Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Trying to find readiness level-math

I'm trying to afterschool DS to meet his math requests but he's running out of patience with me. I'm doing this as an attempt to hold him until the evaluations and recommendations come in from psych. He really hates his class. Very verbal class for very non verbal kid. He's 9 and in 3rd grade gifted class that is accelerated in Everyday math one year. So, I tried Aleks at mid 4th. He completed 4th in 2 weeks and 5th in one month and now he hates it. I tried Saxon assessment and it put him at pre Algebra but it's a very brief assessment and I stared with 6th. He got really angry with me trying to work through the 'what do you know' and trying to find the holes. Do I go to Pre Algebra and then at each area he doesn't have the background for, create the step by step to get him there? What has anyone done to the learning going again?

He might like Hands On Equations. It is an algebra with manipulatives program. There are videos of kids doing on utube if you want you son to take a peek first. Its not really that "hard" but its different to do stuff with hands and it could help get him ready for alegbra.
Also maybe read Developing Math Talent. Its got good suggestions for learning probability, problem solving and geometry for kids this age.
Chrys

Thanks so much! I'll take it back to the fun level. Life of Fred books ordered! I can't wait to look around at the other things as well

I've had a lot of difficulty with finding readiness as well. What I tried initially was Rightstart, but that petered out after awhile. So did Life of Fred because the story has "nothing to do with math". The only thing that took is Ed Zaccaro. We started with Primary Challenge Math and are now at Real World Algebra.

My son dislikes step by step instruction and prefers to "think" up the answer himself. He has a lot of holes in his instruction but seems to be picking them up as we go along. Sometimes, he flies through the material; other times, he needs more help. I bought Hands On Equation as a supplement for when he needs the extra help, but he prefers to use it sparingly. Your son sounds similarly impatient, so I thought our solution might be helpful to you.

Yes, he really dislikes the step by step instruction. What is that? He also will do anything he can to not use paper and pencil. He will sit until he can figure it out in his head. He loved some of the Murderous Math books we could get at the Library, so I'm hoping Life of Fred will help bring his enjoyment level back. When he's not so burned out with me, I'll try the Zaccaro book. We have Primary Challenge but I think most of it was done. Does Real World Algebra need much pre-algebra experience?

I wasn't educated in the US sequence of math but a look at the pre-algebra books implies it's a re-hash of earlier math concepts. My son is good with pre-algebra math concepts although he lacks (refuses to) practice. This is sufficient actually. He does algebra on a very logic driven basis. He has very little workings but I do demand that he write down what the definition of n is (just notation on the printed text), the opening algebra statement and finally, what n equals to. No working in between is fine because he's worked it out in his head, plus he's only turned 7 and has some fine motor skill issues.

Good luck to you! It seems like we spent so long trying to find a book/curriculum/level he likes and looks forward to working on, and we finally found something, whew!

BTW, since he enjoys his math in the form of problems, I'm considering Kinetic books for some added fun and excitement.