Christy B Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I have an unusual situation coming up for next school year. I will only have my youngest at home, and my mom is going to co-teach with me! Very exciting for everyone. I need a math book that fits the following criteria: Portable (dd will be doing schoolwork at my mom's house one or two days a week) Easy to teach/grade/keep records Plenty of review BUT also enough practice of the current concept I don't think dd is ready for 5th grade math. I'm leaning toward repeating 4th grade. We used MCP this year and she got completely bogged down with two and three digit multiplication and division. So, we haven't really gone into fractions, just the basic identification using pictures, etc. I haven't dared touch decimals, I think it would send her right over the edge. She is a very s-l-o-w worker. I'm not concerned about her getting "behind", because we are anticipating deliberately placing her in a particular class if she ends up attending the same private school as her older sister (long story) so being in "4th grade" this year would actually set her up perfectly for that. All that said, we also don't know for certain if or when she'll be going to that school, so I don't want to create a situation where she is "locked in" to repeating fourth grade and couldn't ever make up the difference. So, there are the programs I am considering: Teaching Textbooks 5 -- my older dd used TT7 with great success in grade 6, so I'm kind of assuming the same would hold true with using TT5 even though dd is "behind". The obvious advantage is the instant grading, etc. Also, it is technically a "5th" grade book. (I'm starting to hate grade levels.) Saxon 5/4 -- this is the text used in the private school that she may attend in the future, so that would be useful. I hate to choose textbooks based on the possibility of her attending a school, though. Makes me cranky. Abeka 4 -- I know Abeka is pretty advanced, so I would hope that 4 wouldn't be too hard for her. I think she'd be humiliated if I used 3. I love the way the Abeka math books are laid out. They are very easy to use, you can write directly in the book, etc. CLE Math -- I assume they have a placement test, which would be nice. I know this would be the most portable option. Thoughts? Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 to also install it on your mom's computer? I think if you call TT and tell them that it is being used at two different houses, they may be willing to provide a second code number to activate it on two computers. My dd, taken out of fifth grade mid-year this year, is in TT6 - and thrilled to be doing "sixth" grade math (even though we all know, from these boards, that TT is behind a year.) So that part of your plan is great :001_smile: Another thought - Developmental Math booklets. I used these for fourth grade last year and they were GREAT - one topic at a time and thorough. You might want to consider them, too - maybe even just one or two of them over the summer. Key to...booklets work well, to, to help cement facts and work on problem areas. I used them to cover topics in measurement that Developmental Math does not touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 TT is great if you are inclined towards workbooks, I'd definatley look at Horizons. Jullie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorothy Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 This made all the difference for my dc. It fits all of your criteria. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaNY Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I agree with Dorothy. R&S is an excellent choice for getting your dd up to speed. R&S gives a solid grounding in math, taking a gentle, yet thorough approach with plenty of review. The TM is excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christy B Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 That might be a possibility. 4th or 5th, I wonder? Also, I should have mentioned that my dh was able to snag a used laptop from work; so TT would be installed on the laptop and it would go wherever we needed it. I think TT is going to be hard to beat for the "neat-o" factor; I worry that it doesn't have enough review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmsurbat Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Rod and Staff. Both Saxon and TT (which uses Saxon's incremental methodology) have relatively few problems on the current topic and a wide smattering of previous topics. R&S is sensibly laid out so that the first half (roughly) of the exercises cover the new material and the remaining of the practice exercises cover (in well designed, spaced review) two to 5 topics ONLY, often with 2-6 problems for *each* topic. This means it is a breeze to have your child do only one "review" problem for a topic she truly has down pat, and enough review problems for a topic that throws her at first glance that she'll actually get to *work* with the topic. Since your daughter will have access to a "teacher", the TM for R&S math is a dream--very helpful for extra examples, oral review, pointers on what might prove difficult. Especially in the elementary years, "live" teaching is to be preferred to a DVD.... Most of the time, my "teaching" took less than 10 minutes--most of which was spent doing the oral review (excellent) with my child. I usually sat with my child while he/she read the lesson (2-3 minutes) and answered any questions (usually none). If you go with R&S, based on your comments, I would defininitely use the fourth grade book. It provides a thorough review of add/sub/mult/div and then goes on to develop fractions. The fifth grade book will approach fractions from a "you've had this before" slant. And fractions are so vitally important for all the remaining years of math that this is not a topic to surface scratch.... Also, I've used the fourth grade text as a consumable. (The text is no more expensive than Abeka's paperback) *Much* of the work can be done right in the book--there is truly enough space. And for the few problems that needed more room, well, it was good practice on copying problems correctly. HTH, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kortney in AL Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Rod and Staff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hi, Just something to think about... My son finished up Abeka 3 this year. I am switching him over to TT, but didn't know whether to use TT 4 or TT 5. I had him take the placement test for TT 4 and it was all review for Abeka 3. So he will be doing TT 5 next year instead, even though he is a 4th grader. So if Abeka 3 is the same as TT 4, it makes me wonder if Abeka 4 covers the same material as TT 5. Just thought I'd suggest you have your child take the placement test on TT website if you decide to go that route. With joy! Stacy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christy B Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 I'll have to think this over -- we had so much trouble with TT7 being late shipped, full of errors, etc, I have to wonder if the "cool" factor is worth the hassle. Sometimes simple is best, so maybe the Abeka or Horizon textbook, or the R&S would actually be less to keep up with. And any of those options would certainly be less expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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