I need help putting 2 years of math into 1

[AKMsMom]

Last year was our 1st year of homeschooling and my son was in 3rd grade. I chose Saxon Math and he hated it. We stopped using it half way through the year and supplemented with IXL math and worksheets I printed. We switched to Horizons this year (which is going better) and when I had him take the placement test, he tested to start 3rd grade. He is a smart kid and I would like him to be back up to grade level by the start of next year.

 

We are working through each lesson and are about on lesson 40. I thought I read somewhere (but can't find it now) that at a certain point no new matrial is introduced in the lessons just reviewing what they have learned. So I am trying to figure out at what point we can stop 3 and start 4. Do we start 4 at the beginning or will the beginning be review from 3? I don't have my books for 4 yet, which might help, but not sure when I will be able to get them.

 

Does anyone else have experience with this and can help me out?

 

Thanks

[Corraleno]

I don't have any experience with Horizons, but I do have experience with trying to get a child "caught up" in math who was a grade level behind. My advice is: don't try to rush through two years of math in one year. Rushing through math with a struggling student is a recipe for disaster down the road.

 

I pulled my DS out of PS after 4th grade, when he was doing 3rd grade math — and still not getting it. We did Math Mammoth 4a-5b over the course of 18 months, including working through the summer. We didn't rush, we didn't skip things, we did all the problems, and now he has an excellent foundation for higher math. He's doing prealgebra now (7th) and will be starting Algebra by the end of the year.

 

Unless you plan to put your child back into PS next year and really need him to be on grade level, I'd just go at his pace and make sure he really really gets the concepts before moving on. That's far more important than what number is on the cover of his math book.

 

Jackie

[Tylianna]

I've heard that Horizons is a grade level ahead, anyways.

 

My DD is in fourth grade now and is ALMOST done with Horizons 3. I think that lesson 140 is where they stop learning new materials, and the first 20 lessons of the next book are review.

 

You can always look at the beginning of the TM and see the "spiral" chart where new materials are introduced.

 

Okay, I just grabbed my book and it only shows the spiral up to lesson 106 and says "General pattern continues throughout 160 lessons"

 

My girls do two lessons per day. In Horizons 3 it usually takes her about 30 min to an hour depending on her "mood".

 

I don't assign the worksheets often, unless I think they need more help in a certain area.

[AKMsMom]

He is not struggling with math, in general. We are a year behind because he hated the way Saxon was set up. He cried and it would take us forever to complete each lesson. Now we have no problem with math. He usually does it first with little complaining. That is why I think he can get through the 4th grade level by next year. I plan on working on this through the summer. I just wanted to know if it we can skip some lessons.

 

I don't care about the number on the book and I can't say that he will never go back to public school. We are just taking things year by year. I just want him to be working at a level I know he is capable of doing.

 

Thanks for your help.

[AngelBee]

I don't have any experience with Horizons, but I do have experience with trying to get a child "caught up" in math who was a grade level behind. My advice is: don't try to rush through two years of math in one year. Rushing through math with a struggling student is a recipe for disaster down the road.

 

I pulled my DS out of PS after 4th grade, when he was doing 3rd grade math — and still not getting it. We did Math Mammoth 4a-5b over the course of 18 months, including working through the summer. We didn't rush, we didn't skip things, we did all the problems, and now he has an excellent foundation for higher math. He's doing prealgebra now (7th) and will be starting Algebra by the end of the year.

 

Unless you plan to put your child back into PS next year and really need him to be on grade level, I'd just go at his pace and make sure he really really gets the concepts before moving on. That's far more important than what number is on the cover of his math book.

 

Jackie

I agree. Move at whatever pace he needs.

 

We had to do this when we realized spiral wasnt working for my son and switched to MUS.

[AKMsMom]

I just found part of my answer. There are no new concepts introduced after lesson 142. In case anyone else wants to know.

 

Thanks

[MaMa2005]

We have finished Book 1 of Grade 4 in Horizons and are on Lesson 121 in the second book. Looking at the first book, lessons 1-40 concentrate on addition, subtraction, estimation, simple equations, money, and rounding. Multiplication begins on Lesson 41. DS is very good in math (we actually do complete 2 years in 1). The only thing that he really got hung up on was the rounding and reading large numbers (to the 100 billions). We just did a little extra work on those each day.

 

Knowing the multiplication facts is imperative starting at lesson 41. The lessons move quickly and then book 2 jumps into fractions, making equivalent fractions, reducing to lowest terrms, etc. If those multiplication facts aren't automatic, the lessons can become very tedious. :glare:

[AKMsMom]

MaMa2005 - Thank you so much. That helps.

 

We have been spending a lot of time on basic math facts.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

I don't have any experience with Horizons, but I do have experience with trying to get a child "caught up" in math who was a grade level behind. My advice is: don't try to rush through two years of math in one year. Rushing through math with a struggling student is a recipe for disaster down the road.

 

I pulled my DS out of PS after 4th grade, when he was doing 3r:iagree::iagree:d grade math — and still not getting it. We did Math Mammoth 4a-5b over the course of 18 months, including working through the summer. We didn't rush, we didn't skip things, we did all the problems, and now he has an excellent foundation for higher math. He's doing prealgebra now (7th) and will be starting Algebra by the end of the year.

 

Unless you plan to put your child back into PS next year and really need him to be on grade level, I'd just go at his pace and make sure he really really gets the concepts before moving on. That's far more important than what number is on the cover of his math book.

 

Jackie

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[abbeyej]

Both of my kids have done 2 Horizons lessons per day at the 3rd and 4th grade levels. Even my math-struggler. It's a lot of math (and there are times when it might make sense to cross out half the problems in a section, if the child understands them), but it has worked well for us.

[Aludlam]

I don't know if this will help any but.... for your own peace of mind (I say that b/c it helps me with mine!) - you might want to give him the placement test for 3 and 4 and see were he places.

[MerryAtHope]

Honestly, Saxon and Horizons don't line up year to year, and I wouldn't assume that Horizons 3 is 3rd grade. My kids have always done Horizons a level below their grade level, and they still test very high in math on standardized tests. And one year I compared Horizons 4 to Ruth Beechik's Scope & Sequence recommendations for 5th grade math (in her book You CAN Teach your 4th-8th grade Child Successfully), and the 2 lined up perfectly. That same year I also looked at Teaching Textbooks--my 5th grader who had completed Horizons 4 could have easily tested into Teaching Textbooks 7.

 

I first started my son in Horizons 2 in 3rd grade, and I was nervous about it--but then I looked at Saxon 2, and realized it was much easier than many of the things in Horizons 2--so then I knew the programs didn't line up the same.

 

Personally, I'd just keep going at your son's pace and not try to push it. My son finished Horizons 6 in 7th grade, is doing prelagebra in 8th grade & will go into Algebra in 9th, which I'm happy with. I'd rather have a kid really solid in and comfortable in math than try to rush through 2 years in one.

 

BUT...if you really want to speed things up, my advice would not be to skip the stuff at the end of the year, but rather next year to skip stuff at the beginning. Give the tests until your son gets less than an A on one, and then back up to the point when that new material was first introduced. (As an example, if your son didn't Ace the 4th test after lesson 40, the new material was likely introduced in lesson 27 and reviewed for 2 weeks--up to lesson 36 or so. Horizons tends to introduce new material for a few days and then test on the previously learned material).

 

Anyway, it's much easier to skip ahead past the easy front matter than to skimp on practicing the tougher concepts in the back of the book. In the long run I think you'll be happier with the results of testing out of the front lessons.

 

I still wouldn't try to do 2 years in one, but over the course of levels 4-6, you might make up half a year or a year doing this.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[MerryAtHope]

I just found part of my answer. There are no new concepts introduced after lesson 142. In case anyone else wants to know.

 

Thanks

 

Know that this varies from level to level, and isn't always the case. Check each level.