L Need Help/advice on How to Help My Son with 5Th Grade Math

I just read the books that my son has, understand the topic myself, assess his weakness, then find materials that I feel address the problem best and explain to him the material and then give him a lot of problems to practice. I use many different sites because you can never use one place to find the best info. I never ask teachers. Sometimes I share what I found with them :)

I feel your pain! I'm an "older" mom, and math is taught completely different now than when I was in 5th grade. I ended up scheduling a conference with his teacher, and confessed that I was completely clueless and unable to help my son with his math homework - and asked what else we could do? We ended up getting him set up with a peer tutor before school and he gets more one-on-one assistance in class and she makes sure that he understands the concepts. In return - I have him do extra language arts work at home - luckily reading hasn't changed that much since I was in school!

Have you checked out the websites that she says the school provides? I would start there. It sounds like she IS giving you web resources (unless I mis-read your question)...start with checking those out and see if they help. Usually the websites correspond to the curriculum so your child can do extra exercises and on-line quizzes that supplement what they are currently learning in class. If one of the websites that the school recommends is one that goes along with the text that they use, I would use that instead of a workbook that may not follow the same curriculum. At this grade level, there are several different curricula to choose from and multiple ways of teaching the same material so you wouldn't want to waste his time having him learn things in a way that contradicts what his teacher is teaching him.

Look at his text book and find the publisher's website to see what they recommend for supplemental materials.

Yep, I understand. This is what I've learned. They won't raise their hand because they are embarrassed that they don't understand and think everyone else does.

I would work with him each weekend. Just one on one. Make copies of his worksheets and go over them all with him. Then make up some similar problems to make sure he understands.

The website and math games didn't help him at all. Only the old fashioned "one to one" helped. Good luck!

Since you can't do the math for him, your son is going to need to understand that only he can help himself. That means raising his hand, or if he's embarrassed, asking the teacher if he can stay after school.

Also, check with your local library... I believe ours offers some simple "tutoring" help to kids.

A final suggestion is maybe to get him an 8th grade tutor, or ask the teachers/principal to recommend one. This may give you someone who's recently gone through what your son is learning, the way the school wants him to learn the steps and give your child the ability to get some extra help. And it may be a "cheap" fix for you, as opposed to having to sign him up for professional tutoring at Sylvan.

It depends on what type of math it is. If its multiplication and division, then drill, drill, drill. That's how it will stick. Get visuals, like pieces of candy, for him to manipulate and demonstrate with.
Is it fractions he struggles with? If so, what part of fractions? Reducing, mixed numbers, improper, recipricals, LCD? Again, depending on the concept, visuals (like construction paper pieces that represent different fractions) will help. However, for other things like LCD and reducing and ratios, if he doesn't have the grasp of multiplication he will continue to struggle.

As someone already mentioned, use the school website. Most likely it is from the publisher of the math curriculum in use, so it will have extra practice tied to what he's doing. Also, Google exactly what he's struggling with. Some of the sites will not be free, but many of them will be, and they will have worksheets and step by step directions.

We homeschool and my daughter is doing 5th grade math as well. We use a math curriculum that is very good but for some harder concepts we like Kahn Academy website. It is a website that has video math lessons were any math concept is explained. There are literally hundreds of topics across many levels. We just watched one on place value of decimals and it really cleared up some confusion she had. I highly recommend it. Best of all - Its FREE!

http://www.math-drills.com has printable math worksheets in all of the basic math functions, from low to higher levels of elementary school, along with answer sheets for your use.

I am wondering if he was struggling in 4th grade too? A lot of 5th grade math is built on the concepts of the year before, just adding complexity. Could it be that he needs to go back and work on the concepts at a lower level????

Congrats to you for being there ready and willing to help him! You're a good mom!

Ask the teacher if she is open to any other suggestions... Perhaps she could have a "question box" in the room where students could write their questions anonymously. This would help her in two ways:
- Encouraging students who don't usually ask questions to do so in a safer way
- Identifying areas, where there are a lot of questions, that need to be covered in more detail
This method only works if the teacher is willing to use it effectively (making sure to treat these questions with the same attention as those asked by raising of a hand) and to maintain confidentiality (since she will most likely recognize the writing of many of her students). Good luck~

mathisfun.com is very good.
Math is repetition. So if he gets it wrong, and especially if he gets it wrong that is great learning, so gets him to practice as much as possible. I was a mathophobe until last year, when I had to get up to college algebra level, from nothing. I found the only way to get proficient was to work problems every single day. the above website explains things very well. Also Yourmathgal.com, has video lessons, mostly on algebra, but other stuff too.
There are SO many great teachers on youtube!

I completely understand that your son does not raise his hand, there are many valid reasons for that (shy by nature, doesn't want others in the class to know he doesn't understand, embarrassed, etc)

I think you're doing the right thing by taking the iniative to help your son. I also understand your frustration that you feel the teacher will not go above and beyond, but in reality she has done her job and had given you the first steps in guiding you to helping your son. Have you tried using the recommended school websites? Have you asked the teacher specific questions about those websites? Have you looked at your son's math book and become familar with how a particular concept is being taught and reviewed it with your son. Have you asked directly if there are any before/after school programs available where he can get some extra help?

Schedule a conference to meet with the teacher again just before the Christmas break. This will give you a few weeks to work with him, and you'll have a better understanding of his strengths and weaknesses, so you can discuss them and see what steps you need to take next.

There's a good possibility that your son doesn't understand the way the teacher is teaching. Some kids really need more of a visual. Like if they are adding fractions, he may benefit from using measuring cups to see that 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup when poured into a glass measuring cup is actually 3/4.

My girls loved the Jump Start programs.

What's "5th grade math"?

In some areas that's Algebra Year 2 and in other areas that's multiplication and division. I've got lots of resources for different math levels... but I would need to know whether you're talking basic arithmatic or intermediate algebra or somewhere in between?