ksr5377 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 DD is in first grade and we're using CLE Math 1. I chose this because she LOVES workbooks. She also really seems to thrive on structure and schedule. We're on the third workbook and all of a sudden she is telling me she doesn't like math anymore, crying about doing it etc. Up until this point if you ask her what her favorite subject is, it's always been math. So what do you do? Push through it? Take a complete break and try it again in a couple of weeks? Take a break from CLE and start using some free MEP lessons? A friend has offered that we could borrow their Rightstart B, so we could either switch to that or just play the games for awhile. I'm actually starting to wonder if it just wasn't TOO easy for her and now she's completely bored? I'm just so thrown because she was so proud when we finished the second book and now 3 lessons into the third it's all falling apart. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I'd let her take a break, and maybe try something else. Have you asked her what about it she hates? She might like more interaction like RS, or more discovery-based learning like Miquon rather than repeating the same thing in a workbook. Or she might need a mastery-based math, or simply to accelerate because she's bored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheApprentice Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 My first impulse is to say it's never a good a idea to change math curriculum too often. Why is she saying she doesn't like it? I am using CLE Math for my middle son right now because he needs the constant review. It's working for him. Is he in love with it, no; but it is working. If you switch to something else, maybe something more mastery, I would suggest that let that be your curriculum for a while. If you stay with CLE Math, maybe you could slow the pace and not do the entire lesson in one day. They can be a bit long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaG Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 If you stay with CLE Math, maybe you could slow the pace and not do the entire lesson in one day. They can be a bit long. Since the OP thinks the material might be too easy for her child, I wouldn't suggest slowing down. If anything, it might work better to do 1.5 or 2 lessons' worth of new material and "fun stuff" in one day, but only one lesson's worth (or less) of the review exercises, and one lesson's worth of the drills. It's fairly simple to just go through the book beforehand and cross out some of the exercises with a pencil. We ended up switching away from CLE for other reasons, but I'm glad not to have to deal with these pacing issues any more. :tongue_smilie: It's much easier to avoid unneeded repetition with a more conventional one-topic-at-a-time workbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edeemarie Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 We had a very similar situation with my son, only it was Saxon and not CLE. I ended up trying MEP since I didn't want to buy anything else and it has worked out very well. It has just the right amount of problems for him and the review keeps it fresh in his mind. It was a great move for us, and at the least it would provide what sounds like a needed mental break from CLE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) I just asked her, she told me that we always do the same thing in the books and that it's WAY too easy. She did say that she enjoys the speed drills. I also don't like the idea of math hopping and would like to find something that will work really soon. We kind of had this issue last year using Horizons K. She loved the first workbook and then became VERY resistent. I know both are spiral, how would mastery based be presented? I was thinking of having her not finish every part of every lesson to go faster. Our only issue there is that she's a bit type A and usually gets very upset when things aren't actually "finished". Edited October 30, 2012 by ksr5377 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Maybe you could skim through the teacher's manual and highlight the new teaching and certain problems to do/skip. You could speed it up a bit for now, if it seems too easy for her. We are working through CLE Math for 1st grade right now also because I felt my two sons struggled too much with MM 1st grade. I think they will do better with CLE's spiral approach but I know CLE covers things in 1st that MM has not yet gotten to. So we are skimming through and are almost finished with the second book. I sometimes look for new teaching that my sons had not yet learned in MM and I focus on teaching that and some problems that go with it and I have them skip over things I know they have down. I have them do quite a few problems though, along with the flash cards and speed drills, because they had not memorized their facts yet, despite my attempts to provide lots of ways for that to happen through other (more fun) methods. We are doing at least 2 lessons a day and sometimes, if we skip over some things, we do more than 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I just asked her, she told me that we always do the same thing in the books and that it's WAY too easy. She did say that she enjoys the speed drills. I also don't like the idea of math hopping and would like to find something that will work really soon. We kind of had this issue last year using Horizons K. She loved the first workbook and then became VERY resistent. I know both are spiral, how would mastery based be presented? I was thinking of having her not finish every part of every lesson to go faster. Our only issue there is that she's a bit type A and usually gets very upset when things aren't actually "finished". One of my sons is like this too. I just explained the situation to him and I have to continue to remind him and encourage him to keep moving and stay with me when I have them skip things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy to monkeys Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 How old of a first grader is she? What light unit is she on? If she's up too high at too young of an age. . .I would say to simply S-L-O-W down. What I did when my daughter was in that position was to continue with the CLE flash cards (twice a day) for awhile. . .once they get the facts down pat, the lessons are much quicker to get through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 How long is the lesson? CLE is long and has numerous pages, although I don't know about first grade. I'd try lessening the amount before switching. Try increasing the level if it's too easy as well. I wouldn't switch until you figure out the real problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 She might like Math Mammoth. You can tear out pages that are repetitious, so she can keep moving without feeling like she didn't get to properly check the problems off her list. It's mastery style. MEP might be a good fit, too, since you can introduce as many examples as she needs and not more, plus it's only one worksheet per lesson, so it's less likely to be busywork for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I'm actually starting to wonder if it just wasn't TOO easy for her and now she's completely bored? I'm just so thrown because she was so proud when we finished the second book and now 3 lessons into the third it's all falling apart. :001_huh: This exact thing happened with ds last year in first grade. After some questioning from me, he said, "Mom, I already know all of this. Why do I have to keep doing it over and over again?" I accelerated him to new material and the whining went away immediately. At the moment MM is working well for us. It's challenging, and we can skip some pages if we need to without him knowing it because I only print out the ones he needs to do. There is no workbook where all the pages have to be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Thank you everyone for the ideas. My initial plan is to stop CLE and play some of the Rightstart games for the next week or so while I make my real plan. I'm leaning towards accelerating it and shortening the lessons a bit. Maybe even just teaching the new concept and then having her do the independent work instead of reviewing everything together. If that doesn't work then I think I'll seriously be looking at MEP or Math Mammoth. Initially I didn't want to be bothered with printing but now I like the idea of controlling what she sees. This child is SO my husband's daughter! That's probably part of my frustration, we just don't think the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebacabunch Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 When my kids go through this I do a couple of things: First, I shorten the lessons. The kids were really rebelling because I insisted that they do every problem even though they could demonstrate mastery. Second, I play a lot of math games with them. Third, I do more than one type of curriculum at a time. We do Singapore and LOF every day right now. Fourth, we do living math stuff. We will bake or play store. My oldest dd likes to figure out couponing deals, lol. We measure stuff on nature walks or do math art. Fifth, we read math literature like The Grapes of Math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer2911mom Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 We ended up dropping the speed drills and flashcards in 100 and it made things a lot better. We picked them back up this year in 200 and it's just right. I think they aren't really needed so much in 1st since you do them all over again in 2nd. My main goal in 1st was just getting the facts to 10 down. Above 10, there are other strategies they can use to figure out the answers and I didn't want it to just be memorization of those facts first. In 200, the strategies are discussed more. Dropping the speed drills and flashcards in 100 really made it a much better year for us. We also supplement with Singapore and RightStart, and my dd enjoys the variety. HTH, Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freerange Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 If the start of the book is so painfully easy & dull for her, move ahead past the review that always comes at the start of textbooks to the new material. If she's still unhappy once she's doing something harder I'd switch to something more mastery based, maybe Beast academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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