Math curriculum suggestions: MM, Saxon, CLE, or ? ?

[Emba]

I began homeschooling my daughter this January because of problems she was having with reading and math in fourth grade PS.  The PS curriculum would introduce a concept, spend a day or two on it, and then go onto a new thing, and it takes her longer than they were allowing to absorb and retain new concepts.  The teacher was making them do daily homework to drill important things, like the long division algorithm, but what happened was that my daughter can do long division, but can't look at a word problem and tell me whether it should be multiplication, division, or addition or subtraction.  She is getting better about it, but word problems are her kryptonite.  And the PS teacher didn't seem very concerned by this, like it was a normal developmental stage that they could do the algorithm but not understand what it meant. 

 

Anyway, I've been using the 3rd grade Math Mammoth, which I like, though it isn't particularly "fun".  I chose it mainly because it was cheap, mastery based, and could be printed at home so I could only print out what we need to go over, since I am trying fill in gaps in her foundation and catch her up to grade level.

 

I am wondering, though, if another program would be a better fit.  To do one lesson a day in MM takes DD forever.  The only lessons we get though in 30 minutes to 45 minutes are the ones where she already has a decent grasp of the topic.  Anything that is totally new, or something she has struggled with before, takes longer.  Sometimes much longer. 

 

At the same time, I feel like sometimes there aren't enough practice problems, and once a subject is assumed to be mastered, it's dropped with only very occasional review.  I think DD would benefit with more review.  I thought we had multi-digit subtraction with regrouping mastered, but then realized she's still doing the algorithm wrong, though she knows how to do it, she formed a bad habit at school of borrowing all the way across whether it's necessary or not , and she's slipped back into it.  There are other examples along the same line of things that seemed to be mastered but haven't been retained.

 

Saxon sounds like not much fun to me, and possibly would take the same awful amount of time each day, but I think the review would help retention. 

 

CLE sounds good for more or less the same reason, but also as a bonus it isn't a thick textbook, which DD would find very intimidating (am I right that Saxon is a hardback textbook?)

 

Are there other programs I don't know about that might be a good fit? 

 

Math is not my own strong subject, but I feel like fifth grade math is something I can handle.  They put a lot more emphasis on mental math now, though, and I've had years of atrophy because of calculator use, so DD actually has better mental math than me a lot of the time.

[Guest]

I vote CLE! We have tried more math programs than I care to ever list (20). CLE is the only one my kids have ever made progress with. Give the placement test and start where she places. CLE is advanced in many ways.

 

That said, if mastery is your thing, maybe peek at Rod and Staff or Bob Jones (use the extra practice books, too.)

 

Another idea is to use MM's Blue series ? to add more practice in concepts she needs.

 

If she struggles as much as you say, any program is going to take a long time each day.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited April 11, 2016 by Paradox5

[OneStepAtATime]

You might consider doing two things:

1. CLE for the practice, introduction of a concept in smaller chunks, tons of review, etc.  It also provides a lot of scaffolding for a student while they solidify their math facts.

2. but couple it with something more conceptual, like perhaps even a run through Beast Academy that you could do together.  It can be fun, challenging, and show a more interesting side of math that most kids never get to see in ps.

 

What I would do first, before starting ANY new program, is give a placement test in that program so she is properly placed and to see where she actually is.  "Catching up" won't really work if she has underlying gaps that you are unaware of.  

 

You say she was struggling in reading and math in school.  Is it possible she has stealth dyslexia? How well does she decode unfamiliar words outloud?  How is her spelling?  Reading fluency?  Reading comprehension?

[mommymonster]

We dearly love CLE. It has been amazing for my son. That being said, CLE is a spiral program, so it introduces a topic one day and then the next day introduces a new topic. CLE does an amazing job with reviewing concepts that are learned previously, but it doesn't have a ton of problems per day. For that reason, I'm not sure if your DD would thrive with the program? CLE's treatment of word problems is very incremental and there is just one or two word problems per day. CLE permits you to buy a Light Unit or two at a time. It might be good to order a few to get to know how the program works. 

 

 

We used MM in second grade. One thing about MM, the author of the program is very upfront about the fact that she doesn't expect kids to do ALL the problems EVERY day. If she has a topic, slash problems. I ended up making a "math notebook" for DS when we did MM. It was a 3-ring binder and I wrote problems on pages so he could write on the page to do the problems.

 

 

 

[Syllieann]

One lesson per day in mm is moving at a break-neck pace. MM was not meant to be done that way. There is a pacing chart for mm on this page. She should aim for 9 pages per week if you are looking to complete it in a typical year. http://www.mathmammoth.com/faq-lightblue.php

 

I have ods do most of the problems, but I eliminate some that are clearly drill for operations. We use math apps at a separate time for those. It is more fun, and having those facts down makes the regular math go quicker even if you aren't crossing out problems.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Syllieann

[Syllieann]

Oh and also, you are using the cumulative reviews for math mammoth right? Just checking because they are in a different folder and some people overlook them.

[Emba]

I do skip problems in MM when I can, if she's doing well.  Thank you, Syllieann, for pointing out the pacing thing.  I was slowing down for some things, but as a general rule trying to cram a whole lesson in each day.  I had read quite a bit of her website but hadn't picked up on that.

 

Her math facts are good, that's one area she's strong in.  It's more conceptual things she has problems in. 

 

I don't know about dyslexia.  We had her tested for LD (she has none, but does have some areas of lower...function? that will make learning new concepts, esp. spatial ones, hard for her), but not dyslexia.  Dyslexia is not something I have worried about, because she doesn't have reversals, and her spelling is pretty good.  The consistent mispellings she does make are more along the lines of phonetic mispellings - yoused for used, peaple for people.  She reads aloud fairly well, but her reading comprehension is not great.  She picks up details, but has a hard time putting them into a bigger picture, figuring out what is important, and figuring out the "why" of things.

 

I'm going to finish out this year with MM, for sure, trying to set a more reasonable pace, and see how that goes. 

[Emba]

OneStepataTime - That might be a good plan.  I like the looks of Beast Academy, but didn't think it would be suitable for a complete curriculum for her.  It might get more frustrating than fun if that was all we used.  I showed her the samples and she liked them, though. 

 

[Emba]

I just started using the cumulative reviews recently.  I did overlook them at first.