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Ideas for Math Struggles – Please help!!
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My 10 yo is really struggling with math. He has always struggled with it but he is falling farther behind. He is an avid reader and a creative kid so this is hard for him. He wants to excell at it because he wants to be an engineer and put his creativity to use in that way. And so this struggle is hard for him in many ways. So here is where we are and this is what I see. Any thoughts would be helpful.
We are just now doing double digit multiplication with regrouping. We have been here for a month. Some days he will get a few problems right but most days he doesn’t. I feel like he knows how to do the problem but he gets confused mid step. He confessed to me last week that “I have so many things in my head that I am thinking about that I look away to think about Archemedies (he is reading) and when I look back down I forget what step I am on. He is getting really frustrated. I do not feel like it is disobedience. But I do think there is some habit of attention that we can focus in on a bit more.
This is often a struggle for him in other areas of life when I am giving him instruction he is often thinking about other things and will come and say “mom I didn’t hear all you said”
So we have decided to focus on this habit of attention but would you stop with math for a bit – or keep at it? And I also feel like doing Rapid Recall would help him. I don’t think he has mastered all of his multiplication so often when he looks away it is to think about what 8 X 7 is and then he gets side tracked. So I kinda know what I need to work on but would you guys stop the math or keep making him do it? He is a naturally obedient child and he wants to learn but this is causing great frustration for him.
All ideas helpful – even if you think my thoughts are way off.
I would have him do about 2 problems a day, enough to keephim in it but not enough to overwhelm. And if he can stay focused for those 2 problems, count it as a success.
Nebby
This might sound completely off the wall, but you might try letting him chew gum while he’s doing his math. I have one child who is similar in some ways to what you describe above. In asking around to a few parents who had even more serious attention/distraction challanges I heard several recommendations that involve engaging the child’s “other senses” or motor skills, thereby giving the primary mind skilll (math focus) less desire to wander. Gum chewing and sitting on an exercise ball while doing seatwork have worked wonders for us. Both strategies and particularly the gum (such a simple little thing) has worked wonders for my DS 9.5.
Agree also with Nebby above. Just a few questions a day, or otherwise VERY short lessons of your current program might change up his mindset and help him really “feel” the successes more fully. Sometimes long multiplication with regrouping and for that matter long division can take time, and it does feel odd to spend such a long stretch simply “getting it”. If it makes you feel any better, my eldest son (not the gum chewer mentioned already) is really quite “mathy” and even he went through this “longer-time-to-get-it” on multiplication and division. He continuously forgot the steps! Boy, was he frustrated that he couldn’t get it down quickly! He just needed the extra practice on all those steps in these kinds of math questions. Although 3-4 weeks felt like a long time (to me and to him) because he’d always gotten everything else so quickly, in the end, the extra practice and the continuity paid off; he’s a pro at it now (took a good month though).
Hope that helps.
I am totally in agreement with the two problems a day – done with focus. Can you sit with him and gently redirect when he starts to wander? Maybe do some preliminary work each day by having a sample problem with steps worked out on an index card that you go over before he starts – then refer to the sample if he gets confused, as well as redirecting to his work if his attention wanders. It shouldn’t take too much of your time each day – if you are just doing the two problems.
This year we have started keeping a math journal (my 13yo). She is in Algebra1 but sometimes gets confused by arithmetic that she hasn’t worked for a while – like percents – or by rules like multiplying and dividing negative numbers. When we come upon those situations we enter instruction for the problems in the math journal – step by step, with examples worked out. When she has a question she knows to go back to that reference book she is making for herself – her math journal. She is a creative child also, so sometimes makes cartoons or decorative pages to illlustrate the concepts.
Maybe starting a math journal would be a good way for him to feel like he has some control over this concept – when he needs it, the reminder will be there.
Totally agree with the math journal. Since he is creative he can make it any way that pleases him. And having him make his own entries step by step will help solidfy it in his mind. I, too, have the problem of attention even at my age (51), and I find that making creative things to help remind me of what I am supposed to do really helps a lot. Just yesterday I made a cute little reminder card to help me remember to pay the bills on time! Embarassing but true…
Dianne Craft has some suggestions on teaching math processes to more right-brained children:
http://www.diannecraft.org/math-program/
I use these strategies with my ds12. I work example problems on a personal-sized white board. I continue to work them (large, in color) until my son says “I can do it” and wants the white board for himself (usually happens quickly – he loves using a white board). So, for example, for multi-digit multiplication, the bottom numbers would be in different colors, and each would take a turn with the top numbers. I have my son working daily in skill-specific workbooks (we use Kumon). We work through all the problems at his pace, depending upon focus and difficulty. As an aside, my son does almost all of this work on a whiteboard. One problem, on a blank space seems more manageable to him.
Right now, he is on long division and we have been here since October. I am okay with the length of time because I can see that he has mastered three-digit by two-digit, with and without remainders (finally!). He will continue working a lot of practice problems for this skill and then we will move onto four-digit by two-digit and four-digit by three-digit. Agreeing with others, doing a limited number of problems per day can help. I would rather have my son’s complete focus and best effort for 5 problems, than be practically badgering him through 10. I usually do a few on white board for review (especially on Mondays) and then he can ask me to work an example problem for him as needed.
LOVE the idea of a math journal!
HTH,
Stephanie
Regarding his career path… I was similar when I was young. I was creative and wanted to be an engineer to put design to a practical use, but I was not naturally good at math. Then I discovered the profession of industrial design. It is a wonderful field for creative types that like creating practical solutions. A bit like engineering, but more centered on design and way less math.
Something he may or may not want to explore. Just a thought! 🙂
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