Has anyone used or looked at Classical Math (grade 2 or 3) by Logos Press?

[monalisa]

Just wondering...this was written by one of the Logos School teachers to sub for Saxon 2 & 3. I am intrigued by the samples online, but can't find any reviews of anyone who has actually used it for homeschool.

 

It has a lot of chants built into it, which I think would help my highly auditory dd, though the daily worksheets seem very dry & repetitive.

[Jyniffrec]

:bigear: I want to hear more, too!

[Heather in VA]

I looked at it briefly but I knew the chants weren't going to work for my dd. It looks fine but I do remember thinking that their workbook exercises aren't just a sub for Saxon. They look so much like Saxon I'm almost surprised there isn't a copyright problem.

 

Heather

[Lorien]

We have and we really like it! Ds1 just finished Classical Math 2 last week and will be starting 3 next week when we start our 10/11 school year. Ds2 will then be starting Classical Math 2. It has worked great for us.

[monalisa]

Wow, I am so excited to hear from someone is actually using it! Is it easy to use for homeschooling or do you have to do a lot of adjusting? I saw some teaching activities that required having a class (like graphing, for ex.) Does your ds find the worksheets difficult to use -- the spaces are pretty small? If you have a few minutes, could you briefly review this curriculum -- the things you like & don't like about it?

Edited September 23, 2010 by monalisa

[TechWife]

My son was in school for 2nd grade and they used this. I thought it was almost exactly like Saxon & also wondered about the copyright. I had the impression it was a cheaper alternative to Saxon, but I could have been wrong.

 

I was not particularly impressed with the program.

[Lorien]

Wow, I am so excited to hear from someone is actually using it! Is it easy to use for homeschooling or do you have to do a lot of adjusting? I saw some teaching activities that required having a class (like graphing, for ex.) Does your ds find the worksheets difficult to use -- the spaces are pretty small? If you have a few minutes, could you briefly review this curriculum -- the things you like & don't like about it?

 

I'll try (but it probably won't be brief)!

 

First of all, I haven't seen any of Saxon math beyond Saxon math 1, which we use for 1st grade. We started out using Saxon and may have continued with it, but when Classical became available around the time we were ready to buy 2nd grade work for ds1 we decided to try Classical. We have really liked it!

 

I have found it easy to use (so far), but I'm also wondering if that is in part because of ds1, who rarely needs help. He didn't want to do the chants, etc, so he just learned the facts without the chanting. I know the chants are supposed to be a key part of the learning, but it worked very well for him to just skip them. With ds2 who'll be starting 2nd grade next week . . . . we'll have to see how it goes! He's a totally different child to teach and I think the chants might help him a lot. We'll see!

 

The things I liked:

- the teacher's manual gives a list of things to review each day and briefly explains the new concept if there is one.

After the complete conversation dialog given in Saxon, I really liked being able to just look at the new concept and then teach it the way ds1 would learn, rather than have to go over the complete dialog to make sure we weren't missing anything.

- the new concepts are covered in the worksheets on the day the child learns them

- it was easy to adjust when I needed to. I can't think of the exact situations, but as an example: for a time when the work would be done in a classroom I just immediately made something up that would work - i.e. how many kids in the class like soccer? I just give him a number and we do the same for the rest of the problem. Sometimes we'd change the object of the question - as in, if it asked how many kids liked dogs, we'd change it to how many friends, or relatives have a minivan, and I'd quickly note the changes on the chart and in the problems so he could do the work. Maybe this method won't work for ds2, but it did for ds1!

- the worksheets were, I thought, laid out well.

- the spaces for writing were just fine for Ds1, who writes small and well. For ds2 who doesn't enjoy writing at all and doesn't typically write small, although he can if he wants . . . . I'll find out on Monday! :001_smile:

- with the clear indication of each new concept I have been able to mark the new problem on the worksheet and ds1 will do all of the other problems and when he's done I help him to learn the new concept and then supervise while he finishes the work.

 

My methods might not be all that great and they might not work for anyone else, but they do work with ds1! :001_smile:

 

For the negatives:

- the math fact pages in Classical Math 2 drive me crazy! For each set of facts there are four practice pages. If you follow the schedule laid out in the book, the child is supposed to practice the facts four times and then be graded on the fifth day. There are only four pages. Okay, so the facts are supposed to be copied and the teacher also only needs to give practice sheets as often as s/he sees a need, so I can understand not having the exact amount, but when they've scheduled for five and when five are needed. . . .:rant:

- also regarding the fact pages. . . in Classical Math 2 the facts are divided into two groups. Each set of facts has four pages. The first two pages for each set are at the beginning of the book. The third and fourth pages start in the middle of the book and it continues this way through to the end. I noticed that they fixed this issue for Math 3, so that will be nice! :hurray:

 

The facts do drive me crazy, but that's the only problem we've had. I probably do make a lot of alterations on the fly as we do the work (filling in when more kids are needed, etc), but I also do that with Saxon 1 when we come across something that would work better (for us) if I did it 'my' way. As I've already mentioned, we'll be starting 2nd and 3rd grade on Monday (and 1st too :scared:) so we'll see how this year goes!

 

Sorry this wasn't exactly very brief! I hope it helps! We do like Classical Math and have found that it works great for us. I haven't seen anything else though, so the only comparison I can make is with Saxon 1.

[Jyniffrec]

Are the chants the only thing classical about this program? What makes a math program classical? :bigear:

[Lorien]

Are the chants the only thing classical about this program? What makes a math program classical? :bigear:

 

According to a couple of sources. . .

 

"The three stages of the trivium are grammar. . .In the grammar stage, the student learns many particulars, many facts. Not that the word grammar here is not restricted to language study. Each area of study has a "grammar". . . . In math, grammar would include division and multiplication tables. . . . "

 

(extract from Classical Education and the Homeschool p. 19)

 

The forward in the math curriculum says. . . . "Classical Math. . . is a systematic, logical approach . . . . It provides. . . . orderly exercises for the student to completely understand numbers . . . . ."

 

And yes, there are a lot of math facts to learn! :001_smile:

[monalisa]

Thank you so much for your detailed review, Lorien! I was really interested in how they did fact drill (an area we really need to incorporate more of), so your likes & dislikes of that aspect especially is really helpful.

[Jyniffrec]

Ohhhhhh...got it. That makes perfect sense. :001_smile: I'm glad I read this thread!