After seeing the results of the National Unified Elementary School Test, I decided to reorganize our home study a little
After seeing the results of the National Unified Elementary School Test,
I decided to reorganize our home study a little.
I'm not changing our policy significantly.
However, looking ahead to the next one in November,
I could see a little bit of what was lacking if we continued as is,
and conversely, parts where I didn't need to be so pessimistic.
As I wrote in my previous article,
even though the results weren't as bad as I thought, I couldn't be genuinely happy about them.
To be honest,
I wanted him to get a higher score in math,
and since he reads books, I wanted him to be a bit more consistent in Japanese as well.
But after re-solving the problems,
I felt it was better to decide how to change our home study by November
rather than just feeling down about the results.
This is a record of that organization.
The thing that bothered me most in math
In math, perhaps thanks to the effects of doing SoroTouch,
the calculations themselves hadn't fallen apart significantly.
That's exactly why it bothered me even more.
What concerned me this time was
that he missed problems he might have gotten right if he had thought about them.
One was a mistake in the answer box.
This was truly a shame.
The other was that
when the text got a little long, it seemed like he thought, "It's too long!"
and there were problems where it looked like he proceeded without properly picking up all the conditions.
Honestly, I was quite disappointed by this.
Rather than not being able to solve difficult problems,
missing problems he might have gotten right if he had read them calmly was what I disliked more.
However, after re-solving them at home, my perspective changed a little.
I didn't give him any hints,
nor did I show him any explanation videos.
Even so,
when I told him, "You don't have to think only in your head, you can write it down,"
there were problems he was able to reach the end of by writing on the test paper little by little.
In other words, what was lacking in this math test
was not a simple lack of understanding, but perhaps
thinking while moving his hands and organizing the conditions even when faced with long problems.
What I saw in Japanese was not "can't read," but "doesn't go back"
This time, what surprised me the most was Japanese.
My son reads books.
His vocabulary and kanji are also relatively stable.
So, when he missed questions in the reading comprehension of a narrative text,
I was honestly disappointed.
He reads books,
we talk about the characters' feelings on a regular basis,
and yet he still missed this, so I had that feeling.
However, after re-solving it at home,
my perspective on Japanese also changed a little.
I didn't give any explanations or hints.
Even so, my son rethought it himself and reached the correct answer.
What I felt while watching him was that
rather than not being able to read the text,
he was choosing answers somewhat randomly before going back to the text to look for evidence.
It's not that he can't read.
But,
I think his procedure for solving reading comprehension problems is still sloppy.
Liking to read and
being able to solve reading comprehension problems on a test are, after all, not the same thing.
I thought I understood that in my head, but
through the results and re-solving this time, I felt like I was confronted with that again.
So, I decided to change our home study a little
Based on these results,
there are three big things we are changing at home.
The first is to reduce the time spent on SoroTouch a little
.
We will continue SoroTouch.
He has built up a foundation for mental arithmetic,
and there is no reason to stop.
However, at this point,
rather than spending time on SoroTouch,
I want to shift some time to math word problems and practicing organizing conditions to think.
So, while continuing SoroTouch, I decided to lower its priority a little.
The second is to increase "practice thinking by moving your hands" in math
I plan to use "High-Level 100" newly.
What I disliked most about this test was
not that he couldn't do the difficult problems, but
that it looked like he became sloppy because the text was long or it was troublesome
. So, rather than just increasing the amount of advanced learning,
I want to incorporate practice where he reads the problem,
writes out the conditions,
and stops to think for a moment.
I intend to continue using Math Lab and advanced learning for second-grade content
while adjusting the amount as I observe how things go,
but I don't want that to be the main focus;
I believe the main focus should be "when you don't understand, don't just stop in your head, but move your hands to think"
.
The third is to incorporate "practice returning to the text" in Japanese
For Japanese, I plan to use the reading comprehension section of "Z-Kai Grade-Up Problem Set."
Watching my son this time,
I felt that what is needed in Japanese is not new knowledge, but
the habit of returning to the evidence.
So from now on, when solving reading comprehension problems, I want to focus on the flow of:
Finding the part that serves as evidence
Circling that part
Answering by returning to the text, not just "somehow"
I want to do this while being conscious of that flow.
He will continue reading as before.
But, separate from reading,
the procedure for solving reading comprehension problems is something I want him to acquire little by little.
There are also things I won't change
On the other hand, there are things I have decided not to change.
One is not to crush his love for reading.
With these results,
I understood well again that reading does not directly translate into reading comprehension scores.
Even so, the time spent reading is significant for my son.
Therefore, just because his test scores didn't improve as much as I thought,
I will not cut down on reading time and replace it all with workbooks.
The other is
the policy of building a foundation at home first, even without cram school.
Of course, there is a possibility of using a cram school in the future.
But at least for now,
I have a desire to see how much we can organize at home.
After that, if it's necessary, I think we can borrow outside help.
What I want to see by November
By the next one in November,
what I want to see in my son most is not the ability to solve difficult problems itself.
First, what I want to see is something more fundamental.
Not stopping when you don't understand, but moving your hands to think
Being able to write down necessary information in math problem statements
In Japanese, being able to return to the text to find evidence
If these three things become even slightly more natural to do than they are now,
I feel like I will be able to think that this reorganization of our home study was meaningful.
When I saw the previous results,
even though they weren't as bad as I thought,
I felt disappointed.
But now,
rather than staying disappointed,
I think it is better to decide what to change for next time.
I don't know yet how the results will turn out in November.
Even so, I want to use what I saw in this test
instead of just leaving it as it is.
Related articles
The first thing I felt when I saw these results was
a rather troublesome emotion: "It wasn't as bad as I thought, but I couldn't honestly be happy about it."
I wrote about my feelings at that time here.
Also, I wrote about my son's behavior on the day of the test
and the fact that he was reading a book in this article.
The pain of thinking "he could do it if he tried,"
and the story of how he reads books but can't start his workbooks, is here.
In the same way,
"He can read, but it's different when it comes to tests,"
"He can do it, but he has trouble getting started,"
I think that when faced with such children,
parents can sometimes find themselves unable to sort out their own feelings.
📖 Observation Report
"For those who want to read more deeply"
I have compiled records of observing my son for about 8 years, organized by theme.
Games, reading aloud, pretend play, manga, novels.
Looking back at events that seemed unrelated at first glance, there was one common thread.