After several weeks of trying to figure out why my daughter was having trouble with a few concepts in school and not really getting any help from her teacher I started working with a friend of mine that tutors children - albeit most are a little older (2-3 years) that my daughter but she said in the beginning it's all about learning how the child learns best. So she sent me some worksheets in Math and Reading Readiness and Comprehension while we have been working on nightly. What I've noticed is that my daughter flies through her homework and worksheets super fast to get it done. Because of this she is missing a few very easy questions on each sheet and is getting repeating low scores on the worksheets. The worksheets are right in line with what she is doing in class (according to the newlestter and other work coming home). How can I teach her to take her time, slow down, and think about the question before she anwers? We've developed a reward system for scoring high on the worksheets and we are increasing the difficulty as she progresses in school so there is incentive to doing well. School is only going to get harder and harder so I want her to learn the study techniques early.
Hmm... maybe tell her that if she gets the problems wrong, she will have to do more? If she takes her time and does them carefully, she will finish sooner?
(My rationale on this....... if she gets them wrong, she apparently doesn't understand it.. (I know you said she is rushing, and missing easy stuff)... so she needs to practice it more. So, if she slows down and does it correctly the FIRST time, she will get done sooner.)
I'm with SH--double checking her work is important. Ditto everything she wrote. Perhaps,until you can see she has marked improvement, you could have her work her sums backward to double-check. You could challenge her in reverse-- "Look over your paper for three minutes and see if you can find five errors"--and see if that helps. Maybe the reward should come for how many errors she corrects *beforehand*, instead of the higher scores. Just to mix things up a bit.
Not sure how old she is, but I know with my son, by 2nd grade he started seeing how skipped punctuation here and there, or carelessly skipping a math problem or two reduced his grade--and he didn't like that O. bit!
Last year, the teacher made them check each page again after they were finished and initial the checked pages in a bottom corner, which I think was a GREAT habit to form!
Its just teaching her to double check her work... carelessness leads to errors.
Of course, errors ALSO teaches them.
How old is your child????
In school my kids' teachers teaches the kids to look over their work after completion, to double check things. Because, careless errors occur when "rushing."
My kids are in 1st grade and 5th grade.
Kids in all these grades, "rush" through things.
So, it is an ongoing thing, teaching them that they need to double check their work.
Even kids who "take their time" can make mistakes. Too.
So know that it is not only the kids that take their time, who do not, make mistakes.
They do, too.
And likewise, some kids do work fast and seemingly rush, but do accurate work.
Read things twice or thrice.
Answer it the best they know how.
Double check their work after.
Make corrections if they catch it.
If errors still occur, that is all a part of learning, too and is good... because then the Teacher will "see" where the student needs more help.
When/if my kids make mistakes in their homework due to rushing or carelessness or just not knowing it well, I LET them go to school with it incorrect. BECAUSE the Teacher needs to see, that. In order to give more feedback to the student and parent.
Then, comprehending the CONCEPTS of the work, is another, thing.
So THAT is where, the Tutor, can help...
My daughter had a Math tutor once. The Tutor, was able to EXPLAIN concepts to my daughter in MANY ways... because, all people have different ways of learning, but the bottom line is, that they understand the concept, and then practice the concept or equations over and over, and then master it. Practice is good.
Do you want her to score higher on her work, or to be more careful and mindful of her work?
These are 2 different things.
Some kids always try their best, but still do not comprehend the work.
Doing well means, working for it and practicing.
And a part of studying means, learning how to organize... themselves.
It is a multi pronged thing.
And in school, the curriculum has to be taught in a certain way using certain methods. And they typically need to SHOW their work. Not just the answers. So, that also has to be worked on, and by knowing... what methods the school/Teacher is using, to do the work. In school.
For example: if your daughter uses a method to do her math that was taught in another way, that may NOT be the way it is taught in school, even if she gets the answers correct.
ie: we teach my daughter math in "our" way and by how we know it. Then my daughter learns the same thing in school, but using the school's curriculum methods as required by the school curriculum. So if my daughter does her math in school, using "our" methods, her Teacher will say she needs to do it IN THE WAY THAT IS TAUGHT in class. To show that she comprehends, the IN CLASS concepts and methods, as it is taught, in, the school.
The Tutor that my daughter had, was also a Teacher in our school's system and she was aware of all the methods the schools and Teachers use, for teaching math and reading/writing. Thus, my daughter's Tutor, taught her as well, per the school's methods.
This is just an example of what we encountered and what I have seen.
This is totally my opinion and I don't mean to offend if you do not believe this way. Teach her that God wants her best always, and when she rushes through she is not doing her best. I have a son whose writing is atrosious because he rushes, we are workin on slowing down to give God our best. Good luck
i am with the other ladies as well. it's okay if she wants to hurry - but i think the better thing to teach her is to get in the habit of re-checking everything. tell her if she has extra time she needs to go through it again and catch any mistakes. get her in the habit of it at home and it should be fairly easy for her to remember to do it at school too. it's just another habit to get her into. i think much easier than trying to teach her to slow down.
