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If you are a "math lover", please help me decide


Deanna
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If you are a math lover please help me figure out what to do with my ds 8 who is very bright but hates math. We are currently in Beta of MUS and 2nd grade R&S. I do not burden him with pages of work, but all of it is laborious to him. I originally bought R&S to teach the facts because I felt that maybe we were struggling because we didn't know the facts well enough. That didn't solve our problems. He gets the concepts easily, but he seems to take forever to do the work. I'm totally open to a new curriculum, but I don't know what to do, or what to buy. Do I continue as is, and tell him sometimes we have to persevere with things we don't like? I don't want him to think math is awful if there is anything else out there that might help us. Any thoughts?

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I'm not a math lover but I don't want my kids to have my negative math feelings, so it's been important to me to find a math curriculum that each kid likes. My 8 year old was using MUS and hated math, so I finally bought RighStart and changed our focus. We read a lot of math picture books now too and play a lot of math games. It's time consuming but it has really paid off. Today I overheard ds telling dh how great math was today.

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When my dd was at that stage, I got her a Flashmaster, greatest thing ever. I know it's pricey, but it is WELL worth the money, oh my. I also got her some easy drills like the Abeka Tests and Speed Drills books (try going back to 1st or 2nd gr and letting him work forward at his comfort). They are timed and have short, do-able sections of 30 seconds to a minute, nothing major.

 

I'm trying to remember, and I'm thinking 30-35 minutes of math a day (total, including drill, everything) was the max for my dd at that age. If you cut back on written math and have him do more electronic drill, he'll cover more, faster. And if it were me, since he's not enjoying himself, I'd make a radical change in curriculum. Ask him if he hates one or both of the things you're using. If he likes the MUS, you could keep that and replace the R&S with Flashmaster drill. If he hates both, then I'd toss both and start with something new. Starting with something new is what we did when we made our change (at the same age, btw), and it gives you a fresh place to start. Since it's new, you could go back a book in your new, prospective curriculum, back to where the material is easier. Then he'd get used to going faster. Meanwhile have him working on the Flashmaster diligently, as in 20 minutes a day even, to get him truly faster. I give my dd little tally sheets and she earns things as she does sessions on her flashmaster. It groups the practices, so for each round she completes, she can tick off another mark on her tally sheet, earning another nickel toward her prize (a really cool catapult to assemble, got it from RR). I've done the bean jar thing, and that was good too.

 

As for what to put him into, if you decide to change everything, BJU is working out really well for us. There's lots of good stuff out there, so take your time, get samples, let him try things, and see what happens. For my dd, having 4 pages all upfront, like in Horizons math, was overwhelming. She is a visual learner and responds well to the color in the BJU math. That type of thing is underrated, but for some kids it's really important. I know for some kids it's a distraction, but for her, getting the visual component and the fun extras and the stories and whatnot of the BJU math made a huge difference. We also backtracked, doing an entire grade level of the BJU math (3) in a couple months along with lots of drill to get her faster. Then we went back to the BJU 4, where she belonged conceptually, and were able to move forward much better. Now she's doing BJU5 and is just fine. I understand what you're saying though, how a dc can be fine conceptually but really need some extra work or work in a different way to get those facts to click! It was really exasperating for a while there, and making a change is HARD. So take your time, consider his learning style (visual, auditory, social, etc.), and look at everything. I'm sure you'll find something to fit him.

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I would suggest that you get a copy of one of Cathy Duffy's books from the library. She helps you assess your child's learning style and tells which programs are better/worse for that learning style.

 

I never drilled math facts because I figured that they would get memorized with use. Ds is still not the fastest, but fast enough for me. We tried Math-It but found it tedious. Ds liked playing the Jump Start computer math games back then.

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