How much of the book do you have to do to be done?

[laurad1125]

I'd like everyone's opinion on how much of a graded text (think math and grammar) you need to do before moving on to the next grade. I know there's quite a bit of review in these books and we never finished our texts in ps. What do you think?

[Denise in Florida]

I voted 80%, but that only applies to books/texts which are the only material for that 'class', and that does not happen very oftern.

 

I usually build a subject using only the best parts of several grammar or history or science or whatever books. There are many books which we have only used for a few sections or chapters.

 

The important thing is knowing what ground you want to cover and what objectives you have set, rather than completing somebody else's list of requirements.

[HeatherInWI]

I'd go for 100% on a math book, but more like 70% for most grammar books. Much depends on how much review the next text up does.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I put 90% BUT we're finishers. Books are COMPLETED here and with 100% correct. But I'd settle for 90% mastery on 90% of the book. I just can't go under 90% though. Just. Can't. Do. It. I would never choose a school that finished only 70% of a book that was designed for 180 or fewer lessons, passed people with under 80% averages, etc for example.

[JenneinCA]

My vote is to pass (85% or better) the end of book final exam. If that is all of the book, fine. If it is half of the book also fine. The goal is to learn the material not check off pages in a book.

[Dirtroad]

We only use Text for Math & Grammar... but I would say about 80% b/c so much is review at the beginning & end. We also skip things that are easy to understand or "overkill" on repetition or review.

[unsinkable]

One of my new pet peeves is that there is a bar in the graph even when a choice has 0 votes.

[littlebug42]

For me, it is 100 %. There are some pretty big gaps in my education that I directly place to not finishing the material. This was particularly a problem for me with history. I know a ton about the US prior to WWII but very little after unless I have sought out the material on my own or picked it up in Government and POlitical Science.

[phathui5]

I think a child should have a firm grasp of the subject before you move on.

[Colleen in NS]

I'd like everyone's opinion on how much of a graded text (think math and grammar) you need to do before moving on to the next grade. I know there's quite a bit of review in these books and we never finished our texts in ps. What do you think?

 

As in, go all the way to the last lesson (but maybe skipping some parts of some lessons)? If so, I do the whole book because I don't know grammar/math/Latin well enough to not complete the book. As for content subjects, we work our way through, but I don't worry about covering every single topic. I believe that if my kids get the skills well-learned, they can cover topics for the rest of their lives.

[AngieW in Texas]

We generally go all the way to the end, covering everything that was in the book unless something was an unnecessary repeat.

[joannqn]

We finish the entire book; however, I choose curriculum that has very little review or skip through the review parts by doing only some of the pages or the tests.

 

My son is the exception when it comes to math, which is he VERY good at. I let him skip the last half of both MUS Gamma and Delta. I knew he knew the material very well. He took the final exams for both, scoring 97% on both. For Epsilon and Zeta, he'll be working through the test book only (I'll use the workbook for my daughter). This is because he already knows most of the concepts in these as well. If he needs more practice (ie. gets less than an A on each test), he'll do extra practice on the white board. So, while we aren't doing all of the pages, he aren't skipping any of the lessons.

[tex-mex]

I'd like everyone's opinion on how much of a graded text (think math and grammar) you need to do before moving on to the next grade. I know there's quite a bit of review in these books and we never finished our texts in ps. What do you think?

 

 

It is hard. I have to teach math year round to get it 100% done. And if I were back in the classroom... it'd be 80% done due to snow days, holidays, assemblies, field trips, etc. It adds up. I've seen teachers get the math book done 100% in 180 days in public schools -- but they were the type to "crack the whip" and never have fun learning type. That isn't me.

[laurad1125]

I'm kind of surprised by the responses. :confused: There seems like soooooo much review in both our math (horizons) and grammar (rod & staff) texts.

 

In fact, ds only did about 1/2 of 4th grade math - 60ish lessons from saxon 5/4 and then only the first 20 or so lessons of Horizons 4. I'd planned to have him finish horizons 4, but after looking at the first 1/3 of the 5th grade book, it was clear he was ready for it. He generally gets 90% of his math right and what he misses is almost always carelessness not lack of understanding. Is this a YMMV thing or am I missing something?

 

Of course, maybe it's because we school year round AND use spiral approach texts? So he doesn't really have a chance to forget stuff?

 

I will probably just keep giving him the tests when we get a new level and starting where ever he doesn't get 100.

[Colleen in NS]

I'm kind of surprised by the responses. :confused: There seems like soooooo much review in both our math (horizons) and grammar (rod & staff) texts.

 

Is this a YMMV thing or am I missing something?

 

Of course, maybe it's because we school year round AND use spiral approach texts? So he doesn't really have a chance to forget stuff?

 

I school year round, but I am just not confident enough in my own abilities/skills in math/grammar/Latin to skip much. Ds just started R&S math 7 and it's all review right now, but they throw little new explanations of things in there and I am too paranoid about missing those to skip the first few lessons. But I do pick and choose problems within each lesson and let him answer a lot of stuff orally so it goes quickly.

[Scuff]

For me, it is 100 %. There are some pretty big gaps in my education that I directly place to not finishing the material. This was particularly a problem for me with history. I know a ton about the US prior to WWII but very little after unless I have sought out the material on my own or picked it up in Government and POlitical Science.

 

 

My US History Teacher in HS started the year in the 40s. His reasoning was that the last 50 years influence our society the most and they are usually not done because the year ends unfinished. So we spend most of our year on that and did a quick overview of the rest of history in the few months at the end.

[JoyfulMama]

I'm kind of surprised by the responses. :confused: There seems like soooooo much review in both our math (horizons) and grammar (rod & staff) texts.

 

In fact, ds only did about 1/2 of 4th grade math - 60ish lessons from saxon 5/4 and then only the first 20 or so lessons of Horizons 4. I'd planned to have him finish horizons 4, but after looking at the first 1/3 of the 5th grade book, it was clear he was ready for it. He generally gets 90% of his math right and what he misses is almost always carelessness not lack of understanding. Is this a YMMV thing or am I missing something?

 

 

I didn't do the poll, since I think it is so curriculum specific. I noticed the Horizon Math in your siggy right away, and no, I don't complete every single page, yet I still complete all the new material. For ex, Horizon Math 3 had no new concepts after Lesson 132 or something. We didn't go much past that, as we didn't need the additional review. Horizon 4 starts new material at Lesson 10 or 11, and clearly states that no new concepts introduced after Lesson 149 (of 160). The last 11 lessons are reinforcement of the concepts from the whole year.

 

I could see some LA subjects having a similar approach, and therefore possibly not have a need to complete every single page. But I don't finish any curriculum based on the number of pages left - I look at concepts mastered. I don't want to bore my children by having them continue to review something they don't need to review.

 

For something like science, history, or literature, I wouldn't think that the last chapters in the book would be review, but would continue to introduce new concepts, so I would want to complete those, so as not to have gaps in understanding.

 

HTH!

[Moni]

Depends on my goal for that textbook.

 

:seeya:

[Night Elf]

I can't answer the poll because I can't guess at a percentage. My DH believes in covering all the material in a textbook, but he is fine with our children skipping material they already know. We work a book from cover to cover but skip whole chapters in grammar and math. If my children can ace a chapter test, we don't believe there is any reason to spend time on the mastered material. If the chapter test shows review is needed, we go back and work through the exercises. We treat science and history texts differently.