Math woes and can't decide what the next step should be

[TheApprentice]

My youngest ds is going to finish MM5 this year. He does great throughout the chapter, but is confused and uncertain during the chapter tests. I wanted to continue with MM6, but I really think the mastery approach is not working for him. So the options I'm aware of that are more spiral include CLE, Horizion and Saxon. Of the 3, which is a good option? Are there others? I would characterize this son a slightly above average in math.

 

I do not want to do Rod and Staff, so that is not an option for me.

 

:confused1: :bigear:

[wapiti]

How does he do with the chapter review?  What is the timing like for when you give the chapter review and when you give the test?

 

The chapter tests only test what happened in the chapter.  For reviewing earlier stuff, do you use the cumulative reviews?

[TheApprentice]

He does the chapter test the day after the review. I always go over the review with him and remind him that the test is going to be exactly like this, but I also remind him that will not help. He's averaging about 70% on the test.

 

No, we have not done the cumulative reviews.

[wapiti]

FWIW, I would have him do the review by himself first.  Then after you grade it, whatever he got wrong, go back to the lessons on those types of problems, go over it together and assign more problems from those lessons for him to do by himself.  I wouldn't give him the test until I felt sure he not only said he understood, but proved it.  If he can do the chapter review just fine with no trouble, then maybe something about a "test" throws him off (text anxiety, etc.).

 

The cumulative reviews of course just review past chapters.  While it sounds like there is difficulty with the current chapter that requires more at the review stage prior to the test, I'd also assume that there likewise may be difficulty remembering past stuff, and I'd start including those cumulative reviews, including going back to specific lessons wherever the cumulative review results indicate a problem.

[TheApprentice]

That's a good suggestion. I'll give that a try. My gut is telling me that he needs a spiral approach going forward.

[sagira]

You can make MM spiral, moving chapters around and coming back to it later. I intersperse review tests in between.

[TarynB]

You can make MM spiral, moving chapters around and coming back to it later. I intersperse review tests in between.

 

Yep, we did this with MM too. 

 

For an even tighter spiral, you could also skip some of the questions in each lesson, and then over subsequent days come back to the skipped questions as review.

 

[TheApprentice]

 I like the idea of making MM spiral as well. He really does understand the material as we go. Definitely something to consider. I'm trying to decide on the curriculum for the fall and if I should purchase MM6.

[TianXiaXueXiao]

Perhaps you could try the samples of each program listed above and see which suits him best. We are really liking Saxon. My dd rarely scores high on tests because she commonly makes simple mistakes in computation and not because she doesn't understand the concept. How would your characterize your son's mistakes? Are they sloppy errors or something else?

[dereksurfs]

 I like the idea of making MM spiral as well. He really does understand the material as we go. Definitely something to consider. I'm trying to decide on the curriculum for the fall and if I should purchase MM6.

 

You have been given some great advice and ideas so far.  Since we use both CLE and MM I can give you our perspective.  

 

First of all our middle dd tends to forget things as well which became evident when we were using MUS which is also mastery.  So we switched to a spiral program - CLE.  The downside of CLE for us is that I don't think it covers things to the level of depth and challenge I would like.  As a result we began supplementing with MM which also covers concepts from another perspective which we like.  After using CLE with MM for ~ one year we have been slowly including more MM which I think is stronger overall.  Then our youngest dd said she liked MM more, so we have switched her over recently.  Our middle dd still seems to want the review which CLE provides and also likes it more.  So we will probably continue with CLE as long as she responds well to using both.  We do 3 days of CLE and 2 of MM where MM is at least 1/2 year behind for solidification of concepts.

 

For your son who is so close to completing MM I would consider continuing with it while introducing more review with MM itself or another program.  Waipti gave some great ideas for review.  MM has more than enough problems which means you don't have to use 'all' of them with your first pass. That leaves more for review as needed.

[ktgrok]

My youngest ds is going to finish MM5 this year. He does great throughout the chapter, but is confused and uncertain during the chapter tests. I wanted to continue with MM6, but I really think the mastery approach is not working for him. So the options I'm aware of that are more spiral include CLE, Horizion and Saxon. Of the 3, which is a good option? Are there others? I would characterize this son a slightly above average in math.

 

I do not want to do Rod and Staff, so that is not an option for me.

 

:confused1: :bigear:

 

We had EXACTLY the same issue, and yes, it was the mastery format that was the problem. We have used both Teaching Textbooks and CLE since, and I think CLE is the better choice. TONS of review each day, and next to each set of problems is the lesson number the problems come from, so if they have trouble you know exactly what page to turn to to go back and review. Love it. He does so much better with the constant review. 

[ktgrok]

Oh, and I know someone said CLE wasn't as in depth as MM, but my son just got his ITBS test scores, and he got a perfect score on the problem solving section, and in the 95th percentile for the other math subtest. So it's working fine :)

[Aurelia]

We switched to CLE from MM, and it worked very well for my DD. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not switching sooner, but all the negatives I'd read about CLE (religious publisher, not as good at conceptual teaching, etc) made me hesitate. She is now MUCH better at math than she was when we were struggling through MM.