Grade 5 math

[AB7525]

I need help deciding on a math program for next year (but will start probably in April, due to finishing 4th grade a bit early).

Background: this is our first year homeschooling, my daughter  was previously in public school until March 2020 (finished 3rd grade remotely in public school). She is a quick learner and in general excited about learning/school.

We are currently using BJU Math 4, although she has learned a ton more than she ever learned in public school, I'm not sure she's being challenged enough. She picks up on the conceps very quickly, and has never scored under a 95% on any test.

I keep hearing great things about Singapore Math, so was considering this next. But I see it only goes to 8th grade, what do you do after that?

What are your recommendations for us? TIA!

[Not_a_Number]

Have you looked at Beast Academy? It's puzzle-based and fun for kids who find the concepts easy. 

[AB7525]

Enigma6- thank you, this is just the advice I was looking for. I'm definitely not wanting to frustrate her or "punish" her for doing so well, to the point where she doesn't like math.

We are doing parent-led, I do almost everything in the teacher manual.

[AB7525]

I will also look into Beast Academy!

[Junie]

I agree that you should stick with what is working.  Welcome to homeschooling! It sounds like you're both doing great.

[Not_a_Number]

8 hours ago, AB7525 said:

I will also look into Beast Academy!

You could try it as a fun supplement and see how she likes it 🙂 . 

I agree with other posters that if she's content with how things are going and she's understanding things well, you can leave it 🙂 . I'd only worry if she seems bored!

[Clemsondana]

I often don't have curriculum advice - we only used a handful of things because if something was working we didn't change.  If my students are learning and are reasonably happy, we just keep going.  But, I can say that I wouldn't worry about what they'll be doing years in the future.  It's hard to predict what they will need and there could be new programs by then.  I've got a middle schooler and a high schooler that I've homeschooled since K and there have been some unanticipated things along the way.  If I had planned their current year's work 4 years ago, it would definitely not look like what they are actually doing.  🙂   It's great to have a general idea of when your student might do some things, but I wouldn't worry about being specific.  But, to answer your question, once students get to high school they can choose from any number of standard high school books or classes at whatever level they need - pre-algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, probability, etc.  You can get lots of advice on the high school board when the time comes.  

[Not_a_Number]

58 minutes ago, Clemsondana said:

 I've got a middle schooler and a high schooler that I've homeschooled since K and there have been some unanticipated things along the way.  If I had planned their current year's work 4 years ago, it would definitely not look like what they are actually doing.  🙂  

Out of curiosity, how did things change? 🙂 

[Clemsondana]

I wouldn't have anticipated that their progress would still be in spurts.  I wouldn't have expected that one would have needed so much more practice with fractions.  I wouldn't have anticipated that my AoPS kid would find some parts to be so frustrating and other parts to be trivial, or for them to find that Life of Fred explained things better so they wanted to continue doing 2 math programs even once the original reason that we were doing both had passed.  I wouldn't have anticipated how much better one's writing suddenly became.  They had issues with sequencing and struggled to put together essays with decent organization, but suddenly they are one of the better writers in their co-op class and could crank out papers for me reasonably quickly.  I wouldn't have anticipated that both would enjoy coding (one I expected to, but not the other).  I wouldn't have anticipated an interest in agriculture, such that the partially hands-on class I'm designing for younger will be part of a basis for a horticulture elective for older next year.  I wouldn't have anticipated which personality, behavior, and maturity quirks would still be with us, which would be outgrown, and which would have changed...all of which affect my school choices.  I wouldn't have anticipated that the kids' intense participation in Science Olympiad would be another reason that I"m still not doing tests, even in high school, and that it also doubled as SAT test prep so I didn't have to do that before my older took it in Dec.  I wouldn't have anticipated which classes I choose to outsource, which I choose to do at home, and why.  I wouldn't have anticipated that, while my younger mostly does academics for school, my older would read so much that I'd have to find increasingly non-school resources for them to learn much of anything for some subjects, which affects what I choose to have them do to fulfill those credits.  

When looking at elementary kids, I found that I could get an OK feel for whether they learned quickly, struggled, liked reading, liked to argue, etc.  But, those things don't stay as constant as I expected.  Periodically somebody has a rough year and progress slows to a crawl.  I've taught high schoolers long enough to know that sometimes a kid will lose their mind for a year - probably a combo of hormones, changing social situations, and an adjustment to high school work.  My kid who I thought would be one of those brainy head-in-the-clouds people who needs a minder has become incredibly organized, working ahead on schoolwork and managing a fairly complicated schedule with 2 sports, academic competition, and challenging courses.  My kid that was always so capable that I anticipated they might help BE the minder is currently suffering from difficulty in getting started with anything and suddenly requires a lot more intervention lest they fritter away the whole day...which prompts it's own teenish drama.  For this kid, extracurriculars provide the framework of 'schedule points that can't be moved' that help them to get other things done on a reasonable schedule.  All of these have affected what each kid can, at this stage, be expected to get done in a day and actually learn from it and whether the solution to a problem is more or less structure, more or less stuff on the calender, etc.  

[caffeineandbooks]

16 hours ago, AB7525 said:

We are currently using BJU Math 4, although she has learned a ton more than she ever learned in public school, I'm not sure she's being challenged enough. She picks up on the conceps very quickly, and has never scored under a 95% on any test.

Agreeing with other posters that BJU sounds like it's working, so keep it... but... @Not_a_Number's suggestion of Beast Academy, or else Singapore's Challenging Word Problems books, could be a great way to add in some challenge while keeping your regular program.  So you might do BJU four days a week, and then pick up Beast or CWP on the fifth day.  Don't worry about synching these to the topics you're doing in BJU - grab a level a semester or so behind where your DD is working and let them provide extra review as well as deeper thinking about math concepts.  Beast is the more "fun" of the two options, but both are good.

[Junie]

We "supplement" with Beast Academy -- sort of.  I bought many of the guides (comics) and the girls just read them as leisure reading.  And by the number of times the books are left on the floor or sofa, they seem to read through them pretty regularly.

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Junie said:

We "supplement" with Beast Academy -- sort of.  I bought many of the guides (comics) and the girls just read them as leisure reading.  And by the number of times the books are left on the floor or sofa, they seem to read through them pretty regularly.

Yeah, DD8 absolutely adores those comics. I'm not sure if she learns that much from them when she reads them for fun, but I kinda don't care. Sometimes, it's good to have things around that make math seem fun 🙂.