Monday, October 1, 2007

And the Angels Sang!

I pulled out our old Primary (Singapore) Math 3A book last night while searching for some reading and Canadian Social Studies resources. This was the math program my daughter hated with a passion and we dumped last spring. I looked through it and thought, well, she's made a lot of improvements, maybe we'll give it a try tommorrow.

I pulled it out this morning and dumped it on her desk. I got one huge dirty look.

I persisted. We opened it up to where we left off and plowed ahead. Plowing though turned to skipping joyfully. Catherine adored it.

Well shucks.

I'm thinking that all the work we've been doing with Math Mammoth and the Calculadder drills have shored up her skills enough that it's not the work it once was. Also, where we left off was just past a bar modeling lesson and I think the bar models just don't jive with Catherine's style. From what I remember they were a huge source of frustration. She loves to just work with numbers (in her head! Take the pencil and paper away and she has a ball!) and doesn't seem to get much out of manipulatives at all at this point.

So anyway, I'm thrilled. I can bring out Primary Math again. We're a full grade behind but I'm not going to worry about that. Our focus will be drilling basic skills, reinforcing that with Math Mammoth and moving on with Primary Math if Catherine continues to enjoy it. We'll see how bar modeling goes the next time it comes up but if her reaction is the same as last time I'll just move on or cover the topic with Math Mammoth.

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