math drill meltdown

[vaquitita]

I am using strayer Upton practical arithmetic book 1 with my son. We are still in the beginning single digit addition section. Hes 9 this stuff is easy for him. He keeps asking me why I'm having him do so much easy math. Then we got to a page of 100 drill problems they are supposed to do in 3 minutes. This page is giving us trouble. It took 8 minutes the first time. He knows this stuff. He just won't do it quickly. Today we did it again. 14 minutes.

 

I don't know what to do. Do this page every day till he can do it? Ack the tears I will have to deal with. Or work addition up to 20 in other funner ways? Go to the dump, etc. Idk I make sure to keep school fun for my 7yo. Should I try the same for 9yo? But he just doesn't like school no matter what so I've kind of been coming to a suck it up and do it attitude with him.

[vaquitita]

Idk whether to press on till he realizes tears and whining won't get him out of the work or find another approach.

[MomatHWTK]

My DH, a very successful adult with a college degree, could NEVER do the timed math fact tests in the allotted time.  I could do the math facts in time, but was never really good at math and pursued a career that focused on language arts.  I would go for competency at his speed.  

[maize]

Try having him do it orally.

 

And don't stress if he doesn't get it down to three minutes. Maybe have him set a goal for himself--say, five minutes--and work towards that.

[kiana]

Stop timing it. As others said, competency is more important. 

 

Put it at the end of a school period so that as soon as he's done and it is correct he can go play. He will see the value of completing it rapidly and correctly so that he can go and play more quickly, but he will not have the stress of a timer ticking away at him.

[wapiti]

I would do it untimed and **orally** in case writing is a factor.

 

Is he having difficulty remembering facts in the context of more complex problems?  If he doesn't need the practice, I wouldn't do it at all.  I think he asked a good question:  why are you having him do so much easy math?

[Farrar]

If that had been me, at that age, having to do that - suddenly, new thing, timed drills, I can totally imagine how I would have reacted.

 

It would have made me insulted.

I would have dug in and not really dug out of my insulted position, thus making me less likely to cooperate.

It would have made me hate math.

If I tried to do it and saw I couldn't, since I started out thinking that it was an insult to my intelligence, I would have basically begun believing I was stupid at math and it wasn't worth trying.

So I would have stopped trying.

 

I don't really think timing is worth it. Why are you drilling him on it if he knows it pretty well anyway? There are things better than speed. And if speed is important, then I would put him on Timezattack or another game or play something that encourages thinking through lots of math facts quickly such as Muggins or 24.

[lea1]

I had one son who liked them and the other who hated them.  I dropped them and they have both done very well with math without the timed drills.  I think if they cause stress you can just drop them.  We do flash cards and that has ensured good fact knowledge.

[vaquitita]

It is oral. And the benefit I am aiming for is knowing math facts to 20. He knows them as in he can think and figure it out but when doing 3 digit addition that is slowing him down. He would have an easier time with 3 digit addition if his math facts to 20 were automatic. I did not mention 3 minutes to him at all today. I said see if you can beat your last time.

 

But I will either try untimed or break it down into smaller chunks and build up.

[Kathie in VA]

FWIW I think you are on the right path. Timing to beat his own time should be a doable thing. Maybe play some simple math games in between to work it in a fun way. He might get very encouraged once he sees his time actually get faster. You could also just start with a few facts n see how soon he improves on just those.

[Crimson Wife]

What I found that I had to do with my oldest was time her without her being aware that she was being timed. She'd be fine completing the drill within whatever the allotted time was, but would get anxious and choke if she had a countdown clock ticking away on her.

 

There was a study that found giving unlimited time on the SAT's did not change average math scores for boys but increased scores for girls. The really interesting thing was that the gender gap was almost entirely eliminated by having no time limit on the test.

[vaquitita]

I sat down and talked it over with my son, asking what was causing the frustration. The timing thing really upsets him. Anyway, we worked out a plan. I told him why we are doing these. And I discussed it from a you have to do this how do we get you there? angle. Hopefully having some input will help. We're dropping the timing and making flash cards (suggested in the book, I figured it might help as a kind of math copywork), we will do some simple math games to help him practice, and start with a smaller number of problems and build up. I emphasized the goal as the math facts becoming automatic, not doing it within a certain time frame. We shall see how it goes tomorrow. :D

 

I wonder if I copied the page out of the book and wrote the answers on it and let him study that would help? He totally understands it, so a little straight memorization here is fine.

[Heathermomster]

I would use the math fact generator over at the MUS website and allow him to enter the facts using a 10-key pad. Spend no more than 10 minutes and reward him with Skittles or M&Ms at the end for not complaining.

[Ausmumof3]

It sounds like the time limit is making him stressed.

 

One strategy we use for mental math drills is chucking a ball around. Chuck the ball to the kid they can't chuck it back till they have the answer. It gets a kind of speed flow happening and keeps my wiggly son focused. It also makes it a bit more fun too.

[Guest gudbramble]

 He will see the value of completing it rapidly and correctly so that he can go and play more quickly

[kiwik]

I don't get the person above's unspam spam but it is getting irritating. Could someone not on a mobile device report them for me?

[boscopup]

100 problems might be a bit overwhelming. I use CLE math for my little guys, and even at the 4th grade level, there are only around 40 problems or so. The 2nd grade level has 32. They also have you use flash cards, about 10-15 at a time. I used both with my then first grader last year (he was doing the grade 2 book), and then later through the level, I cut out the flash cards when they were no longer needed. He still does the speed drills, but I don't time them now unless he's dawdling.

 

Small amounts every day will really add up (pardon the pun). Trying to do 100 problems all at once to begin with just sounds like setting a kid up for failure.