Originally Posted by Cola
I'm not sure at this point if there is anything I can do other than just help him as much as I can and hope next year is better for him :-(

This is exactly it.

I am glad ds11 came to terms with (show your work) early on. It seems he has a deeper understanding now then he otherwise would have. I know its a pain but I do not get the you shouldn't have to show your work take on math. It sure helps you move ahead when you jump into a “rigorous” stage of math work, especially at a younger ages.

I very well could be wrong but it seems to be clicking for my ds who has always been a math kid and totally hated showing his work on the easy stuff.