Math woes

[scrapbookbuzz]

My 8yo ds is a bright boy but a bit behind in math. I feel like he gets overwhelmed by any math. It's not that he can't do it, he just gets overwhelmed by looking at it all at once. Kind of like me and housework! ;-)

 

What's worked with your boys.

[regentrude]

what do you mean by "looking at it all at once"? Is he overwhelmed by a page full of problems?

In that case, I'd get a blackboard or whiteboard and start working ONE problem at a time on the board.

[ccolopy]

What is he using now? What have you tried?

 

My DD was completely overwhelmed by Singapore, but Math-U-See has been a great fit and has really built up her confidence in math.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Yes, it's the "page at a time" thinking that overwhelms him but even when I break it down, it seems to be difficult getting going.

 

I've used everything from Saxon to Horizons to Life of Fred.

 

Oh, wait, I haven't looked at Charlotte Mason's suggestions yet. I'll look there and am also going to look at Rod & Staff.

 

Open to more suggestions, though. I just don't want it to have to be a fight every time!

[Catherine]

It sounds like you've changed programs frequently, so it may be worth really analyzing now, before you make another change, what the difficulty is. I changed from Singapore to Rightstart when my youngest was in first grade, and he's in sixth now, and we've never looked back. Math used to provoke tears and anticipatory whining, and even anticipatory crying at the end (yes, I let it get that bad-snif).

 

Maybe if you tell us what exactly he does, we can help you better.

[besroma]

It sounds like you've changed programs frequently, so it may be worth really analyzing now, before you make another change, what the difficulty is. I changed from Singapore to Rightstart when my youngest was in first grade, and he's in sixth now, and we've never looked back. Math used to provoke tears and anticipatory whining, and even anticipatory crying at the end (yes, I let it get that bad-snif).

 

Maybe if you tell us what exactly he does, we can help you better.

 

 

This, and look at RightStart and CLE.

[dereksurfs]

This, and look at RightStart and CLE.

 

 

We're very happy with CLE as well after some problems with MUS. It's gentle spiral approach is very helpful for kids who may struggle otherwise.

 

I do however agree with looking at some underlying issues. Sometimes its not the program at all, but rather maturity and the lack of desire to do anything which requires some mental wrestling or sustained focus.

[scrapbookbuzz]

He's very good at reading. At 8yo he can read up through a 6th/7th grade level. His vocabulary and comprehension

of words, language, and ideas is phenomenal. However, when he simply just looks at a math page, for the first time, and even

after that, he begins to complain, and cry, and say he doesn't understand. It usually takes a few minutes to get him calmed

down enough for him to understand that I'm going to help him and we can focus on one problem at a time. I'm pretty sure

he's a right-brained thinker given his amazing language abilities (I am the same way). I don't know how to explain it more than

that.

[kiana]

I would start giving him one problem at a time, on separate sheets of paper or a whiteboard.

[Trilliums]

We tried a lot of math curriculum throughout the elementary years. It was more than just a matter of finding a good curriculum fit though. My boys benefited from an all around different approach to math. Living math was the best fit we found. Livingmath.net has tons of book lists, projects, ideas, etc. Our library had a good selection of math readers and we worked throough them all, some multiple times. We also kept various measuring devices on hand and figured out any questions the kids asked. How many laps around the yard equal a mile? On average, how many peas per pod? What is our cat's whisker to tail length ratio? They really can ask a lot of questions! We used hands on equations, played math games and browsed online math games/sites.

 

They transitioned well into more structured math around grade 7/8. Older son worked quickly through prealg, alg, geom and alg 2 and is in precalc now in grade 10. Younger son needed a lot of interaction to succeed in prealg and alg (but he has always been like this; he needs more social interaction in his schooling) and is in geometry for grade 9. Note: I add this to highlight that yes, kids who take up a living math approach in the younger years can make the switch to high school math successfully. They are both doing great in math now and a whole page of questions no longer frustrates them. Good luck whatever you pursue. :)

 

ETA:

 

I was thinking about instilling in our kids the concept of sticking to a task even when it was challenging and seeing hard work pay off. I do plenty of things I do not particularly like to do because I want the end result of those tasks. For example, I do not want to wake up to a kitchen full of dirty dishes in the morning, so each night before bed, I make sure we have loaded the dishes in the dishwasher and wiped down the counters. I do these tasks because I know them to be an effective way of waking up to a clean kitchen. I do not know of an alternative way to achieve that ( I will keep you posted though if we find an alternative solution ;)).

 

I wanted my kids to learn math in elementary years so they would have a solid foundation for higher maths. I want them to be able to follow any educational/career goals they desire without being handicapped by poor mathematical abilities. The standard approach for achieving that goal is to systematically work through a published math curriculum. Plenty of people do this and plenty of them succeed in their ultimate goal of a math education. This does not mean it is the only way to achieve that goal and for many kids, I am not sure it is even close to the best way to do so. I debated over this issue for a long time with my kids. When I first thought of not using a math curriculum, it scared me. Ultimately, it was discussions with my kids (even when they were very young) and a discussion I had with a special ed teacher when I first started homeschooling my kids that helped me seek out alternative methods of helping my kids acquire an outstanding math education. (Special ed teacher basically said she thought many of the kids in special ed didn't have learning disabilities but they did need a learning model different from the standard ps curriculum).

 

Of course, I still want my kids to appreciate that many things in life need to be done even though we do not like them. I want them to appreciate that hard work can pay off with grand rewards. They have had plenty of opportunities to develop these realizations. It doesn't have to be over a math, or for that matter, any, curriculum. My kids did not acquire an education in the neat, linear way curricula seems to expect them to do. They were ahead in some areas, behind in others. As they reached the teen years, it has evened out to a great degree. I know when we stuck to a package program, my kids hated math. Now, years later, they enjoy musing over mathematical subjects. They still talk about measuring the surface area of a doughnut. I am not sure they would have this same enjoyment from math if we had taken an alternative route. We never know the "could have beens" but I have no regrets over out unconventional math journey.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Thank you, all. And thank you, Trilliums! That is very helpful. I may work on that seemingly random approach with him. Might work out better! He loves his daddy and since Daddy is much more proficient at mathy type things than Mom, I'll have Daddy take that over! :^) Thanks again!

[Trilliums]

Another thought: I was thinking of the Art of Problem Solving pre algebra book my son used. This was key in preparing my younger son for success in alg 1. Older son also used AoPS for Geometry and part of Alg 2. I know they are developing a series for younger grades. If it had been available when my kids were younger, i wonder if it could have made a difference in their math development. The AoPS my kids used for the later grades did a wonderful job of helping them develop an understanding of WHY behind the math.

 

Here is Beast Academy by AoPS:

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Store/beastacademy.php

[Myra]

Modern Curriculum Press Math curriculum is what worked for my eldest son and when he finished with the grade 6 book he was able to go straight into Jacon's Algebra in grade 7. The pages are very uncluttered. You write directly in the workbook/text. Only one concept at a time is taught each page. There is plenty of review pages that go back over concepts that were previously taught.

 

It worked for us!

 

Myra

[scrapbookbuzz]

Thank you, all, again! Love all the input! Going with a Charlotte Mason approach for now and we'll "move on" when I think he's ready.

I'll have to bookmark this page for when we're ready to go back to a structured curriculum. :^)