math struggles...stick with CLE Algebra, or something else?

[caedmyn]

My 9th grader is doing CLE Algebra.  She is probably mildly dyslexic and struggles with school in general.  We’ve been considering putting her in a small Christian school which uses Saxon math, so I gave her the Saxon placement test today to see where she’d place.  She didn’t pass the placement test for Saxon 8/7, so she’d be put into 6th grade math.  I feel like either she doesn’t really understand math, or she’s not retaining what she learns well.  She’s been struggling with math since about 6th grade.  She used CLE for 5th and 6th, TT for 7th and part of 8th, then spent the second half of 8th grade going through Keys to...Fractions, Decimals, and Percents plus working through part of Khan academy pre-algebra.  She often doesn’t understand concepts initially and takes a while to grasp them.  She randomly forgets past concepts.  When I spend extra time with her working her through whatever she doesn’t understand/remember, she does ok and is able to move through the material and get decent test scores (mid-80s).  I don’t see it being realistic to put her in a school where she’d be placed three grades back in math, so I guess that’s off the table.  I don’t know whether to keep her in CLE Algebra and just know that it’s going to take a lot of extra teaching time to get her through it, or if she should move back to CLE pre-algebra or a different pre-algebra (Lial’s?).  She is not interested in anything math or science related for a career so she doesn’t need to get through more than 3 years of high school math (and I think one year may end up being consumer math).

[SilverMoon]

I have no experience with CLE math. If it's working for her, even if it's 1 step forward 2 steps back as you go, but still in a forward direction, I'd keep on keeping on. If you're not coping well with it (❤️) I would look for a tutor who could hang with her long term. A tutor would cost less than the private school. 

My oldest (very adhd, etc) seriously struggled with math. He could demonstrate proficiency one day and act truly gobsmacked as if he'd never seen it in his life the next. He ended up getting through high school math with Math-U-See AND a personal tutor (retired STEM professor).  His final year was at a small charter school where they called it alg 2.a and he passed by the skin of his teeth. From what I could tell they didn't really take him much further than the tutor did. 

If you're looking for other options, MUS focuses on one new topic a week. The Extra Practice book has 3-4 worksheets on the new concept, and the student workbook has a few mixed pages with about half the problems being the new concept and half being review of previous topics. And there's a short video for each lesson. I was running on an older set so they may be updated with different names by now. DS did every problem in every book, repeating if needed, or his tutor would make up extra problems on the fly. 

Edited October 7, 2020 by SilverMoon

[kristin0713]

My DD is doing CLE Algebra 1 right now.  I switched her in 7th grade to CLE so she completed the 700 and 800 levels first.  There is no way she would be able to do this course without having completed those levels.  All of the repetition and review of concepts thoroughly prepared her for this course.  I would say to either start her at 700 and move through it at a more accelerated pace or choose another pre-algebra before algebra 1. 

[frogger]

4 hours ago, caedmyn said:

My 9th grader is doing CLE Algebra.  She is probably mildly dyslexic and struggles with school in general.  We’ve been considering putting her in a small Christian school which uses Saxon math, so I gave her the Saxon placement test today to see where she’d place.  She didn’t pass the placement test for Saxon 8/7, so she’d be put into 6th grade math.  I feel like either she doesn’t really understand math, or she’s not retaining what she learns well.  She’s been struggling with math since about 6th grade.  She used CLE for 5th and 6th, TT for 7th and part of 8th, then spent the second half of 8th grade going through Keys to...Fractions, Decimals, and Percents plus working through part of Khan academy pre-algebra.  She often doesn’t understand concepts initially and takes a while to grasp them.  She randomly forgets past concepts.  When I spend extra time with her working her through whatever she doesn’t understand/remember, she does ok and is able to move through the material and get decent test scores (mid-80s).  I don’t see it being realistic to put her in a school where she’d be placed three grades back in math, so I guess that’s off the table.  I don’t know whether to keep her in CLE Algebra and just know that it’s going to take a lot of extra teaching time to get her through it, or if she should move back to CLE pre-algebra or a different pre-algebra (Lial’s?).  She is not interested in anything math or science related for a career so she doesn’t need to get through more than 3 years of high school math (and I think one year may end up being consumer math).

Is her Father working with her everyday?  I know you really don't have time to sit everyday with her. I swear I had to drag child 2 through 3 years of math by her pinky toe. If that is the case, it probably depends on what he is able to explain and supplement. 

 

I don't know much about CLE so I can't answer your question other than two points I learned from my own frustrations. Take them or leave them as appropriate. 🙂 

Switching often just prolongs the agony although in this case jumping back to the appropriate level might be the right thing to do but I'm trying my best to switch as little as possible in the future. The temptation is always strong though because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The problem was no curriculum was going to make said child love math and became a math whiz. 

MUS is probably the simplest for someone with learning disabilities to follow.  The format is super easy. If you can sit with them for page one or at least a few problems the rest of the week is review (although I typically sat in for those too because math was that frustrating to said child. ) The sheets are clean.  You move forward in small increments.  You do cover less in a year than most math curriculums so be aware of that but it sounds like you aren't prepping said child to head off to engineering school so it might be a good fit. 

 

I also know you would really love to share the load with a school. Is the small Christian school the only one in your area you are willing to look at? Sometimes public schools have more resources for kids, especially if she had an IEP. It depends on the your location, social issues, etc. I understand it may not be an option. Just a thought. 

 

[Mona]

You might want to take a look at Learn Math Fast  You could use volume 3 which is their pre-algebra book to get her up to speed and then give CLE another try. Volume 3 is about 30 lessons, so it wouldn’t take long to get through it. If you like LMF, then volume 5 is their Algebra 1 book. It is written in simple, easy to follow steps to the student. The lessons are short and to the point and followed by a worksheet. The worksheets can be printed off the website once you have the code from the book, so the book could be considered a non-consumable. There are sample lessons on the website. 

[Another Lynn]

I would be tempted to put her in Saxon 87 even if she didn't pass the placement test for it.  Maybe the summer break and the couple months in algebra have her rusty on arithmetic.  I have a dc who is not mathy who still punches 28 divided by 2 in the calculator even though she's doing well enough in upper maths.  Saxon has enough review that even if she's a little rusty at first, it will help her solidify pre-algebra.  Then she will be more likely to place into algebra at the private school next year.  Yes, I know it's a little behind.  I have one who did algebra 1 in 10th, geometry in 11th and algebra 2 in 12th.  It's okay.    

[Lecka]

Maybe she could review the things she missed on the placement test and take it again.  
 

[sbgrace]

I switched half way through CLE Algebra (with a child who completed CLE 5-8 prior this). CLE Algebra worked well for his brother, but it was clearly not working for him. He wasn't retaining, and lessons were taking him way too long. We switched to Lial's. The plus side of Lial's was that we could slow down and do partial lessons each day. It worked I suppose, but I had to drag him through. It was better than CLE for him, but felt like extremely long misery.

I switched to Math U See Geometry. He's now doing Math-U-See Algebra 2. We're sticking with MUS for him. The lessons are short and he seems to retain. It's not misery.  I hope to get through their Pre-calc. I wish I had done it for Algebra 1 in retrospect.  I don't think the slog through Lials was worth it in terms of retention. 

Edited October 10, 2020 by sbgrace