Is there a math like Zaccaro's, only a full program?

[...................]

My daughter is hitting a real slump with Horizons.  Yet, she asks to do Zaccaro's, and loves every minute of it.  It makes her dance and sing and she wants to know if she can just do Zaccaro's.  The endless pages and pages of review and problems in Horizons are pretty mind numbing, and she's starting to hit the same spiral math slump that my son hit at the same grade!  

 

So, is there any more mastery based math book or program that can keep her on her toes with critical thinking while not leaving out major concepts?  

 

Oh, and it absolutely has to be colorful.  It's imperative because of her sensory and focus issues.

 

UPDATE:  Beast Academy now has a 4A book which should be about right, considering the advanced concepts covered.  I looked at the placement test and it'll be a perfect match.

[Kathie in VA]

Sounds like you may have found your solution. In case not consider Singapore Math. It's mastery based, colorful, challenging, etc. add in their CWP books and might be perfect.

[...................]

Thanks.  I guess I figured, if we are going to go non traditional we may as well go all-out. LOL

[desertflower]

Can you skip some problems in horizons?

[Soror]

My son was doing Horizons as review and I briefly considered it for his spine but it just didn't work well for him, for the reasons you mentioned and more. I tried to just be selective in what parts we did but that just got to be more trouble than it was worth. Right now I would say we are back to using BA as our spine, supplemented with various other books for review, to stretch out the publication schedule and just for fun. You might consider adding in something for review since your coming from Horizons which is so spiral but perhaps you don't need it. We're liking Math Pizazz and I've got my eye on another set of brief quick review problems I seen Farrar mention on her blog .

[SparklyUnicorn]

I wouldn't even feel bad about using Zaccaro instead.  Beast might fit the bill too.

 

She might like Life of Fred.  It's not colorful, but fun.

 

Must be because I'm now going through SM again for the second time, but I'm sick of it.  It's not fun.  LOL

 

 

[...................]

Yeah, you get to a point where these endless endless problems for more than an hour a day is just absolutely sickening.  

 

What I decided to do was to stick with Horizons but skip a LOT of the problems.   And do more Zacarro's.  Then we can order the next book and get busy with that.  

 

I did order the BA 4A set, and we will try it out and see what she and I both think.  It was not expensive just for one set (27.00) so it's worth trying and looking at.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah, you get to a point where these endless endless problems for more than an hour a day is just absolutely sickening.  

 

What I decided to do was to stick with Horizons but skip a LOT of the problems.   And do more Zacarro's.  Then we can order the next book and get busy with that.  

 

I did order the BA 4A set, and we will try it out and see what she and I both think.  It was not expensive just for one set (27.00) so it's worth trying and looking at.

 

Pretty much every math book I've ever used I've tweaked. 

[Soror]

From my perspective I'd hit the Zaccaro hard and drop the Horizons down to short very limited review. My son got into a similar place with RS and I regret not listening sooner. When you find something that really speaks to them then I think it wise to let them follow it. As my various math threads show he got to a place of really hating math with me persisting with a program he just didn't like anymore. I really hope that BA is just the program that works for both of you.

[...................]

From my perspective I'd hit the Zaccaro hard and drop the Horizons down to short very limited review. My son got into a similar place with RS and I regret not listening sooner. When you find something that really speaks to them then I think it wise to let them follow it. As my various math threads show he got to a place of really hating math with me persisting with a program he just didn't like anymore. I really hope that BA is just the program that works for both of you.

Yeah, we will see how it goes. I don't like the idea of not having an actual math curriculum. I think very very few people would ever go that route, let alone someone who doesn't have some kind of math degree or training.  But, I was looking at Horizons today.  I could give her TWO of every problem set and then we can spend as long as she want's on Zaccaro's...or maybe start with Zacarro's. 

[Farrar]

One of my boys has been going curriculum-less this year. He is doing a bit of Beast, a bit of Zaccaro, a bit of NCERT, a bit of the Key to books and a bit of a bunch of other things. It does really, really help that we have a specific goal in mind - getting ready for Pre-Algebra by the end of the year. So it feels more like jumping across a gap than like setting the racecourse ourselves, I think. However, i really am liking it. And for this particular ds, it's really nice to be able to jump from one thing to another and move around as needed.

[Soror]

Yeah, we will see how it goes. I don't like the idea of not having an actual math curriculum. I think very very few people would ever go that route, let alone someone who doesn't have some kind of math degree or training.  But, I was looking at Horizons today.  I could give her TWO of every problem set and then we can spend as long as she want's on Zaccaro's...or maybe start with Zacarro's. 

Well, I cannot say it thrills me to not use a curriculum but my higher priority here is for ds to learn AND also enjoy math. It does make it more interesting to teach. Just a few weeks ago I was contemplating doing Lial's BCM to have a math base but upon looking further it wasn't the best fit, despite the positives that made me consider it in the first place. I actually feel better about where we are going now than I have in the 1 year or so since we kind of went off road. I think giving myself permission to focus on the topics and then let the curriculum follow and being more purposeful in doing various threads at one time is finally our "just right" approach. To me to say you are not using a curriculum would be making it all up and no, I wouldn't be comfortable with that but what I'm doing instead is using a variety of curriculums.

 

As, I said though I do hope you find what works for you and yours. I was just throwing that out there because as I said I wish I had listened to my son and my intuition sooner and figured out something else. We're all so different though my son is very laid back and for him to so strongly express dislike of something was a clear sign that there was a problem.

[...................]

Well my dd used to love math and she loves LOVES Zacarro's math.  She loves any type of word problem; she loves geometry and personally I think she might be pretty good at math.  So, for her to start hating and dreading math seems to me to point to an issue with the program.

 

However, much to her credit, she didn't think that we should drop Horizons, just tweak it and do more of Zacarro's.  In looking at Horizons I think that there is SO MUCH incessant review, that she is dreading math.  I looked at what would have been Monday's lesson, and she had 50 problems, about 10 of which were long division. THat is a LONG chunk of drill !! (and kill)...so even if I only give her TWO of each problem in each set it'll still be 16 problems, and I'm not sure even that is necessary.  It just never occurred to me before, to take a long look at the book and see what she needs or doesn't need in regards to review.  Thankfully unlike Saxon the review is all in "chunks" so you can easily pick one or two of each type of problem, and thereby ensure that your child doesn't miss anything.  :o) 

 

Monday, she will do one of each problems set.  If she misses it, we will do the second one together unless she feels it was just a quick error and she just wants to finish it herself.  Then, we will set the clock and do about 30 minutes of Zaccaro's.  And flashcards of whatever I feel she needs drill in. This makes a lot more sense.

[Soror]

I gave up using Horizons for review precisely because there was just so much there, it wasn't as bad w/ 3 but then when we moved up to 4 it made my head hurt. If you get to a similar place I'd look at those review sheets I mentioned earlier from Farrar's blog, they are mixed review up to 8th grade level with just 7 problems a day. Just as an FYI they are a bit on the easy side so you might want to move up in grade depending on how and what you think you want to review. I think it is brilliant for us with kids on the slower side especially, we shouldn't have to use 30-45 min just reviewing old concepts. Their suggestion is actually 5 min, which I'm not sure if ds would be quick enough to accomplish but then again he can vary widely.

[...................]

Thanks soror. ill take a look

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

I completely dropped Horizons 5 for my 10-year-old this fall---it wasn't just all the problems, but other issues we had with the program that I won't get into here.  She hated it so much that math was miserable.  Like Farrar, I have not settled onto a curriculum---she's doing a mix of various things. She's doing Time Travel Math from Prufrock, My Business Math (pet store) from Simply Charlotte Mason, some review sheets, and Balance Math from CTC.  She's writing "math mysteries for her 3rd grade brother for review and has to write full solutions.  She's practicing her multiplication facts because she forgot them (tween brain).

 

I plan to add:  Zacarro, LoF Fractions and possibly Decimals, and Family Math.

[Farrar]

I gave up using Horizons for review precisely because there was just so much there, it wasn't as bad w/ 3 but then when we moved up to 4 it made my head hurt. If you get to a similar place I'd look at those review sheets I mentioned earlier from Farrar's blog, they are mixed review up to 8th grade level with just 7 problems a day. Just as an FYI they are a bit on the easy side so you might want to move up in grade depending on how and what you think you want to review. I think it is brilliant for us with kids on the slower side especially, we shouldn't have to use 30-45 min just reviewing old concepts. Their suggestion is actually 5 min, which I'm not sure if ds would be quick enough to accomplish but then again he can vary widely.

 

They really are on the easy side - I have my 5th grader doing the 6th grade reviews, but I may have him do the 7th grade ones when I print another batch. I like that they're easy though because it's just enough to remind him of the algorithms and keep those fresh without adding an onerous challenge to his math. So it's like, oh, yeah, this is how I... add fractions, convert yards to feet, do long division, multiply with decimals, etc. So that way I know he's not going to hit a hard problem and have totally forgotten something like that.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

That's exactly how oldest dd felt about Singapore Math.  We started Beast Academy last fall and she loves it.  It is absolutely perfect for her.  Like your dd, she likes word problems and geometry.  She hates doing endless amounts of review.  She likes doing problems in her head and I'm having to train her to show work on paper.  We finished through BA 4B by June and are waiting for 4C to come out.  We are using various resources, like a pp mentioned, and are just working on the skills she needs to start pre-algebra.  She just finished LOF Fractions and has done the first few chapters in Decimals and Percents.  We have also been checking out various math books from the library and using them for a few weeks, returning them, and getting something else.  I'm a very step-by-step learner, so this is a little strange for me.  Luckily, I loved math growing up and feel confident to teach it without a curriculum.