Strategy (sequence wise) for math whiz kid

[mom2moon2]

My dd (5.5) is very quick with math. She can do computation pretty quickly, understand concept quickly and can figure out strategy to answer questions. E.g. I gave her a worksheet from math mammoth 1A where she's expected to write <, > or = for questions like: 5 vs 5+3, or 6+3 vs 6+4. She didn't count them but was able to just look at them and figure out that she didn't need to count them (KWIM ?). She figured out patterns from some problems from MM worksheet and hence she's able to work fast. She can do 50 problems in less than 5 mins (she writes by herself).

Now, what should I do with her ? Should I increase her workload ?

Also, MM has a lot of repetition and problems (albeit varied). HOw do you skip problems with this kind of child ? How to strike balance between concept introduction and practice ?

With my average son, I skipped some practice, but we did a lot of them. With my daughter, I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to waste time teaching what she already know, but I'm afraid she misses something.

For instance on place value. She knows place value even to thousands and how to decompose them (figure out herself). Should I just give her may be one page of page value questions and work up till I know her limit ?

Thanks

[Amber in AUS]

I would be skipping problems and moving ahead in sequence. There may be other aspects of math that stump her that is when you slow down or she may keep moving ahead. I don't see the point in having her do more work just for works sake. If she gets it, don't drill and kill, move on.

[Reya]

I skip anything I know DS has down cold. If he doesn't, I have him do 1/4 to 1/2. If he starts missing stuff or slows down too much, I add more.

[Sara R]

At this age, I think skipping ahead is probably fine. But don't underestimate the need for kids, even bright kids, to practice until the algorithms are automatic. My bright-in-math son didn't have trouble at that age, but at about 4th grade level math, when the algorithms get tricky and take some practice to master (for long multiplication/long division/adding fractions with different denominators), he needed practice in order to gain confidence with the algorithms, and to gain speed and accuracy. I figured since he was bright, he would be able to move along quickly. Turned out that even though he was able to do the algorithms, he didn't feel confident and was making a lot of mistakes. So watch out for that kind of thing when you get further along. Practice is good for you.

I had my kids drill math facts until they could do a page of 100 in under 5 minutes. I found out that Saxon wants that page of 100 done within 2 minutes. I was surprised at first, but since I've learned that the faster and more solid they have those skills down, the easier everything else is later on.

[Reya]

If he's struggling is algorithms, he might not be understanding the concepts and is trying to memorize motions rather than think about meaning. This is seen more often than not with Saxon.

[Sara R]

He uses Singapore (plus Rod and Staff for review, plus garbage Investigations/Scott Foresman Addison Wesley at school which doesn't really count). He understands the concepts fine, thanks. He grasped the long division and long multiplication algorithms right away too. He just needed extra practice before he consistently remembered to put the zero in the second row of the long multiplication algorithm, knowing how to handle zeroes in long division problems, that kind of thing. He's doing fine now and moving forward.

I'll add Nan's disclaimer: I don't think he's gifted-gifted. He's bright and driven.

My kids are in two different schools. The older one is in the charter school that does Saxon. The younger two are in the public school.