Thanks folks, just got a chance to check whether anyone responded on this! Grinity, that sounds like a very good idea, I did bring up review several times in July and August...but to little avail.
Remember that if a child seems not to take you up on a hint, you haven't found the right set of circumstances to make it attractive enough yet. There is no such thing as 'no avail' only 'that battle isn't worth fighting.' It's like the process of elimination - every fail is celebrated because it communicates to you information that you can use to make a better attempt next time.
I think explaining it in the terms you suggest will probably help - I wonder if this is the line between 'concepts' and 'facts' - stuff you get for a lifetime because it involves 'understanding' and stuff you have to refresh from time to time because there isn't much of a meaningful anchor, (until you get to really use it!) I am hoping we can work something with the teacher which focuses on bumping up the volume he works the problems, and making them more meaningful, and reduces the timed-tests to few and far between!
I see it more about 'concepts' versus 'skills' - skills just plain have to be practiced. I really wouldn't go down the road of asking the teacher to make them more meaningful, I would go down the road of 'this is a style of learning that involves repetition - lets look at ways to make the repetition as fun as possible.
I had been wondering about the game Math 24, which is a game which applies the math facts, I have gone around in circles in my head, wondering if he'll like it, hate it, benefit from it, ??? More and more I think we will give it a try as it seems to have defined levels which should make introducing it less shocking.
If anyone has any experience with this game, I'd love to hear more before getting into it...
I haven't played that game, but I would recommend you get it, and try it, and play it yourself for a bit and openly enjoy challenging yourself. You and he are working together to figure out how to get through the repetition with as much fun as possible, but in the end, it just has to be done, fun or not. You are giving him the gift of not having to be afraid of boring work. It's a lovely gift. Imagine the difference that makes to a person's self esteem!
He himself asked yesterday if he could switch to multiplication.com, it seemed fun for him and similar to timezattack in that he could focus on one table at a time, so hopefully that change of pace will help.
Just think of it as a big bunch of keys - one of them will fit the lock and open the door, but you just have to keep trying them, one by one, until you find the right one.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
