Need Math help please! Not sure what to do :(

[avazquez24]

I am looking for any sort of advice, input, help here:(

 

We used MUS for the first time this year (dd in first and ds in kinder). DD started with Alpha and she has two lessons left of it. DS started with Primer, but of course went through it so fast, so I started him on Alpha and he now just finished up lesson 9. I thought everything was going great with it (and planned to continue with it), but now I am just not so sure. Here's what's going on (hopefully it all makes sense, as I have so many thoughts i my head...and trying to type real fast while the kiddos are entertained ;)

 

DD (1st grade): I have been impressed with the way the facts have been taught. I'll admit it's different than I was taught in elementary school but I really liked it (esp the 9's and 8's for addition). DD seemed to do great with it, but as time is going on, I'm beginning to question everything now. It seems to me, as time and lessons go on, things may be going downhill some for her :( I noticed earlier on, as more lessons were taught, she'd somewhat struggle a little to remember the previous material. It's almost like she would sit there and somewhat struggle to remember the 'trick' or 'rule' so to speak that was taught to do that specific lesson. For the reveiw material I would often need to remind her of which lesson it was from, and the 'trick' or 'rule' that was taught to do that speicifc lesson, then she would usually be able to do it. Now that she's almost done with Alpha, there's been so many little things taught and she's supposed to remember, she seems to be getting so confused and forgetting a lot! She'll mix up the little 'tricks' with different lessons and between addition and subtraction. I spend a lot of time with her today doing a review page to see what she really knew and didn't, then kind of 'tested' her on problems from each lesson so far. I was saddened to see there was a lot that she couldn't do now...yet she did them fine before. I always spent a full week on each lesson and never went on until she seemed to have it down good ( and would fly through the test getting it all right). She's starting to want to use the blocks for everything now (I think trying to remember each 'trick/rule" is getting to be too much for her). I gave her a basic problem of 7-6 and she sat there forever not being able to do it! It's almost like she won't look at the simple numbers of 7-6, but her brain is going crazy trying to remember, 'ok, which rule or trick is this" (if that makes sense?). I just don't know if I should be having to review every thing evertime she does the review worksheets? She'll remember the current material, but a majority of the previous material (and there's a lot now since we're almost done with it), she doens't remember now :( I have to quickly reteach it to her every single time now.

 

ETA: DD and DS are SUPER competitive (about everything....it drives me CRAZY! I guess it's due to being 15 mo apart maybe?). Anyways, ds is now in the same book as her (only on lesson 9 while she's on lesson 28). Already though a few times when working with her, I was asking her a problem we had written down, she sat there for a short time, then ds shouts the answer out as he's listening in. Of course this makes her feel bad that her 'younger' brother knows it and she doesn't:(

 

DS: (kinder): He flew through Primer and is now on lesson 9 of Alpha. So far so good BUT, things went well in the beginning for dd for it too. DS I think may end up being my 'mathy" kid. He has always been AMAZING at puzzles (since before 2 yrs) and at solving problems and such. I was scared to start him in Alpha, but I've been amazed at him! On lesson 9 for example with adding 9's, he saw Mr Steve do one example on the dvd...I then sit down with the white board to REALLY go over a ton of examples..I barely finish writing the problem (9+7) and he shouts out '16!". He has not needed me to review anything all week....every time I ask him a problem or he does the wkst, he gets them all right. I was kind of shocked he saw one example and had it down so fast?

But then again it makes sense in a way. He seems to have an AMAZING memory. For example, one time a while ago I briefly told him that ck usually comes at the end of the word when you hear the /k. sound (we were reading or writing something). So, he had to write something that started w/ the /b/ sound this week, he choose 'block" and spelled it perfectly!

 

So....I just dont' know what to do! My head is spinning here and I'm just so confused on where to go:(

What type of learner does dd and ds seem to be? What type of programs would they maybe benefit from?

Should I continue w/ MUS for both? Are they different type of learners maybe and need different programs?

I'm just sooo confused and welcome ANY input, advice, ect!!

 

Thanks!

[almondbutterandjelly]

I have an only child, so take this with a grain of salt... If I had two kids, and the younger one was exceeding the older one's abilities in math, I would have them in different programs so it's not so obvious to either of them. There are plenty of math programs out there. No need to make dd feel bad for not moving as fast as younger ds. As for dd's memory issue, you might try having her just straight up memorize the facts now and do flashcard practice for awhile to get all those math facts down. She might have initially needed the concept to process everything, so you didn't waste your time with MUS, but now she's probably ready for straight up memorization. FWIW, I used Alpha happily with my child and some of Beta, but then I switched to Singapore Math and had to back up to 1A. Still had to pull out the flash cards eventually, though. Those addition facts need to be solid. HTH.

[avazquez24]

Thank you for your input! Somewhat in the beginning of starting Alpha (once we got a few lessons into starting addition), I added flash cards to help her memorize facts as we continued on. Perhaps I should start back with that again, esp as we're ready to finish up Alpha in 2 weeks about, then will be on our 'summer break' until I start back up in July sometime. Our break may be a good time to work on flash cards maybe.

I had a thread last night asking for everyone's favorite and least favorite math curriculum, and I remember Singapore being mentioned quite a bit (along w/ Math Mammoth I think). I'm not familiar with either of those two programs though (I'm not familiar with much since we're still new to homeschooling lol).

Just out of curiousity, were you happy about the switch from MUS to Singapore? Did you end up staying with Singapore? I'm just torn on switching, not switching, and then switching to what (for both kids).

How does Singapore teach addition and subtraction compared to MUS?

[jessj]

That is hard. I have a daughter who did something similar at that same time, but it was a phase. It seemed like it was more about being bored than not knowing how to do it. She would take out the blocks and try to make up "inventive" ways to do it. I was like "Girl, it's math, just do it the way you're taught!" But she was totally bored, plus, she does not enjoy math. At the time I wasn't quite sure what was going on. In hindsight I can see it. I did end up switching her to Singapore for the next year and a half. She enjoys Singapore, but when it comes time to learn something new, Singapore freaks her out. We were in the middle of 3a recently when she freaked out and I actually switched her back to MUS. I don't know if it will be long term or not. She learns really well from MUS, but gets bored with it. I now have a lot more experience and can spot when she's bored a little easier and I am no longer afraid to speed up until she gets to something that challenges her again. So we'll see.

 

I would say put away the books for a while. Take a break. Do a bunch of drill, maybe some online drill games to keep it fun. Give her time to forget that there are "tricks". Then bring the test back out and see how she does. Make your decisions then. Don't lose sleep over it. You'll figure it out.

 

My younger daughter has had none of these issues because she actually likes math. So it's not a big deal. She doesn't even want to watch the teaching videos because it's "easy peasy". lol! My girls have had some competitive issues as well. I've had to really lay down the law and make sure they understand that everyone is gifted in different ways. I am trying to drill it into them that they are to use their gifts to HELP one another, not hurt or harm one another. They are complete opposites. If they would just work together they could rule the world! I also moved them onto separate curriculum for a while to cool things off. It helped. Now they're back on the same and they're doing ok with it.

 

For what it's worth, I really like both MUS and Singapore. Math is one of those interesting subjects where the material is the same, but the method can make all the difference.

[Micron4]

The Right Start math games are a fun way to practice math facts without doing a lot of drill. They are based on well-known children's games like "Go Fish" and "Memory", but they have a math twist to help reinforce math facts. Perhaps they could even play the games together. Well worth the cost, IMO.

[ByGrace3]

Your dd sounds a lot like mine after she finished Saxon 1. She was so concerned about the trick/rule she completely missed the concept of addition and subtraction. We switched to MM to be sure the concepts were being taught well.

 

I don't know anything about MUS but I would think using the blocks or abacus would be helpful at this point to help her grasp the concept. Drilling for memory when she is overwhelmed with memorizing rules and tricks seems counterproductive.

 

I have a very mathy ds coming up behind dd so I can understand the competitive nature. Maybe two completely different math programs to eliminate the competition?

[almondbutterandjelly]

Thank you for your input! Somewhat in the beginning of starting Alpha (once we got a few lessons into starting addition), I added flash cards to help her memorize facts as we continued on. Perhaps I should start back with that again, esp as we're ready to finish up Alpha in 2 weeks about, then will be on our 'summer break' until I start back up in July sometime. Our break may be a good time to work on flash cards maybe.

I had a thread last night asking for everyone's favorite and least favorite math curriculum, and I remember Singapore being mentioned quite a bit (along w/ Math Mammoth I think). I'm not familiar with either of those two programs though (I'm not familiar with much since we're still new to homeschooling lol).

Just out of curiousity, were you happy about the switch from MUS to Singapore? Did you end up staying with Singapore? I'm just torn on switching, not switching, and then switching to what (for both kids).

How does Singapore teach addition and subtraction compared to MUS?

 

I was happy about the switch to Singapore. We stayed with Singapore for another year or two. We got to 3A but hated that book, so jumped around some more. If I had to do it over again, I might have just stayed the course. As it is, we tried many different things. Currently, we're end of 6th grade/beginning of 7th, and are working through the Key to series (heavily color coded by me). That's going well. I have a math-hater, big-picture thinker, needs color, loves manipulatives, creative child. We also do a lot of reading about math (like Basher Math and Penrose the Mathematical Cat and Al and Gebra in the Land of Algebra) and very casually do Life of Fred, which she loves. And when I can find awesome manipulatives (like the Building Fractions Activity Center from Lakeshore Learning -- loved it! Did that for a month or so before starting Key to Fractions), we do those. And to answer you question about addition and subtraction, Singapore very much does word stories for that, teaching the idea with colorful pictures. Love it. Can easily use manipulatives (like from MUC) to supplement that.