Update:
DS6 spent a week or so trying math in ways other than Singapore.
He read one of the Sir Cumference books and another plot-based one on geometry ala Egyptian pyramids. They did nothing for him. Blah.
Bummed, but not bowed, we tried some of the online math sites. He goofed around a bit for a couple of days, but he just didn't enjoy anything he did. He was actually asking "When can I get off the computer," if you can imagine. Strike two.
So I decided to let him write his own math problems for himself. He was all excited about it, so I thought I had a winner! Yippee! The only problem: the problems he wrote were ridiculously hard! It was crazy! So we were right back to the disinterest, only now he was throwing in tears of frustration as a bonus! We went down swinging!
Today I said, "Screw it. We're going back to Singapore."
He was as happy as a clam with it.
I had to nudge him a little (as always) to stay focused and not get distracted with questions about unrelated subjects or with just staring off into space. But he did his math, he did it well, and he didn't argue, whine, complain, cry, etc.
I think perhaps we were just having a bout of "the grass is always greener." A week of actually tasting the other pastures seems to have cured him.
Thank goodness! This was one looooooong week!
