Tiramisu Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 First of all, I have been through this before with my oldest, who has processing issues, though I didn't know it at the time. I did wind up changing programs with her because of the time factor and everything worked out fine in the end. For years, I have always done math side by side with this dd. This year I started out that way, too, but now she's getting annoyed with my presence. And I am having to spend more time with my youngest. I predicted that once I left dd's side, the Saxon lessons would turn into marathons, and they have. Besides that, though she really gets the concepts, she's making plenty of careless errors. So correcting the problems is taking extra time, too. I had said that if we had this happened, I would switch her into TT, but she, surprisingly, likes Saxon. This is my question. She's in 8th and will go to a private high school next year so every decision right now is being geared to her promoting her success there. I could keep having her do a lesson a day, which can take up to four hours, even if it cuts into other things because math is important. Or, I could have her do half a lesson a day so as to not burn her out. She is doing every problem and I'd rather keep it that way. Any thoughts about which course might be best? Any other great ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 4 hours is a long time for math. We moved down to 1/2 lesson a day in Saxon Algebra 1. The errors plummeted, time spent decreased each week, and the test scores increased as well. It took time, but it was time well spent to solidify the basics. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 For 8th grade, I'd go to half a lesson a day. One day do odds, and one day do even. One of mine had to do Algebra I twice, and in retrospect, I think going slower would have been even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 If she doesn't mind the four hours, I'd let her continue as is. Her level of math may determine not only her math and science placement, but what level of courses she'll be placed in overall. Most honors students at most schools are doing algebra 1 in 8th. If she needs to cut back some, then I'd just keep going until she completes the text during the summer. If she does mind the time and is on the brink of burn out, then I'd go to a limit of 2 hours a day and just let her do the best she can with completing the text. Is there an incentive you can give her for getting a higher percentage right the first time? Simple errors are often attributed to their age, but sometimes with rewards, they can give a bit more attention and catch their mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplelily Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Do you have the Saxon Teacher DVD's? You could have her watch the video? Then check her work. Have her watch the problems being worked out of the ones that she missed. Then later in the day have her rework them problems she missed, without watching the DVD. As she improves,have her do odd problems on odd numbered lessons, and even numbers on even numbered lessons. If she needs more practice, have her do the other problems in the problem set that are similar to the ones she missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Thank you for all the replies. I would like to have her continue through the book at a good pace. There will be placement testing in June. She is very interested in science so it will be helpful for her to be able to place into geometry. I guess we will try to keep doing a lesson a day, all the problems, until there are signs of burnout. Meanwhile, I may lighten the load of other subjects like history, lit, and Latin if necessary to enable her to keep up the pace in math as long as it's working for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Would it help to split up your lesson? To do half in the morning and half in the afternoon? Maybe then it wouldn't feel quite so long and she'd make fewer errors because her brain is just tired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Would it help to split up your lesson? To do half in the morning and half in the afternoon? Maybe then it wouldn't feel quite so long and she'd make fewer errors because her brain is just tired. Usually, she does math first thing in the morning and it takes until afternoon. Yesterday, she read lit first and had a cup of coffee and she had much, much fewer errors. I'm afraid if I tried to split it up, she'd run out of time in the day and not get back to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Does she normally have coffee in the morning? If not that may be a significant part of her improvement and be allowing her to concentrate better. Just a thought. But if it's a matter of not doing math first thing in the morning, then by all means go with the schedule that works best for her. To figure out if it's one or the other, or both, you may want to try literature first but without coffee and other ways and keep track of the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Does she normally have coffee in the morning? If not that may be a significant part of her improvement and be allowing her to concentrate better. Just a thought. But if it's a matter of not doing math first thing in the morning, then by all means go with the schedule that works best for her. To figure out if it's one or the other, or both, you may want to try literature first but without coffee and other ways and keep track of the results. She doesn't always drink coffee but we're starting to realize it makes a BIG difference in math when she does in terms of staying on task and number of corrections. We just have to be careful that she eats well first or she'll get shaky, and sometimes she's picky about eating... I don't know if there's such a difference with other subjects but math really requires the most effort for her to sustain concentration and attention to detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Maybe even a small snack with the coffee will prevent the shakes, and then she can eat a fuller breakfast a bit later. That's great that coffee helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 We are the "controversial" family who only does the Odds OR the Evens of a particular Saxon Math Lesson. We also skip through the early part of the book that is largely review--by just doing the tests & switching to the lessons when the material is unfamiliar. It goes against the grain of the program, but we just need time for other things. Also, I highly recommend the DIVE CDs which lecture on the new topics. Be thankful she has a good attitude--that is a blessing! And I know most WTMers will argue against our method, but I'm only suggesting it as something to consider. Another option is to find out what Math program her future high school uses . . . and switch to that, so the transition is not as difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Yeah, that's us, too. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 We are the "controversial" family who only does the Odds OR the Evens of a particular Saxon Math Lesson. We also skip through the early part of the book that is largely review--by just doing the tests & switching to the lessons when the material is unfamiliar. Just to clarify, only doing odds or evens is indeed controversial in SaxonMathWorld, but taking the tests to skip early material is not. Saxon has always said to do so, with 80% being the cutoff mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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