If your 6th grader wants to learn and has expressed a desire several times, I'd be more inclined to let the 6th/7th go on ahead together, rather than hold them to the pace of the 4th grader. I'd say the opposite if it were your 4th grader who really wanted to learn.

I can't see long blocks once a week working for math, music (other than appreciation), or foreign language. I could see it working for other subjects, especially if you have a student who gets immersed in a subject and doesn't want to change away. I could see it being especially beneficial for science, history, literature. A suggestion: test-drive it by slightly lengthening all but one subject on 4 days a week. Reserve one day for the subject you have the best ideas for what you'd do with a long, uninterrupted day (science/history field trips, shakespeare plays, whatever) and block schedule that one, removing it entirely from the other 4 days. I could see math/language working okay on an every-other-day schedule (I wouldn't go less than MWF), which would free up two days for long subjects if your trial was successful. If you did that, I'd go with morning/afternoon blocks on both to lessen brain shutdown.

game of thrones

Sounds like a plan, and best of luck!

Yes. I was in SET as well, and it took me a long time to get over the idea of being a researcher just because I thought that I "should". Now I teach math at a small college. I love my job. I wake up on Monday happy to go to work. I do especially well helping students with developmental math -- for some reason I'm able to communicate with them and break it down for them. I'm not solving all the problems of the world. I'm not even making a major change in it. But I'm changing the part of it I can affect. And that has to be enough.

I wonder if you could convince them to do a commitment study for a half-pace algebra class -- where if they can get at least 'n' people to pre-register, they will hire someone to do it. It'd probably cost more than what they have now, because they'd need the teacher for twice as many weeks, but maybe ...

YES. Exactly. + eleventy billion. Telling kids that they have an obligation to use their great brain for good puts such pressure on them. Maybe they don't WANT to save the world. Maybe they just want to have a normal boring life and enjoy intellectual pursuits in their spare time.

I definitely wouldn't change again if they're doing fine, until you finish the elementary math sequence. Because of the non-traditional sequence, if you change out there will definitely be gaps. I think you might be suffering from 'grass is greener syndrome' :P

Right, but they could easily be hating it because they were in the wrong level to start out with. They seem to be unhappy because of the excessive difficulty more than anything else.

No, as long as they're on a baby.

You know what the difference is between civil engineers and mechanical engineers, right? Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets. Or wait ... You know how you can tell the human body was designed by a civil engineer? Who else would run a toxic waste line through a recreation area?! Ok, I'll stop now :D :D

Oh, given the Accountant, I withdraw Sheep Daddy and suggest SheepCounter.

Oh, if you have to re-order anyway, but you like Saxon -- why not order Intermediate 4 ... have them do that as transition -- then go to 65. That way they wouldn't be working through the same exact book again. Intermediate 4 and 5 can be done in place of 54 and 65. Whichever way you go, though, I'd have them take the tests only on their way through ... and whenever they drop below a solid B (85%) on a test, move back to the lessons covered by that test and start there. This would also let them move on to 65 mid-year if the review helps them consolidate rapidly. With respect to the "it isn't working so fix it" -- OP observed that their test scores went way up this year, even though they struggled and got a C, and thinks it's due to their being misplaced given their background knowledge, rather than Saxon not being a fit. I think she might be right.

Man, I'd love to tutor something like that. I really like my (offline) students but it'd be fun to have some real high-flyers as a change.

The conceptual courses have less math. Not sure on the prereq for chemistry (pre-alg or alg 1) but the conceptual physics can definitely be done with a prereq of alg 1.

So critterfixer is married to Machinefixer.

Sounds like a plan. The murderous maths will interject some of the fun/humor that I feel is missing from Saxon, but he'll still get the solid procedural competency. Best of luck!

No, 1 is logic and 2 is set theory. Both good things to know but not an essential for calculus unless you're planning on taking harvard's math 55 or something :D

Sheep Daddy, oh yeah.

I agree with Aiden, but what do they think of the idea of doing the whole book again? I *definitely* wouldn't do the review sections again, and in general I'd be reluctant to re-start on the same book unless I could get the buy-in from the kids.

Right, but for a kid who is avoidant of math and shuts down, just seeing numbers in the problem may be enough to drive them into meltdown mode.

Remember not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. You might be suffering from grass-is-greener syndrome. :)

Dana used it personally -- she's been reading this thread, but you might ask her as well. New Math was fine for the students and teachers who could handle it. Many times, though, it was badly mistaught, and/or there was a lot of parent resistance based on 'I can do it the old way, why are you making my kid learn it this way?! my kid is going to be doing it the traditional way!' Furthermore, some kids just weren't ready to think that conceptually, and for them the traditional way really would have been superior.

No, not really, but there are a lot of things that I don't think parents should do in front of kids that I would not report.

No, I don't think I would, unless I were SURE she was driving them. If she is not on illegal drugs, but is rather having a bad reaction to required medication at an inopportune time, an allegation of child abuse is the last thing she needs. Contrariwise, if she IS addicted to drugs, it is unlikely that just getting DCFS involved is going to make her stop. It might, however, get the children removed to a far more dysfunctional family. Outcomes for children in foster care are so overwhelmingly negative that it would need to be something far more severe (physical abuse leaving large bruises/broken bones, sexual abuse, for example) before I would report it.