If you finish up your math curriculum a few months before your school year is finished...

[tdbates78]

Do you immediately move into the next level of the curriculum? My second graders are scheduled to finish CLE Math 2 in mid-March as we do it 5 days a week and tend to skip the quizzes. We take a week long vacation in April and our last day of school is set for May 25. I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and purchase CLE Math 3 and get started as soon as LU 210 is complete or just pick up some math workbooks for their level as reinforcement and extra practice to finish out the school year. If it were language arts or another subject I would just continue on (which we are getting ready to do for SYS) but for some reason I'm hesitant to do that with math, I guess because I'm nervous about pushing them along too quickly. Any thoughts?

Edited January 29, 2018 by tdbates78

[HomeAgain]

Depends.  Last year we stopped at the end of a level and did a math notebook instead.  We played games, I wrote problems...still math time, but it looked more relaxed.

This year DS will finish one level at the end of February.  We'll move on to the next until June, and then pick it up again in September.  If we only had a month left I wouldn't because the first part of a new level is all review anyway, and I'd rather that be when the brain is fresh in Sept.  (We'll do a week review before getting back to the middle of the level).

[SilverMoon]

We just start the next book.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We also just start the next book.  None of my kids "math years" line up with their age/grade.  Math is also something we do through the summer, though I'm much more open to taking multiple days off in a week when fun stuff is around.  I just HATE spending a month trying to "catch back up" when 3-4 low key lessons a week through the summer would have prevented the summer brain dump.

[sbgrace]

I just start the next book, but I keep doing math in the summer.

 

I am trying to picture how stopping after a single unit until the following year would work in CLE. If you do decide to go on, you would skip the 301 level, as it's meant to be review of the previous year. I guess you could purchase it and run through if you start to think things weren't retained when you start back up. The spiral may be plenty to allow you to just launch back in wherever you are.

 

However, a major weakness of CLE is in the word problems. So I think it would be really helpful to run through Singapore Process Skills and Problem Solving--book 1 instead of just moving on to 300 level.

 

Book 1 would be mainly teaching her the important skills to think through the word problems as the math itself will be easy/1st grade. But that instructional foundation is important to have for later when the problems get hard. If you did book 1 prior to next year, you could either work through book 2 throughout the year, and so spread out the 300 level a bit more, or do it, again, in the time left after the 300 level. Based on my experience with CLE, you are going to continue to go through those books in less than a year. So you'll be making this decision over and over. Also based on my experience with CLE, some supplementing of word problems is valuable. 

Edited January 29, 2018 by sbgrace

[silver]

If you don't do math over the summer, I'm more inclined to say to wait. The first CLE book of the level will give the review they need after having a break, so you don't really want to do that first book now and then not have proper review in September. Play games or something to cement their math facts instead. Or get math books from the library and do math that way until the end of the year.

 

If you do math over the summer, go ahead and start the next level. Don't worry about pushing them ahead too fast. I've found that if that happens, it just means you'll move more slowly through the material later on, and that's OK. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Me?  I would order the next level but I handle it a bit differently then just moving through.

 

1.  I would hold 301 back to use later, especially if you are planning on taking a long hiatus during the summer.  210 should include plenty of review and if they do well with 210 they should be ready to move into 302.  They probably won't even need 301 since none of it is new material.

2.  I would move right into 302 but would break up the lessons since you have time.  Maybe do half each day but include well done conceptually based word problems from a different sources since as mentioned above CLE can be a little weak on word problems.  

3.  I would also incorporate some mathy games to reinforce concepts.  Since the kids are ahead right now this buys you time to roll in other things without overwhelming them.

4.  I don't know if you normally do this but I would continue with at least some math at least 3 days a week even in the summer so that skills/knowledge are not lost over time.  You can move really slowly, with short lessons, since they are a bit ahead.

5.  Since there is a good chance that at some point one or the other or both is going to hit an area where they need a lot more time to really "get it" I would keep moving through right now while things are making sense so you will HAVE extra time later on to slow down, add in something from other sources, etc. if they do hit snags.  And further down the line if they don't hit any snags but you don't want them moving into higher level math too soon there are zillions of supplemental materials out there that you can incorporate to stretch things out and bring in a wider range of skills/concepts before advancing into higher level math.  

6.  As for 301, I would run them through that only if you have to take a long hiatus and they seem to need a review of the 200s.  Really, those are usually used for students who have been off for summer break of several months and need a refresher.  Moving directly into the next level means they probably don't need it at all.  You can keep it as back up, though, just in case.

[forty-two]

I usually just start the next book, but sometimes, if we finished faster than expected, I use the "extra" time to do the math supplements I always mean to get to but never seem to find time for. But in general I don't match up any of our programs with the school year.

 

Wrt "pushing them along too quickly": on the one side, I've found that we slowed down quite a bit in upper elementary, once we hit serious fractions and multi-digit divisors and other problems that have a lot of moving parts, so to speak. It just takes longer to work the problems, and it has taken dd11 more time to master the concepts and procedures. All that adds up to more time spent on a given level. So moving along fast in the earlier years doesn't mean you'll keep that pace all the way through.

 

But on the other side, there's more to do in math, even arithmetic, than to just speed through a standard program. Finishing up your main program "early" gives you time to go deeper and farther, or to do more playing around with math, or to work on side topics.

[RootAnn]

I agree with so much of the above. In fact, math is the only thing we keep going on when we finish a book. We also always do math lightly in the summer.

 

I have one kid about 1/4 through her book, one 2/3 through, and two kids in the last couple weeks of their books. Some are ahead of grade level and some are behind. We go at the pace necessary for understanding- but, we keep going. Sometimes we have to stop, play games, add in another resource (like xtramath or Key to.. books), etc. We fly through the review at the beginning if that particular kid doesn't need it.

 

For all other subjects, when we finish what I have scheduled/ planned for the year, they are done with that subject until fall.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

We school more or less year-round, with our longest break being 4-6 weeks, so we "do the next thing" whenever we happen to finish a level.

 

In your case, I'd probably aim to start the next level after the scheduled week off.

[nixpix5]

We keep going but we school year round. If we took summers off I probably wouldn't do it this way.

[Hobbes]

When we were homeschooled (K-12), we got to be done with math for the year when we finished our book. It was a major perk. Often my brother did finish in March and was done until September. My mom says we never had big knowledge losses with such long breaks. But kids are different, so I'd tend to base it on whether or not a child tends to retain what he has learned.

 

We finish in May and don't pick up math again until September, which hasn't been a problem so far.

[Jackie]

None of our curriculum is lined up with school years or our breaks. We just move on as we’re ready.

[wendyroo]

For us, only history, science and literature line up with school years.  I plan ahead of time what I want to cover in those subjects during fall, spring and summer terms.  When we finish the plan, we stops those subjects (and often fill that time slot with a fun extra) until the beginning of the next term.

 

With all other subjects we just keep on keeping on.  When one math/handwriting/Spanish/composition/programming/spelling resource/level is completed then we just move onto the next one.

 

Wendy

[Crimson Wife]

I agree with the PP's suggestions of Singapore word problems. Beast Academy 2A might be another good thing to try.

[Clemsondana]

If we finish a book early enough that we can do a substantial part of the new material, we start the new book. If we finish with only a month or less left, we do something different. We've played math games, done Singapore's Challenging Word Problems, done Life of Fred as a review, etc. Sometimes with younger kids, I've done math facts drills - either doing simple worksheets where they try to beat their previous times or a freebie computer game. What I use depends on what that student needs - a challenge, practice with a specific skill like fractions, or reinforcement of facts.