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

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I agree; don't slow her down, or ever give her the idea that there's something wrong with being so excited about learning something that you don't want to stop. Don't take her books away; don't limit her reading-time; don't make disparaging remarks about her scholarly pursuits - obviously she does have to brush her teeth, do her chores, participate in family activities and go to sleep at night, but her free time is her time, and if she chooses to spend it studying, how cool is that?

I agree with leora: introduce the child to other forms and applications of math than the ones she'll be studying in class next year. Of course, there's also the option of letting her go ahead and learn all next year's math now, so that she'll be able to crank out easy A's in class, while continuing to get on with her own studies.

The inevitable price of being smarter than average is having to constantly wait for those who aren't. Naturally, this is extremely frustrating, and it doesn't help to increase the frustration by imposing even more limits on a child's intellectual pursuits. There does have to be a clear agreement though, that boredom is not an acceptable excuse for 'acting out', nor are those who study ahead allowed to lord it over those who don't.

[conuly]

if she chooses to spend it studying, how cool is that?

It's hard keeping up with her, is all!

Though I'd certainly never tell her that her interests aren't worth having, no matter *what* they were. (Well, not seriously. Occasionally I suggest to them that "all that reading" is bad for their brains and they should watch more TV, but they don't believe that anymore than they do when I tell them that they're not allowed any more birthdays and growing is verboten.)

Of course, there's also the option of letting her go ahead and learn all next year's math now, so that she'll be able to crank out easy A's in class, while continuing to get on with her own studies.

4s. Or, in the old system we used to use, E's. (For Excellent, followed by Good (in some places Very Good came before Good), Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, and Unsatisfactory. And, of course, Z - never showed up to class.)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"It's hard keeping up with her, is all!"

LOL, I'll bet it is. That's one of the major benefits of teaching: having to keep up with a fresh and agile young mind keeps our own minds limber, the same way chasing around after zippy young bodies keeps our muscles strong.

4s, Es, As, whatever - we've had over half a century of dicking around with the grading system, trying to make believe it isn't really a grading system, but rather a 'progress evaluation tool', and it is in fact still a grading system, same as it always has been.

[conuly]

And they tell the same old stories about it, too.

When I was a kid, every year they said they couldn't pass you if you didn't do the homework, or that they wouldn't accept late homeworks, and every year I disregarded this because it wasn't true.

This year we got a note home saying Ana might not pass science because of missing homeworks. She sent in one or two more after that - and she still got all 3s in the subject (3 being "on target"). Pissed me off, actually. I don't think grades at that age should be based on effort instead of understanding, but they shouldn't lie and claim they are when they're not!