Middle School Math Parent

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Last year my 5th grader took care of his homework totally on his own. Every few months I'd check in with his teacher who consistently told me that he was doing it all and well, and his report cards were always fine, so I was completely hands off.

This year we moved and he's at a new public middle school with a reputation for being much more academically rigorous than the old one. The first week of school he brings home a "review packet" of 5th grade math, with the instructions to just do 3 problems on each page (the kids who were in the school system last year had gotten the packet from their 5th grade teacher and had the whole summer to do it, new kids got it on the first day of school, hence the 3 problem thing). Anyway, about 1/2 the packet he was shaky on, the other 1/2 seems to be stuff he's never seen before. I showed it to a 5th grade teacher in my school (same district/curriculum as my old school) and he said that almost none of his 5th graders would be able to do it at the end of the year, as most of it was stuff they hadn't covered.

So, I emailed the teacher and said that a lot of it appeared to be new to him, that I wanted him to do the whole packet but that we'd need more time (it was 15 pages, and I'd have to teach him the skills before he could attempt most of the pages). She gave us an extra week, so we've been slowly working through it this weekend and will be done by Friday. She also offered to meet with me in 2 weeks after they're done with initial assessments, and gave me a sense of the order to do things in (e.g. first unit is graphing and data, so hit averages, and percents now, then comes decimals so review those next). I should add that he's very much an "on level" kid when it comes to this stuff. If he's seen it and it's been explained to him he can get it and retained it, but he's not able to figure out stuff he's never seen on his own the way a gifted kid might.

Since the culture of the DIS seems to pretty hands off parenting, I'm curious how most people here would handle it. So, here's a poll.

 

[tiggerlover]

I can't vote for any of the listed options so I chose to reply instead. I am assuming the assessment the teacher is referring to is in part a review of the math packet you spoke of. If this is the case I would let the teacher know that I would very much like to meet with her. I would explain that I was concerned the new school is more advanced in the curriculum than the school DS transferred from and I would like a to know what options were available to DS to bring him up to speed with his peers.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

As a middle school math teacher I would really appreciate you helping him out! I would also want to know the things he had not covered so that when they came up I could keep an eye on him and be sure all was well. I would be thrilled that a parent offered to help him out and kept in touch with me about his progress. You are doing a good job!

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I can't vote for any of the listed options so I chose to reply instead. I am assuming the assessment the teacher is referring to is in part a review of the math packet you spoke of. If this is the case I would let the teacher know that I would very much like to meet with her. I would explain that I was concerned the new school is more advanced in the curriculum than the school DS transferred from and I would like a to know what options were available to DS to bring him up to speed with his peers.

A big part of why I emailed her was because I wanted to do the review packet with him, but didn't want her to look at a packet full of right answers and assume that he knew how to do the work. I didn't give him any of the answers, but I did do some pretty "heavy" assisting such as drawing him a number line and teaching him how to use it to add the negative and positive numbers, or demonstrating 3 or 4 problems (that I made up on my own) before turning him loose on a page. Even with that, he still had to go back and correct about 1/3 of the problems because he wasn't fluent/accurate with the skills.

 

[Hannathy]

Unfortunately you are discovering the inconsistencies in the educational system. This is why some kids can hit college and having been B students don't understand why they can't keep up. It sounds like the new school is harder academically than your old school and he will need some help to catch up.

I would let the teacher know like you did and then with her guidance work to get him up to the level of the other kids. It may take a while like even weeks or a couple months. My Son had to do this when he changed school. We worked with him for the fall and then when he was caught up he went back to being able to do it on his own except for once in awhile when he was stuck or confused.

 

[cathyce2]

I would do a combination of the poll choices.

He needs help, email the teacher, and meet with them to make a plan which includes Mom tutoring to help him catch up.

 

[Magic Mom]

I would do a combination of the poll choices.

He needs help, email the teacher, and meet with them to make a plan which includes Mom tutoring to help him catch up.

This

 

[aprilgail2]

Which ever you choose don't send him down to remedial math--that is where he will be stuck his whole school career!
I am sure this is not new to the school, its the difference in school systems. My daughters friend was in school here and in the bottom of her class, the weakest reader etc....they moved to North Carolina at the end of the school year and she started the new school year there and was ahead of the rest of the class!

 

[powellrj]

I voted hire the tutor because DH and I were both in school in the 60's at that age and the math has changed since then and everytime we tried to help we made it worse.

 

[golfgal]

I would have started by having him do what he could and turning it into the teacher with a note saying that what isn't done he did not have in school last year. The reason for the review is so the teacher knows where the kids stand. THEN I would have talked with the teacher to see where to go from there-tutor or whatnot.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Golfgal, if I thought that the purpose of the assignment was assessment, I'd do exactly what you suggest (probably after photocopying it so we could review it at home). But I don't think that it was. It was about a 15 page packet with lots and lots of problems to be copied out and done on separate pieces of paper, that kids staying in district got at the end of last year. I would imagine that a teacher would want something somewhat shorter for assessment, as well as something done more recently. I'm pretty sure the purpose was just keeping skills sharp over the summer. We didn't get it until the first day of school, so the other kids had a 3 month head start, which is why they told him to just do 3 problems per page. In addition, my district has a reputation for helicopter parents, so I can't really imagine that they'd send an assessment home, too many parents would be doing the work (including me, I guess, but at least I owned up by email!).

Aprilgail2: I really like the way they do remedial math in this school. The kids take 2 periods of math -- one on level, and one remedial. A friend of mine moved her daughter from the same school my son came from into 7th. She was behind by the old school's standards (so farther behind than my son) when she started. In one year they not only caught her up so that she was getting A's and B's in on level math, but reccommended her for summer school so she could skip 8th grade math, and take algebra this year instead.

 

[RUDisney]

Which ever you choose don't send him down to remedial math--that is where he will be stuck his whole school career!
I am sure this is not new to the school, its the difference in school systems. My daughters friend was in school here and in the bottom of her class, the weakest reader etc....they moved to North Carolina at the end of the school year and she started the new school year there and was ahead of the rest of the class!

That's not true in our district. My DD was placed into learning support when she started in our district. It was because, we found out, that she had problems with tracking and convergence of her eyes. She had eye therapy, but needed the support to catch up with her classmates.

She is in honors classes in 8th grade now. She is the first student to go from learning support to honors. Others have "graduated" out of LS, but none have ever gone into honors before.

If your child needs extra help, let the school help him while you help support his learning at home. Once he catches up, he could wind up being ahead of the others in his class.

 

[Mkrop]

As a middle school math teacher I would really appreciate you helping him out! I would also want to know the things he had not covered so that when they came up I could keep an eye on him and be sure all was well. I would be thrilled that a parent offered to help him out and kept in touch with me about his progress. You are doing a good job!

I would do a combo of all your choices except moving him to remedial math.

I moved 3 times as a kid and many times I was ahead and many times I needed some time to catch up.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd14 was in vector math, and ds12 will be in it as well. Unfortunately, it is pretty well known that the 7th grade vector math teacher is horrible - about 1/4 of the class will hire a math tutor. Dd14 ended up with an A, with the help of a friend, but if ds12 needs help, he'll get help (DH is a math ace). Math is a subject that, if you fall behind, it's hard to catch up.

 

[golfgal]

Golfgal, if I thought that the purpose of the assignment was assessment, I'd do exactly what you suggest (probably after photocopying it so we could review it at home). But I don't think that it was. It was about a 15 page packet with lots and lots of problems to be copied out and done on separate pieces of paper, that kids staying in district got at the end of last year. I would imagine that a teacher would want something somewhat shorter for assessment, as well as something done more recently. I'm pretty sure the purpose was just keeping skills sharp over the summer. We didn't get it until the first day of school, so the other kids had a 3 month head start, which is why they told him to just do 3 problems per page. In addition, my district has a reputation for helicopter parents, so I can't really imagine that they'd send an assessment home, too many parents would be doing the work (including me, I guess, but at least I owned up by email!).

Aprilgail2: I really like the way they do remedial math in this school. The kids take 2 periods of math -- one on level, and one remedial. A friend of mine moved her daughter from the same school my son came from into 7th. She was behind by the old school's standards (so farther behind than my son) when she started. In one year they not only caught her up so that she was getting A's and B's in on level math, but reccommended her for summer school so she could skip 8th grade math, and take algebra this year instead.

I am sure for the other kids that have been in that school it was a "stay sharp over the summer' deal but since your child only had to do 3 problems/page I would bet that it was intended to see where your son (and any other new to the school kids) were at.

 

[Rora]

I'd butt out for now, then if he needs further help, see if the teacher offers extra help. If she does, great, if not, I'd think about hiring a tutor but only if he really needs it. Give him a chance.

All the while, I think you should put your tutoring skills to service! Good luck OP!

 

[Disneyrsh]

ok