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Hating Jump Math


Jess4879
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This is our second year using Jump Math and I am forever going to Math Mammoth to find out a new way to teach a concept! I find the TG lessons for Jump Math just aren't cutting it. I also really dislike how they will throw in a question that hasn't been covered (typically to be covered on the next page or soon there-after). DD panics when she can't do these and shuts down.

 

I've already purchased two downloads from MM, a logic puzzle book and a word problem book - all to cover the trouble with Jump Math.

 

I have definitely defeated the purpose of this 'cost effective" math program. *sigh*

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Interesting - this is the OPPOSITE of my experience. Are you using the full "JUMP Math" program or the "JUMP at home" supplemental program, which confusingly has almost the exact same name? What grade level are you working at?

 

We are also in our 2nd year, and loving it, but that's just our experience. In Grade 2, I have almost never needed the teaching guide so far; the material is low-text, but still somehow self-teaching. If I have to go out, I just leave the pages and whoever's here can usually fill in without any questions. Perhaps it gets tougher farther on?

 

I'm also curious about which MM units you've felt a need to download, because the program is pretty complete. I am supplementing, with Verbal Math Lessons and Daily Word Problems, but in our case, I feel it's only because we enjoy math so darn much. :-)

 

Perhaps a workshop would be helpful? They have webinars now, much as I hate the made-up word webinar. :-)

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Interesting - this is the OPPOSITE of my experience. Are you using the full "JUMP Math" program or the "JUMP at home" supplemental program, which confusingly has almost the exact same name? What grade level are you working at?

 

 

Good question...we are working on Book 3.1. I believe it's the full program? There are two workbooks per year/grade level. I have to go online to download the TG lessons as I need them. The lessons are very classroom oriented, although usually pretty easy to adapt.

 

So far we have went to Math Mammoth for Place Values, Multiplication and an addition/subtraction unit to help with borrowing and carrying. We have also used a clock unit on MM last year. I find that DD just "gets" MM. I also find that they (MM) use better explanations. As a non-math-mind, I need this extra help to explain concepts, and it freaks me a out a bit to be struggling at this age level.

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Hi,

I am using the third grade worksheets with my dd and we really love them. It is pretty much the only math we use that she(dd) likes. I combine it with SM because I already had SM on my shelf. She has already covered place value and such in first and second grade(with our old curriculum) and has pretty much mastered that part.

 

If you prefer the way MM introduces topics then I would just switch over and use that. It is important that you like what you're teaching. It is solid and complete. BTW if you decide to sell your Jump Math workbooks...let me know.:D For us, MM produced tears just seeing the books being taken off the shelf.:tongue_smilie: I was not about to go through that again.

 

HTH,

Penny

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Hi,

I am using the third grade worksheets with my dd and we really love them. It is pretty much the only math we use that she(dd) likes. I combine it with SM because I already had SM on my shelf. She has already covered place value and such in first and second grade(with our old curriculum) and has pretty much mastered that part.

 

If you prefer the way MM introduces topics then I would just switch over and use that. It is important that you like what you're teaching. It is solid and complete. BTW if you decide to sell your Jump Math workbooks...let me know.:D For us, MM produced tears just seeing the books being taken off the shelf.:tongue_smilie: I was not about to go through that again.

 

HTH,

Penny

 

We get a lot of "I hate math" comments around here lately. I find that it's getting worse as time goes on...but bring out the MM worksheets today and I get "Oh, this is fun!" That being said...we haven't dove head first in to MM, we've only used it as a supplement for extra help areas, so perhaps it is just the "change of scenery" that is appealing to DD right now. ??

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That being said...we haven't dove head first in to MM, we've only used it as a supplement for extra help areas, so perhaps it is just the "change of scenery" that is appealing to DD right now. ??

You could try using MM for the rest of the week(for your sanity and to give her some time to decompress) then pull out Jump Math next Monday and see if her reaction has changed. Maybe a rotation between the two would help. My dd likes variety so our current rotation is working out really well. I had a very hard time trying to figure out what to do about dd's meltdowns. It was terrible. I finally went back a half a grade level with her(using a whiteboard instead of worksheets) and things started to flow better. Now we use the 3rd grade Jump Math and SM 2b. I wanted one program to be a half level behind as a review type back up. This is my best combo yet.

 

Penny

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I love JUMP - and it does sound like you're using the full program, as the fake one is all in one book - but I'd be the first to tell you that if MM works and JUMP doesn't, it's perhaps time to "jump" ship. ;-)

 

I personally prefer the look of the JUMP materials, but I readily admit that if I had to use the TG often, it might start to bug me having to look it up online. Or put it on my eReader. There is a certain amount of prep if you didn't know the math concepts already. Their emphasis is on giving a lot of support to teachers (ie parents), but that might translate into too much detail in the TGs; I have noticed they look a bit busy, esp if you're just looking for a straightforward way to present a topic.

 

However, I do feel that JUMP offers more by way of scaffolding, building on past lessons, than MM or any other program I've seen. That plus the minimalistic page layouts, minimal text, etc., may give it a bit of a remedial feel, but I think in fact it's quite thorough.

 

For what it's worth, they say in the workshops that the workbooks are the LEAST important part of the JUMP program. So you might want to drop the workbook altogether and work on concepts by themselves, working in the TG to find enrichment and challenges on the topics you've already covered before moving back into the book.

 

Generally, if my kids know something REALLY well, they don't dread working on it...

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I love JUMP - and it does sound like you're using the full program, as the fake one is all in one book - but I'd be the first to tell you that if MM works and JUMP doesn't, it's perhaps time to "jump" ship. ;-)

 

I personally prefer the look of the JUMP materials, but I readily admit that if I had to use the TG often, it might start to bug me having to look it up online. Or put it on my eReader. There is a certain amount of prep if you didn't know the math concepts already. Their emphasis is on giving a lot of support to teachers (ie parents), but that might translate into too much detail in the TGs; I have noticed they look a bit busy, esp if you're just looking for a straightforward way to present a topic.

 

However, I do feel that JUMP offers more by way of scaffolding, building on past lessons, than MM or any other program I've seen. That plus the minimalistic page layouts, minimal text, etc., may give it a bit of a remedial feel, but I think in fact it's quite thorough.

 

For what it's worth, they say in the workshops that the workbooks are the LEAST important part of the JUMP program. So you might want to drop the workbook altogether and work on concepts by themselves, working in the TG to find enrichment and challenges on the topics you've already covered before moving back into the book.

 

Generally, if my kids know something REALLY well, they don't dread working on it...

 

I just wanted to point out that JUMP at Home isn't a "fake" program--it's just not the full program the schools use, and it can have it's place.

 

My middle son was struggling with Saxon 5/4, so I had him do the JUMP at Home 4 math book last semester (which he did mostly on his own, and he did fabulously). He's now in Saxon 6/5 and is doing wonderfully.

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I love JUMP - and it does sound like you're using the full program, as the fake one is all in one book - but I'd be the first to tell you that if MM works and JUMP doesn't, it's perhaps time to "jump" ship. ;-)

 

 

The Jump at Home is not a fake program. It was created for parents who were afterschooling.

 

Jump does recommend that homeschoolers use the full Jump program (with two workbooks per year) along with the online lesson plans.

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For what it's worth, they say in the workshops that the workbooks are the LEAST important part of the JUMP program. So you might want to drop the workbook altogether and work on concepts by themselves, working in the TG to find enrichment and challenges on the topics you've already covered before moving back into the book.

 

 

It's worth a shot! :)

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The Jump at Home is not a fake program. It was created for parents who were afterschooling.

 

:iagree:You're right. It was developed as an accessible, remedial resource for Ontario students. So not exactly afterschooling, but parents who don't want to pay for tutors, which is what every other family around here does...

 

But it makes me a bit mad anyway because the publisher say they sold the rights for "JUMP at home" completely (to a major publisher, I don't remember which one), so it's no longer supported. They sold it to raise money to build the core program. But in my opinion, if you do that, you have to do something to differentiate the names of the programs.

 

Plus, I was trying to work through the Grade 8 "JUMP At Home" book with my older dd last year and it was terrible; there were all kinds of gaps and jumps in the teaching and I couldn't figure stuff out without the TG. I bought the "real" 8.1 book and it was helpful, but by then, she'd given up...

 

Part of why I support JUMP so happily is that it's a local program. That means they have opportunities here for "professional development." If you'd have told me 20 years ago that I'd get my jollies doing an all-day math workshop... :lol:

 

But I have seen a lot of math texts and really do think the program is very, VERY sound.

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