Remedial Math Curriculum for 10 Year Old?

[Leslie B]

I am new to homeschooling this year and trying to pick a curriculum for my 10 year old.  She reads on a high school level but has resisted all math taught to her previously in school.  She shuts off and very early on thought that she should already know everything and didn't want to be instructed or taught.  She's over that now, but very behind.  She was at "grade level" math in traditional school last year, but she is easily confused by monetary trades in Monopoly and has very little addition/subtraction memorized, and virtually no multiplication.  Her class last year started pre-algebra, and she loved that and took to it easily.  What curriculum should I use to remediate her basic math skills and understanding?  I'd be completely willing to do both a remediation and (for fun and confidence for her) pre-algebra course as well, but I'm overwhelmed on this point!  I'm assuming she needs a lot of basic procedural and mastery oriented math, but even there I'm lost.  I appreciate all suggestions!  -Leslie

[HomeAgain]

Well, I think I would go with one of three choices:

MEP-start at year 1 to get the feel of it and then power through year 4.  It will start out being too easy but by mid-year 2 she may start to struggle.  It is heavy on number manipulation and understanding how numbers work.

AIM by Math U See - this is a remedial program meant to focus solely on strategies and comprehension of math skills.

Math Facts That Stick by Kate Snow - run through all four, doing a few minutes a day, and then a different math program.

 

If you wanted to add in something else, I think Hands On Equations balances all of these out nicely.  It's a beginning algebra program that goes through concepts with blocks, a balance scale, and figures.  I end up using the balance scale page a LOT in beginning math to teach the concept of equal, which is a harder concept for kids to get sometimes.

[Rosie_0801]

CSMP is another option. It is very different to other programs because it teaches non-verbally. I used many other products alongside it with my daughter, but she wouldn't have learned maths at all without CSMP.

We used Kate Snow's early work to get some number sense going, and board games like Sum Swamp to keep them in use, MEP for drill and problem solving, and Hands on Equations for more arithmetic work in a way that feels less boring to the student.

Some dyscalculic kids do better sticking to one method. Mine found her sweet spot somewhere in the middle of the 10 different products we used. 

[ScoutTN]

You might use placement tests from a couple different curricula to identify her areas of relative strength and weakness. These are usually free and available to download.

Edited August 20, 2022 by ScoutTN

[ikslo]

I would do some placement tests as well, noting how long it takes her. You say she was at grade level in school, so is it possible she has slow processing speed? My son was never good at spitting out answers when verbally quizzed or during games when he felt pressure to answer immediately, but was fine when working his math problems or during untimed tests. He “knew” the material but needed the extra time. It came across as him not having his multiplication tables “memorized.”  He got better at spitting out the rote tables quickly over time, but there is still a lag when solving an actual problem. 

[EKS]

I used Math U See to remediate this sort of thing.  I gave my son the placement test when he was halfway through 6th grade math in another program and he placed into Beta (2nd grade).  So that's where we started.  He did Beta-Zeta (2nd-6th grade) in six months.  It gave him an excellent foundation in arithmetic.  MUS is good for this because it is easy to accelerate through the parts your student already knows.  That said, it is expensive.

[daijobu]

I've been hearing that math facts have been neglected in regular schools.  I would make it a priority to get those addition/subtraction/multiplication facts memorized.  Homemade flashcards are great for this, but you can probably find apps or websites that will do the job.  

Not knowing your math facts is going to make pre-algebra a painful experience.  

[Leslie B]

Wow, this is a great forum!  Thank you everyone for your helpful answers.  I'm going to look into all these programs this weekend.  And, yes, ikslo, it is completely ridiculous that she was at grade-level in school but has to count on her fingers to make Monopoly change or add up her score in Kingdomino.  daijobu is completely correct that math facts don't seem to be a priority in schools.  Thank you, thank you again for your help!

[Green Bean]

Math Mammoth has topic specific books with no grade levels. Also, the full curriculum might interest you. She has placement tests, as well. Dig around.

https://www.mathmammoth.com/books

 

I like BJU Math 4th editions, personally. Easy to teach, clear, mastery, expensive, but worth the cost for us. I order through a Homeworks consultant or find materials used at my local home school store. They do not have a placement test so poke around the table of contents for the grade you are interested in. 10 yrs old is generally 5th grade.

This is the link to BJU's school site where you can find samples.

https://www.bjupress.com/

https://www.bjupresshomeschool.com/content/homeworks

That one is the consultant home page from the BJU homeschool site.

HTH!

[Malam]

On 8/19/2022 at 10:09 PM, Leslie B said:

I am new to homeschooling this year and trying to pick a curriculum for my 10 year old.  She reads on a high school level but has resisted all math taught to her previously in school.  She shuts off and very early on thought that she should already know everything and didn't want to be instructed or taught.  She's over that now, but very behind.  She was at "grade level" math in traditional school last year, but she is easily confused by monetary trades in Monopoly and has very little addition/subtraction memorized, and virtually no multiplication.  Her class last year started pre-algebra, and she loved that and took to it easily.  What curriculum should I use to remediate her basic math skills and understanding?  I'd be completely willing to do both a remediation and (for fun and confidence for her) pre-algebra course as well, but I'm overwhelmed on this point!  I'm assuming she needs a lot of basic procedural and mastery oriented math, but even there I'm lost.  I appreciate all suggestions!  -Leslie

Check out this webpage for placement tests: https://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/placement_tests

Once you've gotten her to take the relevant test(s), you can have a better idea of her strengths and weaknesses to report back with.

If she's fine in prealgebra, then it seems the only issue is with math facts. Kate Snow is great, particularly because many of the methods don't scream "school". Another idea could be to teach her how to fill out a multiplication graph (framed as an assignment, not a lesson) and have her repeat it every day. She can learn to save time by ignoring everything below the diagonal due to commutativity, and using skip counting for the rest. As she memorizes the easy multiples, she can leave them out and focus on the ones that are harder to remember.

You might want to take a look at this or it's addition/subtraction equivalent

On 8/20/2022 at 7:51 AM, Rosie_0801 said:

CSMP is another option. It is very different to other programs because it teaches non-verbally

Wouldn't that be a problem for this verbal child?

[Rosie_0801]

3 hours ago, Malam said:

Wouldn't that be a problem for this verbal child?

I don't know. I haven't met them. 
I don't mean that the lesson should be done without using a spoken language, I mean that they teach using visual strategies that rely on non-verbal intelligence. At that age, my daughter's non-verbal intelligence was six years above her verbal intelligence, though she was also reading above age level. Her stealth dyslexia manifested in other ways.

Using a program vastly different to what the OP's daughter is used to is a good strategy for helping her brain remember it doesn't know the content. It's common for bright kids with learning difficulties to get bored of one method before they've learned the content, and not realise. Also, for my girl, translating maths from one format to another, eg the CSMP dot and string pictures or mini computer lessons (not actual computers, just bits of paper) to standard notation or vice versa, really strengthened her foundations. That probably did more for her than the actual computation.

[ElizabethB]

The flash master app is free and good for math facts.

https://flashmaster.com

For multiplication, I also like the 60 second sweep. Have one with answers, one without. Keep the with answers face down, look up any facts you can't answer in one second. For example, for 4 you say "two 2's", for 12 you say "two 6's, three 4's." (12 is 2 x 6 and 3 x 4) but, you don't say times so you can say and think them fast. After you master a row, go back and do the whole table up to that row for a few days, then do the next row that has any facts take less than a second to answer.

https://sunnybraeavenueelementary.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/60-second-sweep.pdf

The thing about the 60 second sweep is that it's also really good for finding factors when they have to do quadratic equations for Algebra.

It won't have enough repetition, but after building up facts, Lial's basic college math is good for building up confidence for those behind in math, it has college in the title but is remedial. The 9th edition is good. https://www.amazon.com/Basic-College-Mathematics-Margaret-Lial/dp/0321825535/ref=sr_1_1?crid=P3UGT283SQ68&keywords=basic+college+mathematics+lial&qid=1661292948&sprefix=lial+basic%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-1

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by ElizabethB

[Kezia]

My son was in public through 3rd grade and his math facts were not fast. They used gaming to work on facts in school. May work great for some kids but I felt my son was slow and was not drilled enough in public school. 
 

I bought some Rod and Staff drill books (grades 4-6) as well as blackline masters (maybe that is what it was called.) 100 facts, either addition, subtraction, multiplication or division that are to be timed. I timed him though from zero instead of just giving him 2 minutes to complete it and challenged him to beat his last time. Some we did orally, some he had to write out but I still get those out periodically and he is in 6th now.

[Momto6inIN]

Seconding Math Mammoth

And work on math facts pronto. We paid for a subscription to Time4MathFacts and it was worth it. It got mine to practice willingly and they learned fast!