In other news, we've started our slog through fractions.

[conuly]

It starts off with adding fractions with the same denominator, reducing if needed. That's easy enough, and sure enough, the same task that drove Ana to tears just a few months ago, reducing, is now the easiest thing in the world for her. WHY IS SHE ALWAYS LIKE THIS??? That isn't a rhetorical question, I actually want to know what makes it so that things that were hard become easy with a break for her. Practice doesn't do it.

In school math they're doing division, but they don't seem to be doing the long division part yet. Ana had to divide 87 by 6, and she was actually expected to draw six plates with 87 cookies divided among them. To which I say "fuck it", and she must have agreed, because she did the division first and then drew the cookies. It's faster that way, but it's still stupid. Talk about busywork, drawing 87 cookies! They've been having little intro to division assignments like this since the second grade, or maybe even the first. If they don't understand the general concept by now, drawing 87 cookies and six plates certainly won't help! You want to help them understand the idea of division and remainders, give them 25 cookies or something. But 87? Craziness.

Comments

[siderea]

That isn't a rhetorical question, I actually want to know what makes it so that things that were hard become easy with a break for her. Practice doesn't do it.

Yeah, that's a known phenomenon. I assume there's a technical term for it, but I don't know it. I just call it "fermentation". It's way under-respected in education. There are concepts that apparently the brain just has to get used to: you introduce the concept, kick it around a bit, then let it ferment for some weeks, then come back and there's no trouble.

I've also seen the effect in music rehearsal for performance.

So the question isn't "why is she like this", it's "how can we exploit this for maximal educational gains." I mean, if you know the intro-break-return thing works for her, figure out how to do it every time. And make sure she knows she works that way so she can exploit it as she develops her own self-directed study skills.

[conuly]

Well, that's largely why we do extra math. Her school uses what largely seems to be a decent curriculum, umpteen cookies notwithstanding, but if we can get to a subject before it's taught she does better.