Question for Math in Focus users

[lea1]

I have used some of 2A book with my two sons but have been bouncing back and forth between MIF and CLP for the spiral review in CLP.  I am at a point though where I feel that CLP is moving soooo incredibly slow and they are not being challenged, other than memory work.  I am thinking of moving back to MIF and sticking with it but am concerned that without the spiral approach, my sons may forget things that have been covered.

 

Do you feel that MIF provides enough review?  Do you ever have any issues with your child forgetting what has been covered in a previous chapter?

[OneStepAtATime]

If no one responds, you might do a search for old threads. I believe there was a posting fairly recently regarding Math In Focus that had several useful responses....

[Lecka]

My son forgot how to regroup in subtraction but he remembered it again very quickly.

 

Otherwise I think mastery is good for him, bc he needs some practice to pick things up.

 

Other than that -- he is in 3rd and hasn't forgotten anything. But it seems they do circle back to things, too!

[sbgrace]

I have one who needs more review and another who doesn't or rarely does.

 

For the one who does need review, we did the first 3 (1b-3b) levels as written. The topics have cycled back and built each year. The new year, as you know I'm sure, will have a quick recap of material that should be known to that point when it revisits the topic. This has been plenty for my child who just remembers when he learns something and just ok for the other one. I felt I was sort of re-teaching for him on some topics, which bothered me though it's probably not a huge deal. But I'm trying something new this year that's been easy and, so far, is effective.

 

Once every couple of weeks or so (I just go by ear) we go back to one of the past chapter review tests--the ones in the text itself--and work through the problems. This gives him a chance to refresh on the older topics and yet continue to cover new material at a pace that fits him well. I'm pleased with his retention. There is one topic that we've revisited twice now because it seemed to need to much review for my taste the first time through. He was solid the 2nd time. I'll hit it again.

 

We're just about through the first semester of grade 4. I like this approach with MIF.

 

[austen]

I have done 1B, 2A, and am currently doing 2B and 6A. There seems to be plenty of review. Sometimes I've taken a break and done more review on my own, but then I realize it's already built in. We've been pretty pleased with the program overall. It seems to work for my both my sons, who don't like to review more than they have to. :)

[lea1]

thanks for the feedback.  sounds like I need to stick with MIF and see how it goes.