Recommend a Math curriculum

[Reader411]

DS is finishing 5th grade with Saxon 6/5.  While he has a great conceptual understanding of math and picks up new concepts easily, but daily math lessons are a chore for him and his accuracy is terrible for daily lesson practice problems.  He is not a "mathy" child and will tell you math is his least favorite subject by far.   I think he is having some attention issues (really only presented in math), but the process reading the lesson, working the practice problems, and then having a TON of corrections is torture for all.  :mad:   I don't expect him to be a math wonder, I just need to have him have a great foundation and be set for Algebra. 

 

 

Any tips/suggestions for improving things?  Suggestions for new math curriculum?  Maybe more of a mastery curriculum and less spiral??

[Ellie]

Saxon might recommend starting back at the beginning.  I know it might seem like torture, but there are lots of people who will testify that going back made all the difference in the world (although they usually go back around the middle of the book, not when the dc have finished it).

 

Saxon is not spiral; it is incremental, which is different from spiral. It really does provide a great foundation.

[Jyhwkmama]

You might consider some focused Keys To math over the summer. If he did Keys To Decimals and Keys To Fractions, he would get really focused review of not only decimal and fractions, but also all 4 basic math operations.

[wintermom]

You may want to try a little Beast Academy to bring back the fun into math. My ds completed Saxon 6/5, and now he's doing BA 3A to increase his depth. There is some review, and some new stuff, and a lot of really neat puzzles and games. BA 4A might also be an option to try out. You may find that your ds actually is simply bored with the Saxon repetitiveness. 

 

Life of Fred Fractions may be another option. The stories are really fun, and there is a lot less repetition. For the Bridges they are challenged to get the questions correct before they move on, so if they are making silly errors there is motivation to work carefully.

[Clear Creek]

Maybe just correct a couple problems that he got wrong so that he can practice the using concept correctly? If fixing every single wrong answer causes frustration, then I would stop doing it because a frustrated child usually isn't learning (at least in my house) and the whole point of doing the lesson is to learn. Another possible solution would be to cut down on the number of problems for him to do in the first place, but tell him that for every incorrect problem he has to do one additonal problem.

 

If Saxon really isn't working for you and you want a mastery program, Rod & Staff is great. I used it with my oldest, and it prepared her really well for prealgebra.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

Saxon can be drudgery, although effective at producing competence on procedural math. I think the incremental vs. spiral is a bit of semantics as they both mean to increase continuously. However, I think if your son is making mistakes, a spiral/incremental program might be more appropriate for your child if he needs that practice.

 

Maybe a fun Friday math day or a short break to find math enjoyable again might be good. I suggest BA or LOF as a fun supplement. Both of these would also help think deeply about math topics instead of just slogging through a lesson.

 

At this age, many elementary curricula end, and you have to think of Algebra programs. I would look at the Logic stage boards or high school boards as there are some wonderful threads on upper level math and start thinking of the long term plan.

 

If you do choose more of a mastery program, I would make sure you provide plenty of practice for him still. Perhaps Khan Academy would help.

[Ecclecticmum]

Math U see, Right Start Games, Learn Maths Fast, Jump Math or Math on the Level might be possible solutions

[strawberryjam]

I've heard CLE math has some similarities to Saxon but it's spiral. I'm not a fan of the spiral approach to math in the beginning, but after doing a couple years of Singapore (which is Mastery approach) I do see some benefits to the spiral too. So we have ended up with the "strange" combination of actually doing both Singapore and CLE. They just both approach things differently and it's nice to have the best of both worlds. I love the format of the CLE workbooks and I like that my kids can do them mostly independently. I love Singapore for how it teaches problems and how to visualize word problems and do mental math. My son actually finds it easier to do math in his head then to use his fingers to count things out.