mom2bee Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Has anyone done this? I have a student who picks up on the concepts quickly but forgets them almost just as quick. So long as we review and practice them regularly, they'll congeal into her long term memory, but a couple of weeks without review and it's crickets. I would give her the placement test, but I expect her to score between 54 and 87.(she's in PS 5th grade and uses Go Math!). After a month of practice, practice, practice, she knows her math facts really well and is now keeping up in class working longer problems. I'm thinking of assigning 3 or 4 Mixed Reviews from Saxon each week (she has 7 days to do them, but must do ALL of the problems). She usually has about 15 minutes of Math HW each night from school, but she wants to get into the advanced math class for 6th grade next year. Should I give her the Mixed Reviews from every other lesson? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 You can at least skip one mixed review each week. I know the DIVE teacher, Dr Shormann, has the students skip the first mixed review of every week. My son's grades have not suffered and actually improved. Now I will say, that if your dd wants to get into advanced math in public school she may be better using Singapore Math after school. The public schools (at least in my state) are actually often doing a great job of conceptualizing math, and if she wants to do advanced math she needs to be able to really solve problems, not just do more advanced arithmetic. I would ask her teacher who runs next year's advanced math class. The teacher will be THRILLED to hear from an involved parent, and would love your dd to stop by her classroom and talk to your dd. The teacher will have a good idea! I definitely would hesitate just doing a million Saxon problems...I can't really see how that would help (I like Saxon and use it for one of my kiddos, but I don't really see that it would help your dd for this situation.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 You could also look into something like ALEKS. I feel like I'm advertising for them lately, but wow I love using this for extra practice for myself. It focuses exactly on the types of problems you need to work on. It gives instant feedback. There is plenty of practice if you don't quite get something. I think it's way better than a textbook for this sort of thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrabuskie Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 I am confused. I taught DS8 last year using GoMath. The program uses conceptual math. There is a page of word problems to work through every lesson, a mini spiral in the Homework book plus enrich and reteach available for the main lesson. On top of that, each lesson has a HOT (higher order of thinking) problem. If you don't have access to GoMath Enrich or Reteach here is the link http://www.dist228.org/index-new.php?page=southwest/parentresourcesmath2.html The Homework link is http://www.aplusmathcoach.com/Grade_5/Grade_5_Go_Math_Homework.html With Saxon are you trying to give her more actual math work to strengthen skills? Or are you trying to give her more "real world" math problems? Saxon would be for the former. We are using Saxon this year and I love it. I am a firm believer that math needs to be learned before applied. Also, children need to develop parts of their brains such logic and rationality before being able to apply conceptual math. Maybe the problem you are facing is that in 5th-grade students are expected to use critical thinking skills in math. If this is the case you might try this link for Sunshine Math http://curlewcreek.org/math-superstars-forms-5th-grade/ Just click on each link to a printable. I read PRO TEACHER blog quite a bit, many teachers from FL use Go Math and with their 5th-grade students supplement with Sunshine Math because the HOT questions in Go Math are very difficult. I found this too. Here is the alignment by chapter of grade 5 Go Math to IXL (an excellent math program) https://www.ixl.com/community/IXL-GO-Math-2011-Common-Core-Edition-5th-Grade.pdf I hope this helps you help your child succeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Aleks would be the best for this. It tests and re-tests "learned" skills and then reteaches. It is entirely geared to the child's knowledge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 I'm tutoring this girl. My student needs practice. She's a bright kid but we've done a lot of work to repair VERY a shoddy foundation. She had Touch Math and lots of mnemonics in K-2. She was so confused and it was terrible. She had Every day math in 3rd and I don't know what in 4th. Her parents hired me around XMas of 4th grade because it was just too much frustration and she is a bright kid but was failing and felt badly about herself. She's covered a lot of ground since we met, but we've got to keep working. She does math 7 days a week to build fluency and get those skills sharp. I just need something for her to practice her skills on. Our big focus right now is on understanding and working with fractions now and we're focusing on them. But I realized that she's straining to keep everything fresh. The kids who've had good, consistent teaching K-4 are thriving. She's (almost) keeping pace, but her foundation is weaker than many of her classmates, but she is improving fast and she told her parents that she wants to be in the advanced math class next year. (Which is HUGE for her. She cried over math for about 2.5 years before we met) so her parents want to do what they can to support her. We've covered a lot of ground, she likes math now that it makes sense and she is gaining confidence, but it's a fragile confidence. Go Math is a good program, it covers things conceptually but she needs to do extra work. I have her doing a Challenge Workbook from 3rd and 4th grade, and she is a thinker. When we do engaging math,her mind is on. BUT she also needs her skills sharpened. She's got to gain that fluency with the algorithms as well. I'm thinking something like Saxons Mixed Reviews would be helpful to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 (edited) She doesn't have a home computer, which makes a lot of online supplements NOT viable. I do like Aleks though, it's awesome! OMG! Thank you for those links jgrabuskie! ETA: Typo. Edited October 1, 2016 by mom2bee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 I'm going to swim against the stream here and say, "Why not?" If she just needs repetition and drill to cement her math skills, Saxon would work quite well. Bonus is that older (1st ed / 2nd ed) copies are super inexpensive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 For this purpose I use and love Simple Solutions math. It's a similar idea to using Saxon mixed practice for review, but it is 12 daily problems rather than 30. If using it daily, it is nearly impossible to forget anything the student has learned and understands. Much more robust than Math Minutes and similar books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm919 Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) Now I will say, that if your dd wants to get into advanced math in public school she may be better using Singapore Math after school. The public schools (at least in my state) are actually often doing a great job of conceptualizing math, and if she wants to do advanced math she needs to be able to really solve problems, not just do more advanced arithmetic. I would ask her teacher who runs next year's advanced math class. The teacher will be THRILLED to hear from an involved parent, and would love your dd to stop by her classroom and talk to your dd. The teacher will have a good idea! I know a child who is very strong in math and did something like this -- used Math in Focus in school, and his mother layered the extra Singapore word problem & other books on top of it for extra practice at home. But for him it was just extending what he knew and challenging him. In contrast, my daughter had Montessori through K and then Envision (wimpy version of Singapore) starting in K. She is in Envision Grade 1 and in Saxon 5/4, in addition to going through LoF elementary series and a bunch of living math books.... so basically, we are all over the place, in terms of level and approach. For her, doing math from all different perspectives works. She is bright but she is more of a language arts person. I do sort of think that except for the math drill part, doing the mixed practice is pretty much like doing the whole program. At least that's what takes most of the time in my house. Edited October 3, 2016 by tm919 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Aleks would be the best for this. It tests and re-tests "learned" skills and then reteaches. It is entirely geared to the child's knowledge. Aleks isn't free like Khan, right? How much is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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