Kidlit Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 How do you handle having your children check their math work? Do you have a process? Do you actually TEACH them how to do it? At what age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaMary Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I've just started having my 7yo check his own multiplication problems using a calculator. He's slightly sensitive about getting things wrong, and I find it takes a little of the pressure off when he can discover and correct his own mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 DD13 is to do her math lesson (Saxon Pre-A), then check her answers against the key. She is then to put away the key and rework the ones she missed. I do the second check and she shows me where in the process she got the problem wrong. ONce I check her work (the second check)...that is her grade on the lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia7278 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 My kids have 1-2 pages a day and a math test on every 5th day. I go through them daily, circle what's wrong and they do corrections later in the afternoon. To make it go faster, I buy the teacher key starting in 3rd grade. It really doesn't take much time and I admit I get some satisfaction at sitting at the table with my colored pens, coffee, and teacher keys. It's nice to see where they are successful and where they need extra help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Are you asking about grading or proofreading over their work? For the former, they don't. We grade together until they reach the point that I am no longer their teacher. For the latter, they sit beside me when they are little and I pont out errors they make as they make them by asking what they did and make them explain to me so we can discuss what they did incorrectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Proofreading is what I'm after. I'm talking addition, multiplication, subtraction here--the practical aspect of it. Do you make them re-do every problem? (I mean, do you make them re-do their work to check it?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 We use RightStart Math, so I'm almost always sitting across from each girl, talking with her about the HOW of the problem--RS is designed that way. What I'm talking about is the practice problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 My older ds will look over his completed math while I read off the answers. Saves me looking back and forth between paper and book. Sometimes when one is incorrect he can see why immediately and he fixes it. Usually if he's having a real trouble with a math problem he asks me for help and we work it together, so there's no real need to check things later because he asks for help with things he's struggling on. I'm always available for help while he's doing the math rather than later when it's getting checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetterthanIdeserve Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 This year I started checking math with my 8yo. I showed her how to use the answer key and how I wanted her to mark incorrect answers. After doing that for a few weeks, I started having her check her answers on her own. She is supposed to bring me her work after it has been checked and we go over wrong answers together. I did have to go back with her at one point and we did it together again for a few days. It's been going well, and I probably could have started her doing that earlier. I still grade her tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I have found it to be much more helpful for my kids if I check their work as they go along. I would rather check each answer (or a couple at a time) rather than let them make a mistake throughout a page etc. They make fewer mistakes and seem to learn faster with immediate feedback. They have to find and correct their own mistake before moving on to the next problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 So no one requires your children to double-check their own work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I did. I used Saxon. We started this in 4th grade, I believe--I mean, proofreading, trying to catch her own mistakes before I looked it over. So, she'd have the lesson with me, I'd get her started on the practice problems (the "homework" part--the independent part), and then we'd move to the next subject, and she'd finish the rest later in the day. The next morning, before I checked her work for accurate answers, she went over it herself to see if she'd made any careless mistakes. She didn't have to rework things, exactly, like she was starting from scratch, because all her work was right there--it's like reading a paragraph, not rewriting one, if you know what I mean. I don't grade homework. It's either done or it's not, so if it's done, it's 100%. Homework is not a test, it's practice. I don't expect everything will be correct every time. But we did correct work before moving on. Sometimes it was just oral corrections, sometimes redone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Yes, I taught it explicitly, with a list of procedures that was taped to the table. If he came to me with a mistake that he should have caught, I would not tell him what it was, but would instead send him back to go through the list again. I think he was about eight. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 It looks like the OP is really asking about working problems backwards to double-check that they were done correctly, and is NOT expecting her young DC to actually grade their own completed work. Example: Student text: 123 + 456 = _____ DC would answer 579, and write out 579 - 123 = 456 beside the original problem. My younger kids are using Horizons for math, which asks them to do this fairly frequently. Usually when Horizons tells them to do the check problems I have them do just one row or a couple problems, to make sure they stay familiar with the process. Otherwise we use this on an as needed basis. I do not add more checking unless a problem has a mistake they can't find on their own. Much like I would ask them to diagram a wonky sentence when they can't see the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 It looks like the OP is really asking about working problems backwards to double-check that they were done correctly, and is NOT expecting her young DC to actually grade their own completed work. Example: Student text: 123 + 456 = _____ DC would answer 579, and write out 579 - 123 = 456 beside the original problem. My younger kids are using Horizons for math, which asks them to do this fairly frequently. Usually when Horizons tells them to do the check problems I have them do just one row or a couple problems, to make sure they stay familiar with the process. Otherwise we use this on an as needed basis. I do not add more checking unless a problem has a mistake they can't find on their own. Much like I would ask them to diagram a wonky sentence when they can't see the problem. I do occasionally do that with my ds. Although we do it orally. He understands the concept. I don't do it every problem though. Ones he struggled with definitely. It would be like rewriting a whole Saxon assignment all over again. shudder. ;) I'm happy with oral checks and discussion at the moment. It's easy to tell where he just made a simple mistake and he knows it, or where he truly doesn't know how or why to get the right answer. Oral checks together help me see where he needs review and reinforcement in certain skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Proofreading is what I'm after. I'm talking addition, multiplication, subtraction here--the practical aspect of it. Do you make them re-do every problem? (I mean, do you make them re-do their work to check it?) I have taught my kids the process of proofreading (we call it "checking their work") at around the age of 7-8 yrs. We are required to do annual standardized testing in our state, so I've always taught it in the context of preparing for the math section of the Iowa. I don't require my kids to check every problem as they work through daily assignments. That would double their workload. Normally I just mark problems wrong. They have to correct them and then explain why they got it wrong and how they got the correct answer instead. Occasionally, I will see a series of sloppy, computational errors. In that situation I would tell them that several problems are wrong and they need to "check their work". Then they have to go through and check each problem to find which ones are incorrect. They hate having to do that, but it encourages them to be more careful as they work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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