Yes, the novelty seemed to help. And I think he thought something else would be more "fun." It turned out doing Singapore was more fun than the other stuff.
I think, too, that when it comes to math, he's got a bit of Goldilocks Syndrome. Most of what we've done has been too easy because he learns so fast. I'm not spending loads of time giving him dozens of problems he can already do, but if I give him even just a couple to check his knowledge, he's bored. Any review work is met with moans and groans, even active refusal to cooperate once, which isn't his style. (He was with the babysitter for this; she didn't handle it well, which is why I think it got to that extreme point.)
But the flip side of the Syndrome is that if the work is too hard by even a little, he does nothing but stare into space, or he just makes wild guesses.
I think HSing might be very important for him right now because I don't let him get away with these behaviors, and I think a classroom teacher would. I just don't want to make him hate math along the way! That's my big fear.
Thanks, Lorel. I'm glad I can talk about this here.
