My mistake with Math for math-loving dd9 (TT, MCP)

[Night Elf]

Because my dd9 specifically asked for a math program on the computer, we looked into Teaching Textbooks. She did the placement test and solidly placed into Level 7. She loved working with the program and made it to Lesson 42 when she started to fall apart. Honestly, she was understanding the math and getting the answers right, but she felt overwhelmed with the process. Specifically, it was fractions with LCD that required 3+ steps to solve that made her feel like it was too much. Because of her age, I decided to back off TT7 for a little while. There is no rush and Math is her absolute favorite subject.

 

So I go to the Teacher store and buy MCP Level F. The first few lessons were just review so we talked through those. Then she started the lessons. The lesson on exponents surprised her, though again, she totally understood what was happening and why. Then in my quest for a teacher book, I discovered Level F is 6th grade. Ugh! I thought I was buying a 5th grade book! She feels guilty that I've purchased the book already and wants to continue with it but I can tell she was disappointed. She was looking forward to 5th grade. My guess is because she was so tired of "big math" from TT7.

 

I've heard TT7 is more like 6th grade. What about MCP? If we're looking for not-too-close to prealgebra, what level MCP should I get?

[Pongo]

I had my 4th grader (9 yod) also take the TT placement and she placed comfortably in 7th also. I have many friends who use TT and they kept telling me the tests are not really representative of the program. They said the tests are on the "easy" side and that I should try doing grade 5 or 6 instead of 7. Mind you ,finished up Singapore 4B so I though TT7 would be "easy". I borrowed a friends and she flew through the first few lessons and then came to a screeching halt:eek:. I went ahead and ordered TT6 and it's perfect. It moves slower and has review. I still allow her to do several lessons if she wishes but she is not stressed at all. I plan on moving through Singapore 5A when she finished TT6, most likely the end of summer (we school year round).

 

I have a BJU textbook for grade 5 (I use this series for my son) on my shelf and I matched up the TOC, looks to be just about even. The BJU touches on Pre-Alg at the end, TT goes into Pre-Alg deeper than BJU.

 

Have you considered returning the TT7 for another level?

 

HTH's

[8filltheheart]

Beth,

 

I would guess understanding isn't the issue. I would suspect it is the fact that the concepts are entering more abstract areas and that she is still solidly a concrete thinker. Understanding exponents when explained is fine, but actually thinking about it w/o writing it out (2x2x2x2x2x2x2, etc) is abstract.

 

I would back off abstract concepts and let her thrive in the concrete math. I can't answer the question about MCP, though.

[Night Elf]

Thanks ladies. I didn't think about sending back TT7. I've had it several months now. I chose to go with MCP for a while simply because it's cheap.

 

As for abstract, I'm not sure that is the issue; or at least I don't understand how to tell if it is the issue or not. She sees 5 to the 4th power and totally gets that it's 5 five times. The surprise was that we thought we were picking up a 5th grade book and one of the beginning lessons in the first chapter was exponents. Neither of us thought of exponents being explained in 4th grade and the lesson we encountered was more like a review of something she should already know. I didn't flip through it totally at the store because I was convinced Level F was 5th grade. She hasn't had a lesson on exponents before but totally got it and loved the lesson. I think she wanted a workbook for 5th grade simply because she knew she could fly through it. Once she started on Level F MCP though, she wants to keep using it.

 

Today she did the chapter tests in her MCP workbook for chapters 1 - 4 and got a 100% on them. She'll start with chapter 5 test tomorrow and do as much as she likes. I figure we'll start with whatever she misses. The more I've thought about the dilemma, the more I think she's suffering through the same thing my son has been suffering through. Both kids love answering the Math problems without taking time to work through them on paper. They do all the steps in their heads. TT7 was fun for her because she could do that regularly at least until she hit the problems that requires more than 3 steps. I think she's not wanting to take the time to write the problems out. I've told both kids that if they aren't ready to write out problems then they must not be ready for higher math and will need to drop back down to easier math that can be done in their heads. Neither wants to do that because it's babyish, in their minds. They're just going to have to learn that higher math should be done on paper. :)

[Kathy in MD]

Both kids love answering the Math problems without taking time to work through them on paper. They do all the steps in their heads. TT7 was fun for her because she could do that regularly at least until she hit the problems that requires more than 3 steps. I think she's not wanting to take the time to write the problems out. I've told both kids that if they aren't ready to write out problems then they must not be ready for higher math and will need to drop back down to easier math that can be done in their heads. Neither wants to do that because it's babyish, in their minds. They're just going to have to learn that higher math should be done on paper. :)

 

 

One of the things I like about Chalk Dust is that the instructor comments frequently on the need to show your work and write neatly. For some reason, my ds pays more attention to the instructor than he does me :rolleyes: