ereks mom Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 (edited) Next school year, I will be teaching my 11 year old niece, who just completed 5th grade at the all-ABeka Christian school she has attended since PreK. Math is probably her best/favorite subject, and she has always had A's in math on her report card. I don't want to use the ABeka Math she's already familiar with, and I'm trying to decide whether to use BJU Math or Teaching Textbooks for her. If I use BJU, I'll use Math 6, but I'm not sure which level of Teaching Textbooks would be best. How accurate are the TT placement tests? I gave her the placement tests for TT Math 6 and TT Math 7, and she completed each one (30 problems, including 2 word problems) very quickly and scored about the same on each. She completed the Math 6 test in under 15 minutes and missed three on Section 1 and three on Section 2. She completed the Math 7 test in about 20 minutes and missed two on Section 1 and four on Section 2. According to the scoring instructions, students are ready for a particular level if they miss no more than 5 on Section 1 and no more than 7 on Section 2 on the placement test. So if I go with Teaching Textbooks, I'm not sure which way to go! What do you think? TT Math 6 or TT Math 7? Or just go with BJU Math 6? I've narrowed my choices down to these three, and I've included a poll with only those options, so please vote! FWIW, I already own a set of each: BJU Math 6, TT Math 6, and TT Math 7. I love BJU through grade 6, and I love Teaching Textbooks for grades 7 and up. Since she's right on the cusp, I'm just not sure what to do. Edited June 12, 2016 by ereks mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 If she is really good at math and really likes it, I'm not sure that Teaching Textbooks would serve her that well. I like TT but for a mathy kid it may end up being incredibly boring and not conceptual enough. I don't know what BJU is like so I can't speak to that which means I don't feel comfortable voting. I assume you are choosing between these two because you already own them so you would be familiar with them. Is there a placement test for BJU? If there is, you might give her that to compare it to the results from TT and to confirm she does not have critical gaps for starting BJU or is actually ahead of BJU 6 and needs a higher level. On the areas she missed in TT, might it be that she had not had that yet and just needs to have a few lessons in those areas? Or could the questions have been presented a bit differently than what she is used to? If you are very strong on using TT I would go with TT7 and just go over the material she missed in the placement test. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 If she is really good at math and really likes it, I'm not sure that Teaching Textbooks would serve her that well. I like TT but for a mathy kid it may end up being incredibly boring and not conceptual enough. :iagree: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Why not use Abeka? I'm sure you have reasons since you made a point to say the poll is for these three things...but I can't help but think if she's familiar with, excels at, and enjoys Abeka maths... why not abeka, ykwim? Definitely not TT6, in any case. Why is that even on the table if she can do TT7 with ease? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 Why not use Abeka? I'm sure you have reasons since you made a point to say the poll is for these three things...but I can't help but think if she's familiar with, excels at, and enjoys Abeka maths... why not abeka, ykwim? For several reasons (that I won't go into here), I do not like ABeka math except for their 7th grade Basic Mathematics, which I like to use with my high school juniors or seniors who will not be attending college and need a thorough review of math before going to tech school or entering the job market. Definitely not TT6, in any case. Why is that even on the table if she can do TT7 with ease? I wasn't sure what it meant that her results on the TT6 and TT7 placement tests were so nearly the same. I was hoping for insight into that from others who might have had the same thing happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 (edited) I wasn't sure what it meant that her results on the TT6 and TT7 placement tests were so nearly the same. I was hoping for insight into that from others who might have had the same thing happen. There's a good chance that she made silly mistakes on the TT6 placement test out of boredom and rushing through it (my 8yo got 89th percentile on math in a 3rd grade test in May, taking only 1/5 of the allotted time, and got 87th percentile on a 5th grade one in June, not sure how long he took, I'm guessing about 1/2 the allotted time). I'm not familiar with BJU, TT, or A Beka, so I can't give you any advice there, but I'd be inclined to go with TT7 over TT6 - she still scored well below 5 wrong on section 1 and 7 wrong on section 2. I might even feel inclined to give her the TT8 test just to see how she does on that one, though I wouldn't hold my breath for that. If you go with TT7 and it turns out to be too hard, you can always drop it and do TT6. ETA: I'm trying to say, there's a difference between mistakes due to not knowing the math, and mistakes due to not paying attention to detail. Obviously, the latter is a problem too, but using an easier math problem probably won't help with that. Edited June 13, 2016 by luuknam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 If you're going to use TT then definitely go with 7. I started my DD in TT 6 this last year and it was way, way too easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 My middle kiddo was similar. She just finished BJU 4. She technically passed the TT 5 placement test, but the answers she got wrong were on the same topic, so we are pulling those topics from TT5 and doing them first and then moving in to TT 6. Since you plan to switch her to TT anyways, I wouldn't mess with a year of BJU at this point. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 My middle kiddo was similar. She just finished BJU 4. She technically passed the TT 5 placement test, but the answers she got wrong were on the same topic, so we are pulling those topics from TT5 and doing them first and then moving in to TT 6. Since you plan to switch her to TT anyways, I wouldn't mess with a year of BJU at this point. I'm thinking along those lines as well. Since I have TT6 and TT7, I am leaning towards starting her in TT7 and referring back to TT6 if she needs extra work on any of the topics. I think that it would work well for her to be a grade ahead, so if we hit any snags along the way, we can move slowly and not "get behind." Thanks for your input. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Having a kid with attention issues who would not get a perfect score on any math test no matter how easy, i would put her in TT7 since she passed the placement test (I don't have experience with either curriculum, so I am going only on the placement test) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 It sounds like she passed both placement tests. Put her in TT7 at the minimum. Can you try the Pre-algebra placement test? If it were that easy, I would keep going until she hit a test that was hard, and put her a level below. Also, I agree that she is probably making careless mistakes. My oldest was/is like that. She did TT6 in 5th grade, and it was not a good fit for her. But most things weren't a good fit--she has this weird combination of picking up concepts easily, making lots of careless mistakes and hating math. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 (edited) I wasn't sure what it meant that her results on the TT6 and TT7 placement tests were so nearly the same. I was hoping for insight into that from others who might have had the same thing happen. I have had a similar thing happen on standardized tests. If I were to give my son the ITBS, say, at his age-grade level, he would make a certain number of errors. And he would make about the *same* number of errors one level up, and the same two levels up. Three levels up and he would finally make a few more errors. It has to do with the ceiling of the test. She hasn't hit the ceiling yet. I'd keep giving her the tests until she actually fails one. And then I'd strongly consider finding a more challenging math program for her. Edited June 13, 2016 by EKS 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 I agree, give her the placement test for the next level up (pre-algebra?) and see how she does on that. Even if she doesn't pass it, if she comes close I would consider having her take the tests in TT7 until she can't pass something, do those lessons for the areas she needs exposure, then plan to move her into pre-algebra early. But yeah, I would also be looking at something a bit more challenging than TT to at least supplement with if she is really good at math. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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