math skipping like shurley

[MotherOfBoys]

I feel like I've spent more money on math in the past year then all the other subjects combine. So I was looking at the scope and sequence for saxon intermediate 3-5 and saxon 5/4-n up to see where we are headed.

 

Intermediate 3 has the same content, minus two lessons that I could easily pull from my MM 1-6, as intermediate 4. Why can't I just buy intermediate 4 and take a little longer if needed, even though I don't think we would need more than a year at this point? 

 

I also read on reviews that intermediate 3 has the same content as 5/4. I was thinking of buying:

 

intermediate 4 or 5/4 next year for Monday through thursday

zaccaro primary challenge math for Friday with any other math games he wants to play

with a fun multiplication and division app for fact practice

 

I have mm1-6 if we need extra practice or the concept presented differently.

My husband is pushing me to cut down his school day because I make him complete everything thoroughly and it takes too much time. He also doesn't need it we realized. I just wanted to be thorough so I've made him do two times the first grade and now two times the second. So if I buy two more thirds or fourths I know I'll make him do it all. So husband says no.

 

So what do you think?

[wapiti]

Personally, I think I would ditch Saxon and just use MM along with your other resources (as I prefer the concept presentation and the organization of MM - so much more flexible).  Saxon is not a common choice for an accelerated math student, as it's too logistically difficult to accelerate, takes an inappropriate amount of time daily especially for a young child, may be lacking in the area of concept instruction, may be lacking in the area of problem solving, and in short is drill-and-kill.  It has a reputation for communicating joylessness about math to the student.  What value is Saxon adding for your student?

[MotherOfBoys]

He likes it is the big reason. He likes the conversation with me. He likes drill and kill because it's rewarding.

[wapiti]

Then I have two more thoughts to keep in mind:  at the upper levels, I would anticipate that the lesson length of Saxon may become wholly inappropriate for such a young student if it isn't already.

 

 

My husband is pushing me to cut down his school day because I make him complete everything thoroughly and it takes too much time. He also doesn't need it we realized. I just wanted to be thorough so I've made him do two times the first grade and now two times the second. So if I buy two more thirds or fourths I know I'll make him do it all. So husband says no.

 

Secondly, why are you making him complete everything thoroughly and spend "too much time"?  I would agree with your dh here (sorry!) - that is something I would not require of a Ker.  If he wants to keep going for fun, on his own initiative, that's one thing - I'd let him, on his "own time."  However, I would not make him do it all at this age, considering that the "all" you are referring to was designed for older students.  Academic acceleration does not mean that the student is otherwise developmentally ready for lengthy seat work.  After a reasonable amount of time, I'd let him set it aside and pick up tomorrow where you left off today.  (For K, isn't the rule of thumb about an hour, or less, total for schoolwork?)

 

I'm not sure what you mean about doing first grade and second grade "two times"?  You mean he went through each book twice?  Again, if he were to do it for fun, that's one thing, but unless there was a lack of mastery, *no way* would I have him go through the book again. (Am I misunderstanding?  always possible)

[MotherOfBoys]

Ok update: I learned this week that son doesn't mind mm but he did mind that when I introduced it I made him do saxon at the same time. If he had to choose it would be saxon because it's easier. He is ok with mm if it's the only math program. So I need to have confidence in it. Then I showed him he could get further in his medieval math facts game if he understood this one page in mm2. He liked that and did it and then played his game the rest of the day. 

 

My husband's problem was "stop teaching the curriculum and teach your son what he wants to know". Again it's a confidence issue. I need to have confidence that I don't need the curriculum just my brain right now and practice pages when I can't think of problems. I'm the person that shouldn't buy workbooks just a teacher's guide or book on how to present concepts. Example: wwe guide and not the workbook. That works well for us. 

 

Also my husband's theory on adding other subjects to slow down his math. Busy him with other learning, getting him interested in other things, doesn't work. So we are cutting grammar and just writing letters to grandma instead. When spelling workout B is done next week we are not adding another one till at least next year even though he says he doesn't mind them we know they are busy work. He only wants to do math and reading of history, science, and his pathway readers. 

 

 

[kiana]

I agree. I'd just do the MM you already have.

 

Barring a few really terrible choices (neither of which is math mammoth), if you pick an elementary curriculum and do it all the way through pre-algebra, and your student understands it, you should not need to worry about holes.

 

Supplementing with some extra challenging problems is fine. But nobody needs to do two complete math or English curricula.