Poor Emperor. He's doing very poorly in his mathematics when he tries to do things Mom's way. I've been trying and trying and TRYING to teach him to line his numbers up neatly. What happens is that his handwriting is so sloppy that he adds everything all wrong and gets millions when thousands will do. I've just had it. We've tried lined paper. Graph paper. AAAA! So frustrated I've lost my temper and so has he. But now he has found the solution. Now he will stare at the paper for a minute, and write the answer. I thought that certainly he must have cheated to do this. Did he look at the answer book? So I got a random problem out along with my calculator. Yes, he can really do this in his head and it's actually easier for him than writing all the steps out. He can do the math part, but the lining up numbers part is IMPOSSIBLE. What will we do when we get to larger numbers he can't do in his head? Wondering aloud here.
Mental math is certainly viable. They don't tell you that in school (even homeschool sometimes [laughing]), but you can become famous for your magical math skills.
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WOW!! I saw the first part of this video, and he does seem like a magician :]. Have to save it and watch with children later. I'll tell Emperor maybe he won't need the paper later on, either LOL!
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to keep it all straight in my head, though. I'm lucky if I get the right answer after several minutes.
Ditz is the same; can't line anything up straight, millions when hundreds would do, but hey, she would just write down the correct answer too ~ & got accussed of cheating several times because of it [not by me because I have never been able to do her math & guard the answer book with my life so *I* knew she wasn't cheating.] Sadly this ability seems to be departing with adolescence & she looks like ending up with mummy's math brain. This is not good news for either of us.
ReplyDeleteHe's 7 years old right? Seriously, the fact that he is even doing that kind of math is AMAZING! My seven year old is NOT there yet AT ALL! So, if I were you I wouldn't worry about it!!! He's already ahead of the game, so maybe he just needs some time off?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, your children are brilliant, don't worry, Mama!
Thanks Daja! Yep, he would have been in first grade if he were in public school. He definitely has some sort of talent there that I wish *I* had.
ReplyDeleteGaneida, maybe this ability is just taking a "vacation." Poor thing has been under a lot of stress as late. :]
Oh, to be a math whiz. I'm afraid my math gene is missing, and my poor kids aren't much better.
ReplyDeleteFYI, Daja's four year old is heading towards math genius.
And I have no idea what I'm going to do with my four year old when he surpasses my math skillz. (which may be fairly soon!) Maybe I'll send him to Mrs. C's Emperor for tutoring!!!!
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