Math frustration...

[vaquitita]

Last year my 6th grader switched to beast academy and did books 3b thru 4a (was planned to get thru 4b, but life got in the way). He loved it, did it on his own, all our math frustrations melted away... Fast forward to this year, he's working on 4b but is not working on it on his own At All. I'm having to walk him thru every problem and I feel like I'm doing the math, not him. This cannot continue. I know math is important and I'm willing to work with him every day, but I can't sit here for every single problem. I have four other kids to teach.

I find myself tempted to switch him to something else, but I don't know that that's really the answer...

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Are the lessons harder? Does he need you to actually teach him, model some problems, and be present while he tries practice problems, before assigning homework sets?

If he understands the lesson, sixth grade is too old to require at-elbow supervision for every single problem. Why do you think he won't do his homework? Is it just math, or other subjects, too?

[vaquitita]

Looking back, I guess this has really just happened since we hit venn diagrams and factorials. Maybe it's just the topic. 

[homemommy83]

I would give him some problems in various topics that he has covered before as a review and see if he begins working more independently.  If he does you could continue using your math tutoring time on this topic all the while giving him review questions for the bulk of his lessons independently.

 

Brenda

Edited August 30, 2018 by homemommy83

[8filltheheart]

I suspect that last yr he had already covered everything bc he was in 6th grade covering 3rd/4th grade math he had already learned somewhere along the way via a different methodology. He has probably hit content he doesn't already know, so now he needs direct teaching. 

I am not sure what your motivations were for moving a 6th grader to 3rd-4th BA, but if he is not actively engaging with the material, I would probably switch back to a more traditional math program with more direct teaching. 

[SilverMoon]

I'd vote for trying something without the discovery method also. Horizons math is a spiral program that gives small bites of several concepts a day, and the skills grow stealthily. It worked fabulously in my house. When he gets past those topics elsewhere Beast could be a great review to solidify them.

Fwiw my Beast lover uses something else for his main math program, and Beast is a fun extra we pull out on the side. He enjoys BA, but he doesn't have the forbearance for Beast to be his primary math at this point.

[...................]

On 8/29/2018 at 7:55 PM, 8FillTheHeart said:

I suspect that last yr he had already covered everything bc he was in 6th grade covering 3rd/4th grade math he had already learned somewhere along the way via a different methodology. He has probably hit content he doesn't already know, so now he needs direct teaching. 

I am not sure what your motivations were for moving a 6th grader to 3rd-4th BA, but if he is not actively engaging with the material, I would probably switch back to a more traditional math program with more direct teaching. 

Agreed. Horizons was good for my child who tended to lean on me.  She used Horizons all the way through 6th grade and it served us very well.  It was easy to use and only when new topics came up did I even need to bring out the teacher's manual.  The review kept everything fresh and the little splash of color made it pleasant to look at.  A few years with Horizons will set him up nicely for Algebra and Pre-Algebra.  Make sure you place him correctly though.

When we did the discovery method using AOPS with our son for a year, he forgot everything by the next year and had to essentially re-do that year of math. So, be sure to use the placement test and place correctly.

[RootAnn]

On 8/28/2018 at 8:49 PM, vaquitita said:

I'm willing to work with him every day, but I can't sit here for every single problem. I have four other kids to teach.

I get this. I have five kids. Every one of them needs direct teaching in math - some of them need it every.single.day. (DD#3 needs a lot of practice right now, so I sit in the same room while she does the problems. She tells me the answer she gets after she's done every problem. If she doesn't know how to attack it, I help with questions or give her a hint to get her started.) I can teach the concept. They can do some problems. Then, they can go off and do some more problems of that type & review problems. The next day, we have to generally fix problems, then do another new concept. Or, we spend the whole lesson time on fixing problems. Depends on the kid. Math in my house requires lots of mom-time. [Eldest has outsourced math, but she still sits with us & DH or I end up helping when she's stuck. Her teaching is w/a live online teacher. So, she gets both the teaching and parental help.] Sometimes something else needs to give to make time for those pesky subjects like math, spelling, and (in my house) reading.

[RenaInTexas]

I don't think BA is a math curriculum that can be learned independently for most students. Though many can do BA as a review independently.

I agree with others that you may need a more traditional math curriculum that can be used more independently and use BA as a supplement.

Glencoe Course 1 or Glencoe My Math 5 (you would need vol1 & vol2) comes to mind. Both can be done independently and there are youtube videos covering pretty much every single lesson for both - just search by the course name or course name + lesson number : one example. Alternatively, you can search for the topic of the lesson and find good youtube videos to help him do math more independently. There is also Khan Academy.