Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Tips for mathy child

Starting a club would be a great idea, if you can find enough interest. We live near a major city and spent a lot of time driving to events, including a Math Circle, over the years. DS tried to start a club in our area and there is very little interest so it never really took off.

Re the tutor, DS did an online Python course when he was in 4th or 5th grade and it was over his head. Neither of us could help him so we contacted a local uni and got a tutor. The two of them deviated from the online curriculum quite a bit but he loved it.

We wanted to slow down his learning in math so we would buy the AoPS books and he would go through them with a local college professor. Afterwards he would often do the online AoPS course.

Each kid is different so we just have to find out what works and keep doing it. Good luck!!

If looking for a unique series of math instruction books, Life of Fred may be of interest.

Each of the children's books is named alphabetically (Apples, Butterflies, Cats, Dogs, etc). College level books are also available in the series. Each lesson is built around a simple story in the life of cartoon character Fred Gauss, and provides the reason why such a calculation would come in handy.

While some kids love this approach, others do not enjoy it. The author is a Christian pastor, some people do not consider the books for that reason.

My son is similar. He is in third grade and goes to a STEM focused private school with small classes and one teacher for every 8 students. The kids are taught math by a math teacher. The school tries to differentiate by splitting kids up into math groups by ability. Until recently I didn't think most of the work they are doing challenged him. While teachers noted that he was the "highest in his grade" it was almost like they had a lack of imagination about how much higher he could go.

The school has recently started using an online program called Matific for homework and enrichment. Teachers set the kinds of problems that kids work on and then receive reports so they can not only see where kids need reinforcement but also where kids are excelling. Since we started using Matific I have noticed a real shift in my son's teachers' understanding of his math ability. They are not only giving him problems one to three grades ahead but also pulled in a math specialist to work on enrichment with him. The specialist told me that my son is starting working on pre-algebra and that the team is meeting weekly to make sure he is being challenged and doesn't plateau.

While I was skeptical about Matific because it looks like a game and the grade-level stuff seems very easy, the head of the math education team at Khan academy (who is also an educator who has specialized in gifted education with an emphasis on math) is a parent at our school and she told me she has spent a lot of time looking at other programs and thinks Matific is excellent because it provides rich conceptual content.

In addition to the online enrichment, my son's teachers don't expect him to do as many problems to show what he knows but instead let him do a few of the difficult problems and then move on to enrichment activities like logic puzzles, which my son loves.

Generally, our approach at home has been to supplement with interesting math-related activities that do not replicate the curriculum at school and are focused on conceptual math, not arithmatic. My husband was a math kid who now has a Phd in math and he is focused on sharing his love of math with the kids. He says he never loved arithmetic but instead loves conceptual math; my son is similar. We read about and discuss concepts but we don't do any practicing or workbooks because my husband is convinced that arithmetic drills kill a love of math. We do read the Life of Fred books (as a treat- the kids love them). We love the book Very Big Numbers (by the author who wrote Counting on Monsters). My son has participated in a math circle, which he enjoyed but not enough to sacrifice his quiet afternoons at home when he gets to daydream and do whatever he wants. My son is hot and cold on Beast Academy so we don't regularly do it. There is an excellent book called Challenge Math that my son has really enjoyed. We aren't consistent about it but periodically go through a topic my son is interested in.

There is a book called Developing Math Talent that has solid advice about gifted math students.

Although Kumon is a traditional way of learning that uses worksheets, it still has its own value. Smartick is also a great new learning tool nowadays that students can easily get attracted by the content. I usually use Beestar that contains great learning materials and new learning ways for students, which makes learning interesting.

Welcome, JasonW!

I would recommend Art of Problem Solving for mathematically oriented children.

You can also get some math curricula like singapore math (with the intensive practice book and process skills word problems book) or beast academy online. I'm not sure how much they cost in your location.

Math Mammoth also sells downloadable workbooks by specfic topic so he can learn addition with carrying without having to go through a whole year's worth of busywork. He might like addition and subtraction 2b (introduces carrying) and the factoring worktexts.