How long does math take for 2nd grader

[workingmom]

We're using SingMath 2A and I never had this problem last year, he would just fly through the problems. This past two weeks its take a long time to do one section and where I would normally give him two exercises (about 4 pages) after the texbook, I feel like one is more than enough. I know that we need to work on drills and speed up the basic facts to 18, but since he was getting the other stuff and is now doing remaining and carrying, I thought just keep going and as he does the problems he'll get faster at the addit/subr from 12-18.

 

I don't want to stop the book work just to do drills, I was hoping to spend 3-5 minutes on pure drill work everyday and then do the lessons 4 times a week. I definitely don't want to end a lesson half way through just b/c I'm looking at the clock, but want an overall guage on what you spend on math for second grade.

 

Thanks

[LindaOz]

Honestly? About 15-20 minutes. I do watch the clock and have her stop after the time is up. And she still is achieving well and is ahead of grade level. It seems to work well here.

 

HTH

Linda

[annabanana1992]

We are using SM 2A for a second grader. We follow the guide with workbook and textbook pages each day. I do teach the lesson with the manipulatives, etc. We also do fact sheets (about 2), 3 CWP each day and run through flash cards. All of that takes 1 hour. I am a mathy person though... and my daughter likes it too...

[dcjlkplus3]

Here it depends on how well she is focusing. I usually have her do one page, front and back (2 pages total - sometimes 3). It usually takes about 20 minutes, unless she is distracted by her sister and brother, or whining really hard - it took an hour today (mostly whining) - when she settled down she did it in 10 minutes.

[Rosy]

I find that after about 20 min she isn't concentrating as well anymore and it's best to just stop (though I have a hard time letting her). If she's finished in less than 20 we'll do some drill usually. So 20 seems to be the magic number for us. :)

[Karen in CO]

I try to set the number of problems close to what she can do in about 20 minutes. I do fewer if we are working on a new concept and more if we are doing something that is easier for her. I rotate in days of CWP when she has mastered a concept or if she gets stuck on something so that she gets to rest the new stuff then come back to it fresh. We do games a few times a week in addition to math to review facts and stuff that was already mastered.

 

On those days when she is balking, it takes longer of course.

[TwinMominTX]

I made a list with our priorities for 2nd grade. Math was #2 on the list - only behind reading. I decided that the skills taught in 2nd grade were of such importance to later stages of math that we were going to spend as long as needed to get a really good, really firm foundation in math. All that said, we spend upwards of 45 minutes on math each day. Sometimes with games and such we are spending an hour on math. My girls aren't complaining, they enjoy it and we are making good, measurable progress.

[abbeyej]

I have definitely found that consistent daily drill (just a few minutes a day) cuts down on the overall time spent on math by speeding up the problem-solving in our conceptual math study. When I have slacked off on the daily drill, we actually spend *more* time on math each day, not less.

 

All that said, my 2nd grader only spends about 15-20 minutes a day on math. My fifth grader spends an hour or so. (for comparison...)

[fshinkevich]

We use MUS, and spread out each lesson to two worksheets a day with the test on Friday.

 

So we do 30 minutes of FUN math games, and then two MUS worksheets. So the times spent actually doing any sort of drill or anything is very little, the rest is sneaky math :D

[workingmom]

for those of you who are drilling, is it older concepts, or do you not move on until they have mastered the drills/tables, etc? I just don't feel we should but a hold on the "bookwork" to master the drills b/c he knows the problems it just takes longer since sometimes he's counting on fingers or trying to do the mental math rather than knowing the facts cold.

[Pata]

We are currently using 2A and dd doesn't know all her math facts cold, although she getting better and faster. We do the activity in the HIG, the text and one wkbk exercise, it takes us about 30 min. Later on in the day we use the MUS drills online to help her learn her facts. I still allow her to use manipulatives if she needs them. Hope that helps!

[8filltheheart]

I don't use Singapore and I haven't had to stop using our math books in 2nd grade, but I have had to close the book for a couple of weeks for several of my kids in 3rd grade for multiplication.

 

I have always been glad we have. We spend the couple of weeks playing math games, practicing math facts via Math-It, and doing no other math. By the end of 2 weeks, they have them down, open back up the book, and move forward w/o any problems.

 

I prefer doing 2 weeks w/o books in order to have 20 min math days and smiles vs. 45-60 min math days with frustration and confusion which leads them to resent memorizing the facts.

[Alana in Canada]

My daughter hit a wall with 2A at that age, too. We stopped and did something I found on-line. (Can't remember now. It has handwriting sheets and all sorts of stuff).

 

What we should have done is more drill--easy drill, add one, one day, add two the next add three and so on.

 

Then the same for subtraction.

 

Skip counting on the number board.

 

Games.

 

If you don't want to stop, have her do 1/2 of what you are doing now and back up to easy drill. Then slowly progress. And accept the fact that drill will be a part of your life for a long time :(

[workingmom]

Thanks for all the responses, it puts my mind at ease. I really appreciate such specific answers. I am going to go back to some easy drills, we played a ball game today with simple adding and subtracting and he liked that. I like Alana's idea of doing 1/2 a lesson and then some drills.

 

What is the MUS drill online?

[abbeyej]

for those of you who are drilling, is it older concepts, or do you not move on until they have mastered the drills/tables, etc? I just don't feel we should but a hold on the "bookwork" to master the drills b/c he knows the problems it just takes longer since sometimes he's counting on fingers or trying to do the mental math rather than knowing the facts cold.

 

No, I think putting a stop on math to do drills is a way to kill the joy in an interesting subject... We do drill for a few minutes a day on arithmetic that is easy (relative to what the child does in daily conceptual math study), but continue doing our regular math. (And if a child really hit a wall, I would continue with math games, a different book, etc...) Not *just* drill.

[Pata]

What is the MUS drill online?

 

Here's the link. I like it because I can choose which set of facts to work on, for example, this week we are focusing on making 10, +1,+2, doubles and -1,-2, subtracting within 10. She's at the point where she's doing 20 of them in about 2 mins and they are all right, so next week we will add another group, probably +9 and subtracting doubles. Does that make sense?

 

Here's another computer drill page just in case you don't like the MUS one. Hope that helps!

 

ETA: Forgot to say that the reason we use the computer is because my dd strongly dislikes flashcards and drill sheets!

[hmschoolmom22]

we use Horizons Math and she completes a lesson in about 20 minutes.

[TXMomof4]

We're using SingMath 2A and I never had this problem last year, he would just fly through the problems. This past two weeks its take a long time to do one section and where I would normally give him two exercises (about 4 pages) after the texbook, I feel like one is more than enough. I know that we need to work on drills and speed up the basic facts to 18, but since he was getting the other stuff and is now doing remaining and carrying, I thought just keep going and as he does the problems he'll get faster at the addit/subr from 12-18.

 

I don't want to stop the book work just to do drills, I was hoping to spend 3-5 minutes on pure drill work everyday and then do the lessons 4 times a week. I definitely don't want to end a lesson half way through just b/c I'm looking at the clock, but want an overall guage on what you spend on math for second grade.

 

Thanks

 

I just bought the home instructors guide and was shocked to look at their schedule. Honestly, I did the same thing. 1-2 exercises a day depending on the length. They don't have exercises from the workbook scheduled everyday. Somedays it's only the practice work from the textbook. If you can find the HIG just take a look at their schedule. It really eased the tension for me.