Encouraging my daughter in math

[skueppers]

My daughter is doing fine in math. She's about to start fourth grade, has finished Singapore Math 3B, does very well in standardized testing, can apply what she's learned in real-life situations, etc. 

 

She's an extremely methodical worker, who has always insisted on doing every problem in a workbook, even when the material was something she already had an excellent grasp of. 

 

I've generally taken the approach of assigning her an amount of math work each week that ensured she would finish the entirety of what I wanted her to accomplish by the end of the academic year. She has been free to structure her own time on work that didn't require my direct help, such that if she was in the mood to work on math early in the week, she might well finish all of her math work (other than drills) before the end of the week. 

 

This year, I'm trying to figure out a way to encourage her to finish her "basic" math work (that is, the stuff I specifically assign), and then choose from several alternatives for math enrichment activities. I can think of two ways to do that: 

 

1) Tell her she needs to spend X amount of time per school day working on math, but that if she finishes her regular work, she can do one of several other things. Possibly to include convincing her to accelerate through sections she thinks she has a good grasp on by doing every other problem or some such. 

 

2) Assigning a weekly block of time to math enrichment, and offering her a choice of activities during that time. 

 

I'd appreciate any thoughts you have about these ideas, or other approaches I may not have thought of. It's probably worth noting that I never give her math tests; I simply mark her independent work and require her to correct any errors. So any approach that involved tests would be a new concept for us. 

 

Suggestions for math enrichment activities, both for her and for her second-grade brother (a very intuitive math thinker), are also welcome. :) 

 

Oh, and I don't need either of my kids to accelerate in math, although I'm sure they both could. I'm more interested in wider-and-deeper. 

 

[mom2bee]

I think scheduling/assigning the enrichment might be the easiest, most straightforward way to go. So maybe schedule 2 or 3 sessions with Primary Grade Challenge Math each week, or do Hands on Equations on the weekends, that sort of thing.

[kiana]

Another option: Pick out several "math enrichment activities", any of which you'd be okay with -- and tell her to pick at least n, but she can feel free to do more if she finds them interesting.

 

ETA: If she's been doing well so far with weekly assignments, I don't think I'd go back to 'x amount of time daily' -- I think structuring for the week is actually more challenging and a good goal to work towards, and I would feel like requiring daily work was moving backwards. I'm not sure that I'd go with requiring weekly time spent either, as that puts the emphasis more on the amount of time spent rather than the quality of that time.

[Crimson Wife]

I would cut down the number of SM workbook problems or skip it entirely and then add Beast Academy. My DS does SM M/W, BA T/T and the end-of-chapter reviews from 1 semester behind on Fridays. I run BA behind SM because it is harder in general.

[skueppers]

Thanks everyone. I agree that requiring her to do a fixed amount of time on math instead of working until it's done isn't really the right answer to this. I *like* that my kids have the freedom to schedule their own work when it doesn't require my assistance/involvement, as I think that's an important life skill.

 

I'm just struggling to figure out how to encourage a little more creativity. She disliked Beast Academy when we tried it, and is not interested in trying it again -- she likes math that builds up the skills a little more incrementally, rather than being confronted with puzzles. I think my son's personality will be a better fit for Beast Academy when the time comes.

 

I think I'm going to try instituting a weekly "math lab" experience where there are several choices for things the kids could do, and if that doesn't work out, start assigning a "pick one of these three or four things" into their weekly math work. 

[kiana]

Some things you might want to check out for enrichment, then.

 

Singapore CWP.

Zaccaro's Challenging Math.

Math for Smarty Pants and the I Hate Mathematics Book from Marilyn Burns (these are more reading and less activities, but great reads)

Visual Manna's Math through Art (it's only $7.95, aimed at grades 3-8)

Sir Cumference Math Series (again, reading, but fun)

Murderous Maths series (again, reading, somewhat irreverent)

[Dmmetler]

If you can get a few kids together, there's lots of fun math enrichment you can do with a small group, and the kids tend to encourage each other.