Is there a downside to doing a little bit of supplementing at home? (mostly math question)
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Anonymous
This would not be Kumon. I mean math activities and explaining concepts that he is asking about. Using toys as manipulatives for grouping and arrays, etc. There are also games for simple addition and subtraction and repeated addition leading into multiplication. |
Anonymous
our third grade expected them to just know the facts. No teaching of it at all. It was just expected. |
Anonymous
Get Montessori supplies. It’s the best way to learn math concepts. |
Anonymous
+1. This. If peers are supplementing then you MUST supplement. It’s an arms race - particularly in MCPS |
Anonymous
The problem is that there's not much school in public schools these days. You want your child to get a solid foundation of something, you have to do it yourself. |
Anonymous
This. No downside and LOTS of upside. We do both with our DC and will continue to reinforce and supplement. |
Anonymous
Obviously if you teach her beforehand she is going to be ahead of the curriculum. Doesn’t mean she is anything special. Why are some parents so afraid of letting their kids be taught in school? For some reason they have this pathological need for their kid to learn everything beforehand at home. |
Anonymous
| We have a child who at a very early age loved numbers (18 months/2 years old) He would count backwards and forwards to a hundred in several languages at those ages. He very quickly, age 3-4, grasped the basic concept of math- i.e. 5x5 is 5 fives and has used those skills to progress quickly through the math curriculum. Because he intrinsically made those connections, math up to this point has been super easy for him (now first grade). He loves big numbers and loves you to ask him math questions. He will beg us to. He enjoys doing number combinations or making up math word-type problems- like half half 16 x 4. He loves numbers and therefore math. His teacher has worked with him separately to come up with different ways to represent math problems and numbers. I think most of it, he is still fairly bored and does the work quickly but because he enjoys math, it hasn't become too much of an issue. Our worry is more than when it comes to math that is challenging, he won't know how to work to achieve mastery since it's all come so easy to him so far. No real advice other than that's been our concern and we've been open and honest with his teacher(s)/school about it. They also share the same possible concern but not much we can do until we get to that point Having our first grader do algebra really isn't the solution either. |
Anonymous
Because local public schools actually are not competent at teaching either reading or math. Example: For reading, they use the widely discredited “whole language” / “balanced reading” methods, which do not work for about 60% of students (about 40% will learn to read regardless of the curriculum). See many threads in the DCUM education fora, WashPost editorial from last month, et alia. Reading in VA will be improving in coming years, and many thanks to the NAACP for pressuring Fairfax and Arlington to move to a Phonics-centered reading curriculum. That will take a few years to really materialize. Our DC need to be able to read now, as they already are in elementary. Math likely will remain poorly taught in the US for decades, sigh. Privates do much better than most publics at math, but privates still can be uneven. In FCPS and MCPS, most of the top math students learned after school, not in school, using better curricula and real worksheets for practice at home. |
Anonymous
This. If parents do not supplement/enrich outside school, then a typical student will be behind classmates (and behind state SOL expectations), at least in MD and VA. Outside school supplementing on math is very very very common in APS, FCPS, and MCPS. Teacher quality in any large school system will vary widely; many are not really teaching math facts and just expect students to know them. |
Anonymous
Because the school is not teaching at a level that motivates my child. He goes to RSM for math where new material is taught and the assignments include problems that he struggles with a bit and has to work through. He appreciates the challenge that is offered at RSM. We did not start with enrichment until he was in 3rd grade because we were hoping that the math would get to a point that it would be engaging at school but it didn’t and we were not going to continue to let him be bored in a subject that he really enjoys. |
Anonymous
So true! I supplement in math at home for my 7yo. I scoped their math trajectory and I will indeed by tutoring/teaching him for at least the next 8 years. I’m an educator and I knew for absolute fact that with the exception of a gifted school setting, not a gifted program but an actual gifted school, they will not be instructed on their actual math level. All that being said, just go into teaching math with a long range plan that includes a detailed teaching schedule, comprehensive math material/program, and someone who can actually teach the material effectively. There’s no point in a child being years ahead in math but can’t problem solve and think flexibly. Depth vs breadth. |
Anonymous
THIS! The child still needs to play the school game. It’s so stupid but necessary. That’s why I teach my child using illustrations and algorithms. |
Anonymous
| Education is a great way to spend time; an investment in the future of the family and society. It's sad that society has reached a point where OP is afraid of giving their kid a healthy upbringing. |
Anonymous
Education includes a lot of things, like reading a paper together, visiting museums, doing experiments, attending cultural activities. It is not limited to grubbing over a workbook so your kid can be “ahead” of his classmates and feel superior |