Anyone with input on my dd who is one of the youngest in her class

[murphy1]

Just wondering what y'alls thoughts are. My dd is one of the youngest in her grade, late summer bday, made cut off so we let her go into K right after she turned 5, she just completed Grade 2. She is an excellent reader and comprehends the material and she does love science and got top marks on many of her social studies projects. She has also come out of her shell quite a bit as she was quite shy when she started. The problem is math, some of it just developmental, but she was below the standard where she should be on testing. I am going to try a tutor this summer as that helped her a lot last year and last summer. We are going to be gone a bit over summer vacation and I don't want to put her in summer school plus we don't know how much she will remember when school is 1.5 mo after that. She has kids who were held back and I hesitate doing that, b/c it is just one area she is having trouble with and I really was not much of a math person in school so she is a lot like me. Any of you with advice or who are teachers, your ideas or thoughts are appreciated. One thing that I did not like is that they used Everyday Mathematics at her school and now they are not going to do it next year, it really confused us!! Even her dad who is an engineer from Ga. Tech!!

[FriendsofMickey]

I am not a teacher; however, wanted to respond. I have been researching many options to homeschool my daughters. You might want to consider a program that you can help her with yourself if you are traveling a lot.
If teaching yourself is an option, a good place to start would be homschoolreview.com. There you can review a lot of the math curriculum.

There are a lot of curriculums out there that have teacher guides you can buy to help you teach.

[kakn7294]

If this were my DD, I would go the tutor route too before holding her back, especially if what you say is true and she is only having difficulty with math. If she is shy, holding her back could set her back even more as she will no longer be with a familiar group of students and friends. Not everyone is going to be proficient in every subject and it could be that no matter when she started school, math would be a weak subject for her. I'm not a teacher though, just an opinionated parent, so I am curious as to what the teacher opinions on the subject will be.

[PirateLover]

Don't hold her back. I don't think it has to do with her age. I was the youngest in my classes as my birthday is in December. My elementary school did not institute a September cutoff until 2 years after I started 1st grade. My parents debated holding me back in kindergarten but the teachers disagreed and I was also independently tested.

I too was very shy as a child had trouble with math, starting around the year when I had to learn times tables. To this day I have trouble doing math in my head. It's not that I CAN'T do it, but I psyche myself out because I have a math phobia. I would look into tutoring with your DD, but I would also look for programs that you can help her with. I learned best when my parents sat down with me and did flash cards or played a math computer game. There did come a time when they couldn't really help me anymore, and at that point I just started asking peers to help me.

I think your DD will be fine. So she may never be a chemist... that's ok! If she does great in the other subjects she will be fine. Good luck!

[merlinmagic4]

I would go with the tutor. It sounds like all else is going well so trying to give her a leg up on the math is a fine idea :thumbsup: She will probably do really well with some one on one time. Make sure you get someone who is tutoring her in whatever math program your school will be adopting if you can.

[FriendsofMickey]

Another site you mind find helpful:
http://www.homeschoolmath.net/

[murphy1]

Thanks so much everyone! You all are echoing so many thoughts going around in my head. I have found a great tutor that is actually the teacher of the smaller 2nd grade class at our school and she has also helped my dd's teacher before. She is a very artistic and musically inclined kid, which I love, b/c I am that way too. Her dad is one of these who did great in school without trying, that was not me, I had to work so hard for the A's and B's. Thanks again, I feel better too and that I'm on the right path!
Lori, thanks for the sites, I will check them out to supplement my work with her.

[ILive4Disney]

Hi...I am a teacher....second grade as a matter of fact. I can tell you that in my opinion most kids prefer one subject over another....talking about just reading and math. For some kids...esp those really good in reading, sometimes their brains just don't naturally think mathematically. The same can go in reverse....I wouldn't hold a child back because of math...now... I wouldn't give the same answer if you had said her issue was reading....it is just that reading is the key to everything...including math. You will see next year how third grade really involves a lot of word problems and if they can't read them....it just goes downhill from there. I think that a tutor will help a lot.....sometimes just having that one on one explanation makes all the difference...some kids just need to see it 10 times before they get it and a tutor can allow for that. I really recommend though that you continue the tutoring beyond the summer if possible just something like once a week for an hour. This year I tutored a student in second grade with this very issue. I worked with the teacher to "reteach" her key concepts she was taught in class each week. I was lucky to have access to her teacher as well as to the textbook. I am not sure what textbook your child's school uses but our series has what is called a "reteach" book which breaks down skills differently for those kids that didn't grasp it the first time around. That is the book I used with the student I was tutoring. Let me tell you that her math scores increased from a 20th percentile last year to a 78th percentile this year....on the SAT (not sure if your child has to take that). I was pretty happy with that success and so was her mom. Also...our textbook has a website with games broken down by chapter to practice the skills....check for that as well. If not, send me a PM and I will give you the website and password for ours and maybe it will coincide...there are grades K-6 on there I believe. Good luck and don't worry...girls generally do fine even though they are the youngest in the class...boys aren't so lucky!!! If she is a good reader...reinforce that and the rest will all fall into place.

[BronxTigger]

There is a series called Spectrum; it's published by McGraw-Hill. You can purchase it at Staples or Barnes and Noble and they break things down so they are pretty easy to understand. There are also other types of workbooks; go to the store and flip through some to find one or two that you like. If she is really far behind, you might want to start with a grade 1 workbook to review the basics before moving up to a grade 2 workbook. (These would also be good for the traveling you will be doing.)

Everyday Math is bizarre. I teach first grade in NYC, and we use EDM. It jumps around too much and it asks considerably more than the standards do....it also does not align with our state standards! Additionally, it is more about concepts and methods and less about basic computational skills. My suggestion is to check your state math standards (google your state and "math standards" and they should come up....if not, ask your child's teacher for them....they will help you focus on what to work on.)

I agree with the others...also get a tutor until she is comfortable and caught up to standards.

[Dsnygirl]

I agree w/ everyone else about not holding her back - my DD is one of the youngest in her class, and we chose to start her b/c although we knew that emotionally, she was on the young side, academically, she was ready for school. Just like your daughter, she has done well in most of her subject, even got on the Honor Roll this whole year. (3rd grade) But there are still a few areas she needs help with, and it's good that it gives her a challenge. I think if we'd held her back, everything would be too easy. So, I'd go with the tutor and keep her with her class, esp. since she's on the shy side and has made friends there.
Good luck - I'm sure w/ the extra help, she'll do just fine! :thumbsup:

[MsMin]

There is so much variance with children's performance esp. at that age. I don't believe you should hold her back either but I do recommend trying to pinpoint the exact math problem. Often math tests are broken down into subtests. See if it's a sequencing problem, doesn't sound like reading e.g. word problems from what describe. Different tests have different subtests and sometimes these are not reported to the parents but sometimes the teacher has more info. I suggest investigating the math issue early. So many females believe they are "bad" at math when really they need a different type of format especially ones who are more creative and spatially oriented.
I don't think that holding a child back is always the answer because the problem isn't always addressed with repetition.
Do you have a grade equivalence or T score??

[Mousefever]

Our charter school has a supplemental math software program called Eduss. It is great for both remedial math and advanced math, because it allows the child to go at their own pace. It is available for home use, but it is pricey. I would suggest going with a good tutor and considering this program if it is affordable for your family. Just google "Eduss".



:dory:

[PrincessEmmasMommy]

I've been a third grade teacher for almost 10 years now. I agree not to hold her back based on math. I also agree that if the problem was reading that I would not say this.
In K-2 they are introducing many new concepts in math. I also do not like Everyday Math. We decided against it due to our school population. My suggestion is to keep working with her. Possibly get an outside tutor because sometimes it can be frustrating for both of you to work with your own child. Start showing her places where you use math in the "real world." Many times children don't see what they are learning as relevant to life. Are the math problems with facts or other concepts? If facts, keep flash cards in the car and do them at red lights. Also, don't worry so much because third grade is a big review year. Many things we do in math have been introduced in other grades and we just build upon them. Keep working with her and make her third grade teacher aware of your concerns from day one. Hopefully you will have an understanding and aware teacher who will supplement your daughter's learning with many manipulatives and more hands on activities. Does your daughter's school have a pull out math resource teacher? We have 3 of them to work with our kids K-4. They are a big help for our stuggling math students and often can catch them up at least a grade level in a year. Ask about this.
Good luck and pm me if you have any other questions.
Jen

[LibertyTreeGal]

Being held back should be the last option. If she is strong in other things but only weak in math, well -- not everyone is a mathematician! I think a tutor is fine, but be prepared to maybe deal with the fact that not all kids are good at everything :mickey:

[murphy1]

Thanks for more suggestions!! I am feeling a lot better, she had last day today and is going on to 3rd grade, I am so happy about the reassurance you all gave me. Her tutor is really nice and we will talk when we get back from Florida. I am so burnt out, I need a vacation and I think she does too. She brought home her Australia/Japan test, not an easy one, and only missed two of the questions, fill in the blank, true false, so I am really happy on that and the reading and not trying to just paint a rosy picture, kwim!! She also got a perfect score on one of her Harcourt reading tests, and she never does have a problem on these things. The thing that gets me is that the principal has gotten so much flack over the Everyday Math and you could see it in his message in the school newsletter we get, they are going back to the traditional type of things I guess. She also doesn't like the timed math tests and does do well on place value, so it is mostly the double addition and subtraction when you have to carry and takeaway, so I know it will come. Anyway, thanks again, I appreciate all the advice. Eventually it will be dating and clothes, oy!!