Hello Mrs. Jones,

I love this post!

As I read it, I thought he sounds like a normal boy, but slow.

It is normal for boys to write slow, or more accurately to be "allergic to pencils" and slowly fade away into space.

My sons when at his age took 5 to 10 min on the 50 practice subtraction and multiplication problems. The time didn't bother me, I only encouraged that they try to beat their last score. Speed, I saw, was a lost cause. I focused only on understanding. I limited the amount of time I spent with each child on math. 30min and then we were done and picked up the next day where we left off.

Then I switched from paper worksheets to a large dry erase white board and started to see a major difference. Understanding and speed were starting to peak its head out, and we started moving faster.

But you mention something that is different; you say EVERTHING about him is slow. That is his nature and I would highly encourage not to change just for an easier, "quicker" way. If he is doing well, and he does not mind I would plead with you to keep up the hard work you have already been doing for his well being in math skills. In other words, your suffering through this, for his benefit, IS your labor of love towards him. I would like you to see that. I would want you have joy about it, and not dread.

We only get out of our children what we put in to them. I know this is a great math program and I am sure you can see this too. I recognize that it is time intensive, and interactive, but it is the superior way to teach and for a child to learn. I would recommend you get the book "The Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver Van DeMille, It explains this idea better than I can.

I would seriously recommend that you limit yourself 30min of math each session and then stop. 30min is a fair time for him to learn and for you not to have to sit there all day waiting.

I found it funny at the end of your post that you added that he had no nutrition or health issues, because my first thought when reading your post was that he might have a magnesium deficiency, which is common for kids who had antibiotics when in utero or up to age five. It has nothing to do with the diet of the family just the imbalance of the intestinal tract. One of my kids had it and after treatment in six weeks we saw major difference. We went to http://www.dianecraft.org/ and it lead to the treatment. I like a lot of what she says minus some of her ideas on teaching math- I think most of the ideas need to be reworked.

Please note, this is only my opinion and not that of RightStart, but I wanted to answer you because
I sense that you already know all of this but needed to express your frustration, and are probably looking more for ideas or for encouragement.

I hope you can see that my encouragement is to keep up the good work you are doing. Stop noticing how slow he is and notice how well he is.
Work with who he is, if it is laziness then change it, but if it is him just keep working with it.

I hope you can see my advice. LIMIT the time you spend on math, or any subject for that matter. You will become more annoyed if you spend an open ended amount of time on this. Limit yourself.

Finally, I work on Wed, answering calls at 888-272-3291 if you wish to talk about this further.
Because you know, as I do, that in the long-run the worksheets only pacifies a student; it doesn't teach them. And in the long-run of their math "career" the worksheet approach will do a disservice to them. That is why 82% of high school graduates have to retake algebra in college and 34% of them have to take remedial math first. Plus, 54% of college students chose a their major based on the least amount of math courses they have to take.

We don't want that. We are striving to produce better students with better results. So keep up the good work and call or email me personally and I will be happy to encourage or help you as best I can.

Thank you for giving your child a RightStart in Math,

Carissa
RightStart™ Mathematics by Activities for Learning, Inc.

For program questions: 888.272.3291
To place an order: 888.RS.5.MATH (888.775.6284)
www.RightStartMath.com

Our Mission: To help children understand, apply, and enjoy mathematics




Please email me if you have more questions,

Thank you for giving your child a RightStart in Math,

Carissa
RightStart™ Mathematics by Activities for Learning, Inc.

For program questions: 888.272.3291
To place an order: 888.RS.5.MATH (888.775.6284)
www.RightStartMath.com

Our Mission: To help children understand, apply, and enjoy mathematics