Math test Options

[Appliejuice]

Matthew has failed his fifth math test and he has only take six so far. He usually gets 1/2 of them wrong. He tests in four weeks.

I quit.


I may pick this back up on Monday.

[Sammi]

Is he getting it wrong b'c he doesn't know it, or is it simple mathematical mistakes?

What program are you using?

[CelticMuse]

Michelle,
I'm so sorry. I'm sure this is very frustrating for you. Sammi asked the questions I was wondering about. What about a math tutor for a few weeks? Will there be consquences for failing? What happens when there are?Usually if Noah gets something wrong he is hurrying or has forgotten how to do it.

take a deep breath and wait until monday to address this you need a break. Try not to worry, he did well on his testing last year didnt' he? I hope you can relax this weekend and then feel ready to do battle on monday.

[Blaise]

My oldest dd has days like that too. She just forgets the simple stuff, like how to subtract with borrowing. I just make her do it over again until she gets it right.

If she missed too many on a test she has to go back to the lessons that were taught and do them over again then take the test again. She is doing a lot of spinning wheels here sometimes.

[Tressa]

Hang in there, Applie.

[Donna]

[shelbygt]

[cctabb]

I know how you feel. I think I am having very similar frustration with math.

[MomofBunbun]

Sorry, Applie

[Dr. Pepper]

I am so sorry and pray that on Monday that ds will remember how to do his math.

Math for my dd is very difficult and I do understand the frustration. On the other hand, her brother excells in it which must be very frustrating for dd.

[cornerstone]

Applie and all those having math problems, I hope I can comfort you some. I am a high school math teacher ( supply as I home school my children). When the children are in a classroom enviroment they are expected to learn new strains of math every TWO weeks. Since the teachers have to teach five strains of math each term, this leaves them two weeks per strain. AS you can guess kids fall to the wayside as they don't grasp a new concept in two weeks.

The absolute joy of homeschooling is that after a child suffers a blow in such a test (math) you can see their strong points or what they know and go over what they need to know. Review, review till its learned. There is no time limit or no limit of resources out there.

Stopping on Friday and going back on Monday is wonderful and take it easy and slow. Make it fun. Math is a puzzle, all the pieces fit.

[Melanie]

I'm sorry, Applie.

[Appliejuice]

Is he getting it wrong b'c he doesn't know it, or is it simple mathematical mistakes?

What program are you using?

I call these careless mistakes. We are using Rod and Staff 6th grade. My kids like the text books style for math.

Michelle,
I'm so sorry. I'm sure this is very frustrating for you. Sammi asked the questions I was wondering about. What about a math tutor for a few weeks? Will there be consquences for failing? What happens when there are?Usually if Noah gets something wrong he is hurrying or has forgotten how to do it.

take a deep breath and wait until monday to address this you need a break. Try not to worry, he did well on his testing last year didnt' he?

There is not much of consquences. He doesn't have much computer time or TV time.

Here is what we did. Before the test. We talked about decimals and he did some problems, addition, subtraction and multiplications. We went over it orally. What do you do with the decimal when you add? What do you do when you multiply? What is the answer to this problem? Figure out this problem...etc..... We went over and over this.

For the test. I had him go to the bathroom, get several pencils, etc.. etc... Everything to make him comfortable. I even made the girls stay upstairs!! After the test I told him to recheck the problems, especially the decimal problems. He said, "I did". So I had to take the test and grade it. Out of 51 problems he missed 20. Mostly careless mistakes. All of the decimals he got wrong.

He told me, in the multiplication problems he took the decimal and brought it down, then moved over the number of places.

So, I gave him 42 problems to work over the weekend. He decided to work only 1/2 of them. He got 8 wrong. Same problem as above. I made him make the corrections and do the rest. He'll have another 40 problems tomorrow.

Hubby talked to him and he said he had to to all the homework problems until there were no mistakes. So I am printing up extra worksheets for him to do. That is the only thing I can do. It is careless mistakes, and it costs him more work.

Yesterday he had a sheet of mixed facts problems. The kind you do in five minutes. He missed six and all were because of careless mistakes. He added instead of multiplying or added instead of subtracting.

Anyhoo, that is what I am dealing with. Just from two days of extra worksheets, I see a slight improvement. So, I will continue with the extra worksheets for now, but I don't see how I can cover all that is going to be on the test. This also makes me worried about his high school years.

The geometry stuff is not until the end of the book and we are several weeks from there and four weeks until the group testing. I asked my MIL how can the public schools test in February when a lot of that stuff is not covered until the end of the year. She said, "The teachers teach to the test." I am not sure what to do. I think I will cover the basics and then do summer school. I believe summer school (30 minutes a day) is not a bad idea.

Boy, did I dump on you all or what? I feel better though.

[Tressa]

I am sorry. I know how you feel though. My Matthew does the same thing. He will have a mulitplication problem and he will add two numbers instead of multiplying them and his answer will be off by 1 number. It is so frustrating because I know that he knows how to do the problem, but he makes careless mistakes. He could easily have an A in math, but he doesn't because of these little mistakes that he is making. It is very frustrating. I don't know what to do about it. He doesn't really care that he is making these mistakes. Maybe I should just make him do the lessons over again, but it seems boring because he knows how to do it. He is just being lazy.

I am sorry, I didn't mean to go on. I just feel like I can comiserate with you.

[Appliejuice]

He doesn't really care that he is making these mistakes. Maybe I should just make him do the lessons over again, but it seems boring because he knows how to do it. He is just being lazy.

That is why my hubby said to give him the 40 extra problems a day. If he gets any wrong, he has to correct them and then receives another 40 problems the next day. Hopefully, he will get it in his head, if he does it correctly the first time, he won't have the extra work.

[Melanie]

Michelle, I think what you and your husband came up with will work for your son.

We do math first, and the kids don't get up from the table until all their math problems are correct. Sometimes it takes them hours, but I don't care - they will sit until every problem is worked correctly. I don't help them anymore, either. They refer back to the written instructions in the books if they have problems. Since I started doing this, their error rates have dropped dramatically.

[Sammi]

I find it a bit comical that I am reading your response to this question now.

Matthew took his Abeka quiz. The question said, round to the nearest hundredth. He did not!

This has been a big deal w/ us. Not reading the directions thoroughly.

So I said, I might consider giving you 1/2 credit, if you fix the problems. Guess what! He made the same mistake twice!!!! Ugghhh!!!

I asked why did you make the same mistake twice...his answer was, b'c...he didn't mean too, but he did.

So I would think that it has something to do with his maturity and thinking process. Sometimes, it is just not there!

That might be your Matthew's problem too....?

[Appliejuice]

Matthew is doing much better on his math yesterday and today. He got them all right. This is division with decimals, so it isn't that hard. He is still working on the multiplications. I haven't check that part of his work yet for today. He is not happy with having to do extra work.

[Donna]

I'm glad he is doing better.

He is not happy with having to do extra work.

[Melanie]

Matthew is doing much better on his math yesterday and today. He got them all right. This is division with decimals, so it isn't that hard. He is still working on the multiplications. I haven't check that part of his work yet for today. He is not happy with having to do extra work.