Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Are his math reasoning skills regressing??

I've had a puzzling experience this week. When ds was 4 (about 1 1/2 yrs ago), I discovered by accident that he could naturally skip count. I started skip counting by 3's and asked him whether he could continue. He did--skipped counted to 100 and then backward right through zero and into the negatives. He did the same thing skip counting 4's and 6's. (He had more hesitation and sticking points on 7's and 8's, but still very very very well.) He had no prior exposure to this and couldn't do the addition to figure out the answers. He didn't even pause between numbers--just rattled them off. It wasn't just that day, he could do it any time. When I asked him how he knew what # came next, he said, "I could see a pattern in the numbers." I would not consider him a kid who is intuitive about math, but he's an absolute whiz for patterns, logic, analogies, associations, etc.

Fast forward to now--We're homeschooling and have been working on Singapore Math (he's finishing 2B). His addition/subtraction skills have improved by leaps and bounds. He's almost learned his basic multiplication facts. This week I asked him to skip count by 3's---long pauses, hesitation, a couple of wrong numbers, and he finally told me that it was too hard and he didn't want to continue.

What has happened? I thought his math skills were improving, but now I'm not sure what's happening. Maybe he's trying to think in terms of multiplication instead of just number patterns? Why would he lose his sense for number patterns? Am I doing something wrong? Any advice?

I'm not sure but one thing is that maybe you have to practice math facts again, or practice skip counting again. Math is a skill like riding a bike. Maybe because you have moved onto different concepts, he has forgotten them. Probably just reintroduce them into your homeschool curriculum and they will come right back.

You might check on this but, if I remember correctly around K is a time when children forget something from when they were younger, it's developmentally normal.

DD has had a similar experience. One time when she was really little (I'm guessing 2) we were waiting in the car. For some reason I wondered if she could add and subtract. She rattled of all of her math facts up to about 15 without a thought or mistake. I assumed that kids just knew these things... and then last year we had to spend a lot of time remembering, or rather memorizing. My DD is not a mathy kid and I wouldn't say that she's a whiz with patterns either.... . It's funny that kids can do somethings naturally and then have to 'learn' it later on. I don't know what that's all about! I think that what everyone has said so far makes good sense.

Thank you all. I thought something really odd was going on, but it sounds like this is probably very normal.

When DD8.5 was three, I realized that she could add fractions in her head. We were baking and I needed to double a recipe. She doubled 3/4 cup instantly and did the rest of the recipe as well. Easy peasy for her. She couldn't explain how she did it, just said that the answer was in her head. Now, she is finishing grade three and seems to have no recollection of her previous knowledge of fractions. They weren't a big focus in math class this year, but it was like she was learning it for the first time. Once I taught her to change all fractions into pictures in her head (cutting pizza into pieces is her favourite), it clicked. For her, everything has to be verbalized or pictured. I am sure that is what was going on when she was three and doubling the recipe. She can't tell you how she gets an answer, it seems like she makes patterns and pictures in her head and then, poof, the answer appears. If she thinks too hard about anything or tries to break it down into steps, her ability decreases tremendously.

Kathleen's mum. I just taught DD9 fractions exactly like this. I showed her a simple fractions addition and asked her how to do it. She wanted to add top and bottom rows. So I told her to stop and SEE 1/2 and SEE 1/4 and to then look at it again and she was good to go after that, did a whole sheet of additions and subtractions of varying difficulties. It makes sense to me that your DD would have no trouble doubling measures in a recipe but might not translate that some time later to written fractions on a page.

Thank you for your example with your daughter. This sounds exactly like what I'm seeing here. It just came naturally when he thought in terms of patterns. Now that he's trying to think in terms of multiplication, it is much more difficult. It's a relief to know that he's not "losing" something with my teaching.

Nope, more like we are messing them up by trying to make them think like us! My daughter describes sitting through math class as the 'nails on chalkboard' feeling. She detests being told how to solve problems and struggles with basic steps (like addition) when forced to do things the 'right' way.