Problem solving stamina - maturity or instruction?

[CadenceSophia]

I have an 8 year old, 3rd grade DS who is a year accelerated with Singapore right now. We have pretty much achieved this "only one year" acceleration by taking long breaks of not doing any curriculum (sometimes because of family stuff like moves and babies, sometimes because of extended travel. I feel very guilty about this although I don't want him further accelerated, but more enriched). We are just starting our school year now after coming back from a 2 month road trip and DS expressed some regret that he had taken yet another break from math and could have been done with these books already. We decided together just to let him finish SM books through 6b, which if we don't detour and he doesn't have trouble (which I don't anticipate at all) he should finish some time this summer, give or take. We only do IP and some CWP and each book takes him about a month.

So that's the background. I am not too worried about where we will go next. I'll probably "decelerate" him into BA 3a. (Maybe I should have posted this on the main board since we are not planning on being accelerated for very long lol). We tried BA this past spring and it was not a fit because he didn't really want to work that hard, even when he had all the skills needed, in the very first shapes chapter for example. He mostly just wanted to draw funny monsters and the constant "that's a cute monster but you need to work the problem now" line got repetitive, which was met with mounting frustration in his response, "I tried it already. You said it wasn't right so I don't know what else to do".

I have dreams of the AOPS track but if BA doesn't go well a second time I am thinking about MEP 7-9 and Foerster's.

My only BIG PAUSE in this plan is that I am wondering if I am failing somewhere to teach him problem solving stamina and methods to tackle really unknown/out of the box/unexpected application problems like you find in AOPS. I know that not everyone prefers to learn by figuring out the details on their own, many prefer to stay with the details and then move to the whole (à la Foerster's I suppose).I just don't want his lack of hard-problem-tackling to be my own teaching failure or failure to provide an enriched enough environment.

So I guess my real question is, do you wait for maturity and adjust the challenge of the curriculum for the child in front of you, or do you teach problem solving and stamina in some methodical, well planned way. If it is the later, please do enlighten me. :)

FYI: I have a degree in math, but my elementary and middle school math education was terrible, high school passable, so I taught myself everything in college. I have been reading, researching and learning to try and offer my kids something much better.

 

Edit: Oops! Totally meant to post this on the AL board. Not exactly a curriculum related question.. Is there a way to ask to have it moved? 

Edited October 31, 2016 by CadenceSophia

[maize]

Have you tried a buddy-solving approach? Either working a problem together or alternating problems, with you sharing your thought process as you go?

[CadenceSophia]

Well, we do everything glued at the hip. He is an extrovert and will not do an oz. of work all day long without me (exceptions being piano, free reading, and anything on the computer) so I am always right there, teaching as needed and catching little errors so he can redo any problems before moving on to the next. He doesn't need much for the basic Singapore problems. The "Take the challenge" problems and some of the harder problems in CWP I will work out with him, but honestly those problems are so random in the extra skills they need that if I solve one, it's all over and he didn't learn anything. I do talk them out but he usually tries to wait until I talk close enough to the solution lol. I could use real details if there is an art here that I am missing.

 

One thing we are going to try is adding a cork board to our school area called "hard math problems" and letting him pin up some of those stumpers so he can come back to them, maybe in a few ten minute sessions a week. Haven't started this yet though so I don't know how it will be received.

[maize]

Some of those Beast Academy ones involve trial and error, you could offer some small reward for every solution he attempts on the way to figuring out the right one.

[letsplaymath]

Maybe try focusing on problem-solving strategies for awhile, perhaps with one of the Ed Zaccaro books?

[CadenceSophia]

Well he does challenge math every day. "Average challenging" he finds fun. He and his dad are in the midst of a running pattern problem competition right now. (I think he's better at patterns than my engineer dh :) ). We have a pretty good selection of broad and challenging stuff including Zaccaro but getting better at solving challenging problems isn't exactly the same thing as wanting or being willing to work really hard, ya know?

[Mr. G]

So I guess my real question is, do you wait for maturity and adjust the challenge of the curriculum for the child in front of you, or do you teach problem solving and stamina in some methodical, well planned way. If it is the later, please do enlighten me. :)

 

A bit of both, for the most part, I waited for maturity and adjusted the challenge of the curriculum to fit my children. I also gave problem solving opportunities along the path, but first and foremost was equipping them with skills and giving them opportunity to use them creatively. I think it was easier for my kids to do off-the-beaten-path challenging work when they REALLY owned the tools needed to solve the problem.

 

So when they were doing 4th grade work, we used a lot of "challenging" 2nd-4th grade work, they stretched and grew in their problem solving once the basic tools were mastered because they weren't fretting about how to calculate ____ or remembering the definition of ~~~~~

 

 

Well he does challenge math every day. "Average challenging" he finds fun....We have a pretty good selection of broad and challenging stuff including Zaccaro but getting better at solving challenging problems isn't exactly the same thing as wanting or being willing to work really hard, ya know?

It's good that he finds "average challenging" fun. That's where you want him to be. Don't be greedy trying to make your kid into someone that they aren't or you run the risk of spoiling the whole thing. Any time a child is enjoying math and finds it "fun" that's a win.

 

You're not going to be able to magically install the desire to work hard. The fact that he does challenge math everyday shows that he's willing to work hard, just not work "really" hard.

 

Gradually build up his skills, then apply those skills to harder and harder problems.

[CadenceSophia]

A bit of both, for the most part, I waited for maturity and adjusted the challenge of the curriculum to fit my children. I also gave problem solving opportunities along the path, but first and foremost was equipping them with skills and giving them opportunity to use them creatively. I think it was easier for my kids to do off-the-beaten-path challenging work when they REALLY owned the tools needed to solve the problem.

 

So when they were doing 4th grade work, we used a lot of "challenging" 2nd-4th grade work, they stretched and grew in their problem solving once the basic tools were mastered because they weren't fretting about how to calculate ____ or remembering the definition of ~~~~~

 

 

It's good that he finds "average challenging" fun. That's where you want him to be. Don't be greedy trying to make your kid into someone that they aren't or you run the risk of spoiling the whole thing. Any time a child is enjoying math and finds it "fun" that's a win.

 

You're not going to be able to magically install the desire to work hard. The fact that he does challenge math everyday shows that he's willing to work hard, just not work "really" hard.

 

Gradually build up his skills, then apply those skills to harder and harder problems.

Thank you this is really valuable. I don't *think* I am trying to push him into something he isn't or is not ready for. (I read these boards and I am embarrassed by how little school we actually do and how little I actually do push my kids). I just want to avoid screwing up where I can ;) I admit I have dreams of him doing AOPS but that is just because I want to play with AOPS. I'll survive just fine if it never ends up being a fit for him.