8th grade Math Time

[alisha]

How much time is appropriate for an 8th grader to spend on math? I know there are threads on here, some even recently, that have this suggested information, but I just don't seem to be searching for the right words to find them.

We're trying out using a timer/time frame for math instead of completing an entire lesson and starting with 30 minutes, but I want to know what to shoot for. Thanks!

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We do 60 minutes.  It is our most solidly time-blocked portion of the day.  My 8th and 6th graders work for the full 60 minutes, and my 3rd and 1st graders do 20-30 minutes during that time.  We simply build up gradually so that by Pre-Algebra they can do a full hour.  

[Miss Tick]

An hour gets my vote also. I can't be too rigid, though, or else I feel like I'm rewarding dawdling, or, on the other hand, pushing past the point of productive work. By 8th grade I try to have them look at the math content wholistically with me and rough out a plan by semester to help keep us on track. I make it clear that while I'm not wedded to the schedule, it will serve as a first warning if things start to go awry. Them we spend a few moments sadly reminiscing about the year we learned this and ds had to do algebra half-way through the summer. Whoops!

[8filltheheart]

An hr to an hr and a half. Depends on the day and student. Never really less than an hr.

[EKS]

I try to target an hour with the understanding that it may extend to 1.5 hours on occasion (this would be for both middle and high school aged students).  That said, with my bonus students, I don't have control over how well they focus when they're working on homework and so I occasionally hear horror stories from their parents about things taking forever.

[wendyroo]

My 6th grader sets a timer for 30 minutes of math to start with, then we check his work and he spends about 15 minutes making corrections.  Anything that is still vexing him at that point, I help with.  So, he typically spends 45-60 minutes a day on math.  I expect by 8th grade it will be 60-90ish minutes on average.

[Zoo Keeper]

An hour sounds about right-- but I had one child (2E, mathematically bright, but with ADHD) who had to have that hour split up.  After about 30/40 min on task, he was DONE.  We had two sessions of math per day.  This helped dramatically with the "I don't care what answer I put down, I just want to be done!" kind of mistakes. 🙂

By the *end* of his 8th grade year we were able to begin a longer once a day session to prepare for high school.

 

[wendyroo]

16 minutes ago, square_25 said:

I'd also aim for an hour 🙂 . I've never done less than 30 minutes of math, though, and we're up to an hour by grade 3.. although we're also up to middle school and high school content, so it's not surprising that it matches. I doubt it'll go up much from this. 

Off topic, but for my kids, math level and appropriate expectations often do not match at all.

My goal has always been to not let my kids' weak handwriting and ADHD attention spans hold them back from learning math concepts.  My oldest worked through AOPS Algebra 15 minutes at a time (two sessions a day)...he was certainly ready for algebra, but he was an ASD, ADHD 8 year old and 15 minutes was how long he could focus on math at that time in his life.

My 4 year old is currently working through a 1st grade math book, and typically I have first graders work on math for 15-20 minutes, but DD still only spends about 10 minutes a day because she is 4 and she has messes to make and somersaults to do.  😀

I think many advanced math learners are not equally advanced in their handwriting, attention span and executive function.  I have seen this trip up many parents when they either feel they need to hold kids back conceptually or push them to work longer and write more than they are developmentally ready for.