sick and tired of FRACTIONS!

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by Hoosier Mama, Jan 4, 2007.

  1. Hoosier Mama

    Hoosier Mama New Member

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    Ds11 has been doing fractions for what seems like forever! He is so tired of it, and frankly, so am I! We are currently using the ACE math paces and it is very repetitive. Now, since we are just coming off of christmas break, he is a little rusty and should do some review...but he is already just sick of it. He has the basics down, it is just the indepth stuff he is forgetting how to do. I would like to move on to something new. But would that hurt him in the long run? And what should I move on to from here. I don't have any idea what should come nest in math. Pre-algebra?

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
     
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  3. Emma's#1fan

    Emma's#1fan Active Member

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    Can you take break from it for a while or maybe cut back? When Emma is tired of a subject and I know she has most of it down, we only do a few problems a day instead of a full page, this way she is still doing it and learning the methods but not spending so much time on it. I do not always complete every page. Sometimes I will skip over what I know she knows and then have her do review once a week or every month, depending on what we are working on, that is.
    Patty
     
  4. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    What's next in his math paces? Does it switch to something else later? I don't know how those work. Saxon can be repetitious, but we do every other problem for ds's assignment. If he does well on those, then he just continues on to the next lesson. If he has problems, then we go over stuff, and he does the even problems. That way you don't "beat a dead horse". I'm of the opinion that if they know it, a little review won't hurt, but having to do 30 problems can get aggravating. I don't want him to start hating math because he has to do repetitive stuff! So I'd say move forward from there, whatever the next step may be. Back away from doing so much of the same thing, so he's not so frustrated! You know that already, I'm just reinforcing that.

    If he's done with the paces then look up different math curric.s that you might be interested in and test to see what level to start him at.

    Are you getting the SOS?
     
  5. Hoosier Mama

    Hoosier Mama New Member

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    Yes....we have decided to swtich to SOS. I am actually bidding on another set on Ebay right now. I also have my eye a set on homeschoolclassifieds.com (thank you Jackie for posting that for someone else!)

    I usually only have the kids do every other problem on the concepts they know....sometimes we even skip whole pages just to move ahead. But with ACE....they are doing fractions for like the next 3 or 4 paces!!! UGH! We are just ready to move on to something new. I know fractions are a big part of life...so I don't want to skip it altogether, just switch gears a little, you know?
     
  6. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    I hope you can get the SOS soon!

    What I would say in the meantime is to let your ds know that math is important, so he can't stop, but maybe go to a bookstore or a teacher education store that has little workbooks, and let him help you pick one out. If it has variety in it, then that will be more interesting!

    Another thing you could do for math is work on teaching him checking account stuff--how to write checks, how to balance his account, etc. That's PRACTICAL CONSUMER math! They may even have books on that, I'm not sure. At any rate, it'd put stuff he's been learning to practical use!
     
  7. TeacherMom

    TeacherMom New Member

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    Personally I just did this with ds9- so good timing! I chose to skip another 10 questions of subtraction and rounding to the thousands because the boy is already in multiplication and division to the thousands and even some decimal and fraction exchanges... being as this was frustrating and making him not want to do school, becasue of its tediousness I chose to eliminate it. I had him click grade for the lesson and since I know he has done this before, I will remove it from his list. It is so cool that SOS has that feature!
    That way his grades stay up, but I dont have to struggle with him to do the work either.
    Today he has done Math, Science< reading and is doing Language Arts...whcih is writing a story that is assigned for several weeks to due date, so it will be good for him. It gives him all the details , he just has to write the story with his own characters and stuff!
    I am glad that I found that Macmillianmh site because it is helping too! he was so excited to start it that he did the reading lesson , which has readin and answering questions, so reading comp. Plus he did the science for his grade and learned about forensic research and stuff like that!
    I think that sometimes I have my kids do a few problems of what they already know, showing me they can do it, like every other or so many per page, then go on...
    that way it shows that they knwo it for sure, and you can always go back and complete those if need be... that idea is the best I used from my sons school ( ds15.5)
     
  8. AmyU

    AmyU New Member

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    We were also working on fractions before break and now have moved on to decimals. which relates to fractions.
    I also hope you get your sos soon!
     
  9. P.H.

    P.H. Active Member

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    When I taught at a Christian school which used paces, math was the least favorite the way it was laid out. it does "beat a dead horse" for pace after pace. Just skip to the next topic & don't worry about missing something. Every year there's review.
     
  10. Hoosier Mama

    Hoosier Mama New Member

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    thanks for all your input. I think I am going to skip it for now. I have been looking for something online for him to do rightnow until I find somethig else. I am realy hoping to get SOS soon. My Ebay bid ends tomorrow, so we will see how that goes. If I don't get that, I will just keep looking other places for it.

    PH, the paces were good at the beginning of our hs journey, but now that we are into and more comfortable...I realy am not liking them. Mostly because of the "beating a dead horse" factor. The kids are using the social studies paces, and those have been ok for now.
     
  11. KrisRV

    KrisRV New Member

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    Leslie, I don't mean to take over your page. But, I thought this was a good place to put this. My dd who is 12 and in the 6th grade is doing fraction too. She does them well. ONLY and I mean ONLY if I sit right on top her and watch her do everyone and tell her she is doing it right. IF I go anywhere, bathroom or anything and come back she didn't do anything. Today I decide to go on help her sister to see how she would do. Guess what a hour and half later still sitting on the same problems I sat by her and she went right through them in 10 mintues. What is going on? What am I doing wrong? How can I tell her she is doing fine? and not be there all time. When I leave her side I will say to her before I go you are doing wonderful and seem to get it, I am just going over here to help your sister and I will be right back. Bingo I come back and nothing is done.
    Any ideas would help me alot. Thanks.

    Hope your aren't mad Leslie I posted it here.
     
  12. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    Kris, this is a good place to put this. I think we know Leslie enough to know she wouldn't be mad about something like this! :)

    You may want to start doing timed tests. And give rewards as she works on her own and gets better.

    Every child has their own personality and make choices and do things differently sometimes than you would prefer! I don't think you're doing anything wrong Kris!
     
  13. Hoosier Mama

    Hoosier Mama New Member

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    First of all...I am certainly NOT mad! LOL Deena is right I would not be mad at something like you hijacking my thread.....just kidding, you didn't hijack! LOL

    Anyway, I hear what you are saying. My ds, who is also in the 6th grade, does the same thing. I left him to sit and do 4 review math worksheets...it took him 2 hours, but he got it done. I just tell him that he can sit as long as he wants, but he will finish his work. The sooner he gets it done, the sooner he can play. But he just ingeneral is a very slloooowwww worker. That is part of the problems we had with him in ps that ended in depression for him.

    I like Deena's idea about rewards. Having an incentive really might work. I am going to think about what I can rewaard him with and give it a try. Of course, right now, alot of it it, too, is this horrible fractions issue! :) But we are working on that.

    Any other suggestions would be appreciated by myself and, I am sure, Kris!
     
  14. AmyU

    AmyU New Member

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    We have used rewards off and on for a long time. When my ds was in ps we really had too. Like now I work from 11-1 and this is the time my son does his homework. He knows if he gets it done he can then play his game on the computer( online Runescape). This is his favorite game at this time. At times it consumes him. So now this is the reward to use. Right now its a on going reward, I don't have to tell him he has to have this work done before he plays. He just gets his work done. I think if I told him he couldn't play his game and still had to do his work he would get me a hard time.
    My hubby says he gets his homework done fast and was wonder how much I give him. I give him at least 4 assigments. Math is usually always one. He is good at math but hates new things. Fraction were hard and decimals seem to be too. He likes to ask me why he needs to do this. If we are doing it orally he is fine. But its the writting stuff he hates.
    I really need to go clean the house,(really don't want to) family coming tomorrow!
     
  15. TeacherMom

    TeacherMom New Member

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    Funny thing with some rewards the kids will jump at it and work super good one time then the next time its nothing.
    Like for instance we went to movie last week because they finished school early and completed the courses!
    It took three days!
    They had the gumshon the first day then didn't get done in time because they started to goof off.
    The second day they thought they would make it for sure, but mouthed off at me, so lost it due to the time it took them to take a time off, then finish thier work. I had a hard time telling them when they both took time cleaning in thier rooms PLUS finished thier work like five minutes late that we just were not going to make it.
    So Thursday when it was five mins late when we got to the theater I warned them it may not happen this time either.... This time the lateness was just the time it took us to get our shoes on and out the door in our excitement!
    We got to go in and turned otu we still had one preview! Movie starts ten mins after time they give you! HA!
    So after that one they felt they had earned a great reward, Friday went awesome! Took a long time in Math though for dd. ds went through is fast, he had a project to do in one class, Lang Arts, it was on directions, and he had to write them. I gave him a B becuase he forgot to tell me to take a glass out of the glass cupbbard , and told me to pour the milk after opening the cubbard,
    then he told me to grab the milk and close the door of the fridge with out saying take the milk out of the fridge , so I told him I would have sqished my hand! hehe
    over all it worked good and I kept my word in getting thier reward in there
    I used to have a reward system where they got Tickets , with those they could buy from my "Prize Bag" or Store. They could exchange tickets for money at the end of the month, or they could save the tickets and once they got a thousand we would go to disney land, or was it ten thousand?
    Five per week was the basic, they would loose them if they did not turn inwork completed on time etc.
    Was great but my prize bag is dwindled and my den needs reorganising so I can have it set up again!
     
  16. KrisRV

    KrisRV New Member

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    Ladies, thanks so much been doing rewards. It's not that she can't do it she can she gets 100's all the time it's just her doing it. But, think I am going to have to make bigger rewards. Thanks again
     

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