kentuckymom Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 You may remember my thread from a few weeks ago about how Saxon was making both me and my son cry.... After some reflection, more research, and actually trying out some samples with him, we switched to Math Mammoth. I wanted a hard copy and it was backordered at Rainbow Resource, so I had to order it from Lulu, which meant it had to be printed and took awhile to get here. Our first day actually using it (we did some review with Beast Academy in the meantime) was yesterday, and the change in math attitude has been amazing. Squirrelboy has hugged me and thanked me for changing math programs multiple times. I'm sure there will come a time when he doesn't love Math Mammoth, because Math is challenging for him and he also often has a bad attitude about it, but I love that he's started off so positively. This post isn't meant to bash Saxon per se or praise the glories of Math Mammoth per se, but rather to encourage those who are struggling with curriculum that isn't working well that it's really okay to change. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Not every program fits every family, or even every kid. I'm glad MM is a good fit! That's great news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syllieann Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I switched my DD to Shiller for this year. She did mm last year, but I had to make it hands on and spiral to make it palatable. That took a lot of time from me. Her short attention span and trouble focusing on things at arm's length made mm as is really difficult. She showered me with hugs and kisses after the first day of Shiller. She didn't want to stop when her time was up and asked on the weekend if she could do more math. The novelty will wear off, I'm sure, but she is really happy now. It's kind of tough because I have to be at her side for every. Single. Thing. for school. She is so cuddly and affectionate though, so I wouldn't want to miss it. Congrats on finding your happy spot. Feels good, huh? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 That's the nice thing about homeschooling: if there comes a season where you need to switch things up...you can! We also recently switched to Math Mammoth. We'd used CLE for the past 2 years (and were pretty content with it) but somewhere around March, the long lessons became tedious. Whining and feet-dragging ensued. When both of my children did poorly on the math sections of the standardized tests at the end of the year, I decided a change was in order. (Does CLE = poor retention/performance for all children? NO! But I decided that we needed a change of pace.) We tried MM years ago (and it wasn't a good fit then) but since I had the download, we pulled pages from it to fill the gap while I looked around for something to switch to. Lo and behold, both girls like it now and so we're sticking with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I agonized over changing math and reading programs. When I began 14 years ago I spent a lot of time researching methods and chose what I felt would last and allow me to easily teach my large family without having to learn new programs. I taught 5 kids to read with SWR, including 2 dyslexics but when it came to #6 (also dyslexic) I just couldn't do it again. It was such a hard decision to make and one I didn't take lightly but we switched to AAR and it was the best decision. I know it was right even though we had to spend money on it when I had SWR just sitting there. Similar situation with math. After 14 years of MuS, I switched my middle three to CLE and I am beyond thrilled. Good job mama and those who are debating, don't switch on a whim or recklessly but yeah, sometimes it's the best thing. 😊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrabuskie Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 I agree about switching when it doesn't fit. This is especially true for children with difficulties. I love MM, it's a solid program and the ongoing help from the author is a plus. I purchased it for DS last year but the crowded pages had him in tears each day. Even if I highlighted what he had to do that day or covered up part of the paper, it was still too much. We did GO Math which is a CC conceptual math program used by our local university-style prep school, 3 days in classroom 2 days homeschool. Needless to say, I after teaching CC, I HATE the CC, so out that program went. DS tested into Saxon Math 5/4 however, his dysgraphia made it extremely difficult and the tears were practically flowing again. I moved him to Saxon Intermediate 3 and it is the perfect fit. Little bits of information each day and mastery of information over time. I loved the look on his face when answering the written problems, they must have appeared attainable because we did not go through the usual pep talk of you can do this, we have studied this before, I am here to help speech. He did it himself with a little help showing him how to look things up. He is beginning to take charge now. I think maybe today he even enjoyed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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