delaney Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 My DD is a math-a-phobe. She has no confidence and often confuses and is careless. I gave her a test and fractions of a number? NO CLUE Thousandths place? WHAT? Subtraction with a bunch of zeros? I HATE THIS!!!!!! We have been using Saxon 5/4 and she hates it mostly I think b/c it lacks "pretty" and the problems seem more numerous. She really likes Horizons. I think that we need to switch altogether. I tried MUS for fractions and I think the pictures made it worse. She doesn't seem to think that way. Should I be looking at Singapore? Please throw your years of advice at me ladies/gents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 (edited) n/m Edited March 7, 2011 by Rebecca VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 From what I've read, Horizons is a solid program. If she likes that better, why not just switch? I'm sure there must be a placement test. I'd give her that and see where she places. If it's very low, was it b/c of a hole in one specific area? If so, fix that and then place her higher up. Math Mammoth has the series which is topic specific. So if she needs fraction work, get the fraction book. If she needs overall addition/subtraction, get the addition/sub book. If she has a number of holes, I would start her at whatever level she places and move forward. I would work through the summer if need be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I wouldn't suggest Singapore - I think it would be hard to jump into with your dd's concerns. Do you think she truly doesn't understand the material, or could she be stressing out and not showing what she knows? Are you correcting assignments daily and having her fix her mistakes? Both Saxon and Horizons spiral tightly, so her daily work should be reflecting what she truly knows. If she is needing a lot of hand-holding on the daily work, then she may a better assessment of her knowledge to identify is she needs to back up. If Saxon is frustrating her (as it does for many kids), and Horizons is not explaining things (that's the huge weakness of the program - the parent really has to teach on the fly) then maybe something like Teaching Textbooks would work for her. Maybe there's a free trial. A lot of kids do better when the computer is teaching and not mom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 I wouldn't suggest Singapore - I think it would be hard to jump into with your dd's concerns. Do you think she truly doesn't understand the material, or could she be stressing out and not showing what she knows? Are you correcting assignments daily and having her fix her mistakes? Both Saxon and Horizons spiral tightly, so her daily work should be reflecting what she truly knows. If she is needing a lot of hand-holding on the daily work, then she may a better assessment of her knowledge to identify is she needs to back up. If Saxon is frustrating her (as it does for many kids), and Horizons is not explaining things (that's the huge weakness of the program - the parent really has to teach on the fly) then maybe something like Teaching Textbooks would work for her. Maybe there's a free trial. A lot of kids do better when the computer is teaching and not mom. I thought about that. I do have XIL that she can practice on and I have looked at TT. I think I will try to work with her on one thing per week and just hammer it in little steps at a time. She is very inconsistent(hormones) with her attitude and performance. I think some of it may be carelessness. I bought the MM blue set from the HSBC and I think that will help reinforce too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 1) ask her if she wants to be numerate? 2) tell her (1) is rhetorical and innumeracy is not on the menu 3) add additional math study sessions 4) 6 sessions weekly x 30-90 mins each 5) use stepped but barebones math curriculum 6) go fast when easy and slow when hard 7) praise effort and remind always mathematical thinking can be improved http://www.quaternionpress.com/ I would get the first two starting with 'mathematics for little ones'. She may only need parts of the first book, but it could be used as a reference for younger siblings in case reworking topically does not pan.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calandalsmom Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Teaching Textbooks 5 was a great confidence builder for my ds. Horizons is a good solid rather advanced math program. I would not freak out and I would certainly not threaten my kid with being math illiterate. I would not overwhelm anyone that age with a 90min long lesson. It will likely not help and probably destroy your relationship in the process. I would consider employing a tutor. Perhaps you and she are not working well together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 The first thing I would do would be to camp out on place value. I'd get a set of base 10 blocks and make sure she understands place value backwards and forwards. Then I would move into other bases, just to be sure she gets it and isn't just recognizing numbers. In order to convert from base 10 to other bases and back requires actual understanding. Have her build a set of base 6 blocks and use them for calculations. I'm not kidding. I would also suggest that you read Liping Ma's Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. The problems she discusses in it are common and she starts with subtracting with regrouping (subtracting across zeros is a subset of this topic). I don't think you should be looking at Singapore, but even though you had a bad experience with MUS Epsilon, I would suggest taking another look at MUS, probably starting at Beta (I started a kid in Beta who was halfway through Saxon 7/6). You could go quickly through the levels, lingering in places where she has trouble. We went through five MUS levels in 6 months this way. By the end of Zeta, my son was ready for Jacobs Algebra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 If finances allow it, check this out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Well we went over fractions of a number today and I explained it several ways. She did 10 problems quickly and with no problem.:glare: I had her 2 some subtraction with zeros and the biggest issue was the the whining. I guess at some point last year her teacher told her to cross off this and make all the rest these.......whatever. A shortcut that was WRONG. I am going to just do Horizons through the summer and then next year mix in some MM review and continue with horizons. If she likes it then maybe it will keep her attitude positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I've been remediating my dd10 with Math Mammoth. I have the whole set of Light Blue, so I just print off the pages of each level that I think she needs to work on. We started with level 1 in November and are halfway through level 3 now. Things are improving for her. I'm not familiar with Horizons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dina in Oklahoma Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Rod and Staff with Math on the Level are working for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Math-Whizz is what we are using along with Spectrum Workbooks to get my son up to speed. He will be in the 8th grade next school year and I'm hoping to get him to at least Bob Jones Math 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 My DD is a math-a-phobe. She has no confidence and often confuses and is careless. I gave her a test and fractions of a number? NO CLUE Thousandths place? WHAT? Subtraction with a bunch of zeros? I HATE THIS!!!!!!We have been using Saxon 5/4 and she hates it mostly I think b/c it lacks "pretty" and the problems seem more numerous. She really likes Horizons. I think that we need to switch altogether. I tried MUS for fractions and I think the pictures made it worse. She doesn't seem to think that way. Should I be looking at Singapore? Please throw your years of advice at me ladies/gents! Is it possible that she is dyscalculic? That is math dyslexia. What you are describing sounds a lot like it. Can do the problems one day, then not the next, but can the day after. Has recall problems when put on the spot, even when it is really easy stuff. If this is true she isn't being careless. It is a processing problem where she literally can't recall it. I (as a visual and auditory dyslexic) recently I was working through my oldest dd's math text. It only has the odd answers so I was doing all the even to create an answer key. On the page covering prime factors I did all the 8 as 4x4. I know 4x4=16 and 4x2=8. It was just one of those moments where my brain crossed paths and I couldn't come up with the right answer to save my life. What is funny is I know something wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then when I went to correct my dd's work and I got to the first one with an 8 in it, it dawned on me and I know I had done every single 8 wrong. Singapore is generally for mathy kids. My recommendation would be Right Start. Or just start reviewing terms, create 3x5 cards with the term and a explanation on the back and start reviewing a couple each day. You could also wait a few years and then go through something like Lial's Basic College Math. It covers terms well and reviews concepts from 1st grade up to middle school, but using bigger numbers. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I tried TT and we didn't like it. I think my dd has poor working memory, and I failed to buy her the work book. She needs a program that she can refer back to for helps over and over until she gets it. I know I can still buy her the work book, but I didn't like being quite that uninvolved in her math and it's quite expensive. We are going back to CLE because with her working memory issues, she doesn't do well with very conceptualized math programs and needs a good solid spiral. But I plan to still try to work in MM as I can. I recently started showing her the videos from Khan Academy. Here's one on why borrowing works. I think it helped a few light bulbs go off. I won't use it too much because I don't think my dd is as visual, but for single concepts it's pretty neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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