DS8 is also an avid reader and fan of science. Math- not always so much. One problem is that at this age so much of what they are doing is memorizing math facts which is, frankly, boring.
Ixl didn't do it for him. But we have had some success getting him to understand that math can be fun by letting him play games like Electric Company on PBS kids (graph work) and dragonbox (iPad game that has no calculations but teaches you the basic rules of algebra through a solitaire type game- really fun!). He's starting to get that there is fun math ahead but that we have to get through these math facts to see more of it. When he's really frustrated with math facts we set them up as algebra problems (7x=21) and that somehow makes it more fun for him. My husband is also excellent at finding every day math things for him (eg. asking him in the car how long it will take us to get to our destination based on our current mph and distance left). All of this helps build that excitement that I think is vital to slog through the math facts.
