How much time should a 7th grader spend on math?

[Ramie]

My 7th grade ds is starting Singapore's Discovering Mathematics this year.  We've done 3 days of it so far, and he is overwhelmed by it.  He thinks it takes too long to do the work.  So far, it IS taking him an awfully long time, but it is my impression that he would be able to work much faster if he would stay more focused on the concepts and use the text to help him answer the exercises.  The format definitely changes from Primary Mathematics to Discovering Mathematics, and it is certainly throwing us for a loop.  I assume that as you move to higher levels of math, the daily work will take longer, but I don't know how what that means for 7th grade Singapore / prealgebra.  So my decision needs to be - do I slow things down to relieve stress, or do I explain to him that because he is at a higher level, he will now need to work longer than before.  After all, expectations certainly play a role in whether or not you feel successful.  But I don't want to push him too hard either.  Those of you who have done Singapore in 7th grade, or who have done prealgebra (I think that's largely what this level covers), or who have had 7th graders...what do you think is a reasonable range of time for a child of that age/level to be spending on math each day?

[Julie of KY]

I don't think it is unreasonable for a 7th grader to do an hour of math. Some kids do better if that is broken into smaller chunks through the day.

 

I would sit down and watch him do math. Is he just not focused? Does he understand? Is he struggling over certain concepts? Is he getting the problems correct?

 

Some kids do better with a different curriculum, but I don't think that is the case. Does this book jump into concepts that he hasn't really covered before? Does he need more practice. My kids who are good at math, still struggled with that transition into prealgebra as some of the concepts were new and different.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

IMHO I think a 7th grade student would need up to 30 minutes or up to an hour to learn/review lesson and about an hour to do the actual homework. My kid did Algebra 1 last year and he spent about 15 minutes watching video and another 20 minutes or so reviewing lesson. The he spent about an hour and sometimes longer doing a 30 problem homework set for each lesson. If your child was in school, he would get about 45 minutes in a math class to learn lesson and them have homework later.

[SilverMoon]

Last year I asked my then 7th grader to spend about an hour a day working hard on her math book. When her time was up she finished whatever she was in the middle of and called it done for the day. The next day she just picked up where she left off the day before.

 

Eta: She was using Lial's prealgebra for most of the year.

[AK_Mom4]

DD12 takes about an hour for math, with a 10 minute break half way through to re-charge her brain.

[Lanny]

No experience with Singapore Math, but DD is expected to study each of her subjects (she is a Distance Learner) for a minimum of one hour each day. GL

[linders]

DS13 is not a very "mathy" kid and is doing Dolciani Pre-A right now. I require him to read the lesson, we review together, then he does the odd -numbered problems plus all the review/challenge problems. For any odd number he misses, he does two extra evens. On average, he spends 1-1.5 hours on math each day.

[Coffeemama]

We also just started Singapore DM 7A. The lessons (1.1,1.2 etc) are longer than in PM and we were spending well over an hour working. I was blaming the poor pacing on "summer brain", but I searched for a while Friday on the Singapore forums and found that each of those sections does not equate to a lesson a day. At that pace the half-year course would be completed in about 9 weeks. As per advice on that forum, we will be breaking the lessons down further. She will still spend an hour or so a day on math, but we will not feel as rushed or pressured and will spread the lessons out. For example 1.5 has a section A on square roots and a section B on cube roots. We will divide that into two days unless my DD moves through it quickly.

[CupOCoffee]

I require 1 hour of math every day.  Like a pp stated, once the hour is up, finish what you are in the middle of and call it a day.  I think after an hour, most kids are losing focus anyway.  Have there been times when they've put in more than that?  Yes, especially the older -- often, if he is close to finishing a chapter and wants to take the chapter test he will work beyond that hour.  The younger, not so much -- haha, she just wants to be done!  Mine are 6th and 11th.

 

~coffee~

[Crimson Wife]

Unless the topic was really straight-forward, I broke DM 7 down into multiple days per lesson and usually divided the exercises into 2 days as well. 1 day for the "basic" and "further" practice sections and a 2nd day for the "math @ work" and "brainworks" sections. DD was probably doing an hour's worth of actual work per day (though it often took longer because of dawdling).

[lewelma]

I think that 7th graders should definitely do 1 hour per day, but you might need to break it into 2 sessions.  For STEM types, I would expect 1.5 hours. 

 

In my house we use a time expectation -- we just put it away whenever the time is up.  However, if my student is particularly slow or behind, I would be working to figure out what was going on.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Mena]

We use NEM and my kids spend about an hour, maybe a little more. Some sections can easily be finished in that amount of time, while others take 2-3 days. I'm not sure how similar DM is to NEM, but we've found that the second half of NEM 1 goes much more quickly than the first. Hang in there!

[Lanny]

I don't think it matters what textbook you are using. Singapore, or a Prentice Hall textbook like my DD uses, or something else. I believe one (1) hour a day should be required for Math, and, probably, for all subjects.

[jennynd]

We also did NEM which is another series of SM middle school math. DS took about 1 hr each day. There are many sessions we took multiple days to finish especially word problems

[Ramie]

Thanks!  I have told him to expect to work on Math for at least an hour each day.  He wasn't relieved, lol.  This will help though.  I am planning on breaking up some of the lessons, but the ones we've done so far don't seem to need to be split.

[Ali in OR]

We did DM1 last year (bought before 7 came out) and just started 2 (will 8 ever come out???). There was quite a transition between the primary math series and DM. It took dd several months to adjust to it. I asked her more than once if we should switch to Dolciani which would have been significantly easier but she wanted to keep working at it. Do take longer to do those longer, foundational sections. We also used the workbook after the textbook to give more practice with the concepts. I love the math that dd is learning; I love that Singapore uses real scientific concepts in the word problems. Dd is way ahead when it comes to word problems because of Singapore. I used to teach high school math, so I'm basing that opinion with the difficulties I saw in my 9th and 10th grade students.

 

I am adding some easier math to the mix this year. Dd will go to public high school next year and I need to make sure she has all algebra 1 topics down (Singapore will also give her a good start on geometry). So I'm using the Horizons Algebra 1 book this year for extra drill. I would not like it as my only math curriculum, but we always used it for extra practice and review in the elementary years and it looks like the Alg 1 book will serve that purpose well this year. Youngest will probably get the pre-alg Horizons book when she does DM1 or DM7.

 

In a public school, students spend 50-60 minutes on math in school and then have another 30-60 minutes of homework. I would set the expectation that math takes 1-2 hours per day. We spend probably 45 minutes together going over homework and then looking at new material and working examples. We may look at some of the new homework problems together. Dd then has another 45 minutes on average of work at night on the homework problems. That's very typical for middle school and high school students in public or private schools. You might think you can do more in less time at home, but in my experience there's not that much wasted time in a good math classroom, and you're aiming to at least match that experience. Be patient with your ds, but set the expectations high. Hopefully in a few months he'll feel a lot more comfortable with Singapore.

[JBJones]

We did DM last year and I would not do it again.

 

We probably took 30-45 mins to do a lesson

 

 

We are doing Lial alg this year. I should have done it last yr.

Not to hijack this post.....but, could you please expand on why you wouldn't use Discovering Mathematics again? My DD is in 5th grade and I'm in the process of figuring out what we will be using for 7th grade (after completing Singapore SE 6A&B.  Thank-you for the info.

[Penelope]

My sixth grader spends an hour a day, but I've been considering whether he needs to increase that a little bit. He usually quits when the timer goes off, but if he is close to finishing a practice set I encourage him to push through.b

 

The hour doesn't include time, if any, used for instruction by me, watching the AOPS videos, time helping him with a problem, or time spent on Alcumus (that's just fun! :) ).

[letsplaymath]

I used to say an hour a day from 6th grade on, but with youngest dd I'm finding that the Charlotte Mason concept of shorter lessons works much better. She can work for about 20 minutes, and then her brain is worn out. Thinking is hard work! And when we do Buddy Math and skip the busy-work and the stuff she already has mastered, we are finding that 20 minutes a day is enough so far (almost finished with AoPS Prealgebra). Most days, we do a second 20-minute session of enrichment math later in the day.

[RootAnn]

My oldest usually spends about an hour on math per day. Sometimes it takes a little longer & sometimes it is a little shorter. It is just the right amount for her because she's completely burnt out after that long. She doesn't like to do any subject for longer than an hour. She'll read for several hours, but only if it is a book of her own choosing. :001_tt2:

[Guest ufmba97]

We're finishing up with Singapore Math 7B right now.  We use the textbook and the workbook.  There is a huge difference between Singapore 7A/7B and 6A/B. The middle school textbooks/workbooks can be extremely challenging (and I consider myself to be good at math). I recommend the teacher's manual and worked solutions for both.  We do about half of the textbook problems in a day to cut down on the amount of time, choosing one or two of each type of problem. If they miss the concept (i.e. they miss the problem) we can do a similar problem from the ones we didn't work at first as extra practice.  We finish the textbook first and then go on to the workbook for that chapter.  The workbook goes from hard to harder in my opinion. If you look on the website you'll see that 75% is considered an "A" for Singapore math so don't expect 100% especially with some of the harder topics. I like that Singapore makes the students really think and understand the concepts being presented. It's definitely not just memorizing formulas and plugging in numbers.

[Chrysalis Academy]

My 6th grader spends an hour a day on her main math lesson, then we do a 2nd session later in the day focused on problem solving.  That way we can move forward with math concepts, but really practice and struggle and experience grappling with hard problems.  But, it's decoupled so that her anal mama doesn't worry that we're taking too long on something!  The afternoon math session includes no expectations about how much we'll get done - it's just ~30 min. dedicated to solving problems, puzzles, word problems etc. in math, science, logic, etc.  But the experience definitely transfers to the main math lessons! I really like this model and imagine we'll continue using it in jr. high.  We're slightly "ahead" in math, so I don't feel like she needs to spend more minutes per day at this point, but that can always be re evaluated later.

[dee67p]

DS 7th grader is finishing Saxon Math 87 laboring over an hour on average each lesson. We often use a youtube teacher's 10" lesson (Erica Johnson) to get him better acquainted with the topic. 

[FriedClams]

Last year I asked my then 7th grader to spend about an hour a day working hard on her math book. When her time was up she finished whatever she was in the middle of and called it done for the day. The next day she just picked up where she left off the day before.

 

Eta: She was using Lial's prealgebra for most of the year.

 

This is so funny to me and the way my kids work. I have one kid who could spend an hour doing nothing, especially if they knew they'd be "done" if they waited it out long enough! LOL!!! I love that different techniques work for different kids.

 

We do "a lesson a day". When you finish the lesson, you're done. Some days take 20 minutes (my 7th grader is in Saxon Algebra 1, but we just started so it's still really easy), some days are really long (1:15ish). My 6th grader is the same - some days are long (Horizon 6 with LOTS of long division and 16 4 digit x 4 digit multiplication problems), some days are really short.

 

I think you just need to try a few things until you get your mojo and find what motivates your kid.

[RootAnn]

This is so funny to me and the way my kids work. I have one kid who could spend an hour doing nothing, especially if they knew they'd be "done" if they waited it out long enough! 

 

I have kids who are like this too. I give my kids a certain amount of time - not an amount of lesson. (So, yes, somedays they get more than one lesson done. Other days, they might only get a few problems done - but I've introduced a topic & they've 'discovered' it so the next few days go much smoother than if we just plugged through the problems without discovery time.) HOWEVER, if they aren't working during their time, they have "homework." 

 

I have kids who will discover they are constipated right when it is math time. So, 20 minutes can go by before they are back out of the bathroom. That 20 minutes doesn't count for their math time. They have to make it up later. 

 

If I gave them "one lesson" - it would crush dd#2 who struggles with math. And dd#3 wouldn't be able to go at her own pace (which is sometimes 1 1/2 lessons - 3 lessons a day). If they've put in good effort & are done with a lesson with a few minutes of time to spare, I'll let them go early.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

This is so funny to me and the way my kids work. I have one kid who could spend an hour doing nothing, especially if they knew they'd be "done" if they waited it out long enough! LOL!!!

 

Here too!

We use a combo of time and work completed/effort.

 

ETA: We spend 1-2 hours a day on math.

[janainaz]

I understand that Singapore math is a bit different from Saxon, but my son was in 7th last year, and math took on average of an hour to an hour and half per day.  Saxon gives about 30 math problems per lesson (not sure about Singapore), but I made my ds do every single one of them.  5th grade was our year of dawdling.  6th grade was much better, and by 7th my son knew that he was not done with school until math was done.  He was welcome to take 3 hours, but if he was still doing school at 6pm, it wasn't my problem.  However, he is pretty strong in math, so if I had a child who struggled a bit more, I'd certainly be more gentle and not overwhelm to the point of frustration.

 

I believe math is a subject that will take longer through progression.

 

 

[dbmamaz]

I used to sit with my son when we started (well, 8th was a wash, so starting in 9th) and i think we did about 20-30 minutes a day because thats all he could manage without getting too anxious (he definitely had math anxiety).  We stuck with 20-30 minute lessons . .  he's not motivated and i dont think he'll have the emotional stability for 4-year college, so for me it was more important to work on skills without stressing him out.  We went summers, too, and completed a book a year.  

 

We used the upper level singapore (starting in 9th) and it worked well, because he hated algebra and didnt have to do algebra more than 2 months straight . . . but at the end, the scope and sequence was so different than US, i wasnt sure where to go next.  I had actually done an algebra review with LOF, and now he's doing an MOOC 'college algebra' as a review of algebra 2 - he really needs the reviews.  And he'll take pre-calc in community college next year.

 

Different path . . .  

[Lizzie in Ma]

We use Thinkwell so with that as well as the extra practice sheet dd works 30-45 minutes a day on math.  Depends on the lesson, some things are more familiar and easier than others and those lessons go faster.

[My3girls]

dd11 (6th grade) is doing an hour of math a day.  We were splitting it up with 30 min in the morning and 30 in the afternoon, but I feel like we are moving in slow motion.  It seems that it takes her 10-15 minutes to get her brain in math mode then she only gets a few problems done in the remainder of the time.  We are going to try just toughing out an hour and see if she is more productive this way.  I started the year with the lesson a day strategy, but she's a dawdler and would take twice to three times as long to get things done as she should.  She seems to work much better with the timer.  Someday, we might get somewhere. :glare:

[Momling]

My 7th grader is doing SM6 and does an hour and a half. It something like 20 minutes to work orally/on the whiteboard to do the textbook lesson and 30 minutes to do the workbook and 10 to stare off into the distance. Then we work a few CWP5 problems which takes another 20-30 minutes.

 

My 6th grader does SYRWL Maths 3 and does an hour and a half too -- a similar breakdown of oral/written/gazing-into-distance. It's not like they're working solidly and quietly for 90 minutes - there's a fair amount of explanation, confusion, questioning, gnashing of teeth, high-fiving, wiping tears, you know...

[Twilight Woods]

my 7th grader is currently spending an hour a day on math.