and careless mistakes.
Once again, my ds13 is dealing with math anxiety. I'm talking about full-on gets hot enough to start sweating if he sees something new, or if he's confused about something, or if he makes mistakes. He often shuts down.
Background: NC is notoriously bad at teaching math, so though he was first identified because of math ability and he entered Duke Tip because of a math score, he has increasingly lost his love for math and his confidence. He's not fast but used to be accurate. I think he's tried to push himself to be faster and has lost his accuracy.
He's in a compacted 8th grade/High School Math 1 course. He skipped 6th grade math altogether, and although I suspect he didn't miss much, when kids in his class are reviewing concepts, many times they are new to him.
This year is particularly hard on his confidence because if he doesn't show all his work, all his steps, he gets things wrong or half credit. He recently failed a test because of careless mistakes and the teacher said that it was obvious he understood the material but the careless mistakes got him. His response? "I must be dumb. I can't do it."
Sigh.
Of course, I don't accept or encourage that powerless approach to problems. DH had the idea that more practice would help him learn to calculate quickly and accurately. Sounds reasonable. But how do I help his confidence? I feel like this is a kid who has repeatedly gotten the shaft where math is concerned. We tried a tutor and he was simply wrong in every way.
