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Help me with my little genius!


txmommyofboys
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I know, everyone thinks their kid is the smartest, lol, but my middle son is 6. He is bored to death with 1st grade math and spelling (math mostly) We use Horizons because I heard that it was a little more challenging than others, but he is wanting to just do Saxon 5/4 with his 9 year old brother. He already 'gets' the pre-algebra stuff and if I quiz him he gets every question right, and can show his work. WWYD?

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What I would do: allow him to accelerate through by doing end of chapter tests and/or end of year tests, filling holes as needed, working quickly through chapters/levels, not assigning all the problems, etc. I might call this skimming rather than skipping entirely. If you are considering radical acceleration - skipping several levels - at some point, I would want to be satisfied that he understood both concepts and algorithms of material in the levels he was skipping (though it's also possible in some cases to jump ahead and then go back to the earlier material as needed; it depends on the particular kid).

 

I would choose math program organized for mastery. It may be more difficult to accelerate through a spiral program to the extent that you need to go back and fill in holes because the instruction on a topic may be scattered rather than all in one place.

 

I would add depth in your instruction on concepts and in terms of problem-solving/word problems.

 

There are a lot of threads about math on this board that may provide useful advice - I would get a cup of coffee and do a search on those :). I don't know Horizons. Saxon would not be on my short list.

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Echoing here...

 

I wouldn't skip him into Saxon 5/4. Saxon works in a spiral, and it is very, very difficult to "fill in gaps." Work the chapter tests in Horizons, and fill in gaps as necessary.

 

I did something similar with my younger son when we switched to the K12 charter his K year. They allowed him to start in Math 2 (he placed into Math 3, but having worked with the Sadlier-Oxford curriculum they used at the time, and knowing my son...I decided 2 would be a better start). We did a chapter test each day, until we came to concepts he really didn't know. There was only one chapter he didn't understand, but it was a good way to get his feet wet with the program. He then zoomed through the first 40% of the 3rd grade level...before reaching problems he had to think about. He is now in the 3rd grade finishing up MM5, starting MM6. Occasionally, he will get a bit burned out (usually because he thinks something is too hard, and no amount of encouragement, explanation, etc. will make this child believe it's not). When we get to those walls, we back up, work on math facts for speed, do math games, and come back to the book after a week or two, at which point, he usually gets it, and can't believe how EASY it is. :tongue_smilie:

 

I would get something like Hands On Equations to work on those algebra skills, while working on facts for speed, adding some challenging word problems (like Singapore) to take him a bit deeper, while still moving through the current curriculum quickly. That way he won't feel "stuck." He has goals, and some things that require more thought.

 

Oh, and while Saxon can be fine for some GT kids, it can be horrible for others (after our experience with my oldest...I will not go back).

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I wouldn't use Saxon with a mathematically inclined child. It's spiral and just a bit "blah"... and would drive most STEM gifted children nuts (at least in my experience).

I would suggest you use something like Math Mammoth - challenging, easy to accelerate through, affordable, enjoyable, conceptual, mastery (not spiral) and she has placement tests I believe.

And I agree with Wapiti above - I think it would be easier to just let him accelerate as he can through the levels, testing out, or giving a placement exam.

We are holding my daughter back in pre-algebra for another year. There are things to consider other than a child's abilities - if your 6 year old accelerates too quickly, he may not have the reasoning or logic skills to succeed in algebra, even if he *gets* the concepts (our problem with our eldest). So, in our case, we switched to a more challenging program to solidify and hold off on Algebra one more year.

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Well, just don't let him be bored with math ALL THE TIME. In the shortest term, could you give him a few Saxon problems from his lessons and reward him with stuff from his brother's 5/4?

 

For free, you can do MEP lessons. MEP is hands-down the beat mathematical program I have ever seen for elementary. However, I can't use it easily with my extremely mathy Button, I find it very hard to accelerate it for him. I am thinking of it for the toddler when he's old enough ...

 

And seconding the cup-of-coffee and time searching the boards. You may want a hunk of chocolate, too. :)

Edited by serendipitous journey
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I agree with others here. While I heartily dislike Saxon, and think it is among the worst choices for a math gifted kid, on the other hand I like giving a kid whatever it is he wants to do at the time. If that is saxon for now I would let him do it, especially since it is relatively advanced compared to his age. But at some point I would try to subvert saxon by showing him how much more interesting other math sources can be.

 

 

E.g. I am always on the lookout for kids that are good enough to handle actually good sources like Euler.

 

http://archive.org/details/elementsalgebra00lagrgoog

 

Maybe your kid is one of those really gifted math guys. Having a math genius training on saxon is like having mozart training on twinkle twinkle little star. (That may be a poor example since as i recall, twinkle twinkle little star is originally by haydn.)

Edited by mathwonk
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Fly! Fly! Go ahead and give him the placement tests for Horizons and bump him up to the appropriate level whatever that is. Then, if it's still easy, circle the first half of each exercise. If he gets all of the problems right, he can skip the second half. You can do 2-3 lessons a day pretty easily that way until he's ready to slow down (though that may not come for years).

 

Singapore is great because you can move quickly (there are very few problems) and it introduces some reasonably complex concepts and difficult problem solving. I'd consider starting with level 2, knowing he might move quickly. Some of the supplemental Singapore books (um, maybe the names have changed since we used them -- used to be Challenging Word Problems and Intensive Practice) are *much* more challenging than the main textbooks. When he reaches a good level and slows a little, consider getting those for him.

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I wouldn't use Saxon with a mathematically inclined child. It's spiral and just a bit "blah"... and would drive most STEM gifted children nuts (at least in my experience).

I'm not familiar with the term "STEM gifted." Does it mean that these people are specifically gifted in math and science, and not as strong or interested in other areas?

 

I ask this because, for what it's worth, DH and I are both mathematically and verbally inclined, and we don't find Saxon "blah" at all. Whatever might be said about the pros and cons of the pedagogy, the problem sets have a lot of variety, and the word problems are often very amusing. To me, it's nowhere near as dull and straight-laced as something like Right Start or Math Mammoth, which seem to be about as humorless as the walking dead. :001_huh: So I think this might be more a matter of style.

 

At any rate, it seems as if the OP's son doesn't find it "blah" either, if he's asking to use it. :)

Edited by Eleanor
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One thing I learned from our psycho-educational eval is that arithmetic skill and mathematical reasoning skill can be different. Ds scores very high in mathematical reasoning. He just intuitively gets algebra, even multi-step problems, with no instruction. (He's a natural de-coder.) More abstract and advanced mathematical concepts make sense to him, and he LOVES it. He hates arithmetic and is not intuitive with it at all. Because of this, we are taking our time going through curriculum. I want him to have very solid arithmetic skills, even though in many ways he's ready for more advanced math. We feed his interest and talent for mathematical reasoning with things like the Brown Paper school books on math, Khan Academy videos, the Joy of Mathematics, etc. When we finally start higher level math, I think he will just fly through it.

 

If your son is intuitive and skilled in arithmetic, then don't let the curriculum hold him back. If that part doesn't come as naturally to him as mathematical reasoning, there are still ways to feed his talent without skimping on the foundation. The beauty of homeschooling is that we can truly customize our children's education to fit their individual needs.;)

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I wouldn't use Saxon with a mathematically inclined child. It's spiral and just a bit "blah"... and would drive most STEM gifted children nuts (at least in my experience).

I would suggest you use something like Math Mammoth - challenging, easy to accelerate through, affordable, enjoyable, conceptual, mastery (not spiral) and she has placement tests I believe.

And I agree with Wapiti above - I think it would be easier to just let him accelerate as he can through the levels, testing out, or giving a placement exam.

We are holding my daughter back in pre-algebra for another year. There are things to consider other than a child's abilities - if your 6 year old accelerates too quickly, he may not have the reasoning or logic skills to succeed in algebra, even if he *gets* the concepts (our problem with our eldest). So, in our case, we switched to a more challenging program to solidify and hold off on Algebra one more year.

 

Makes total since!

 

Thanks for all of the advice and guidance! I actually hate Saxon, so I'm thinking of switching both Math curriculum eventually.

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Well, just don't let him be bored with math ALL THE TIME. In the shortest term, could you give him a few Saxon problems from his lessons and reward him with stuff from his brother's 5/4?

 

For free, you can do MEP lessons. MEP is hands-down the beat mathematical program I have ever seen for elementary. However, I can't use it easily with my extremely mathy Button, I find it very hard to accelerate it for him. I am thinking of it for the toddler when he's old enough ...

 

And seconding the cup-of-coffee and time searching the boards. You may want a hunk of chocolate, too. :)

 

:hurray:

 

I have just been giving him a few problems of his brothers in addition to his math.

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I'm not familiar with the term "STEM gifted." Does it mean that these people are specifically gifted in math and science, and not as strong or interested in other areas?

 

I ask this because, for what it's worth, DH and I are both mathematically and verbally inclined, and we don't find Saxon "blah" at all. Whatever might be said about the pros and cons of the pedagogy, the problem sets have a lot of variety, and the word problems are often very amusing. To me, it's nowhere near as dull and straight-laced as something like Right Start or Math Mammoth, which seem to be about as humorless as the walking dead. :001_huh: So I think this might be more a matter of style.

 

At any rate, it seems as if the OP's son doesn't find it "blah" either, if he's asking to use it. :)

 

My STEM Child would rather poke his eyes out than do another Saxon math lesson. Math Mammoth, on the other hand, he tolerates. Doesn't love it, but toerates it.

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My STEM Child would rather poke his eyes out than do another Saxon math lesson. Math Mammoth, on the other hand, he tolerates. Doesn't love it, but toerates it.

Okay, but this still leaves me with my original question: What is a STEM Child? :confused:

 

Is it any child who's good at / interested in one or more of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics?

 

Or is it a child who's interested in pretty much only those things?

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Okay, but this still leaves me with my original question: What is a STEM Child? :confused:

 

Is it any child who's good at / interested in one or more of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics?

 

Or is it a child who's interested in pretty much only those things?

 

Good question! Reading the post that mentioned STEM gifted, I myself thought that giftedness w/in but not exclusive to STEMmy things was meant.

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When I was still in public school, I was allowed to accelerate 1 grade ahead if I studied Saxon Math over the summer. I was told to do every 5 lessons, skipping the ones in between.

 

Overall, Saxon was good after I became homeschooled the following year because I could go at my own pace. I was required to do a minimum amount of lessons each week, but was given free reign if I wanted to do more.

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