Summer math help for rising 5th grader?

[Anonymous]

My 10yo daughter needs math help this summer. Her MAP scores are right under grade level and she’s been struggling this year with fractions and decimals. Math probably won’t ever be her thing, but I do think her confidence has really taken a hit and I want to make sure she's ready for middle school.

What’s the best way to help her over the summer? Private tutor, Khan Academy, Mathnasium? Anything else I should be considering?

[Anonymous]

We have found RSM summer courses to be a great preparation opportunity for the next school year!

[Anonymous]

How well does your daughter understand the underlying concepts? And does she have strategies to check her answers as she goes? If she's receptive to working with you (and I know not every child is willing to learn directly from the parent), there are a lot of really great resources online that will show you how to teach the concepts. I've found a lot of really good videos posted by teachers on youtube that share math teaching techniques. I then just pick and choose what works best for my kids based on their specific needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How well does your daughter understand the underlying concepts? And does she have strategies to check her answers as she goes? If she's receptive to working with you (and I know not every child is willing to learn directly from the parent), there are a lot of really great resources online that will show you how to teach the concepts. I've found a lot of really good videos posted by teachers on youtube that share math teaching techniques. I then just pick and choose what works best for my kids based on their specific needs.

A couple more thoughts:

*How well does she know her multiplication tables? If she can't very quickly produce the answers (2-5 seconds per problem) then everything else is going to be significantly more challenging. This is just a matter of memorizing. The 1s, 2s, 5s, 9s, 10s, and 11s are easy, so maybe start with those to build confidence.
*To make this more fun, you might consider introducing some card and board games. I'm more familiar with the earlier stuff (e.g. Sum Swamp, I Sea 10), but there are games like Decimal War and Fraction War (found them on Amazon just now) that look pretty decent for practicing in a way that doesn't just feel like drill-and-kill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How well does your daughter understand the underlying concepts? And does she have strategies to check her answers as she goes? If she's receptive to working with you (and I know not every child is willing to learn directly from the parent), there are a lot of really great resources online that will show you how to teach the concepts. I've found a lot of really good videos posted by teachers on youtube that share math teaching techniques. I then just pick and choose what works best for my kids based on their specific needs.

Thanks for this. She is not receptive to me at all. It needs to be someone else!

[Anonymous]

Kumon is good for this kind of reinforcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How well does your daughter understand the underlying concepts? And does she have strategies to check her answers as she goes? If she's receptive to working with you (and I know not every child is willing to learn directly from the parent), there are a lot of really great resources online that will show you how to teach the concepts. I've found a lot of really good videos posted by teachers on youtube that share math teaching techniques. I then just pick and choose what works best for my kids based on their specific needs.

A couple more thoughts:

*How well does she know her multiplication tables? If she can't very quickly produce the answers (2-5 seconds per problem) then everything else is going to be significantly more challenging. This is just a matter of memorizing. The 1s, 2s, 5s, 9s, 10s, and 11s are easy, so maybe start with those to build confidence.
*To make this more fun, you might consider introducing some card and board games. I'm more familiar with the earlier stuff (e.g. Sum Swamp, I Sea 10), but there are games like Decimal War and Fraction War (found them on Amazon just now) that look pretty decent for practicing in a way that doesn't just feel like drill-and-kill.

We have been doing times tables almost every night and she's gotten much better. I will look into the card games, thanks!

[Anonymous]

A tutor who is a teacher is your best bet, because they will know how math is presented in her school and what should have been mastered and what is coming next. The times tables are key to later elementary school math. Your school likely has a list of teachers who tutors in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Mathnasium summer program helped my kids

[Anonymous]

I have been supplementing my elementary student using the iXL workbooks. They have really helped give the extra practice my child needs.

[Anonymous]

We found a retired math coach who tutored my daughter for her year in 5th grade. She just needed more practice and a calm presence to help her gain confidence. Surprise: her parents were not that calm place. She THIRVED and her SOL score went up 75 points.

The key was finding someone who really understood the curriculum and could find the holes in her scaffolding and work on that. But sometimes they just need extra practice and a routine appointment to “do math”.

[Anonymous]

Let her rest her brain and play. Swim, run, play. Just play. Two weeks before school starts, have her start doing some light online review. That's what we did and one of our kids flunked the math SOL at 10. Kid just took AP statistics exam a few weeks ago and felt good about it. Said it was easier than their other AP exams. Has a near full ride to college in the fall. Other sibling was below level in grade school reading and just graduated university with honors college designation in a field that requires high reading comprehension. Ignore the MAP and SOL BS. Let your kid rest and refuel and remember how to have fun.We've made school too stressful. Reject it and the long view. Take a break from the school grind. Don't Bataan march your kid and burn her out by 18 and there's nothing left in the tank.

[Anonymous]

^ Reject it and take the long view. This is a blip on the radar, truly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Reject it and take the long view. This is a blip on the radar, truly.

It can also be the canary in the coal mine though. It’s easier to play card games and do four hours with a tutor now than completely repair the kid’s relationship to math in middle school. Especially for girls, confidence in math is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let her rest her brain and play. Swim, run, play. Just play. Two weeks before school starts, have her start doing some light online review. That's what we did and one of our kids flunked the math SOL at 10. Kid just took AP statistics exam a few weeks ago and felt good about it. Said it was easier than their other AP exams. Has a near full ride to college in the fall. Other sibling was below level in grade school reading and just graduated university with honors college designation in a field that requires high reading comprehension. Ignore the MAP and SOL BS. Let your kid rest and refuel and remember how to have fun.We've made school too stressful. Reject it and the long view. Take a break from the school grind. Don't Bataan march your kid and burn her out by 18 and there's nothing left in the tank.

You know, it's really possible to have lots of time to swim, run, and play, and also practice math. I don't want my rising first grader to spend tons of time studying over the summer, and I want her to be engaged in free play for the majority of her time, but I do expect that we spend 15-30 minutes a day doing math and reading/writing. It's a very minimal time investment that will pay off during the school year with a less stressful academic experience.