FlyingMOm Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 My daughter is approaching the start of middle school in a few months. She currently is using CLE's Math but when I look ahead at the courses offered through high school, it does not go beyond Trig. There is no calculus offered. Ideally, I'd like her to start with Pre-Algebra in 7th, Algebra I in 8th and finish with Calculus in 12th. I'm not sure if I should just have her continue on with CLE OR if the transition to middle school would be an ideal time to switch her to the math I'd like her to use through high school? I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Also, recommendations on math programs that might be an easy transition to from CLE. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Since this is a HS forum many don't know about Elementary Math programs I had no idea what CLE was: 'Christian Light Education math program, also called "Sunrise Math"' I would look into a more standard secular math program for middle school and beyond IMHO. For the transition aspect post on the Middle Grades forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I would think that prealgebra would be a great time to switch to something else. Most prealgebra programs are a big review of arithmetic combined with an introduction to algebra. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMOm Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I apologize for posting here- I didn't realize that there was a Middle Grades forum. FWIW, CLE is a high school math program- it covers K-12. However, I DO plan to switch to a different high school math program. Kai- your suggestion to switch at prealgebra is a good one- thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Pre-Algebra is a good time to switch, but not necessary if you are using a good program that introduces negatives and variables as part of Pre-Algebra. If possible work Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 from the same program (or from programs that have a similar scope/sequence). Geometry is best worked between Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and can be from any solid publisher-- no need to use the same publisher as with the Algebras. Pre-Calc and Calc are college-level programs (even if taken at the high school level). They do not have to be from the same publisher. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I apologize for posting here- I didn't realize that there was a Middle Grades forum. FWIW, CLE is a high school math program- it covers K-12. However, I DO plan to switch to a different high school math program. Kai- your suggestion to switch at prealgebra is a good one- thank you! There is no need to apologize. Most here homeschooled through middle school too. I haven't used CLE to know if continuing through pre-algebra is a good idea or not, but there was a recent thread on the topic on the General Board here and I linked several threads from the middle school board too :). I do agree with Jan that in general Pre-Algebra through Algebra 2 is a sequence and following it with one publisher is a good idea. However, there are exceptions, such as if your elementary math program finishes their sequence strongly with Pre-Algebra. Doing Algebra-Algebra2 with your high school math choice can be just as good of a decision. There is a huge thread on the Middle grades forum on pre-Algebra choices, I think this is it. Best of luck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I apologize for posting here- I didn't realize that there was a Middle Grades forum. FWIW, CLE is a high school math program- it covers K-12. However, I DO plan to switch to a different high school math program. Kai- your suggestion to switch at prealgebra is a good one- thank you! No need to apologize. It can be a real help to get perspectives from those who are at the tail end of high school (or who have college students) rather than only from those who are actively working just ahead of you. Sometimes it's even worth posting the same question in both places as a current high schooler may have missed having newer curriculum as an option. I'm not familiar with how CLE is laid out, but I can share our experience and maybe part will help you. My older kids did Saxon K- Algebra 1/2. At that point, the spiral approach that had served them well in elementary seemed to not be giving them enough dwell time on any given topic for them to really develop in their heads what the implication of the concept was. We switched to Art of Problem Solving Intro To Algebra for two years. It was slower going than I wish it had been. We were not using the AOPS online classes (which have a much faster pace than we could have maintained.) The books are designed for self study. One issue with that is that it's hard to know what a day's worth or week's worth ought to be. Sometimes you need to spend a couple days on a lesson. Chapter reviews might take them 2-4 days. This program makes the student discover concepts through an exploration of known properties and an extension into new applications. But that means that the sample problems are things that the student may only be able to get half way through before looking at the explanation. In other math programs a sample problem is often something to skip over unless you get stuck. That took a lot of retraining to handle. The absolute biggest thing they had to learn with shifting to algebra was to write down their work and approach longer problems step by step. They were no longer at a place where they could hold everything in their heads. At the end of three years my eldest took pre calc at the community college. My next kid is spending a year reviewing algebra 2 and will probably start pre calc at a community college next year. My youngest was unhappy in Saxon earlier than his brothers. I moved him to Dolciani Mathematics which is an older school text. He likes that it spends a couple weeks on a topic. I like that it moves steadily into harder concepts and has good thinking word problems for applications. I don't know if I will move him to AOPS or use the old Dolciani algebra texts I've collected for algebra. There is an AOPS pre-algebra but we haven't used it. It was published after my older kids had already done algebra and I wasn't sure it was a good fit for my youngest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I probably posted in one of the threads Momto2Ns linked, but I'll add it here anyway. :) CLE spreads PreA out over 7th and 8th grade, so we switched to Pre-Algebra (AoPS) after CLE 6. You should be able to move into any PreA from CLE 6 - assuming that the PreA program is a good fit as far as format, etc. Some have moved to Algebra after completing only the 700 level. Others have condensed the 700 and 800s into one year, so they could start Algebra in 8th. That gives a few options for hitting Algebra in 8th grade. Switching after the 600s made the most sense for us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMOm Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Many thanks for the links and the advice- it was very helpful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Since this is a HS forum many don't know about Elementary Math programs I had no idea what CLE was: 'Christian Light Education math program, also called "Sunrise Math"' I would look into a more standard secular math program for middle school and beyond IMHO. For the transition aspect post on the Middle Grades forum. I realize this thread is a few weeks old, but the above statement confuses me no end. And I don't mean to offend anyone but I really don't understand this statement. Kids don't just skip over from birth to High School material. They have to go through elementary math. I would assume that parents posting on the High School forum must have some clue about Elementary level math programs? How did their kids get to High School level math without it? I would think coming to the High School board would actually make a ton of sense because people on the High School board would theoretically have already been through the transition and be able to provide information on what worked and what didn't when they transitioned from one program to another and when they made that transition, KWIM? And FWIW for anyone unfamiliar with CLE, CLE is actually a solid math program. The religious references are irrelevant to the quality of the math lessons (and not terribly numerous anyway). Our kids used several "standard secular math programs" with very limited success before we switched to CLE. The spiral approach, tons of review, presentation of metric and standard, targeted math fact practice, geometry, etc. has been terrific. Now their conceptual and computational skills are MUCH more solid. I love this program and am grateful we gave it a try. And OP, I hope you found some solid answers on the Middle School Forum. When you make your decision, maybe later on down the road you can post about what you did and how successful you felt it was. Good luck and best wishes.... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillStanding Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I use CLE Math. My now 8th grader switched from CLE 6 to Saxon Algebra 1/2 without difficulty. She is now in Saxon Algebra 1 and still going strong, no problems with the math itself. Now Saxon lessons take her one and a half hours to two hours to complete and that has been hard to get use to. My youngest,now doing CLE 6, will continue with it for a while because he is not ready for a Textbook. The workbook format is very helpful to him. I agree with "OneStepAtaTime," CLE is a strong math curriculum. It is a Mennonite curriculum but the quaint pictures and the few "religious" word problems have not bothered me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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