hsingscrapper Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I'm sitting here plugging along with everything we have. As we're working through the math book with ds9, I notice that the explanations which used to help him immensely are now only serving to confuse him. We're using Making Math Meaningful Level 4 and it seems to have "stopped working" for him. Has anyone else ever felt like this about a curriculum? I'm at a loss as to what to do. He isn't anywhere near ready to make use of the 5th grade Abeka math we have upstairs in our storage box and I've only got from page 158 to the end of an older version of Arithmetic 4. Any ideas? I feel so at a loss and I'm afraid of trying to piece together worksheets because I don't want to confuse him. I'm almost to the point of tears of frustration here. I posted a few days ago trying to find a scope and sequence and this is why. I struggled with math as a child and don't want him to experience the same frustration if I can prevent any part of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) I'd back off and do some fun and unrelated maths games for a week or two. Coming back to it fresh might make all the difference. Best wishes Laura Edited February 17, 2009 by Laura Corin I misspelled my own name Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I've certainly made a few curriculum choices that I have been less than pleased with. If you are confident in your math skills then you could tweak what you have. You could use the table of contents as a guide and just teach the work yourself without using the text's explanations, then you could assign problems from the text or make up your own. I know there are some free online math curriculums (I've seen them mentioned on these forums) so you might look at those if you don't want to work through what you already have. If you network with other HSers in your community you may be able to borrow books from them to make due for the remainder of this school year. I also see used math texts at the Goodwill all the time as well as in used book stores. I have seen them priced at just 1.00 in a specific used book store that sells all hardbacks for just 1.00 each. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) ...I try to teach the curriculum instead of the child, for some reason that seems valid at the time but that I later recognized as stupid. Two examples leap to mind: Harcourt California Math--I thought that this program was perfect for DD. It prepares for the CA state standards, which converge on Algebra in 8th grade as normal, and weaves algebra concepts through the years. It has continuous mixed review, although not very much of it, and it teaches a concept and then practices it in many, many ways, playing with it in a fair amount of depth. And, BTW, why shouldn't DD be able to use this book that all the local schools use? She really 'ought' to be able to do this. Ha. She couldn't. I assigned too many problems. It didn't have enough review for her. Math was torture. I had to swallow my pride, administer the Saxon placement test, set her back 1 1/2 years in Saxon, and start her from there. But guess what? She has actually learned from Saxon. With HCA I think she was going backwards. Rod and Staff third grade grammar--Of COURSE DD should be able to do this, all in writing, in the third grade. Why WOULDN'T she be able to do this then? If those Mennonite/Amish kids can do it, why not DD? Well, I don't know why not, but it was very hard for her. It wasn't teaching her anything. I had to back off and take another approach. We did get back to Rod and Staff eventually, but at a 'prior year' level, and now she is pretty strong in grammar. I had to make myself back off, but it worked out OK in the end. Edited February 17, 2009 by Carol in Cal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 My 5 yo Dd finished her math book early and I didn't want to start her in the 1st grade book until fall so we have been printing pages from online sites and it's working wonderful and free is nice! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn of ns Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 MathUSee. I'm sure it's great for some but I found it overwhelming in terms of prep and went back to Singapore and Miquon with my tail tucked between my legs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaC Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 This is a free web site that might help fill in or could be used as added practice, http://www.aaamath.com/ Look on top and you will see grade levels. Click on the grade you want then you will see topics listed scroll down and you will see lessons click what you want and you will find practice sessions and under that you will find games. Nice site and we have used it for years, hope it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I've made curriculum decisions, particularly in math, that didn't work for us... Miquon (I don't get it), Math-U-See (hmmm, two toddlers, lots of manipulatives, not a great combination). My oldest homeschooler is in 3rd grade. If your current program isn't working for him and you're looking to bridge the gap until his skills match up with Abeka 5, Math Mammoth has great single-topic books. We use the program for our whole math curriculum, but the books can be used seperately, as well. I think every book in the blue series is under $5, and the explanations are concise and well written. You can print off worksheets from the site if you need extra practice, and Maria Miller, the author, is very prompt at answering questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Wisc Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Well, if you were not feeling so sad, I'd put a LOL emoticon after that question. I purchased Alg II Chalkdust for my son...and decided I'd go ahead and buy Alg I for my other son (how many hundreds of dollars was that?). Fast forward a few months. #1 son LOVES chalkdust. #2 is ready to do chapter 3 a 3rd time...and so I just spent another bundle of money on another math program for him because I was not willing to make him redo a redo that just didn't work for him. I have dozens of duplicates of materials--math, composition, spelling, literature, science...because I kept hoping one of them would work. And to be truthful? Eventually I did find things that worked, and we then moved ahead again. My middle child (the one loving Chalkdust) was so math phobic I didn't think we would ever get to Algebra no less Algebra II. This year (he's 18) he says he really is enjoying math. For a kid who took 3 years to learn his multiplication tables, this is significant....and he's doing straight A's. :grouphug: Homeschooling is hard work--blood, sweat, and tears. I'm on the downhill side of this and it is SO REWARDING. Keep on keepin' on. Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 out to be wonderful, after initial resistance. Backing off, waiting and trying again was all that was needed. One was OPGTR, one, Rightstart math. OTOH, I've tried CW twice and quit twice. Time to shelve that one, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Sounds like he needs a different presentation of the material. It happens to everyone. I am not great with math so I choose MUS because of the dvd for the teachers. I am not saying that MUS is the answer for you but you may just need to change things a bit. What concepts is he struggling with? It is easier to know what to recommend if we know what the problems are. We've started on multiplication and division but the way it's presented just seems to confuse him. I started to use the mindsprinting sheets for the normal grade level but that just became too repetitive for him and he started to rebel so then we tried the ones for the state standards that, ironically, is fractions and he went nutzoid and absolutely fell in love with doing fractions until...we got to reducing them. I'm not sure where to go next with everything. It's this tendency of mine to bounce around thinking that he's missing something and that we have to go over it that makes worksheets a bad idea for us, I think. I could be wrong. I wish there was a cut and dried "this is the order to cover math in" type s&s. I've got way more confidence in teaching math when I have a "road map". Without a road map, I'm like Moses in the desert: lost and wandering for days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Yes - Math U See. The scope and sequence were way too nontraditional for me. I felt like my DD had some huge gaps that we had to fix, and we only went through Alpha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I got ready to use a chemistry book I'd purchased for DS (11), when DH pointed out that he really needed a grounding in materials science. sigh. So I went back and wrote my own pre-chemistry materials curriculum. I hope to be able to use the books I bought, but reading the stuff here makes me want to go buy RealScience 4 Kids! Too many choices! Too much good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hmmm...if he's not mathematically inclined then he may not be ready for more abstract mathematical concepts that require him to think logically. I would implement some math games (Yahtzee would encourage multiplication, for example). Do you have manipulatives? Are you making illustrations of the concepts that are presented? Maybe it is time to take a breather of sorts and come back to these concepts in a few months' time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 We had one year in which my son and I tried and rejected, I think, three math plans. I ended up with some cute, colorful, short workbooks from Barnes & Noble with which we finished out the year. It didn't seem to do too much harm. Then there was the year I became convinced that, because my daughter was doing high school work, it was appropriate to spend several hundred dollars on tuition and texts for two distance learning courses. She hated and struggled with both. (And you have to know something about my kid to know just how unusual and telling that was.) I kept trying to encourage her to plug away with them . . . until we finally were forced to admit defeat shortly after the deadline for withdrawl and return of the materials passed. We replaced the failed foreign language course with a free option through Florida Virtual School, and I ended up spending yet more money on a different math text. So, yes, I've certainly been there. If it helps at all, here's the information from the World Book's "Typical Course of Study" regarding 4th grade math: * Reading and writing numbers * Roman numerals to C * Prime numbers less than 100 * Prime factoring * Numeration systems * Subsets * Decimal and fraction equivalents * Addition and subtraction facts to 7 places * Multiplication and division facts to 144 * 1-, 2-, and 3-digit multiplication problems * 2- and 3-digit dividend, 1-digit divisor problems * Meaning of mixed numbers * Finding simple averages * Geometric concepts * Customary and metric measurement * Time to the second * Problem-solving methods * Charts and graphs I would guess you could find enough worksheets available for free online to cover any of these things you haven't already checked off with your current curriculum. When mine were younger, I made frequent use of these websites: http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/index.html http://www.math.com/ I hope you figure out something that works for your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Is it possible that he's just at a plateau for a bit and needs to work with where he is? By that I mean working on things like speed or exploring the logical limits of the concepts he understands well. We have always used Saxon Math. But when we travel, I'm unwilling to lug those books around. So I have had sets of workbooks (Singapore's Challenging Word Problems are my favorites) that we use when we're on a trip. I like doing this because it isn't introducing something completely new, but it requires using all the skills that they have to figure out the problems. We also used to do Dad Math. DH would make fact sheets with crazy problems on them. If we were working on addition with carrying then the problem would be adding two 8 digit numbers. If it was multiplication, then it would be a 7 digit times a 4 digit. There weren't necessarily a lot of them, but you had to be sharp. Sometimes working on increasing speed with fact sheets pays off by making the calculation go easier and giving some breathing room for him to think about the logic required for the problem. Sometimes kids (I think especially boys) just need a bit of time to let their brain catch up and internalize what they have learned. Sometimes I have also needed to take several days to teach a concept. I'd explain it one way and get blank looks. I'd explain it another way and they'd work a few problems. Over and over and over. I think it took over a week for what was happening with one operation of fractions to really sink in. But by the end, they understood what was happening. (And importantly, so did I. I understood the math problems and wasn't just parroting the method). So if there is a particular concept that is a stumbling block, you might try just sticking with that concept for a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I regret using Saxon math with my older son. I should have switched after the first year we used it. Now when I realize that something isn't working I try to isolate what it is about it that is the problem and then either modify that aspect of it or look for something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 I don't know if it's a plateau or not. For those who don't know, the teacher's end of Making Math Meaningful is scripted. I used to read the script and previously frustrating concepts became easy. Now I just get a blank stare and then a look like the world is about to come crashing down accompanied by "I don't get it, Mom." This is followed by either the verge of tears or another blank stare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yes, I have regretted lots of curriculum choices. Even though we are 'very' relaxed schoolers, I love to buy curriculum, some of it works for my kids, some doesn't. I would not hesitate to scrap a particular textbook or program. If you like the program and want to keep it, Laura's advice looks very reasonable. Back off, have fun, come back refreshed. I'd back off and do some fun and unrelated maths games for a week or two. Coming back to it fresh might make all the difference. Best wishes Laura You could also just follow the table of contents and teach the concepts with your own explanations or worksheets off the net or something. There were many times my girls did not understand the first explanation of something and I would re-think it and try again another way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 With my phonics tutoring, algebra tutoring, and working with my daughter trying to teach a math-facts challenged child math facts (she gets puzzle type math!), I've found that if you can explain a concept several different ways, you're more likely to get rid of that blank stare. (Repetition also helps, especially with math facts and the sounds of the letters and letter teams in phonics.) Before teaching my daughter, I wouldn't have thought that that would be the case for simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In fact, I didn't even think that there was more than one way to explain them, or that they even warranted much of an explanation! We switched from MUS to Singapore, and the several different ways they explain things has been very helpful for her. If you just buy the Singapore workbook or the Intensive Practice book or borrow one, you should be able to figure it out, you can google and/or ask here if there's something you can't figure out without the textbook or the guide. One workbook is relatively inexpensive. You might also want to try reading Liping Ma's "Knowing and Teaching elementary math." While it only has examples of teaching a few specific concepts, it really explained them well and shows how teaching things different ways can be done and how it is useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 the curriculum I have bought and regretted are . math -U-see. it really turned my math minded kids off math. esp the whole year of fractions. spelling power , much too parent intensive. LEM an Australian phonics program, what a nightmare. DK history of the world, what a waste of $60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamrachelle Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yep. The American Literature Series for kindergarten. Ugh. It's still sitting on my shelf unused. Anyone want it??:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Abeka Arithmetic 6. *sigh* ....we've been trying to find a good math program for dd12, and this caught her eye at one of the "motel meetings" ...she was attracted to the bright & colourful pages & pictures, liked how it looked like a "normal math book" for the most part (she was in ps for a few years - that's where that came from), etc....I was happy to find her excited about math - until we actually started using it. Blech. Don't like it at all. Also discovered that there were a lot of things that it was assumed she already knew, but she doesn't yet. We've pretty much set it aside and are working with the Keys To series for now. (although that isn't ideal because there are *other* math concepts that she needs work with that are not in that series) She's not gung ho with that either. I need a fun, hands on type of math program - and everyone always says MUS when I say that...been there, nope. She hated it. I need a bright & colourful text with all sorts of manipulatives and projects and games. Does it exist? :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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