Do you let your kids do word problems in their head?

[Forgiven]

We're using MM 2A/2B for my 2nd-grade son. The teaching, itself, helps them to do addition in their heads. When he gets to the word problems, he does them in his head and just writes the answer. I hate to make him write out his problem since he's getting them all correct, and the text is teaching him to do it in his head, but I'm so used to having to "show" my work...it's making me feel as if he's doing it wrong, even though he talks out loud and I know exactly how he got his answer, and he's doing it okay.

 

I guess I'm just afraid that he'll end up in college and fail math because he doesn't show his work...should I get him into the habit now, or should I just let him go along as he is, since MM does teach him to do it in his head...

 

What do you do?

[justLisa]

It's a good idea to get them used to writing out the problem. Start when they are very easy, because down the road it will complicate things when they are NOT easy enough to workout in his head and he doesn't know how to write out the problem.

 

Or do half and half. Just be sure at some point soon to know he CAN do it, and practice.

[happyhomemaker]

Ds is in MM2, and he does the word problems in his head as well. Right now, I let him just write the answer. If he seems to struggle with a particular problem, then I encourage him to write it out. He really likes the word problems, but I worry he won't like them if I require more writing to do them. I think there's still plenty of time to learn to show your work in the coming years. The important thing to me now is that he can do them and that he realizes how to write out the problem, even if he doesn't do it all the time.

[SkateLeft]

Two of my kids did pretty much everything in their head, until they hit higher level math. My ds did pre-algebra last year through AoPS, and had to learn to write out his solutions for the online class. My daughter didn't start writing out her math until she hit algebra 1. My oldest has done just fine in her college level math classes.

 

I wouldn't worry too much in 2nd grade. Eventually, they'll have to start writing things out. It's good to talk through the problems with them though, so they develop the language of math and the ability to explain their algorithms.

[Crimson Wife]

I allow DS to dictate the equation to write and then he just writes the answer. I will also draw the bar model (he is using Singapore) for him even if he doesn't need it to solve the problem, just to get him used to the bar model method.

[melmichigan]

DS has always done problems in his head, his handwriting is age appropriate where his math is more advanced. As a result he can do amazing things in his head but I can see where this will be a small hurdle to overcome in the future because he doesn't want to write it out. We had the same problem with my DD and she eventually got over it when she started AoPS.

[Dinsfamily]

I have my dc write out the equations. I've tutored too many college algebra students who struggled because they didn't know how to write out their work. I figure my dc can start learning with easy word problems so that it becomes automatic. Now that ds8 is doing 3-4 step word problems, I has come in handy and he can finally see why we do it.

[Bonkers247]

I've started reminding my son that if he does not show his work I can't give him any help figuring out where he went wrong. Then I drop it. A few times of having to redo the whole problem has convinced him that writing it out is worth his time.

[2_girls_mommy]

No. They need to develop good work habits like showing their work.

[courtney.byrum]

I've started reminding my son that if he does not show his work I can't give him any help figuring out where he went wrong. Then I drop it. A few times of having to redo the whole problem has convinced him that writing it out is worth his time.

 

This is what I did as well. He really noticed he needed to write more down last year when he had to redo a few problems because he lost track of what he was doing and I couldn't tell where he made an error. I think starting about 4th grade math he needed to write it down so I could follow his process through.

[boscopup]

I started making my son around MM4, when problems were no longer one step. I don't make him show work for an obvious one step problem. He does have to show it for two or more step problems.

[Wheres Toto]

I don't make my son write it out if he gets them correct. When they start getting harder I will start having him write them out since it will make them easier to solve and I can see what happened if he gets them wrong.

 

I do a lot of the writing in math for my son so him writing out the work usually would mean me writing out the work. I may ask him to tell me how he solved the problem for a few to make sure he understands.

[Mommy22alyns]

No, I always make her show her work because she will reach a point where it's necessary to do so.

[Mélie]

I make him write it out. I've tutored kids in high school math who had no idea that they were even supposed to.

[Farrar]

I alternate between letting them just do it in their heads occasionally, letting them dictate it with me writing, and making them write it.

[Dmmetler]

I let my DD do pretty much everything in her head until last year when she started LoF Fractions, as long as she could demonstrate for me on paper when I asked her to do so (usually a couple of problems in each set, plus some of the IP/CWP SM problems that were more complicated-although she had the annoying tendency to be able to look at those and say "It's 3!" and be right, when I finally caught up to her 10 minutes later!).

 

LOF, which stated that you HAD to write it down, copy over and so on, was great in giving me some teeth behind "you've got to do it this way", and it ended up being a good transition to her in doing math on paper, and now, working on pre-algebra, she's writing out everything NOT designed to be mental math. The downside was that in the first PE book, he also tells his young readers that it's now OK to use a calculator :tongue_smilie:-which often turns into her spending more time finding the calculator and using it than it would have taken just to do the math on her own!

[wapiti]

I would not make him write it out every single time. The time will come when you'll have to make him, but that may not be for another few years. When it becomes necessary, it will be obvious (to you anyway LOL).

 

I think it's important to recognize that some kids have math ability that doesn't match their handwriting ability.

 

Eta, as late as last year, ds9 would try so hard to avoid writing anything that he'd attempt long division in his head LOL (and naturally that would lead to mistakes). This year is a different story - he's doing math in a notebook and order of operations issues have basically forced him to write line by line :).

Edited September 24, 2012 by wapiti

[Arcadia]

I don't make my boys write it out. They get tired enough writing for LA writing. However I do pick some of the multi-step word problems from time to time on weekends and ask them to write out the steps.

[beaners]

I don't have my daughter write everything out, but I do occasionally ask her to tell me how she figured out her answer. It's especially useful for me to know when the answer is just "appearing" in her head. A great example would be a problem with multiple steps, but if you ask her how she got her answer she will just come up with an addition or subtraction fact that results in the number. And it won't just be a novel way to approach the problem. It will be the correct answer but the fact is in no way related to the problem at hand. While I'm happy she can quickly determine the correct answer, I also want to be sure that she understands the reason it is correct.

[Forgiven]

Thanks everyone. All your replies have helped. My DS does hate to write and with word problems, getting him to write down what he has "9" of has been enough of a struggle than to also get him to write out the equation. LOL

 

I think for now, I'll make him write out his work for anything he gets wrong or randomly just have him verbally explain how he got an answer every once in a while. He does talk out loud (not fully, more under his breath) when he does his word problems, so I do hear how he gets his answers most of the time.

 

Once he starts getting into multi-step word problems, I'll make sure he writes out his work. My DD is in MM4 and I make her show her work. She hates having to do it, but she has already seen the benefit of it.

 

Thanks so much!

[boscopup]

Thanks everyone. All your replies have helped. My DS does hate to write and with word problems, getting him to write down what he has "9" of has been enough of a struggle than to also get him to write out the equation. LOL

 

Yes, I think putting units on the answers was my first priority. :D My son especially likes to abbreviate things so he doesn't have to write the whole word. Of course, finding out how to abbreviate something takes more time than writing the whole word would have. :rolleyes: Just the other day, he came up to me and asked what the abbreviation for "hours" was again... I said, "hr... but you know hours is a really short word: h-o-u-r-s. You can write that." :)

 

So units on answers I worked on at that stage of math. Showing work for the whole problem waited until later, when units was well ingrained. He rarely forgets his units now. He shows work most of the time now too, though I still have to remind him to draw a picture when necessary, and he learned WHY during a recent review, where he got two problems wildly wrong because he didn't draw a picture to help sort out who was doing what. So I told him that for a multi-step problem, he needs to draw a picture if he can. We'll see if he does that next time. Probably not. He hates drawing. :tongue_smilie:

[FO4UR]

We're using MM 2A/2B for my 2nd-grade son. The teaching, itself, helps them to do addition in their heads. When he gets to the word problems, he does them in his head and just writes the answer. I hate to make him write out his problem since he's getting them all correct, and the text is teaching him to do it in his head, but I'm so used to having to "show" my work...it's making me feel as if he's doing it wrong, even though he talks out loud and I know exactly how he got his answer, and he's doing it okay.

 

I guess I'm just afraid that he'll end up in college and fail math because he doesn't show his work...should I get him into the habit now, or should I just let him go along as he is, since MM does teach him to do it in his head...

 

What do you do?

 

 

I let them work it in their heads first. Then I ask them how they figured it out. As they talk, I write. I show them how to show their work. Eventually, they grab the pencil because it is faster to write it down without my talky-talky-talky.

 

 

And, once they are showing their own work, asking them to think it through in their head (and estimate) is a good way to check for obvious error. The ability to work and think in his head is a skill to encourage.

[Haiku]

I have my kids show their work. It's a good habit to get into and one that is necessary in higher mathematics. Some kids can work a problem in their heads but not explain how they got their. To me, if my kids can't explain it, they don't know it.

 

Tara

[Haiku]

Now that ds8 is doing 3-4 step word problems, I has come in handy and he can finally see why we do it.

 

It has helped dd10 to write out the steps in a multi-step process because then, if she makes a mistake, she doesn't have to do the whole problem over. She can just check her work in each step and easily (usually) spot the error.

 

Tara

[Dinsfamily]

It has helped dd10 to write out the steps in a multi-step process because then, if she makes a mistake, she doesn't have to do the whole problem over. She can just check her work in each step and easily (usually) spot the error.

 

Tara

 

This happened just this morning in CWP4. The problem said three times as much, but he multiplied by 2 on accident and got the wrong answer. It was easy to see the problem and correct it through all 4 parts of the problem since he had clearly written out his work

 

I do agree that units are also very important. My dc laugh when I make up my own units. "So Gerald had 18 more tigers?, or rotten eggs? Oh, dollars that makes more sense." It gets the point across.

[Bear23]

I do not. It drives me nuts when my daughter does it in her head. I make her go back and write out the problems. I am not always there to watch her do math so I want her to write it down so when I do review it I can see how she did it.