How do I get Evangeline to slow down?

[conuly]

We've been having the nieces do "extra math" because NYC schools put a big emphasis on reading and I think math really suffers a little. Especially when the kids are already reading at or above grade level.

We didn't finish their workbooks during the school year, we're doing that now, and starting up with math games and all again because if nothing else, this summer Ana has got to, got to, GOT TO start memorizing some of her addition and subtraction facts. She has to count on her fingers, and then she gets frustrated that it slows her down and she drops her pencil.

If Ana works at the pace she's going, one exercise a day (which is more than she would be doing during the school year, there are more days than assignments), she'll pretty much be done by the time school starts in September. One workbook is half a year, we started late in the second half of the year, that's about right.

If Evangeline works at the pace she's going, 3+ pages a day, she'll be done with first grade math by the time she enters first grade.

She is ahead of where her sister was at that age, at that point in school (remember, Ana entered kindy half a year older than her sister entered did!), heck - she's ahead of where Ana was in the middle of her first grade year already!

I have tried talking to her, imploring her to slow down. "No thanks!" I've tried taking away her math and giving her on-level books to read to me. I've tried hiding her math, which is just deeply surreal.

I love this child. I don't understand her. HELP ME.

(Also, I love Ana, but she has got to stop with the fingers. I know the school didn't emphasize memorizing, and I know they have a really valid reason for that, but I also know that Ana is getting really really convinced that because she can't do math fast she's not good at it, and that's not the case. But you can't convince that child of anything. Best thing for her is lots of very cleverly disguised drill. Next year is not going to be very fun.)

Comments

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

So did I. I was reading 12th grade or even college-level by the time I hit eighth grade, and I was in calculus by 10th grade. I still don't think it's a good idea to deliberately hold her back.

If she gets too far ahead, maybe see if you can talk with her teachers and get her advanced school work, or maybe put in a higher math class. If not-- from everything I've read, you certainly seem very invested in their education; maybe give her other (math related, of course) things she can bring with her to do in class.

I really, really (really!) think it's more important to encourage her at this stage than it is to try and keep her from being bored in class. Even if it does mean she acts out a little. How often do you run across a kid who *wants* to learn math, after all??

[conuly]

Without going into details, the way she acted out was extremely problematic. I'm stopping that discussion there, but it's more than just a little troublemaking.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Well-- nonetheless, I think there have to be other ways of stopping that behavior that don't involve also holding her back. :\

ETA: Actually, I like leora's idea of teaching her other varieties of math-- it would satisfy the same instincts without interfering with what she's learning in school.

[conuly]

Of course, as I said in my next post, if we were normal they wouldn't be doing math over the summer at all. (And this is the origin of the "summer slide". Look it up!) So it's not so much holding her back as... I don't know, something else. Pushing her ahead slightly less quickly.