Please give me advice on how to get my dd caught up in math!!!

[Guest BRKZCA]

Hi! I am new to posting on this website. I've read so many posts from this website over the years and I know someone here can help me:)

 

My daughter has struggled with math since 3rd grade (when multiplication was introduced). We have tried MANY different math programs since then and I feel like Saxon Math is best for her because of the repetitive nature and constant review. During the last school year we tried another curriculum and it went very poorly for us. I'm back to Saxon and trying to place her and figure out where her gaps are. I desperately want to get her caught up!!! She just finished 7th grade and I had her take all the tests for Saxon 5/4. Then I graded them and wrote down all of the problems she missed and corresponding lesson numbers for each missed test problem (below each test question in parathesis is the lesson which the concept was taught). She missed 62 test problems from all the tests. The missed problems correspond to 42 of the lessons. So 2/3 of those 42 lessons had only one question missed from each one. Should I be concerned about the lessons she only missed one question on? Should I make her only redo the lessons for the ones she missed more than one question from?

 

Most of all, how can I get her caught up? Any advice would be MUCH appreciated!!!

 

Thanks!

[gingersmom]

I have been using Saxon Math with my son since second grade and we are now about to start either Saxon 1/2 (whatever comes before Algebra), Algebra 1 or some combination of the two.

 

Math is definitely not my sons favorite subject.

 

He does one lesson per day, watches the lesson from Saxon teacher, we review the concepts if necessary and does the lesson. I usually assign 1-15, see how he did and then 15-30. We go over the next day every problem that he has gotten wrong.

 

For Saxon 8/7 he did fine till about lesson 60, then we hit a roadblock for about 15 lessons. So we stopped and just reviewed and reviewed till he was over the hump. Then we hit another roadblock, stopped for about 2 weeks to just review and review.

 

Slow and steady but we make it through to the end.

 

He will never be an A math student but he can hold his own.

[Julie of KY]

Kids miss problems for all sorts of reasons. What percentage of the problems is she missing? It sounds like she's doing well if only missing one problems per lesson or test, but if it is one test and missing lots of problems from different lessons, that is a different case. For catching up, I like to go slow and steady from a primary text. Then, I also add in more work on specific subjects either from a specific text or any other source. Right now my dd is doing lots of math - about a days work of mult/div., a days work of fractions, a days work of angles, sometimes with something else thrown in. My key is to keep her progressing in EACH subject and it is all coming together. I'm not saying you need to do lots of math, but I would separate out some trouble spots and do extra work on those.

[Punks in Ontario]

If you looked at the problems, were they wrong because of simple computation mistakes or because she didn't understand how to solve it? I would separate out those two issues since the comprehension is a significant issue whereas the computation, while it needs to be addressed, is not necessarily a reason to go back and review those lessons. If computation is the issue, the daily drills, and going back and correcting will help reduce them.

[alpidarkomama]

Math Mammoth might be good to use. If she has a weakness in, say, fractions, you can order the fractions-only series.

 

http://www.mathmammoth.com/blue-series.php

[Guest BRKZCA]

She misses problems due to simple computation errors. I'm wondering if she may have a visual processing disorder? Maybe lining things up in her head is hard? She knows her +-*/ facts, although it took many years for her to memorize them. She is an awesome reader and devours books, so I'm questioning the visual processing disorder. Is it possible to have a visual processing disorder and love to read? Her math errors were probably half computation errors and half she simply went about solving the problem wrong. I made some copies of the recording form with has the little squares (like graph paper) so she can write a number in each square to help her line things up.

 

Thank you "Julie of KY"! I hadn't really thought to see what the overall grade would be. If I averaged her grade for tests, she got 86.5% correct. 62 problems incorrect seemed like SO MUCH wrong! It felt overwhelming! But considering there are a total of 460 questions, this would definitely be acceptable!

 

I think I will just focus on the lessons where she missed two or more problems, the move on to Saxon 6/5.

 

Thanks for all your help!!!