BA 3 questions

[displace]

If we skip the star questions, is that ok?

[wendyroo]

I wouldn't.

 

If a kiddo isn't up to working them on his own, then I would ask guiding questions to help him through them.  If even that was too much, then I would talk him through my thinking as I solved them.

 

If he was consistently struggling with most of the starred problems even with hints and scaffolding, then I would reevaluate whether he was ready for BA, or if it might be better to wait 6 months or a year and try again.  

 

My DS is a very accelerated, mathy kid, yet I still held off on BA 3 until he was all the way through Math Mammoth 3.  Even now we are using BA as a supplement and moving through it slowly so he can get used to coping with a curriculum in which he does not always immediately know all the answers.  He just started Math Mammoth 5, but he is still being appropriately challenged by BA 3d.

 

Wendy

[Guest]

I wish there weren't stars. DS thought he'd have a hard time before he even started them, but invariably they were just as easy to do as the rest once he figured out what needed to be done.

 

Eta no I wouldn't skip. I'd work through hard ones with him so he internalizes math is a process, not a know the answer right away.

Edited February 10, 2017 by OKBud

[displace]

I'm conflicted. DS needs a lot of scaffolding d/t his disabilities. I'm convinced DS understands the concepts but he cannot do a lot on his own because of simple mistakes, disabilities, and keeping multistep processes in his head at once.

 

I may go back to Singapore and do BA as a supplement. He likes the comics but I think his brain needs something more straightforward for practice. And the way we work together is strained because of his frustration and needing me to intervene so much (but not wanting to do it my way).

[LMD]

I don't skip them but more than once we've used the solutions and worked it backwards on a whiteboard.

 

There is a learning curve with BA!

[Farrar]

I think the starred problems are an integral part of Beast. It's a cornerstone of the AoPS philosophy that kids should struggle through hard problems like that - at least some of which they likely cannot do on their own. It's through trying, failing, trying again, finally getting one, going over the solution to the ones they can't get, etc. that the learning happens in Beast.

 

If a kid can't benefit from that, I think Beast likely isn't the right primary program for them.

 

I think if a kid enjoys the comics and doing a few of the problems, then that's great, but pair it with another program and let it be the fun supplement. It really does not have to be right for all kids. I know there's such a huge mania for Beast in the homeschool world right now, but it's not the right program for a lot of kids, many of whom may go very far with math, love math, be "mathy" or become really good at doing those types of hard problems at a later stage in life.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Farrar

[Guest]

He likes the comics but I think his brain needs something more straightforward for practice. And the way we work together is strained because of his frustration and needing me to intervene so much (but not wanting to do it my way).

 

I agree 100% with Farrar, especially with the relationship issue.

[displace]

Ok. I think I have my answer. Onward and yonward!!