George and I are not in agreement regarding how long his break from math should last. But I think I'm going to follow his lead on this one. After all, he's technically at the beginning of 4th grade, and he just finished 4th-grade math, so it's not like he's falling behind.
It's just that once he's done with 5th-grade math, there are all sorts of cool courses he'll be eligible to take with CTY (namely, a middle school science series, and a cryptography course that he's quite interested in), and I'm eager for him to be able to start with those. (I think that we'll probably alternate online science and math courses once he gets to that point.) Plus, the achiever in me wants to see him accomplish more, more, more! But I'm really trying to resist that impulse, because it's not even about him.
The only real consideration here is that I don't want him to lose what he's learned. But I can address that by making sure that he does some math worksheets or workbooks, and that we keep playing his math card games, on a regular (if not daily) basis.
I don't think I would have had the guts to do this last year, to let him make the call on how long his math postponement would be. But I know he'll want to get back to it. He's very excited about the cryptography course, and he's also eager to get a math computer game offered by CTY (Descartes' Cove) that is for kids who have completed 5th-grade math. Plus, last year when I denied him a break when he had asked for it, math became intensely unpleasant for him, something he dreaded on a daily basis. When I relented and let him take a 3-week break, he did return to it with renewed enthusiasm. So I am fairly confident that when he feels ready he'll come back to it.
But what about kids in school who have to do math every day, whether they like it or not?! Shouldn't I make him do stuff he doesn't want to do? Isn't that part of life? Isn't that a skill he'll need in order to succeed "out in the world"?
Actually, he does plenty of things every day that he doesn't want to do. He has daily chores, and some of them--such as cleaning the cat box--are no doubt even more unpleasant than some of the awful things he'd have to be doing in school (LOL). Then there are matters such as complying with my sometimes quite stringent limits on tv and video games, having to brush his teeth and hair every day (neither of which he likes at all!), having to go to bed earlier than his younger step-sister (she sleeps in; he doesn't), having to negotiate with his step-siblings about all sorts of things, etc. etc. So, honestly, rather than make him continue with his math right now when he's feeling burned out, I think it's a better use of our time and energy to insist that he stick with his chores (and that he continue to do academic work in other areas, of course). As long as he is making adequate progress in academics overall, which he surely is, to me the rest is not so important.
Besides, the math that he's doing is much more intense than the math he'd be doing at school, so I do think it's fair to let him recover from that intensity before he delves into it again. In fact, the tutor that CTY assigned to us said that lots of kids find that they need a substantial break in between the classes, to do other more "fun" things with math. So I'm following my new, experience-based instincts, and letting it go. It will be interesting to see how this experiment turns out!
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In many public schools in the later grades, courses are offered on a block schedule now, so students would have math one term, but not the next.
ReplyDeleteTeachers have mixed feelings about this, but the fact that it's done on a widespread basis might help you feel better about a short break.
Thanks, Country-Fried Mama! I do actually find that reassuring...
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard about the block schedules at some schools now. I'm not sure what I think about it. :-) I think most kids need the consistancy with math, but perhaps advanced kids don't. My dd is advanced in math and I appreciated reading about CTY on this post. Now, I'm thinking about having her tested so she can take some courses. She's doing 5th grade math this year (she's 8, almost 9), though she completed a 5th grade math course last year. I just found that the math course was too "lite" and we are doing something more substantial this year.
ReplyDeleteMath isn't George's favorite (nor his strongest) subject, but we've both been happy with the CTY/EPGY math, overall. Sometimes it does get a bit too easy, but it lets you move through the easy parts very quickly. Also, it tends to be pretty dry, not a lot of bells and whistles and "fun" graphics, but usually the math itself is interesting and stimulating enough without any of that.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, we take breaks with math. Maybe I told you that we took a long turn into geometry for a while before plunging back into Singapore, which was what we used up to grade 6.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure its a good life lesson to figure out what's truly efficient -- plowing ahead and forcing yourself to work, or clearing your head and starting fresh later. Both methods are valid and necessary, though its hard to know which to choose when.
Thanks for putting it that way, Shaun! I'm still struggling a bit with how much to insist on some work in math during this break. Maybe I'll let him have a complete break for 3 weeks, which is what I thought was a reasonable amount of time for a break, and after that start making him do some workbook pages at least a couple times a week or so until he's ready to resume full-time....
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