Girls young for their grade and math difficulty?

[Anonymous]

I have recently learned of three girls in elementary school (upper grades -- 3rd and 4th) who are all having trouble with math.

Two of the girls have Sept birthdays but their parents petitioned the girls to be able to start K a year ahead of their age placement. The other girl has a August birthday. So the girls all are among the youngest in their class.

In general the girls are all quite bright, and none had a problem with reading. They knew their numbers, could count and did fine in math up until 2nd grade where they started to struggle, and then started having a trouble with memorizing basic math facts. They can solve problems OK if given enough time. They think of themselves as bad at math.

Thes are all girld I know eitehr in my extended family or ikids of neighbors or friends. I had no idea that the fourth grade girl was having trouble in math (she's a really smart kid) until her mom told me that they were having her tested for LD issues. I started to realize that these three girls have one thing in common which is that they are very young for their grade. It's just a coincidence, of course, but I wondered if other people had noticed any thing similar?

I know people talk about holding BOYS back or not starting them early/redshirting and often the concern is that they won't be ready for reading.

I wondered if anyone had any experience with girls who were young or who were pushed ahead -- do they notice girls having trouble in math down the line?

[Anonymous]

I am the OP and I should add, I was ver young for my grade and although IMO I'm quite smart, basic math facts were ALWAYS a problem for me. I got great grades in elementary school but never really mastered mental math and counted to add and subtract -- never thought of myself as great in math and dropped it as soon as I could.

[Anonymous]

I am one of those girls - very young for grade. Always did great in math, and now have a very mathy technical career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am one of those girls - very young for grade. Always did great in math, and now have a very mathy technical career.

Great to hear! Did you have any extra programs or anything (tutoring, etc.) in elementary school, or were you always great at math?

[Anonymous]

My August DD is very strong in math and always has been (she's in 4th grade now, turned 9 at start of school year). I don't think it has anything to do with age, just how she is. She also loves math workbooks, etc. and does them for fun. I think it's just personality/individual strengths.

Also the stuff they get for "math" is IMO often very confusing. I have a degree in math and an MS in a math field and *I* sometimes don't understand the confusing directions on some of her math assignments.

[Anonymous]

My DD is a late September birthday and is already skipped one grade ahead in math and will skip another grade this summer. It doesn't seem to be a problem. However, I do find that there are weaknesses in the math curriculum/teaching that I have to help her through.

I sometimes wonder what the other parents do in these problem areas -- do they notice, do they reteach?

Kids absolutely have to memorize w/ speed basic math facts and then in subsequent years they have to become fluent with adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing multiple digit numbers by hand. Kids who don't practice this enough to learn to do quickly will start to think of themselves as "bad" in math. Schools do not assign enough practice in this. Parents have to do it themselves at home thru various means (regular flash card review, extra homework, timed sets, etc.)

IMO, girls who are strong readers are very vulnerable to the self-perception that they are "bad" in math. If math is their "worse" subject, somehow they become bad at it. It's as if they can't be "good" at more than one subject. Also, there is a difference between being "good" at something and actually liking it. I am good at doing the laundry; I hate doing it though. If a kid doesn't like a subject, the odds that they will think of themselves as "good" at it are low. W/ my DD, I try to make an effort to link math to what is more interesting to her -- science. Math may be boring, but the chemistry of atoms requires algebra and chemistry is interesting to her. When my daughter described herself as "bad" in math to me (although she gets As), I told her she was "bad" in math like Michael Phelps is "bad" at the butterfly. The fact that it's his worst stroke, doesn't mean he's "bad" at it. That seemed to change her self-perception a little bit as well.

[Anonymous]

16:27 here:

Extra programs? Extra programs? No such thing where I grew up. Just an ordinary suburb with ordinary schools.

[Anonymous]

IMO, girls who are strong readers are very vulnerable to the self-perception that they are "bad" in math. If math is their "worse" subject, somehow they become bad at it. It's as if they can't be "good" at more than one subject. Also, there is a difference between being "good" at something and actually liking it. I am good at doing the laundry; I hate doing it though.

18:16 here. I think this is an excellent point. My DD is like this. She is strong at math, but language arts is strongER for her. And IMO the math curriculum is terrible. The word problems are incredibly ambiguous, which is made worse by the fact that she is so strong verbally that she reads subtle nuances into it that are not there.

However, I do find that there are weaknesses in the math curriculum/teaching that I have to help her through.

I sometimes wonder what the other parents do in these problem areas -- do they notice, do they reteach?

I absolutely reteach it. I use a strong curriculum at home in the summer (Singapore Math) which she thinks is just fun. She also loves books about mental math tricks and workbooks like Primary Challenge Math (by Edward Zaccaro, a fabulous book!). She also loves math games websites. We do all this stuff for fun and only when she asks to do them. I make them available and we do them together as a mom/daughter activity.

[Anonymous]

I was young for my K class (late August bday) and was always struggling in math, up through Algebra. Was top of my class in all other subjects. Eventually, though, I got As in Geometry, Calc, Functions, more advanced conceptual mathematics. I still have issues with more basic math. Could just be the way some of our brains work. I can't add or subtract big numbers in my head but aced AP Calc. Go figure.