rafiki Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Start w/ Key To Fractions. Inexpensive, open & go, answers in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Definitely great for a student that is not getting a concept!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HootyTooty Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Start w/ Key To Fractions. Inexpensive, open & go, answers in the back. The answers are not in the back of the book. If you want samples I find cbd.com has a lot of samples of each book in the series you can look into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 The answers are not in the back of the book. If you want samples I find cbd.com has a lot of samples of each book in the series you can look into. Right. There is a separate answer key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Key to Fractions, Key to Decimals, and, I believe, Key to Percents are each 4-booklet sets. samples Another option would be the MM topic books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 The answers are not in the back of the book. You are right! They are in a separate little booklet that comes with the kit. The important fact is that it is teacher-friendly, open & go with a handy answer key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I ordered all three sets. How do most people use them? Fractions, decimals, then percents or dig into book 1 of each? Start w/ KTF. Dd8 did KTF over a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I ordered all three sets. How do most people use them? Fractions, decimals, then percents or dig into book 1 of each? About how long should each book take to complete? Then would we go to MUS Pre-Algebra, which we have or something like Lial's BCM? With my dd, I used first KTF books 1-3. I then let her do KTD until she hit the third book and then also had her do KTF book 4 to see if she'd retained the concepts. She had .... wonderfully! :001_smile: She completed KTD books 1-3 and I introduced KTP in the same way. I found it worked well. We're just deciding what to do next. We have Lial's BCM but it looks like most of the concepts in there, we have already covered. I'm thinking of having her do Life of Fred Pre-Algebra (2 books) and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 So for an average 6th grader how long to complete each series such as Fractions book 1-4. wasn't sure if that was 3 months per booklet or set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 So for an average 6th grader how long to complete each series such as Fractions book 1-4. wasn't sure if that was 3 months per booklet or set. My dd took about 1 month per booklet, but keep in mind that was our main program. Come to think of it, she went through fractions, decimals and percents in about 7 months, so that's less than 1 per month. My dd loved them but I slowed her down because I wanted her to spend some time on a concept to let it sink in. I assume it would depend on the child and how quickly you wanted to go through them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiKC Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 So for an average 6th grader how long to complete each series such as Fractions book 1-4. wasn't sure if that was 3 months per booklet or set. It just really depends, which I know isn't the answer you're looking for! Each book has 30-40 pages, and I'd say each page takes my ds about 10 minutes (but he's good at math). I've just used these books as supplements. I think we began Fractions the summer between 3rd-4th grade, and I had him do just one page/day. I think going at a slower pace allows the material to sink in. He could do 6 pages/day, but I don't think that would be as useful. After he finished the 2nd fraction book, I liked the series so well I bought most of the others! Not he does one page each week of: Measurement, Fractions, Decimals, Percents, Algebra, and Geometry. This way it takes him longer to get through any one book, which I think is good for retaining the concepts. I love this series! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 For anyone who has used key to fractions, a question: for a child who has no trouble understanding fractions but just keeps forgetting the algorithms after a few months go by, do you think it is worth it to buy key to fractions? Or could I give him the review he needs just by printing out free worksheets? I'm trying to save money, but if these books are the best way to review fractions, I am thinking about buying them. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 What is he forgetting? I might suggest that forgetting how to manipulate the fractions indicates he doesn't understand what the algorithms represent. Ex. Dividing fractions by multiplying the reciprocal is more clear if you've spent a while on the in between step of multiplying all parts of the number sentence by the same number (the reciprocal) and seeing terms cancel out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 What is he forgetting? I might suggest that forgetting how to manipulate the fractions indicates he doesn't understand what the algorithms represent. Ex. Dividing fractions by multiplying the reciprocal is more clear if you've spent a while on the in between step of multiplying all parts of the number sentence by the same number (the reciprocal) and seeing terms cancel out. This is an interesting thought as dd11 is having the same problem. That is why I was looking at The Key series as review. She also continues to forget the process of finding the like denominator. Once I show her one problem then she remembers and can finish the page. But it seems everyday I have to jump start her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 What is he forgetting? I might suggest that forgetting how to manipulate the fractions indicates he doesn't understand what the algorithms represent. Ex. Dividing fractions by multiplying the reciprocal is more clear if you've spent a while on the in between step of multiplying all parts of the number sentence by the same number (the reciprocal) and seeing terms cancel out. He forgets everything about fractions if you give it to him in a simple arithmetic problem. If you give him a word problem that involves using fractions, he gets it right, every single time, including the CWP. For example, if the problem includes "4/5 of the 40 children are boys" he can instantly tell you how many girls and how many boys. But if you give him "4/5 times 40" he doesn't remember how to do it. I keep reminding him that "4/5 times 40" is the same as "4/5 of 40". The odd thing is that when the concepts are presented, he instantly gets why the algorithm works, and he gets all the problems right. Wait a few months, and it's gone. He definitely understands the concepts, and I don't want to bore him by making him do page after page, because if I remind him he immediately goes "oh, yeah, I remember." It's more that he forgets that he knows how to do it, rather than actually forgetting how to do it, if that makes any sense. He just finished SM 4B and on the end of the year review, he got everything right that pertained to 4B. On the reviews that included material from 4A, he had forgotten fractions. It's so frustrating. We started 5A and I see that there is more fraction review ahead, so I think I'll see how that goes before purchasing Key To Fractions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiKC Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 This is an interesting thought as dd11 is having the same problem. That is why I was looking at The Key series as review. She also continues to forget the process of finding the like denominator. Once I show her one problem then she remembers and can finish the page. But it seems everyday I have to jump start her. In this case I think I'd just give her 5 fraction problems (the kind she forgets) every single day!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 For those to come, it might be helpful to purchase the Key to Tracker from Key to as well. It is $6 a year and has the pretest, spot checks, review quiz and test for each book online. You set how many tries a child has at each spot check and what grade you consider acceptable. This enabled my DD to test out of most of the series and allowed my make sure she really understood before moving forward on those she did complete. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HootyTooty Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 For those to come, it might be helpful to purchase the Key to Tracker from Key to as well. It is $6 a year and has the pretest, spot checks, review quiz and test for each book online. You set how many tries a child has at each spot check and what grade you consider acceptable. This enabled my DD to test out of most of the series and allowed my make sure she really understood before moving forward on those she did complete. :) Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deee Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 We've used Key to... for fractions, decimals and metric measurement. They are excellent teaching books. They work for kids, like my DS10, who need a progressive, logical and systematic teaching style that moves in small increments. I wouldn't use them for review (it'd be painful), but they are brilliant if your child needs to really learn a concept. Because we're Australians using an American syllabus (Christopherus - we're Steinerites) I've found breaking maths into distinct subjects (fractions, decimals, measurement, etc) really difficult to work with. We don't do that here! While my son has learned the material well, he really needs more review. So we're leaving Key to... for Making Math Meaningful (Jamie York - another Steiner curriculum) and Life of Fred. My son isn't so keen - he loves Key to... and he isn't mathy. LOF is the sweetener - its a big hit here. Making Math Meaningful has weekly review, but I'm going to have to work harder because its much less open and go in the learning phases than Key to.... I actually think this will be good for us. I taught maths more actively in his younger grades when I didn't have work books to cater to my innate laziness (not saying anyone else is lazy if they use workbooks, just that I know I am and I only have one kid to teach!) HTH D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 He forgets everything about fractions if you give it to him in a simple arithmetic problem. If you give him a word problem that involves using fractions, he gets it right, every single time, including the CWP. For example, if the problem includes "4/5 of the 40 children are boys" he can instantly tell you how many girls and how many boys. But if you give him "4/5 times 40" he doesn't remember how to do it. I keep reminding him that "4/5 times 40" is the same as "4/5 of 40". The odd thing is that when the concepts are presented, he instantly gets why the algorithm works, and he gets all the problems right. Wait a few months, and it's gone. He definitely understands the concepts, and I don't want to bore him by making him do page after page, because if I remind him he immediately goes "oh, yeah, I remember." It's more that he forgets that he knows how to do it, rather than actually forgetting how to do it, if that makes any sense. . At this point, I would make the algorithms memory work. He understands the why--so memorize the how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 At this point, I would make the algorithms memory work. He understands the why--so memorize the how. This is a great idea. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 all these books are awesome. My 4th graders are going through them (Key to Fractions) about a page a day. I am using BJU to explain the how and whys of multiplying and dividing fractions but they really have the algorithms down. We are not using it for review. We are using it to learn it. I cannot just hand the books over and have the kids do it because there would be a lot of careless mistakes. I do go over the problems one by one. Sometimes I do let them have at it for a page and then go over what they got wrong on the whiteboard. For some reason they are able to see the problem more clearly once I write it on the whiteboard. As soon as we are done we will be going into Key To Decimals. I may introduce Key To Decimals 1 around the same time Key to Fractions 4 is going. ALso there is a bit of review of previous materials the first couple of pages in Key To fractions 2 and 3 and 4. I would agree that it takes about a month for a book. I do like the idea of a page of each of the books a day: fractions, decimals, percents, metric, measurement, algebra, geometry to allow it to soak in. You can buy the whole set all the books per topic with answers booklet pretty cheaply from Rainbow Resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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