beth83 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 My sweet oldest daughter has always loved math and really excelled in it, to the point that I considered her an advanced learner. It came so easy and she blew threw all her Horizons math books (1st and 2nd, always a grade ahead). The spiral was getting a little redundant for her, and I didn't want it to become busy work, so we switched over to Math Mammoth 3 recently. She went from loving math and excelling to being in tears everyday. Everyday. It's just such a different format that what she was used to. It breaks my heart to see a kid who loved math, wanted to do math every day, and exclaimed it was her favorite start to feel stupid and have anxiety come over her when it is math time every day. It really started with mental math in MM. She had never been exposed to it before in Horizon and she just can't get her brain to think that way. Is this expected sometimes? My heart hurts so much for her right now and I'm at a loss as to what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 It could be that Math Mammoth is overkill. The pages are a little overwhelming. Maybe take a step back. Personally, I think the mental math strategies are important....but if they aren't learned early in your math education, I totally see how they are confusing and difficult to pick up on! I had trouble picking up on them at first! Just keep plugging though. Try different strategies...games, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Not sure what MM has for mental math in 3rd grade, but if she hasn't had much before she might need to step back to second grade mental math. My dd started Beast Academy in 3rd after Public School, but her mental math wasn't solid and BA assumed a good grasp on adding and subtracting up to two digit numbers. We just stepped back for that and then jumped right back in after she'd learned enough methods to feel comfortable. We used Singapore Math and also Liping Ma's book on teaching Mathematics, but I think Education Unboxed has some good videos as well. They are free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Agreed, step her back to a previous level maybe so that she can get the mental math more solid. MM may not be a good fit, though. Try stepping her back and if that doesn't work, maybe look at doing Beast Academy 3A just to try out the program, but probably do it slowly, with the two of you working together, until she gets her sea legs. Or she might do better with something like CLE but I would try stepping her back a level in MM first since you already have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Tears are not ok. They are a sign that something is wrong. Take a break for at least a week, and try something different. Ruth in NZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 FWIW, my kid is advanced in math and can't do mental math to save his life. I learned to let that go early. If the concepts are being understood and mastery is demonstrated on paper, move on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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