Long story short, it looks like DS7's school is going to accelerate him about 1 1/2 years in math (about the middle of the third grade). He just started second grade.

Simple background: We left DS's former school last year because of the lack of a coherent differentiation strategy.

Now, DS has gone from having no required homework to coming up with about 45 minutes per night, most of it math. I know I can't have it both ways- if he's accelerated in math, he must complete the curriculum and homework, end of story. I completely get it.

The thing is, there is this asynchronicity issue, where DS responds to homework like a seven year old, not a nine year old. I'm trying to figure out how to get him through this homework each night.

First, has anyone faced this issue with acceleration-- kids are able to handle the intellectual side, but have maturity issues regarding work expectations. Care to commiserate?

Second, proactively, does anyone have a good ideas to keep my DS focused, organized and not a burnt out shell of his former self (tongue in cheek) while meeting work expectations?

Reading assessments occur next week- I predict that (with the exception of reading aloud anxiety) that DS will do well, and may also be accelerated in language arts (more homework?!). Yikes.

Thanks

Which math curriculum does your school use? Is it different from last year's? How many pages of math homework does your DS bring on average? Who proposed this acceleration?

I'll commiserate! But I don't have any solutions.

My son went to a private 6-12 school for the last two years where he skipped from 4th to 6th the first year and then from 6th the 8th the second year. He was in Algebra I the first year and geometry the second year (so two whole grades with an additional grade for math).

There were two main issues with the skip(s). The first was that, except for math (where he was properly placed), the two skips weren't enough from a cognitive standpoint. But from an executive function standpoint, they bordered on too much.

So we are back to homeschooling this year.

We're homeschooling. It's true that children don't automatically do the schoolwork you want. But at least we don't have to worry about any external expectations.

Does his current 2nd grade teacher expect that the 2nd grade math homework should take so long each night? Is it just a lot of work that he already knows how to do, or is it work that he's actively learning and that's why it takes awhile to do?

Have you asked about the math homework requirements in 3rd grade? Is there a general expectation that math homework should be x minutes each night, increasing with grade? Or is it possible that his current teacher is a teacher who gives out a lot of homework, but the 3rd grade teacher might be a teacher who doesn't give out much homework at all?

If he's taking as long or longer than expected by his teachers *now* to do his math homework - at this point in time - I'm not 100% certain I'd accelerate him. If it's just an issue of the teacher assigning a ton of problems there are ways to work around it. If the problems are repetitive, ask that he only have to do a small # (1-3 or whatever) to show that he knows how to do them. Or ask that he be allowed to have a set time that he works on math each night, and once that time limit is up he is done with math homework for the night.


Our kids have, for the most part, not had issues with work expectations when subject accelerated, but otoh, our kids also weren't at a school that required 45 minutes of homework a night in 2nd grade - our school district guidelines are 10 minutes total homework per night per grade. I will also admit that in early elementary, I didn't worry about my kids not completing a homework assignment - as long as I knew they understood how to do the work.


I'm sure I'm known as the mellow-about-acceleration parent among us, but if subject acceleration meant putting my child into a situation where they had to do what I perceived to be an excessively large amount of homework, I'd keep them where they are at and instead of acceleration offer after-schooling *IF* they wanted to.


Keep in mind - some of that "more" homework might actually be fun, depending on whether or not your ds likes language arts, what books the higher level class is reading, what type of homework assignments he'll get etc. What I'd do is ask around among parents you know what their experience has been with 3rd (or whatever) grade Language Arts.

Good luck with your decision - let us know what happens!

polarbear

master of none, thanks for the tips. We're pretty much doing what you suggest.

To answer questions:

1. His math curriculum is Singapore math

2. The school had the students complete a math assessment and placed him based on the results.

3. Last year was a Montessori math curriculum- prior to that he was at another school that didn't work out, especially in math - so most of the new material that he learned came from me.

4. He brings home about 6-8 math sheets per night + one language sheet + a reading requirement

5. He seems to be doing okay with doing the homework so far, but I notice that he is very tired after a full day of school, homework, and a few nights of extracurriculars. It doesn't leave much for playtime and downtime- which he still needs a lot of.

6. Most of the math (so far) is not difficult for DS. I suspect the middle of the 3rd grade is where he landed because of learning gaps- if he fills them in quickly, it's possible he could be accelerated quite a bit further, which could increase the load. I need to clarify his trajectory with the teacher.

7. It's still early days, but right now, I need to participate at a low level with the homework. The maturity issues extend to things like "read the directions, look at the examples," or "show work to increase comprehension and/or prevent silly math errors."

Thanks for the input- I may need to conference with the teacher and sit tight for a few weeks. He hasn't been in school for long this year and I want to give the teacher a chance to weigh in on homework expectations, etc.

I have not had those issues, however, the homework requirement in our SD for early elementary is supposed to be 30 minutes per day, all subjects combined, max. If it was taking your child longer than that, the teacher wanted to know so they might make adjustments.

Also, you could consider asking if he could work on his homework during the school day when he is done with the regular classwork.

ETA: I just saw your update, and 6-8 math sheets a night seems like far too much, IMO. I would want to know why so much???

over 3 years we've tried 3 different "solutions" to math acceleration which were each various degrees of failure (1st grade -- extra puzzle homework (useless but sometimes fun; 2nd grade -- independent worksheets while the rest of the class was doing math (not challenging or engaging); 3rd grade -- joining the 5th grade class (OK but had to miss other classes due to the timing not being aligned. Also still was not sufficiently challenging).

This year the school is as frustrated as we are and they are letting us homeschool just for the math portion but take the tests in school when he's ready (do homework on his own while the rest of the class has math; Im hoping this cuts down on the too much homework problem too)

there's no easy solution! Good luck and keep us posted

Thanks howdy. Doing it during the day may be an option. I would like the teacher to weigh in on the challenge word problems- maybe that's what he could work on at school. DS needs to learn to show his work- the problems are getting harder, and doing it in his head may not cut it for much longer. He does not want to hear that from "mom."

It may be that he will need to make some adjustments to the Singapore method, too. I started my #1 on SM with book 2B (it sounds like your son is on 3A or 3B), and noticed that the first year was markedly harder than the year my #2 (who started from kindergarten with SM) did the same levels. There are terms and strategies that he may not be familiar with, that he would have encountered if he had gone through the earlier levels. And patterns that he already has, which SM may require him to re-learn or adapt. In our case, we did not see any need to go back to catch those, it just made our initial foray into SM a little more uphill than it would have been otherwise.

I would echo the general rule of thumb about homework, which is 10 minutes for every year of grade, all subjects combined. In addition, I would point out that homework at the elementary level is valuable solely as a means of building work habits. The research does not support any academic benefit from doing homework, if classroom instruction is effective. (In fact, there is some negative correlation between amount of time spent on homework and academic performance, past a certain point. At the secondary level, the volume of reading and content to be covered does support assigning some homework, but no more than 2 hours.)

Some possible homework adjustments: complete only sufficient problems to demonstrate mastery; hard time limit of 30 minutes on homework, with parent signature to indicate that this is what was completed as of the time limit; first x items written by child, remainder scribed responses; odd/even items only; circled (priority) items only.

I also notice that the SM teacher's guide lists most days having 2-5 pages of homework from the workbook, extra practice, or CWP books, plus 1-3 pages of in-class practice from the textbook. It sounds like the teacher may either be assigning in-class practice items as homework (not advisable, as that removes opportunities for guided practice and discussion), or possibly doing two lessons a day.

Does he make a lot of mistakes doing the problems mentally?
Be careful, because all this "show your work" may not be working with gifted kids, because problems are way too easy for them. In my experience, they feel the need to write down their calculations only when they absolutely have to, when the problem is interesting but hard to figure out mentally.
As for the SM... I don't wish to disappoint you, but it will probably get worse. In my area only private schools implement the so-called SM - namely, the program, which is called "Math in Focus - Singapore approach". This is just a weaker and diluted version of a real SM, but approach must be the same - a lot of meaningless homework, a lot of writing, drawing, and a little of understanding. The main idea of this program (at least, in our local implementation) is "do not think, just do 10 pages of homework exactly the same way your teacher told you in class"
A couple of my students were struggling tremendously last year with this program mainly because of a huge amount of homework. 4th grader, for example, had 10(!) pages of homework (which requires a lot of drawing) every evening, and by the end of it he was like a zombie, unable to think and unable to explain what his homework was about.
To make a long story short, I wouldn't recommend another skip namely because of a huge workload demanding a lot of writing and drawing. However, my advice is based solely on my experience with local schools, in your area the program (or rather its implementation) may differ.

Thanks for the input everyone. ash- here's my thought (which probably isn't the "right" way). I think the only math homework of high value to my DS are the applied problems- particularly the challenge word problems.

He picks up calculations so easily and fluently, that I could probably teach him the remaining elementary school level calculations in about an hour per week.

The applied work is what he needs more of- puzzles, word problems, analytical problems, etc. He needs to develop strategies to solve these problems such as developing a matrix, lists, etc.

Porosenok96- let's hope that our math program isn't predicated on enormous amounts of busy work. Otherwise, I will be back asking for strategies on homeschooling!

Porosnok96- I didn't answer your question. He makes a lot of mistakes on challenge word problems. Most of the errors are due to careless reading - when I make him go back and re-read the question out loud, he usually picks up his error.
There are a few that need at least a few written notes- there's just a lot of information to keep mentally (he doesn't write anything down). There is usually one (the last one) that benefits from some form of a list or table to solve.

Porosenok,

That is a shame that schools in your area are implementing SM this way. If you look at the teacher's guide for the original SM and its pre-HMH revisions, this is not how it's designed to be used. (Granted MIF is an Americanized version, so probably complete with all the mindless busywork that is so beloved by USA curriculum designers.) A day's work should consist of a number of hands-on exploratory problem-solving activities, a number of in-class worked problems, then about 2-5 pages of widely-spaced problems for homework (often about 10 problems per lesson), with plenty of space to write in-between them. The tests, admittedly, are pretty intense, and start right up from first grade. Of course, I used it for homeschooling, so I was free to omit anything that I felt was unnecessary or unhealthy for my children.

Off topic, but this is exactly like my DD10. She learns anything calculation-related in an instant, and does it flawlessly (it's not just mechanistic--she will easily understand what the process is as well), but word problems involving any type of logic and "how do I arrange this to solve it" are much harder for her. I've not been sure what to make of this as a skillset. I don't know if the issue is carelessness, lack of practice, or something else. She swings a little towards the ASD spectrum and I've wondered if it's related.

My DS8 is very high in math skills and much lower on verbal/social skills, and is sometimes thrown off by word problems. I believe it is purely a comprehension issue, i.e. not really math related. Sometimes it is life experience related, e.g. he doesn't understand what "Bob owes Fred $5" means.

Yes, I would expect this pattern in a child with lower verbal skills, but DD is a very "even" child, with strong skills in both math and verbal areas. Last year she got exactly the same raw score on both sections of the state standardized test, for instance. However, I personally notice that she sometimes has trouble with drawing inferences, at least compared to where you would think she would be. She also is kind of low on common sense at times.

Warning, Pet Peeve ahead:
All this bleating about differentiation meeting the cognitive needs of every child, but as soon as a child is accelerated, all this reverence for differentiation goes out the window. I was going to post a similar rant in the other recent "torn about homework load" thread - what is so hard about differentiating for executive function in the higher grade instead? It must be so much easier than differentiating for content, all the suggestions aeh made about reducing the quantity of the homework load so much more manageable than having to differentiate for higher quality and more challenging content...but it feels that teachers revert, probably in many cases without being really aware of it, to a primitive mode of "serves you right, it's you who thought was so smart that you needed to skip.."

Did you talk to the teachers to see if they expect the homework to take this long? If not then talk to them about the issues your child is struggling with. They might be able to help you out. Also sometimes it might take a month for the child to get into a manageable routine after the acceleration. So give him some time and if it does not change then talk to the teacher.

ultramarina, I guess I was meaning "much lower on verbal/social skills" (at least the social part) as being vaguely kind of similar to "swings a little towards the ASD spectrum".

My DD10 is having a similar experience. She skipped 2 grades in math this year (went from grade 5 to grade 7). She is being taught 7th grade math by her fifth grade teacher, which I think is nice because he is relating to her as a 5th grader, not a 7th grader.

Anyhow, we are swamped with homework as well, it takes us 2 to 3 hours per night to do homework, which is borderline insanity, IMHO.

When I ask DD if the homework is too hard for her, she says no, its just right however, it is the actual amount of homework (think 4 pages of 10-20 problems each).

Out of curiosity, I asked other 5th graders who are not accelerated what their homework load was like and the standard response was "minimal, 30 minutes per night". Out of curiosity, I asked some 6th graders who are in 7th grade math what their homework was like and they felt it was challenging, but not overbearing, around 1 hour per night.

Out of curiosity I asked the teacher about the quantity of the homework and he explained that he has to figure out the missing gaps of the students and assign them math work and IXL strings that will help them practice the skills that they accelerated past but still need to know.

Personally, I feel that once we overcome the shock and workload of acceleration and get used to the workload associated with filling the learning gap it is going to be much better. For instance, I am optimistic that next year when DD is in 8th grade math, but has filled in her learning gaps and finished her 7th grade math program from this year, she is going to be smooth sailing from that point forward.

DD has a great attitude about the workload and missing out on extra curricular activities and not being able to play like she was used to. I think she will value her holiday time a lot more then she ever did and am hoping that next year will be much smoother going forward. Until it becomes a problem for her, I am not going to let it be a problem for me.

PS...we did not request this acceleration, it was given based on her NWEA scores, her MEAP test scores, and a 5th grade math placement test. So this was not a matter of be careful what you wish for you might get it; however, that being said, it is nice to see DD on fire and passionate about math and school again.

My DS is almost 7 and is doing 3rd grade math - he needs to do 3-4 pages of math homework every weekday with a mix of computations and word problems. He is a very fast worker. In the first 2 weeks, the homework took as long as 30 minutes only for math (excluding the LA and the weekly test reviews) which was surprising to us because we are used to him finishing the work in 5 minutes in previous years. I had to sit next to him to talk him through the process. But, in the last week or so, he is doing it in under 15 minutes, accurately and completely on his own.
So, I suggest that you wait a couple of weeks to see if things improve - it could just be that he is taking a longer time adjusting to the requirements of acceleration. And as for the word problems, ask him to slow down, pick out the "key words" in the problem and circle them first and then solve them. This is what I tell my DS to do - and it has improved the accuracy.

Reviving an old thread because it's personally relevant. We used Singapore international standards editions for grades 1-2 math. We purchased the texts and Challenging Word Problems 2. To complete the text lessons and about 1/10th of the word problems took about 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week, in total for one year. IOW, not at all onerous; this was more about building the habit of being a diligent worker and learning how to learn.

I was a fan of Singapore for my son in the early years, as the method doesn't require repetition, and it moves to abstract reasoning more quickly than other methods.

For grades 3-4, we used the AOPS Beast Academy texts, one per year, as bedtime reading and mental math on weekends. With 30-45 minutes per night on weekends, you can easily keep pace with the content on a 1-course-per-year basis. For grade 3, DS initially needed to jot down some notes until he adapted to doing the problems in his head; for grade 4, he did it all as mental math. (For those who like portable learning, those books are terrific.) It wasn't a rare occasion that DS would insist on reading Beast Academy texts past his bedtime for fun. They're adorable.

For the above, I wanted DS to demonstrate about 90% mastery to move on, and to avoid perfectionism. IMO, it's healthy for 100 to be elusive.

The work DS' current teacher assigns him tends to run about +2-3 years in math, but feels too basic to DS. He probably spent about 30-40 minutes per week total on school-assigned math this past month. We now supplement with AOPS and play with some of the AMC problems in the evenings for 20-30 mins on weeknights for enjoyment. I find the AOPS classes are a bit dragged out, and an eager math student can comfortably complete the courses at double speed through self study on the schedule I described above.

Caveats/considerations:

1. DS' pace may slow down as he moves into the grade 11/12 sequence at AOPS, though, because the material will be less familiar.

2. I will also note that the time estimates may skew fast because he dictates and I scribe for him for his "bonus" math after the first few questions.

3. We don't cover every question in AOPS. Usually, he's able to solve the initial problems, so we skip most of the exercises and do only the challenge problems at the end of the chapters (the ones with the *s) if he seems comfortable with the material. On topics that require more work, he may do some of the exercises.

Reviewing this post, I realize I might as well get an AOPS tattoo!