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Boy Opera is in 4th grade. He has been behind in math since we moved in December. Our new school was way ahead of our old school, and they use a different program.
Does anyone have any software suggestions, games, etc.? He needs help with multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and other typical 4th grade stuff. I've looked on Amazon, but honestly don't know which games are better. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Local high school kid that can tutor/mentor?
My son tutors for a few others kids, and has for several years. I think it is good for the kids just because of the friendship aspect that develops as well...
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I should have mentioned that we're looking for a tutor, Farmgirl. I just thought it would be good if Boy Opera has things he can do on his own as well. Thanks.
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I really enjoyed the Number Munchers/Fraction Munchers games we had on the computers back when I was in grade school. This is what they have currently. This is what the game I played looked like, way back on that Apple II in the back of the classroom.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Well, my kids liked the Einstein Jr. games, but most of those were for computer models prior to Windows 98 -- I can't find any of the stuff my kids used way back then that is now available for Windows XP...
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There were these things in olden times... Workbooks they were called, done with pencils and checked by parents, don't know if they exist anymore though....
What possessed you to make the exercise somehow fun and interesting for the wee one? And Heaven forbid he should become familiar and comfortable using a computer in the same breath.
Parents - no consideration these days, let me tell you.
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Might I suggest introducing him to D&D. t delves into the imagination and it is where I learned all my basic math skills!
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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And as for the workbooks. Hmm. While I always try to make math fun, some kids really benefit from a good workbook, and like them a lot. Do you have a teacher store near you? Or a Learning Store?
Also, check on your state's Dept of Ed site. that is often a really good resource. they will have sample test questions, and the state math frameworks, so you can get an idea of where he "should" be.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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My child that had/has extreme writing difficulties due to motor skill problems and dysgraphia -- but he loved math. The worksheets were painful for him, but he loved playing dominoes and learned a lot of basic math doing that. And fractions he learned by cooking recipes with me in the kitchen (and doubling the recipe, or cutting it by thirds, etc). It was fun. He still does most math in his head with surprising accuracy..
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Trevor, I know...I'm a terrible mother, aren't I? Perhaps instead of looking for fun activities I should tie Boy Opera to a desk with a pencil superglued in his hand. It's really too bad that Bean Counter doesn't live nearby - I could hire him as a tutor.
Tick, that game looks great! I think it will provide practice and a bit of fun at the same time. I'm going to order it.
Liz, I'm planning on using the "Bridges" workbook series for both kids during the summer. Workbooks are hard for Boy Opera during the school year, as they do so many sheets at school. I'll check out the sites you mentioned.
Farmgirl, the teacher mentioned today that his daughter learned a good "number sense" by doing woodworking with him. Since we just bought the materials to finish out a bedroom in the basement (gotta shift Boy down there due to baby) we're planning on having Boy Opera help quite a bit with that.
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I agree with Farmgirl. Any hands-on, fun thing you can have him do around the house. Don't even tell him it's math until after you have done the activity.
In other words, move from concrete to abstract.
Manipulatives are great, too. You can buy packages of them for sinlge use. Or, ask his teacher if you can borrow some.
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*fondly remembers the days when "manipulatives" were a cardboard page of punch-outs at the end of the math workbook*
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Actually, Rivka, there are punch-out manipulatives that are very good.
People who are naturally good at paper math often scoff at the use of hands-on materials. I wish they were in use when I was in school.
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Boon
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I liked Math Blaster when I was a kid for drills. Of course, I didn't know they were drills at the time, or I never would have played them.
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There's good free stuff at funbrain.com. Another good site (though not quite as good) is aplusmath.com. Quia.com has drill games, and some of them are not bad, but you have to wade through a lot of junk to find the best stuff. As he gets closer to 5th and 6th grade and prealgebra you might try Absurd Math, at learningwave.com. Finally, if you are ever looking for something more for enrichment, you might look into the games at cut-the-knot.org. Some of those are extremely advanced--as in college level--but there are some there good for younger kids as well. But that's not so much about drill and practive (and teaching specific concepts) as it is about going beyond the curriculum.
EDIT: "mopre" sure sounds like a word, doesn't it? I say we make it one. One of those words people throw around but nobody quite knows the definition of, like elan. Sound good?
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I drilled my kids with flash cards. We made a game of it. If they got the answer right, they kept the card. We made-up a reward system based on the number of cards they kept each round and how many rounds it took to keep all the cards.
After they were able to keep all the cards in one round, then we worked on shortening the time for the round.
We would give pop quizzes in the car where the reward for a right answer was mom or dad making some ridiculous sound.
Kids will do almost anything to make their parents act like 4 year olds!
Posts: 2425 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quia.com has a lot of "virtual flash card" games . . . it's kind of a standard for them. If you don't see anything you like, I might could make one for you. (Or you could, but you have to pay to have access to that feature.) I wrote a game for myself to study atomic numbers when it seemed like WWTBAM was hitting the chemistry questions heavily.
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It's really too bad that Bean Counter doesn't live nearby - I could hire him as a tutor.
