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c/p slogging through discovering mathematics


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Is Saxon calling me back? Ds 12 went through Saxon algebra 1/2 last year and did great. I switched to Singapore Discovering Mathematics because I wanted those word problems to make him think. What's been happening is that I'm having to teach the lesson twice. The first time, he "gets" it and he works the problem set. The second teaching is when I realize he really didn't get it and got a whole section of the homework wrong. I'm thinking that maybe that Saxon with its incrimental approach is a better way to go for this child? Help!

 

Beth

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Can you watch him solve the first problem or two while you watch, to make sure he gets it? Having him do a whole problem set before checking the answers is probably a bad idea. As a general math strategy, it is much better to check each problem after you have solved it and retry it if the answer is wrong. If you don't get it on the second try, then you go back and work the example problems and figure out where you are going wrong. A good problem set will be built to push the edges and difficult spots of a concept, so that by the time you have finished solving it, you understand all the ins and outs. In my experience, it doesn't make sense to solve the whole set blindly unless all the problems are simple plug and chug ones, each identical to the last, and you've gotten the first problem right.

 

I would be really cautious about switching back to Saxon just because he was getting the Saxon problems right. My experience with Saxon, with two very different children, was that it was perfectly possible to be able to do the Saxon problems but not be able to apply the math outside of the Saxon text book. You are just getting to the more complex point in math where this is especially likely to be true. That was our experience, at least.

 

Nan

Edited by Nan in Mass
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