Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School whats going on with math?

so dd5 has been at school almost a year now. Great supportive school - very happy over all :-)

Any way before she started I would have described her math skills as very advanced ( about 3 -4 years) since starting school she has developed a hatred for the subject and very low self esteem about it. She is struggling to keep up in class. I have spoken to the teachers several times about it and I'm assured she is fine and just needs to be certain she is right. They have suggested some at home activities but I am very concerned. When I do even the most simple math problems with her at home she can't cope. We have gone back to using manipulatives for things like 8 + 7.

I know she is visual spacial but she is slipping further and further behind. I'm so sad that her love of math has disappeared, any ideas?

When my DD was in first, we had a bad period with math. I pushed for extension (not normally provided) and they had someone do small group pull out with logic and reasoning puzzles and it helped a lot. She wanted it every day. At home, we did games like Yahtzee and apps like The Room, and had to rebuild her confidence. It was so hard. She hated the repetition, and the questioning, that feeling like she was being tested on numeracy she knew. It created doubt. It's still frustrating at times.

thanks so much all - this is all quite reassuring - I really wondered if I was that delusional a year ago that I couldn't see she had no clue but I can really relate to the idea that the repetition could be scaring her out of it. She loves art so I'll def give those ideas a go.

Hi. ds9 went to school at five somewhere between stages 4 and 5 on the numeracy project stuff. They taught him to count on his fingers to add to 5. His teacher said you can't take 4 away from 1 and you always take the smaller number from the bigger, he said 3-4 is negative one. I ended up supplementing at home.

A few years ago on the forum there were threads on common core math, which may be of interest. For example, many families have expressed dislike for Everyday Math.

Some kids flourish with Art of Problem Solving (AoPS), Life of Fred, or other approaches to math.

My daughter is in Kindergarten and I'm just starting to look into this stuff, but, based on what I've read, it wouldn't surprise me if the problem is due to common core. I have always loved math and do math problems in my head just for fun, but it looks to me like common core has taken all of the fun out of it.