Hello and help! What to do with a 6 and 8 yr olds who only do one question of math every 5 -10 minutes. Math is taking allllllll day. :shock:
I don't think I have any useful advice. I have a 7yo who "does math" like that. The only thing that's helped lately is that his TKD master won't let him test for his next belt until he does his math in a "timely manner" (as dictated by me) for 2 solid weeks. And Master made it clear that the belt can be lost just as it can be earned. He expects discipline and responsibility from his students and doddling in math exhibits neither. I was very thankful that Master initiated this plan. It's helped a lot. So... maybe a similar life-lesson?
We made it into a contest. If dd got her math done in under an hour she earned a point. Five points equaled a trip to the treasure box. Math does not get done under an hour every day but most days.
I sit with him and give him a time limit for the problem depending on how long it should take with a little leeway. Just giving him a time limit speeds him up. For mental math exercises I let him skip a question if he gets the answer in a specified amount of time. Maybe you can give them a time limit to finish x number of problems. If they do that then they are done with math. If not they will complete all the problems.
When this happens with us, I will sit with them and move them along at the pace I want them to move. We are talking about 6 and 8 year olds-still young. Still need help with motivation. I will ask them to read the problem, work it out loud, write it down then move on to the next. Of course, don't let the behaviour take root. What I do is help them through their laziness, then the next day at math, I will only sit for part of the time and give instruction to have the assignment done in 10 min, and set a timer. Then the next day I will pull away more, giving them instruction to have it done within 15 min. and so on. Pretty soon they have gotten over whatever was causing them to be lazy (being tired, bored, etc). They're back to working at a normal pace again. That being said, I also do not leave them with a boat-load of problems. I'll assign 1/2 the page. Get them correct and within the time allowed, then they're done. If not, they have to complete the rest. I usually will write on their workplans how long I feel the assignment will take. That kinda helps them visualize the day and even each assignment. I think that helps with teaching them to schedule. I hope this makes sense. It's kinda hard to explain. I mean to say I just help them through and I feel it's teaching them to motivate and work alone or with very little help from me. It's worked for me with my older two. Now I am doing it with my younger because she's starting to get the 'lazies'.
I have my children spend 25 minutes on math 2x per day. I focus on the time vs. the quantity. I find that if they know there is an end in sight, then they are more motivated to get a sufficient amount of problems solved. As long as there is continual progress, I am happy. I actually use this method on all subjects and have found it very successful.
At these ages, we use living math much more than work/textbook type math. We never used a curriculum until now and my son tested fine at the beginning of the year. We played games, used math in real life, etc We just started my oldest on MathUSee last week, this is our first full math curriculum that we are doing daily. We're also using IXL-it's computer game based so it's fun and not like doing math. (if you subscribe through homeschool buyers coop you save money) Timed drills might work-maybe offer small prizes (pieces of candy or dollar store toys, birthday party favor type toys, etc) for so many problems or an increase in numbers of problems in a set time....
Give him the following math problems: 1) You get to play outside once math is over for today. If there are 20 math problems in today's lesson, and if it takes you 8 minutes to answer each question, how long will it be before you get to play? 2) If it's now 11:00 and you'd like to go out to play at noon, how long on average must you take to complete each math problem?
My oldest is in 1st grade and she goes through stages. When she seems to be taking forever to do her math, I'll sit with her and walk her through the problems. I've noticed that the time she's taking isn't because she doesn't understand the problem, it's because she's so interested in everything else that's going on. If I can walk her through them and keep her attention where it should be, things go much quicker. Other days, she will fly through it in no time at all.
My 8 year old was taking forever on math! A page in his MUS book would take an hour and I was so busy with my other two kids, I didn't really care. But after awhile, I'd get annoyed and then sit with him and keep him focused and he would be done in no time. Then one day, I told him to get busy and he told me he wanted me to sit with him. At that point, the lightbulb went on in my head and I knew I was facing a pivotal moment. I've seen far too many cases where kids start out this way and come high school...mom is still having to hold their hand through their work. I whipped out the timer and told him it better be done in 30 minutes. He did it the first day in about 10 I think. Now, he takes his math, takes his timer, and goes up to his room so he can focus even more and it's a game to him to see how quickly he can get it done. So long as he is getting the problems right, this works for me. The problem wasn't in doing the math, it was in focusing on the math. Focus is a skill worth developing.
