I get so frustrated when my kids can't solve math problems that are tricky but not hard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid at ATS?

they are. but why did you ask?

[Anonymous]

My DD could solve this at 6-7; however, she learned how to solve these type of logic problems playing games with VTech cartridges. She would spend hours working out patterns, made me crossed eyed trying to solve them. Her iq is a little under 140, I'm not nearly as smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid at ATS?

they are. but why did you ask?

B/c my DC got the same problem. And I got frustrated too. (I'm not the PP who said "answer" btw.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:16:23 here: I'm not a tutor, and my children don't receive tutoring, but I don't see why you reject this option of out of hand. There are very few, if any, things that are purely a matter of intelligence, and being able to solve problems like this is not one of them. Fluency with basic operations and a systematic approach to looking for patterns will get you pretty far. Personally, I don't think your child needs a tutor because I don't think there's anything wrong with a 2nd grader who finds such problems challenging, but if YOU are bothered by his inability to solve them, then, yes, I think tutoring is an option worth considering.

ITA. And I'm the poster who first suggested tutoring. No, I'm not a tutor either. I'm an education researcher. It's absolutely true that math is a learned skill, not innate. Same thing goes for logic, too. (In fact, there is a lot of overlap between logic and math.) It is a myth that math is something you have or don't. Practice is what is called for here.

The bigger issue, and the reason I suggested tutoring, has to do with the adults in your DCs life. Research shows that people who are good at math tend to be better at teaching it IF they also have strong teaching skills. It is not enough to have just strong teaching skills or to have just strong math skills. Unfortunately, most elementary school teachers did not major in math and some may have never taken a math course in college. So it's probable that your DCs teachers haven't been particularly strong in this area. If you, as the parent, are also not strong in math as you yourself stated then it's not like you are able to fill in at home. Just seems like this is something to staff out, under the circumstances. At the very least, you'll need the support in order to help your DC as your DC progresses through school and the math gets harder.

For some reason you seem to find this advice offensive though. If you prefer to think your kid is an idiot instead of asking for help, that's your call.