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NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Raising Children Thread

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We've been warning our youngest that some things have to change. She's 10 and while we've always required her to do chores she's become a little too messy. This combined with her first 9 weeks with a C led us realize she's not getting math. I'm not worried about the grade, but I am worried she's not understanding some foundational concepts and its only going to get worse.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
We've been warning our youngest that some things have to change. She's 10 and while we've always required her to do chores she's become a little too messy. This combined with her first 9 weeks with a C led us realize she's not getting math. I'm not worried about the grade, but I am worried she's not understanding some foundational concepts and its only going to get worse.
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Your daughter is at the age where girls decide whether they like math or they don't. My daughter came through not liking math. 😒 This was before STEM/STEAM.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
We've been warning our youngest that some things have to change. She's 10 and while we've always required her to do chores she's become a little too messy. This combined with her first 9 weeks with a C led us realize she's not getting math. I'm not worried about the grade, but I am worried she's not understanding some foundational concepts and its only going to get worse.
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I like to joke that math is the reason I was a history major. In reality, my mother and my teachers missed the signals I gave at the same age as your daughter and all the math that came after was a major frustration for me as a result. Good on you for catching it, @bureaucrat#3 and I hope you can help get her on track. (The world doesn't need any more history majors ... lol)
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
We've been warning our youngest that some things have to change. She's 10 and while we've always required her to do chores she's become a little too messy. This combined with her first 9 weeks with a C led us realize she's not getting math. I'm not worried about the grade, but I am worried she's not understanding some foundational concepts and its only going to get worse.
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Our neighbor's daughter was about that age a couple years ago and had done good enough in math but then took a sudden downturn. On a whim her dad signed her up for some tutoring sessions at a place around the corner from us called "Mathnaseium" (I think that's a Michigan chain but it's probably pretty similar to Kumon) and according to him, that made a world of difference. I think she just went once or twice a week for a couple of months and into the summer but it seemed to have made something click because she's now in honors math at the middle school.

I have no evidence to back this up but I think one-on-one tutoring for math in particular really works for a lot of kids because it allows whoever is giving them the lesson to tailor it specifically to them instead of in a larger classroom setting where the teacher has to teach to 15+ kids and does not always have the opportunity to explain things so that each kids can understand them. Sometimes that different perspective/teaching style makes a huge difference in how well a kid can grasp a concept.
 
Youngest (19) and his friends were busted NYE by the Sherriff and FD while having a bonfire and playing their guitars (with generator) and drums (his) on someone's property. They thought it was public land since it was not posted. Probably an honest mistake. Charges were dropped yesterday and they are on-site this morning doing some clean up/service work. Guy said they can come back if they ask, and he has power so no need for the generator.

Oldest (24) was busted by the Sheriff when he was 18 drinking unapproved beverages in the parking lot of a remote city park. Proof of frontal lob not being fully developed.

Middle son (23) has yet to have an incident. :crossedfingers:
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Oldest (24) was busted by the Sheriff when he was 18 drinking unapproved beverages in the parking lot of a remote city park. Proof of frontal lob not being fully developed.

Middle son (23) has yet to have an incident. :crossedfingers:
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If they're anything like my 2 older brothers (14 months apart) the younger watches the older to figure things out.
 
Gedunker said:
I like to joke that math is the reason I was a history major. In reality, my mother and my teachers missed the signals I gave at the same age as your daughter and all the math that came after was a major frustration for me as a result. Good on you for catching it, @bureaucrat#3 and I hope you can help get her on track. (The world doesn't need any more history majors ... lol)
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It's funny because math was not my strongest subject in school . . . still isn't. But there is a lot of math in planning, and I am great at it. I'm also great with math in regards to taxes, etc. I think the difference is that I am good at the practical, useful, everyday math--not the random "solve this formula for no reason" type worksheet-math.

My SAT scores back in the day:
99th percentile verbal
70th percentile math (Someone in the 70th percentile clearly does not "suck at math," despite grades to the contrary.)
 
jumbach said:
It's funny because math was not my strongest subject in school . . . still isn't. But there is a lot of math in planning, and I am great at it. I'm also great with math in regards to taxes, etc. I think the difference is that I am good at the practical, useful, everyday math--not the random "solve this formula for no reason" type worksheet-math.

My SAT scores back in the day:
99th percentile verbal
70th percentile math (Someone in the 70th percentile clearly does not "suck at math," despite grades to the contrary.)
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Similar story here. I did not do well in Algebra. Somewhat enjoyed Geometry but the teacher was the likely reason - Mr. Bushyager was awesome. Drove around a Camaro Berlinetta (this is 1986-1987 sophomore year) with the license plate Dr. Bush. Short non-threatening guy, probably 5'4" on a good day and Viet Nam vet.

My math ACT score was the highest of all the sections with English the lowest. Cannot tell you to this day was is a gerund is or a past participle. Could not stand diagraming sentences.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Similar story here. I did not do well in Algebra. Somewhat enjoyed Geometry but the teacher was the likely reason - Mr. Bushyager was awesome. Drove around a Camaro Berlinetta (this is 1986-1987 sophomore year) with the license plate Dr. Bush. Short non-threatening guy, probably 5'4" on a good day and Viet Nam vet.

My math ACT score was the highest of all the sections with English the lowest. Cannot tell you to this day was is a gerund is or a past participle. Could not stand diagraming sentences.
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Past participle: Have you looked at the new issue of the paper yet?
Gerund: I am reading the new issue of the paper.

You are welcome.
 
jumbach said:
It's funny because math was not my strongest subject in school . . . still isn't. But there is a lot of math in planning, and I am great at it. I'm also great with math in regards to taxes, etc. I think the difference is that I am good at the practical, useful, everyday math--not the random "solve this formula for no reason" type worksheet-math.
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This.

I was okay in math but it was never my strongest subject. In college and grad school I had to take a bunch of classes on advanced stats and linear equations for an econometrics concentration and I still struggled. Once I got out into "the real world" and started doing some economic and fiscal impact modeling and forecasting and regression analysis where I was using real scenarios and I could connect them to actual geographies something clicked and it suddenly became a lot more interesting and a lot easier.

FWIW, in school I always did a lot better on story problems or math work that at least tried to tie the work into some sort of empirical examples so maybe there's some sort of correlation there.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Our neighbor's daughter was about that age a couple years ago and had done good enough in math but then took a sudden downturn. On a whim her dad signed her up for some tutoring sessions at a place around the corner from us called "Mathnaseium" (I think that's a Michigan chain but it's probably pretty similar to Kumon) and according to him, that made a world of difference. I think she just went once or twice a week for a couple of months and into the summer but it seemed to have made something click because she's now in honors math at the middle school.

I have no evidence to back this up but I think one-on-one tutoring for math in particular really works for a lot of kids because it allows whoever is giving them the lesson to tailor it specifically to them instead of in a larger classroom setting where the teacher has to teach to 15+ kids and does not always have the opportunity to explain things so that each kids can understand them. Sometimes that different perspective/teaching style makes a huge difference in how well a kid can grasp a concept.
Click to expand...
My youngest spent a year at our local Mathnasium after a miserable performance on the annual standardized testing. This was due to a 1-2 punch of her 2nd grade teacher being overwhelmed and COVID remote instruction for 2nd and 3rd grade. She spent 1.5 years at Mathnasium and was full caught up to grade level by the end of her 5th grade year and has met all testing benchmarks since. She placed into honors math for 7th grade and again for 8th grade:

Our local Mathnasium is owned by two retired veteran teachers and they largely employee current and retired teachers. Bella was mad that she had to repeat some things but the way their program is designed focuses on mastery to build foundational skills.
 
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