[Should I switch math curriculum?]

1 hour ago, Cake and Pi said:

 

As for skipping or doing level 3 for a child who placed into the beginning of 4, it really depends on the child and their math background.

When my DS#1 switched over to BA after finishing 4th grade Right Start math, he placed into 4B iirc, except for the problems with variables, with which he'd had limited exposure.  I decided to start him in 3C so he could get that experience, and it was very challenging for him.  He was not used to anything being hard in math.  He was not used to that level of problem solving.  The books of "review" trained him in how to do hard math and boosted his confidence since he moved through them rather quickly. 

OTOH, my DS#3 flat out refused an easier level of BA because it was "tooooooo easy."  He'd already been doing a higher level of BA for several months by that time and didn't need the training in problem solving from an earlier level.

You could pick out the juicy chapters from level 3 and skip what would be repetitive.  I'd say 3A's shapes chapter is high quality and worth doing, as is 3B's chapter on perfect squares.  Being proficient in factoring out from a string of added/subtracted terms as covered in 3B's chapter on the distributive property will make many future problems in the series much more manageable, and its challenge pages were gold.  Experience with variables, as covered in 3C, and/or bar modeling, a Singapore method, as a means to solve word problems and area/perimeter puzzles will make a substantial difference in the tackleability of a fair chunk of the problems in level 4.  3D teaches comparing fractions in a way completely different from Saxon (no cross multiply), and the way 3D teaches estimating quotients is very useful.

If she's highly math-intuitive, though, and has these skills down already, it might well be better to skip level 3 and just start her wherever she placed.  

Thanks so much for your overview of level 3. I was leaning toward going with 3 since I have 2 more in line to use them and reading your overview I think Ill go with that and give her a chance to get used to being challenged and make sure we are solid on those concepts before moving on.

Thanks everyone for your help!

[Should I switch math curriculum?]

3 minutes ago, 4KookieKids said:

We do Singapore and Beast, as well. What I find is that when the concepts are there, usually we don't need as much review either. For instance, with your triangle example, my boy had a problem on prodigy where had to compute the surface area of something, and it had triangles. But because he was actually taught *why* the area of a triangle is 1/2 (bh) with a picture (draw a triangle with the base down, and then create a rectangle out of it with dimensions bxh, draw a line down from the top of the triangle, notice that in each of the two rectangles you just created, your triangle occupies exactly half the space, as shown below), he can easily work out the formula for the area of a triangle himself, even if he forgets the "formula" sometimes. Granted, this example doesn't prove the formula works in the case of *all* triangles, because in some, the top point would stick out to the side or something, but it's enough for him to remember and understand why the area of the triangle is actually half of the area of the rectangle, which is base x height, and thus derive the formula himself. And that is worth far more to me than being able to regurgitate the formula - for now, at least. ?

Yes! thanks for the example. I totally agree with you that the thought process is more important. I think Ive missed that with my check the box mentality. I don't naturally think thru math like that but she does and I think Ive stifled that a bit with saxon. For example at 6 yr old, 8x5 to her was 8x10= 80 and half of that is 40. To me that seems like a really long process and memorizing is easier to me but I'm realizing I'm wrong. Thanks for helping me think thru this. I'm excited to try out BA. I'd love your input too about placement that I posted above. 

[Should I switch math curriculum?]

10 hours ago, Jackie said:

 

Mastery covers a topic in depth and then moves on, but the topics are still used in future problem sets. There simply isn’t usually a section titled “Review”. For example, DD did a chapter on Factors and Multiples, followed by a chapter on Fractions. The Fractions chapter leaned heavily on skills learned in the F&M chapter.

BA goes up until Pre-Algebra and then switches to Art of Problem Solving from there through Calculus. However, the problem solving in BA is much deeper than in Saxon. When DD was finishing up BA3, I was toying with switching her to a more straightforward math program and gave her a couple of placement tests. She tested into Saxon 7/6 at that time. Use the placement tests for any program you may switch to, as the levels may be vastly different.

Some blogs and reviews Im looking at are recommending starting BA at 3a (regardless of assessment)  bc its a challenging book and builds a foundation for the different type of math. Would you agree? I know they have assessments and we've done them. I just don't want to start in the 4s and have her be struggling or start with 3 and have her annoyed at it being easy. I think all of the BA would technically be a review but it looks like such a different and deeper way of thinking thru it that I think it might be what she needs before we move on to higher levels 

[Should I switch math curriculum?]

16 hours ago, 4KookieKids said:

 

I'm curious why you want specific review? In a *lot* of math areas, review is built in because you can't, say, divide fractions if your grasp on division, multiplication, or fractions isn't solid. You can't do it well at least. You can't really do percents (well) if your fuzzy on fractions (and everything that fractions rely upon). You can't think about trig (well) unless you can do a bunch of other stuff already. Etc.  While it's still possible to forget things, continuing on in math includes unavoidable review anyway. So we don't worry about setting aside time to specifically review over here. We review topics as necessary if we stumble across something we haven't seen in a while, but otherwise we just keep moving forward.

I'm noticing that there is a lot more overlap of concepts in the samples and assessments for BA than I am used to seeing with saxon.  When I picture mastery I picture Saxons lesson and practice set (all problems of the new concepts) and none of their problem set (30 questions that are straight forward past concepts like adding fractions, subtract a 4 digit number etc) There are quite a few topics that aren't taught (in the math Ive used) using the other past concepts but now Im wondering if thats just a part of saxon bc the review is covered in the problem set? An example is she has learned finding the area of a triangle but hasn't used it with summer break so when she did a BA assessment problem asking that she couldn't remember. 

Thanks for your questions! Everyones prompting is really helping me think what would work best for us and why. What math curriculum has worked for you? 

[Should I switch math curriculum?]

I really haven't researched other maths bc I was set on sticking with what I knew so please excuse my ignorance. It seem like peoples assessment is spiral takes a long time to finish teaching a concept but mastery doesn't review often enough for the child to remember? Where does BA fit in there? From what I'm reading it does look promising. When I look at a saxon book I don't think the review in each problem set is the problem, its the fact that the next book will reteach a lot of what was already taught. Does that make sense?  So I think I'm looking for something that will teach the topic in depth but still review for a little every day what was taught throughout the year. 

Also BA looks like younger and then they go to AOPS? 

I haven't heard of many doing singapore into high school. Most I've run into do it to start with MFW then switch to saxon so Im not sure if thats a direction I want to head but Im kinda clueless so any input is valued greatly!

[Should I switch math curriculum?]

We've homeschooled our 10 Year old Daughter (Oct birthday) from the beginning and she's always been smart but now Im wondering if I've been missing something and she's more than your average smart. We've done saxon from the start bc I was homeschooled and I knew it was a solid program. She did great K-2. 3rd was more of the same stuff and she had her facts down so half way thru the year we started 4/5. When we started 6/5 it was driving her crazy that there wasn't anything new so we skipped the first 30ish lessons and even though she kept complaining that it wasn't new I kept at it. Now I'm looking at them and most of 7/6 and 8/7 is review. There are a few topics (multiplying and dividing negatives etc)  I know she doesn't have down solid enough to move to pre-alg so the past few weeks we've been covering them topic based with khan and flipping thru saxon lessons and she is loving it! 

Any ideas of what to do with this kid? :) Do I keep covering topics with what I have to get her ready and go into Alg 1/2 or will the slow intro of topics with saxon keep being torture? Is there a better curriculum for her? I like the review of saxon and I don't think she'd mind some daily problems to work thru of past topics but she needs a daily light bulb moment in math. She loves thinking thru deep problems. Or maybe theres a fun supplement I could add in to give her that ah-ha every day? 

 

[Must read books for SOTW 1]

Thanks everyone! I’m going to be writing a list and hoping I find lots of these at my half price book outlet. I really appreciate hearing your stories of what were favorites for you guys.  

[Must read books for SOTW 1]

Awesome! Thanks for taking time to share your favorites. I really appreciate it! 

[Must read books for SOTW 1]

Hello, I’ve gleaned the info I’ve needed from the forum for years but never posted. I can’t find what I need now because the search isn’t working well with the switch to new system. 

Anyway, I’m a military mom without a great library system here ? I’m starting SOTW 1 next year and want to buy the best books we need. The activity guide has so many which was great when I did it with a library but now I need to whittle it down. I have 6, 9, and 11 yr old. The 11 yr old reads great but tends to stick with fantasy so I need some really great books to convince her there are other books worth reading. I’m interested in reccomendations for my other 2 also. Thanks!