Using the Key to . . . books?

[Sheila in OK]

Some of you may remember me posting about my math dilemma here a few weeks ago. I have a 12yo dd who is going into 7th grade this fall. She has always struggled with math. We used mostly Math-U-See up to the end of Gamma, when she hit a HUGE brick wall. We switched to TT at that point and have used it for the past two years.

 

The problem is, I have mixed feelings about using TT this coming year because I don't think she is grasping the concepts very well. :/ She is getting mostly in the 90's on daily lessons and quizzes, but when I have her take placement tests for other curricula she doesn't seem to know how to do the problems. I have considered sticking with TT and supplementing, but that is a lot of $$ to spend on something that isn't enough on its own, KWIM? And I actually have Saxon 76 sitting in my RR shopping cart right now but I keep chickening out after reading reviews of people who wanted to burn their Saxon books at the end of the year.

 

With all that background--I have been given a copy of TT Pre-Algebra to use this coming school year (after only finishing TT5 & 6) and now I'm considering using the Key to books to bring her up to par and then go into the Pre-Algebra, and then possibly continuing to use them to fill in any gaps from the TT. Does this sound like a good plan? And how should I use them--do all the books in one topic before moving to another, or doing all the book one's, book two's, etc.?

 

Any advice you can give would really help. I'm trying to plan our next school year and everything is flowing except I'm really still stuck on math.

 

TIA!

[TheModestMom]

When I was around her age my Mom had me stop Saxon and do some key to books. I remember really liking them, as they just made sense and focused on the problems I was having. I would go for it and use them!

[mcconnellboys]

I think this sounds like a good idea. You could use them in either way you describe.

 

If she is having difficulty in one particular area, say decimals, then it might be best to concentrate on that area. She's already accustomed to doing this through your earlier use of MUS.

 

If she has a couple of problem areas, to prevent boredom, you might work in two books at once, say decimals and percentage or fractions. But I don't think I'd work in the level one books of every single area they offer at once. That would probably be way too many problems per day for her, even if you're only doing one page in each per day.

 

I don't know that I'd bother with measurement at all, unless she has a real problem with that. And you might not need to do the geometry, either.

[Sheila in OK]

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking of starting with the fractions books since she is struggling in this area, and then moving on to Decimals and Percents. Then I would start her on the TT PreAlgebra book and be ready to stop if it gets too abstract too soon.