gaz-mom Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 I'm making up our schedule for fall, and I'm wondering how you use up 45-60 minutes doing math? (following the recommendations in the WTM) We use Math-U-See and I have one son in Alpha, and one in Beta. I already have them watch the video each day, and then do a worksheet. What else could/should I do? More than one worksheet a day? Or half of the time memorizing math facts? Which, actually, now that I think about it, that's what I should do, since when else will they learn those math facts, right? They both need to memorize the addition facts. Another question regarding flash cards and memorizing facts. How do you get them to memorize them? Is it best to do the flashcards randomly, or in order? Should they be able to say all the addition facts (up to 9+9) by memory, as they would say the multiplication table? I'm already having them memorize and be able to say the ones that add up to 10, and now I'm wondering about having them memorize all of them. Then, do you have them memorize subtraction facts too? I've never heard of a subtraction table--is there one? Thanks! This is a great resource for me jsut starting our classical education journey. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 I'm not sure this is very WTM, but I would play games and read living math books and "count" it. See livingmath.net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 (edited) We use Rod and Staff math, and we easily spend 45-60 min on each lesson going over the oral lesson in the T.M and examples and then the workbook. My dd did the 2nd grade this past year, and it has 3 worksheets and one extra worksheet a day. She didn't always do the extra one, but most of the time we did. As for memorizing, R&S builds this into their lessons. They (the children) recite the facts they are working on daily. So this would be in the "in order" part. You could easily add that by having your child recite daily a certain amount of facts. Once they have that part down, you could move on to the next fact family. As for flashcards, we do them randomly daily. This is in addition to the lesson in the book and the workbook, but I count it in the time allotment. I do them randomly since she is memorizing them in order, and this gives her practice putting the facts to use "out of order." To memorize subtraction, facts it is in the fact families. She memorized the facts like this: 8+2=10, 2+8=10, 10-8=2, 10-2=8. This was in the 1st grade math up to 10. Then she spent 2nd grade memorizing up to 18. Edited June 28, 2009 by 2_girls_mommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 We normally don't spend 45-60 minutes on math at that age. Actually, when we do end up spending that long I start to think there's something wrong! We do math fact practice at bedtime, right before read-aloud time, for only 5-10 minutes, depending on attitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We normally don't spend 45-60 minutes on math at that age. Actually, when we do end up spending that long I start to think there's something wrong! We do math fact practice at bedtime, right before read-aloud time, for only 5-10 minutes, depending on attitude. Same here...we might spend 10-20 minutes total (teaching time and completion of worksheets), not including any facts practice. That's one of the joys of our math, the facts come fairly natuarally...we're mainly having to work on those we were learning when using a different math program. We don't do flashcards either, but things like QuarterMile Math, facts copywork, real life application, and math cd's with songs for skip counting and facts. DH just got us two large inflatable die that are covered in math facts (these are subt.). You toss them back and forth and whatever facts her thumbs land on are the facts that she answers. It's fun and it works and I don't have to do the drill and kill or spend an hour doing math, even in 3rd or 4th grade levels. With fun stuff, you could easily fill up an hour for math and it's still learning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio12 Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We did half MUS and half Abeka this year and never spent more than 20 minutes a day. Those time guidelines in WTM can be disconcerting. It doesn't bother me that we don't meet them for math, because I know we are getting through the curriculum. But we spend 15 minutes on science sometimes and it suggests an hour for that too I think, and that it harder to gauge whether you are covering enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Ditto the others... The time we've spent on math each year reflects dd's attention span. Too long a session just wears them out! Break it up, doing the drill at one point in the day, lesson in another. And now that she's upper elementary, we break into a 3rd "homework" session many days. So in 1st grade it was say 25 minutes of math lesson and 10 minutes of drill another time. By 3rd we were doing 35-40 minutes of math and 10-15 minutes of drill at another time. In 4th (this past year) we did more like 45 minute lessons, 5-10 minutes of drill, and 10 minutes of homework for things she didn't get done during the lesson. It gets longer each year, but it TOTALLY depends on the dc. Set a timer and see how long your dc tolerates on a good day. Not a Monday or a sick day or wanna be outside day, but a moderately good day. Then call that your max and try not to go beyond it. You can break up lessons and do drill in an alternate session. My evaluator told me that kids learn best in the first 15 minutes of the lesson anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz-mom Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 thanks for all the great ideas!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I have a rising 4th grader and rising 6th grader, and they've never spent an hour on math. maybe, possibly, once or twice if she's had both a lesson and an investigation in Saxon that took a while, but it would be very much a rarity. we do short, quick drills of 5 minutes or so, so that doesn't increase our time much. and yes, imo it's best if a child has their math facts down cold: addition and subtraction through ten, multiplication and division through the 12 time tables. skip counting (forwards and backwards) is excellent practice and will help with facts. different strategies work for different kids; always use a mix of flash cards, written drills, and games. dont' rely just on one. it's fine to start with the facts in order, but eventually they should be able to do them in random order. I don't know what ages those levels of MUS cover, but fairly young, correct? each day, I would do the video, the lesson, and a short and sweet drill of some type. once a week, I might go for a longer 'lesson' time that includes extended drill or a math game. by 'extended' I mean ten minutes instead of five, nothing lengthy! edited to add that we clearly don't do every single problem in Saxon as recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osaubi Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We vary our time on math depending on what we are doing. Right now I am reading them the Time Life I love math series http://www.volumelists.com/detail.php?ser=I%20Love%20Math . We spent at least 45min on reading and doing the exercises on Friday and spent about the same amount of time today. I read them math related books and play games with them ( use this site a lot http://www.livingmath.net/ReaderLists/YoungMultiConcepts/tabid/1014/language/en-US/Default.aspx ). We also play games sometimes for math also. I like this site http://www.learningresources.com/category/teachers/shop+by+subject/math/product+type/games+-+puzzles/games.do?page=2&sortby=best&asc=true . HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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