much.

 

It's the same when he listens to audiobooks. He can listen to the audiobook (fiction/ nonfiction) and read another book (fiction/nonfiction) at the same time without missing the gist of both.

 

He was tested as being on the >99% range for working memory.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Kathy, weird question, but hey..

 

Do you think there is anything different about working it out standing and facing a board, say..vs. sitting?

 

This kid is extremely temperamental with environment, visual and auditory. She needs (or does best with) silence and zen white space. It's pretty pronounced in how she does work. It's a quirk thing.

 

Yes, I think that these kinds of preferences and sensitivities to the environment are extremely common with gifted kids. We see every kind of quirk with the kids at epsilon camp. Some need to sit by themselves in class and tune out the other kids, some need to sit in the front row and interact with the profs, some need to write everything down that they hear and process it visually later on, some work best with a small group of friends, etc.

 

My son always has to get up and pace when he's thinking (this was especially pronounced at ages 9-10), and then he can sit down and pour out his written work w/o noticing anything else that's going on. My daughter has to have music playing & prefers to lie down on the floor or on her bed or curl up on the sofa while working. If you put her into a distraction-free environment, she freaks out and cannot do.a.single.thing.properly. She has to have many mental channels open and working at once.

 

I'm more like your daughter. I like a lot of mental white space when I work, especially if deep thinking is involved. My eureka moments happen most often at night when everyone else is asleep in bed, and the house is nice, quiet, and dark.:)