CLE and LOF

[Oak Knoll Mom]

How far along in CLE should my student be before I add in LOF? I really think he'll like LOF, but I don't want to start him too early and frustrate him.

[ondreeuh]

I'm interested in this as well. The topics in Fractions, Percents and Decimals seem to line up with the 400s but I'm not sure if they go a lot deeper than CLE does at that level.

[Mom_Abear]

:bigear:

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

I know nothing about CLE so I don't know which volume but can tell you taht the student needs to have mastered addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They don't need any prior experience with fractions. Sorry I can't help more! I use MUS so it's easy to know when to start LOF with it:lol:

[rlugbill]

We have used CLE all the way to 800 levels and have the first LOF book, Fractions, which we used some to supplement.

 

CLE is a little advanced. If a child has completed the 400 level and is doing well, they should be able to do the LOF Fractions book.

 

If CLE is going well, I recommend you stick with it and use LOF as a supplement. Using both at the same time is a great idea. But, I wouldn't recommend using LOF all alone at this point without supplementing because there isn't much review at this age. Children at this age forget things very easily.

 

There is no rush and it's important to make sure your kids have a solid foundation in math before they get to the higher levels.

 

LOF is great. It puts math in an interesting context, with great stories about a little guy who teaches math at a University even though he is only 5 years old. It's like a good college professor talking to you, who knows so many things and can go off on some strange topic you've never heard of and tell you interesting things about it. He'll get completely side-tracked and talk about the meaning of some seemingly obscure word or some ancient Roman guy, but it's all interesting.

 

This is because the author actually is a former math college professor so he just writes like he used to teach his classes. For younger children, it's not always age-appropriate. I don't mean R-rated, but not what you normally talk about to 8 or 9 year olds.

 

The stories put the math in a context both makes it more enjoyable and puts the math in a context so it's easier to remember and as an added plus, it shows that math is useful in everyday life and isn't just some pie-in-the-sky thing for weird college professors. No more why-do-we-have-to-know-this attitudes from kids. It's clear from the story that math is a useful, everyday thing.

 

Best wishes to you.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

CLE is a little advanced. If a child has completed the 400 level and is doing well, they should be able to do the LOF Fractions book.

 

Thank you. He'll be finished with CLE 4 soon.

 

I'm definitely planning to continue with CLE, but I just think my son will like the LOF format. I think I might have him work through CLE 4 days/week, and LOF 1 day/week. Do you think that would be a good schedule?

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I know nothing about CLE so I don't know which volume but can tell you taht the student needs to have mastered addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They don't need any prior experience with fractions. Sorry I can't help more! I use MUS so it's easy to know when to start LOF with it:lol:

 

Yeah, in CLE fractions are all mixed in.

[G5052]

Thank you. He'll be finished with CLE 4 soon.

 

I'm definitely planning to continue with CLE, but I just think my son will like the LOF format. I think I might have him work through CLE 4 days/week, and LOF 1 day/week. Do you think that would be a good schedule?

 

For one thing LOF is a story, and my kids have never been able to stand just using it once a week. We've used CLE for quite awhile now, and I've always used LOF as "summer math" because it just didn't work to jump into the story only once a week. It also assumes a certain level of maturity both in terms of the math and life experience, and I personally wouldn't use it before mine finished CLE Math 5, but some may differ on that.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

For one thing LOF is a story, and my kids have never been able to stand just using it once a week. We've used CLE for quite awhile now, and I've always used LOF as "summer math" because it just didn't work to jump into the story only once a week. It also assumes a certain level of maturity both in terms of the math and life experience, and I personally wouldn't use it before mine finished CLE Math 5, but some may differ on that.

 

Great thoughts. More for me to think about. :-)

[Mallory]

For one thing LOF is a story, and my kids have never been able to stand just using it once a week. We've used CLE for quite awhile now, and I've always used LOF as "summer math" because it just didn't work to jump into the story only once a week. It also assumes a certain level of maturity both in terms of the math and life experience, and I personally wouldn't use it before mine finished CLE Math 5, but some may differ on that.

 

 

While we don't use CLE, I agree with this. LOF only once a week wouldn't be as much fun (although lots of families do use it that way.) I am also waiting until the first two books are review, so we won't start Fractions yet. Probably not until we are done with Singapore 6B, then the first two books should be easy!

[rlugbill]

You know your kids best, so you probably can tell whether it would work for them or not. I think once/week is a good plan.

 

My dd would remember the story even if we only did it once/week, but some might not. It is sort of a continuing story, but it's not essential that you remember the last story to get the new story, and not necessary that you remember the last story to get the new math concept.

 

I think having two curriculums at the same time is a good plan. Try LOF once/week after you finish CLE 400s and see how it goes. I bet your kids will love it.

 

Best wishes.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

My kids don't like to wait a week either. It's not that they don't remember the story, it's that they can't wait for it to continue.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

It also assumes a certain level of maturity both in terms of the math and life experience, and I personally wouldn't use it before mine finished CLE Math 5, but some may differ on that.

Would you wait until after CLE 5 because of the math or because you feel the child should be older? My son is actually in 5th grade, but is doing CLE 4 at an accelerated pace. (I had him take the CLE placement test when we switched away from RightStart. He placed lower than grade level because of RS's unusual scope and sequence. So far he's doing great with the accelerated pace and should be through with CLE 5 by the end of the school year.)