Which math to remediate 5th grader?

[ByGrace3]

I think I am down to the wire on curriculum decisions for next year. I have a couple of bonus kids that have joined our family and one will be in 5th grade. She has the basics down so not way behind but definitely still struggling. I will be adding a math circle time for both 5th graders to work on math facts, mental math etc. However, I need a math curriculum for her-- I think I am leaning towards CLE or Rod and Staff 5th grade. Do either of these have sufficient review that we could start at the beginning, take as long as we need and progress from there? I considered Saxon 5/4 but Saxon looks so tedious to me. I have all the Math Mammoth grades but when I did the end of year tests (grades 1-4) with her in the spring-- the mental math and word problems practically reduced her to tears. She has a lot going on right now and math is not at the top of the list of needing her emotional energy. So I need something that will review all operations, give a firm foundation and not leave her behind, but not stretch her to the max either. Will R&S or CLE do that? Something else? At this point I am not sure of her math struggles are learning issues related or lack of opportunity -- so I want something that will give her the opportunity to learn without overwhelming her. Ideas?

[Paige]

I like CLE for remediation. I don't know anything about R&S but CLE is so easy to accelerate as needed or practice certain skills over and over as long as necessary. MM was a nightmare for remediation for us. I love it for kids who get it, but for someone who needs a little more spiral review it is not a good fit. CLE = happy math; MM=😭

[egao_gakari]

Saxon is without question tedious. However, my kid who needed some remediation preferred it over the other options we tried first (those being Life of Fred because it looked fun, and Khan Academy). If the other people's suggestions here don't work for you, perhaps you could use it, but break some of the Saxon "rules?" For example divide each lesson over 3 days, do the mental math on day 1, the lesson and practices on day 2, and the problem set on Day 3? Maybe even dividing the problem set over two days doing the odd problems on day 3 and the even problems on day 4. Just a thought 🙂 

[Zoo Keeper]

43 minutes ago, mms said:

R&S would be a good fit but it does not have the spiral review built in.

R&S does have spiral in the lessons, and in the class time drill in the TM's.  The chapters are are topical (chapter on measurement, chapter on fractions, etc.), but there is review of previous topics built into each lesson.  Not the same flavor of Saxon, but the review is there.

OP, R&S is gentle and I think it could be a good choice to not overwhelm either of you as your student gains speed. 

[bensonduck]

R&S is a good choice. In each lesson there is  some review of prior concepts. (In a lesson on fractions, there might be a row of multiplication problems to solve, for example.) It is a textbook, though, so she would need to copy problems if you do it as written. Where CLE is a workbook and avoids the copying issue. (When I used R&S 4, I would copy the problem in pen into my son’s composition book, hand it to him to solve, and he would hand it back to me to check and then write the next one.  So there are ways around it in any event.)

Don’t skip the lesson time in R&S - before you hand them the assignment, you’re supposed to go over some stuff together first (specified in the teachers manual, it’s different for each lesson). For my son, this was super important, not only for review of old stuff but also so I could make sure he understood the new concept before he practiced it.

[Janeway]

This might surprise you, but I used Singapore Math to remediate my older child at this age. It is not too redundant. I think I had to start with 3A or 3B. We were able to move quickly through the books. I did not assign the extra reviews from the textbook but did from the workbook. I may be completely wrong in how I am stating this, but I think we did levels 3B-5A in one year and the rest the next year. But I may have started with 3A. Do the placement exams and back up as far as you need. The lack of too much repetition made it perfect for remediating. By this I mean, programs like Saxon and Horizons have so much review in every lesson that doing two lessons a day would be way too much review for one day. Singapore was perfect in that it had review, but I was able to skip the big review pages and keep moving when he got it and our purpose was remediating.

 

Edited to clarify: I am referencing the US edition or primary edition. Those get to the point and do a great job of teaching the whys and hows. 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Janeway

[kristin0713]

If I could do it all over again for my daughter, I would have done CLE.  It introduces a very small amount of something new and does lots of review everyday.  I put her in CLE in 7th grade but I wish I had done it sooner. 

[ElizabethB]

On 7/16/2020 at 11:27 AM, Janeway said:

This might surprise you, but I used Singapore Math to remediate my older child at this age. It is not too redundant. I think I had to start with 3A or 3B. We were able to move quickly through the books. I did not assign the extra reviews from the textbook but did from the workbook. I may be completely wrong in how I am stating this, but I think we did levels 3B-5A in one year and the rest the next year. But I may have started with 3A. Do the placement exams and back up as far as you need. The lack of too much repetition made it perfect for remediating. By this I mean, programs like Saxon and Horizons have so much review in every lesson that doing two lessons a day would be way too much review for one day. Singapore was perfect in that it had review, but I was able to skip the big review pages and keep moving when he got it and our purpose was remediating.

 

I've used Singapore with friends' kids that way, since it is mastery based it is easy to skip sections they know.

CLE does have a lot of review, but if there are any subjects that need more than a little review, you could try Singapore.  You could also get Math Mammoth, you can buy by topic or get a whole bunch for reasonable and just print what you need.  She has placement tests, too.

https://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/placement_tests.php

[ByGrace3]

Thanks everyone! I went ahead and purchased CLE 5. Ultimately a workbook and spiral won out. I do have the Math Mammoth downloads so I will probably include some of that to try to help with some math concepts that are missing and help her better understand mental math.

[umsami]

I used CLE for one of my kids who I pulled at the start of 3rd grade but who needed help.  Took the placement test, and actually put him in 2nd grade CLE like recommended.  Think we started around the 205 Light Unit? Anyway, it worked very well.  When he took a standardized test (MAP) he placed in 4th grade math, even though we had just finished the second grade of CLE.  This kid needs spiral. Plus, there was a sense of accomplishment with each light unit being completed. 

Edited July 19, 2020 by umsami

[ssavings]

I'd been leaning toward R&S to remediate my bonus homeschooler for next year (rising 6th grade) in math. 

She struggled a lot with some areas of R&S's 4th grade placement test, so I'm thinking of starting her there. 

 

[ktgrok]

On 7/14/2020 at 11:24 AM, ByGrace3 said:

. She has a lot going on right now and math is not at the top of the list of needing her emotional energy. So I need something that will review all operations, give a firm foundation and not leave her behind, but not stretch her to the max either. 

For that I would do Teaching Textbooks, for sure. The program's big critique is it doesn't push hard so perfect for her. It starts each year from the very beginning - as in my daughter started level 6 today and it reviewed what a digit was. It's also very ...cheerful? They get applause when they get a question right, there is  cheerful little "buddy" there to cheer them on etc. And low stress compared to a lot of online programs because they can get a "hint" every so often if they need it, and can try again if they get it wrong (the grade book will show you if they had to try again). 

And there is a ton of review...the first problems each day are on the new material, but the rest are review, and it shows you what lesson the material was introduced in so you can go back and watch the lecture if they forgot how to do it, and the hint wasn't enough help. 

It also will show how to solve each problem, all the way, so if they get it wrong they watch that, and if they get it right, but were hesitant they can watch as well. 

Both my kids really enjoy it. (I do have both of them working a grade level ahead, but they find math very easy - one doesn't like it very much, but both find it easy to pick up on. In your situation grade level would be fine)

There is a free trial where you have access to the first 15 lessons to try it out. 

[ElizabethB]

I would also make sure math facts are solid.  I like the math honeycomb, I do a few rows at at time, after they are mastered, add another row or two. Goal is to be able to do it in 60 seconds.  You say it fast, without saying multiply or times: "Two Twos are 4."

http://alonganderson.blogspot.com/2013/03/math-activity-sixty-second-sweep.html

[Rosepetal]

On 7/18/2020 at 7:03 PM, square_25 said:

Post here if you need help with any missing concepts :-). 

How many pages does your child do each day? What does CLE Math schedule looks like?  How many pages and lessons are in each light unit? Is CLE Math a rigorous curriculum for a strong foundation leading up to high school Math? Can a secular family omit the religious content of the Math course?

Edited July 28, 2020 by Rosepetal