Oy

[yendi]

I just checked Elayna's math homework. She got 13/30 problems wrong. There are 1x2 digit problems (3x86, for example). It would be one thing if this was too hard for her. But almost all of her mistakes are careless. She's either forgetting to carry the tens digit, or just plain making a careless addition mistake. The problem isn't that she doesn't know it; it's that she's overconfident and sloppy. When I told her how many she got wrong, she told me, "At least it wasn't that many." I explained that this would be a failing grade, which shocked her.

Anyone know how to motivate an incredibly smart but also not very careful child?

Edit: Upon redoing the ones I circled, she still had six wrong. Again, all sloppy. She's got another one of these assignments on Wednesday. We'll see if she puts in a better effort then.

Comments

[tygerlilly.livejournal.com]

Oh it drives me crazy when my kids fail a multiplication test due to careless errors - when I know that they know it. I'm a believer in multiple intelligences - not sure if you are. But one thing for bodily - kinesthetic students that I've picked up is getting a soccer ball and writing random numbers on the different segments, filling the ball up. When she catches the ball, whatever her thumbs land on are two numbers she can multiply together (or divide or whatever you want). You can make a game out of it - It may be more entertaining for her. Just a thought.