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CLE Math "ahead?"


lgliser
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Don't people say that CLE Math is ahead of other curriculums? Is that true do you think? I know it's not a curriculum, but I was looking through "What your 5th Grader Needs to Know" and the math section looked just like what my son learned doing 5th grade CLE last year. And I'm pretty sure that that book is aligned with Common Core so that's what public school kids are learning, right? 

Anyway, there's no real point to this question - I am truly just curious! I am confident that we are right where we need to be in math and I'm not trying to compare us to public schools... I'm just curious what CLE is being compared to when I hear it's ahead.

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I don't think it's ahead. If anything, I think it may be a little slow, at least in respect to difficulty and word problems. It may introduce some topics a little earlier than others, but it doesn't completely teach those topics any faster than I think is typical. I think it introduces them early so they can go over them really slowly and deliberately.

 

That said, I still really like CLE on the whole for most kids. 

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It depends on what you are comparing it to and specific concepts covered in different topics.  It covers a wider range of topics than some other curriculum, and as mentioned up thread it introduces some topics earlier than other curriculum (but in a very gentle manner) so perhaps that is where some people determined it to be ahead.  I don't think it is behind at all in a general sense but it starts each level fairly gently so just looking at the early lessons it might "seem" behind compared to other sources.  I have not done an in depth comparison of each light unit with other curriculum topics and pacing, though.

 

I do think it does a solid job in everything but word problems.  I think it needs supplementing for the word problems.

 

I have found, having used several curriculum over the years, that different ones cover the same topics with different levels of depth and breadth so just looking at a list of concepts covered, even if they list all the same concepts, really isn't all that accurate a way to determine whether one is ahead, on track or behind another, IMHO.  That makes comparison without physically seeing and using a program so much harder to do with any accuracy.

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Don't people say that CLE Math is ahead of other curriculums? Is that true do you think? I know it's not a curriculum, but I was looking through "What your 5th Grader Needs to Know" and the math section looked just like what my son learned doing 5th grade CLE last year. And I'm pretty sure that that book is aligned with Common Core so that's what public school kids are learning, right? 

Anyway, there's no real point to this question - I am truly just curious! I am confident that we are right where we need to be in math and I'm not trying to compare us to public schools... I'm just curious what CLE is being compared to when I hear it's ahead.

 

I have never heard anyone say that.

 

FTR, I never categorize any publisher as "ahead" or "behind" any other.

 

The "What Your x-grader Needs to Know" books were published long before there was such a thing as Common Core, so...

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I didn't do an in-depth comparison, but I switched to CLE at the half way point of Math in Focus, which covers similarly to Singapore. We had exactly half the material in CLE 5 mastered at switch. It looked like we would cover the remainder of the content in MIF 5B with our CLE 5. The "problem" was the sequence/introduction of concepts was so very different. So things introduced in LU 2 of CLE 5 might not be covered until the end of Math in Focus 5B. However, things covered early in MIF might appear very late in CLE 5. But the scope was very similar.

 

CLE, as some others mention, is weak in word problems. It needs supplemented. I used Singapore word problem books to do this. The sequence mis-match meant working a grade or 1/2 a grade lower was best, but CLE seemed to continue to line up well in scope at each grade level.

 

I really like the spiral in learning math. I think it's great for retention. But the way they present everything in tiny bits means it can feel less challenging, even if you are covering the same thing in the end. Adding something like Singapore FAN Math Process Skills and Problem Solving ups the challenge/stretch factor a bit as well as supplements the word problem instruction. 

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I think it may be a bit ahead of average public school curricula in the early grades, but relatively average later on. My ods would place into cle 5 after doing mm 4. Dd is doing cle2. She was just on the edge of placing into level 3, but I didn't want it to take super long, so we went with level 2. Before starting she could already add, subtract, and multiply with regrouping and knows the standard algorithms. In that sense I think grade 2 of sm, mm, rs, or mif would be more equivalent to grade 3 in cle. However, she was missing the peripheral topics like time, money, measure equivalencies, geometric classifications. I think those are sometimes started a little later in the heavily conceptual programs.

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This is interesting to me as I have heard CLE is 'advanced' in math as well. I'm not sure what that based on. Public school standards perhaps, but in what state? It seems there is so much variation among what is 'standard' that it is difficult to determine what is considered 'advanced'. I'm new at this, but my hope is that I'll find the right fit for my kiddos and not have to hop around too much. It seems like they all end up in the same spot in the end. 

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It is a bit ahead compared to our local public schools. My 2nd graders are in 203 right now and will be starting multiplication in 206. A teacher friend told me that our schools (Mecklenburg County/Charlotte NC) don't teach it until 3rd grade. We started with MM which I think is ahead of CLE but it did not work for my girls so I can't really give much input.

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I have many of the 2nd grade workbooks for CLE hanging out and after looking through them they seem to be slightly ahead of BJU 2, much more ahead of Saxon 2, about on par with Horizons 2 (although Horizon seems to be slightly more advanced...). It seems to cover many of the same things as Singapore 2A and 2B but that is a hard comparison to make due to how different SP teaches. It is definitely ahead of Rod and Staff 2 as well as A beka 2.

 

The other maths I have hanging out are Rightstart and MUS but those comparisons are too tough to make due to the nature of how they are taught.

 

I don't have access to MM or BA to compare it to. I think by and large, as homeschoolers we are so lucky to have access to so many wonderful math curriculums that can literally meet the need of just about any type of learner. They all seem to get to the same place eventually. I have one DS and a DD who are accelerated and burns through math like nothing. They catch on fast and get bored easily so a spiral curriculum works wonders for them with a conceptual program thrown in. I have another DS who needs the slow and steady wins the race method. He is working in both MUS and Saxon currently because they move slowly and beat dead horses. He needs that and likes it. I am confident that all three of them will still end up at calculus at some point in their future :)

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I think it tends to run similar to Singapore but a bit ahead of Saxon in the early grades. It's ahead of my local public schools, but that's not saying much. :lol:

 

The problem difficulty is not as much as that of Singapore, but probably in line with Saxon.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it being ahead or behind or whatever. Just place your child where they need to be and progress from there. If they need to go into a public school at some point, they'll be fine.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think CLE tends to introduce things earlier than a lot of homeschool programs, but doesn't go to the same depth of conceptual teaching, especially after the second grade level, and doesn't offer a lot of word problems/critical thinking.  We paired it with the Process Skills in Problem Solving books when we used it.  It also seems to cover more geometry earlier.

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I think that the kids and families who need CLE (it's really unique) and find it... the math "clicks" in their minds and the kids sail right along and go on to do well, or excel, in math.

This is us. Switching to CLE from MM was like night-and-day. It clicked almost immediately and all of the math frustrations diminished. We are a secular homeschool so it took some encouragement to give it a try and my only regret was not purchasing sooner.

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I think that the kids and families who need CLE (it's really unique) and find it... the math "clicks" in their minds and the kids sail right along and go on to do well, or excel, in math.

 

Conversely, people whose kids don't need CLE look at it and say it's behind or that it's nothing special.

This is us, as well. 

 

 

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