My son is 10 and is a struggling, gifted math kid. We went through fighting over math, to relaxing about it (and not doing anything formal), to finding our way back into it. I know that I pushed him too much too early, recognizing early on that he had some natural gifts and I was all excited because I'm a total math geek and couldn't wait to give him all the opportunities I didn't have at that age! As a result, he hated math for a long time, refused to cooperate with anything I tried and believed himself to be "stupid" at math.

Last year we did grade 6 Teaching Textbooks and he LOVED it. We were finally rolling. He no longer hates and fears math, he was understanding the concepts and did really well. After carefully examining the curricula, we skipped grade 7 and went straight to Pre-Algebra.

Well, it isn't going so well. It's much more "dry" than the grade 6 level, which he could do mostly at the PC and was more interactive. He's a VERY physical kid with Sensory Integration Dysfunction (he's hyper-tactile, has to touch everything and can't sit still). I know that he's able to do the work, but he's just not as keen anymore so he's not trying his best and it's getting sloppy.

But, I'm also starting to realize that there are some number concepts that he really isn't perfectly clear in his understanding... he can do the problems on paper, but doesn't truly understand, the way RS would have kids understand.

I've been planning to get RS Geometry for DS once he finished the TT Pre-Algebra. I'm starting to consider changing tactics and getting it now, and going back to TT when he's a bit more mature and ready for the "older" approach of the Pre-Algebra.

But, now I'm also wondering if we should work through level E first. It's all stuff that he already "knows"... but does he really? Would it be worth it for him to work through these concepts the RS way at this point (I know he would love all the manipulatives, which I regret we never used when he was younger), or should I just trust that he'll figure things out on his own in his own time, and jump into the Geometry?

To give an idea, when he was not quite three he counted 1-2-3-4-5 on his fingers, looked at it for a moment, then counted 5-4-3-2-1 while putting his fingers down. He could never figure out the mental math 'tricks' taught in Saxon (we tried it for grade 4, with little success) but comes up with amazing tricks of his own... ask him 4 times 6, he'd say, well 2x6 is 12, so it's 24. He understands place value and will calculate accurately with very large numbers, but will often grossly misread the name of the number... for instance, 603,026,310 he might say "600 million and three thousand, 260 thousand and three hundred ten."

Any thoughts?

Dear Heather,
Wow! Thanks for sharing so much of your journey mathematically with you son. It does sound like it has been quite an adventure. Your son does sound brilliant and I am sure it must be hard to know how to challenge him without boring him. However, I do feel that starting with Level E would be beneficial for him. One reason is that it pulls together all the basic concepts of math in a very hands-on way, which sounds like his preferred style. Also, it is a pre-algebra course in many ways as it really challenges children, especially through the daily warm up exercises, to see the interconnectedness in math. I fell that it is essential to lay a strong foundation for algebraic thinking.

Starting with the Geometric Approach first may cause him to have some gaps that won't show up until later and will cause great frustration when he is trying to think mathematically at higher levels. When he finishes Level E, he will be ready to advance to the Geometric Approach and will really be challenged with thinking through the work more independently.

Plus one more factor, he is only ten. He has plenty of time to move through two levels and still be in Algebra early. The advantage is that you will be confident that he has a firm foundation and the gaps will be filled in before they cause more frustration.
Nancy

Thanks! That's the way I was leaning, I've received the same advice from a few different sources now, and even my son agrees! I totally agree that it's most important to understand everything properly before pushing on. I'm very 'rigid' with that in my 'other life' as a piano teacher... I spend MUCH more time with the 'beginner' stuff than most teachers do, (sometimes years if needed), I don't just automatically zip them through the grade levels like many parents expect, sometimes to their great consternation! But the result of this is that my students are always MUCH stronger than most by the time they reach the intermediate levels, because there are no holes or big weaknesses in their early training.

Before typing that up right now, I hadn't actually made this connection between my STRONG insistence on this philosophy for my piano students, and my struggles with how to approach things with my son. If I step back and ask myself "if this were piano instead of math, and he were a student instead of my son, what would I do?"

And the answer is a big DUH. Level E it is!!

Great!