MilitaryKid has never really liked math; it has never come close to being his favorite subject; it has never been an easy subject for him either. As I wrote before that while he finished his Singapore 5B book last spring, he really didn’t have a clue how to work math problems or do the Revision sections on his own. When he took Singapore’s placement tests for 3rd through 5th grade, the 4th grade test totally stumped him. At the start of this school year MK went through a fresh copy of Singapore’s 4th grade workbooks, with me teaching each and every section, but giving very little guidance on the actual workbook problem solving.

MK had heard from his Granddad during his finally days that math is fun, that it is important to learn math, but honestly, I don’t think that affected MK’s attitude toward this subject one bit. He still did not like math. Period.

Nothing was going to change his attitude. Or was there?

After he completed Singapore’s 4B workbook he went through Singapore’s 4th grade Topical Problems Sums book. This book has one tough word problem after another, and even a math-wise mom like myself finds herself scratching her head over some of these problems. They are tough, and challenging.

One thing I noticed though was that MK was making strides forward and occasionally we heard a soft; this is easy! Oh my! I just about p.i.m.p.

After the Topical Problems Sum book MK moved into Singapore 6A and I need to share the major change with my math teaching. Together we go through the textbook with MK answering each and every question before moving into the workbook. We go s-l-o-w-l-y and then MK works through the workbook totally independently. If he can’t do a problem we go back through the textbook but I do not do the problem in the workbook for him.

There’s another major change too. Thank you Helen for sharing your problem with me, cause I realized I had this same problem but with math. oh, how to say this—-I know that MK picked up on my body language, the many moments I displayed impatience when he did not quickly answer my math questions. I have made an effort to be positive, to say lots of positive words to MK as he does a math problem, to smile, to make specific positive comments regarding how he is solving the problem or the approach he is taking. And to be patient. Geez, being patient is not my strong suit. But it seems to be working.

Last week MK surprised me by doing 4 exercises on his own because as he said – Mom, this is just so easy! Music to my ears, words I loved hearing.

And then on Friday MK jumped into doing his math workbook without any instruction. “WAIT!!” I yelled, “You need my instructions.” Oh how sweet, he didn’t think he needed any instructions but soon realized that he did need an explanation on how to work with ratios. Once he had the instructions he completed the exercise and volunteered to do the Revision Exercise. VOLUNTEERED to do it! And did it totally on his own!! YEA!!!

psss, I think MK is actually enjoying math now. Did you feel that? That’s the house shaking cause I’m doing the happy dance. I am so pleased, our two steps backwards three steps forward really did the trick for MK. Oh, and me showing a bit more patience and providing a few encouraging words might have helped too.