Math retention - Master vs Spiral

[AimeeM]

Autumn fairly flew through CLE 5 last year... but she seems to have retained very little of it. We DO know that she has working memory problems (far worse than her dyslexia). I will not repeat the same program because she DOES remember it after seeing it again and I don't want to make her miserable by forcing her to repeat an entire grade level in math (especially since she does remember after looking at it for a minute). She tests into 6th grade easily in other programs, so I know it's there *somewhere* in her head, she just seems to need a visual reminder before she *remembers*.

Although it seemed to work well for us at the time, I'm starting to question using a spiral program. I'm looking into a mastery program but I'm overwhelmed with the choices.

Originally I wanted to *try again* with Singapore Standards, but the grade 6 materials do not have a home instructor's guide; since we are not very familiar with the method, I'm not comfortable teaching it without a guide.

I looked very hard at Horizons 6, but I've heard bad reviews for the grade 6 teacher's manual.

I'm looking at Lial's BCM, but I'm not sure the dyslexic can handle a text that, while written to remediate a college math student, IS written to a college student, kwim?

Rod and Staff moves entirely too slow and she places pretty high in it; it seems too be a bit behind CLE?

 

Any suggestions? Otherwise I'll just shoot blind with CLE again next year. Lol.

[jennynd]

Sm does have teacher' manual for standard. I got it from amazon for pretty good price. Aside of that, if retention is the only worry. Maybe u can make your own review sheet? I did that with my DS because he went so fast, I was afraid it did not stick. We did review sheet maybe only 10 questions just review topic we went through. 1 question per topic and only once per week

[Joyofsixreboot]

It, like everything else, falls under the " depends on the kid" answer. We use CLE because it works best for my ds. DD could use anything and do fine.

[8filltheheart]

Autumn fairly flew through CLE 5 last year... but she seems to have retained very little of it. We DO know that she has working memory problems (far worse than her dyslexia). I will not repeat the same program because she DOES remember it after seeing it again and I don't want to make her miserable by forcing her to repeat an entire grade level in math (especially since she does remember after looking at it for a minute). She tests into 6th grade easily in other programs, so I know it's there *somewhere* in her head, she just seems to need a visual reminder before she *remembers*.

Although it seemed to work well for us at the time, I'm starting to question using a spiral program. I'm looking into a mastery program but I'm overwhelmed with the choices.

Originally I wanted to *try again* with Singapore Standards, but the grade 6 materials do not have a home instructor's guide; since we are not very familiar with the method, I'm not comfortable teaching it without a guide.

I looked very hard at Horizons 6, but I've heard bad reviews for the grade 6 teacher's manual.

I'm looking at Lial's BCM, but I'm not sure the dyslexic can handle a text that, while written to remediate a college math student, IS written to a college student, kwim?

Rod and Staff moves entirely too slow and she places pretty high in it; it seems too be a bit behind CLE?

 

Any suggestions? Otherwise I'll just shoot blind with CLE again next year. Lol.

 

I would not jump into Singapore at the 6th grade level and Horizons is spiral, not mastery.

 

Math Mammoth is mastery. I own the 5th and 6th grade levels of MM and IMHO it seems equivalent to Horizons except w/Horizons everything is cycled in via spiral and MM is unit based mastery. So it may be what you are looking for.

[garddwr]

We like Math Mammoth, but honestly if she seems happy using CLE I don't think I would switch. Maybe add in some living math books from the library to get her thinking more conceptually? If she is just trying to remember all the procedures it is easy to forget--she may need help thinking through problems to figure out what needs to be done and how to do it, if she can gain that deeper understanding it won't be just a matter of remembering how to do something.

[AimeeM]

We like Math Mammoth, but honestly if she seems happy using CLE I don't think I would switch. Maybe add in some living math books from the library to get her thinking more conceptually? If she is just trying to remember all the procedures it is easy to forget--she may need help thinking through problems to figure out what needs to be done and how to do it, if she can gain that deeper understanding it won't be just a matter of remembering how to do something.

I was going to add in Michael Clay Thompson's Problemoids (well, from his website) and Life of Fred Pre Algebra with Biology (she loves biology). Do you think these would help her to think conceptually?

 

We have several Math Mammoth units and they are incredibly busy looking - very confusing for her.

[Hunter]

I would only review the most important concepts.

 

Most math curriculums are very wide and include a lot of topics. Sift through the topics and choose the essential ones and review them with cheap or free worksheets.

 

Do not attempt mastery of ALL topics with a child that struggles.

[AimeeM]

I would only review the most important concepts.

 

Most math curriculums are very wide and include a lot of topics. Sift through the topics and choose the essential ones and review them with cheap or free worksheets.

 

Do not attempt mastery of ALL topics with a child that struggles.

She actually doesn't struggle much - it seems - when we do the work. She grasps it and applies it easily and rather quickly... but then we take a break and she seemingly forgets until given a visual reminder?

All of a sudden, long division stumps her, although she still remembers the order of operations and simple equations with negative numbers. I can only assume it's because long division requires her to do more steps?

Blah. :confused: