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how often do you do math?
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This is my first year doing CM and I’m wondering how often you do math each week? My son will be in 4th grade. Do you do math everyday and if so, how many days are new material and how many are review? I’m not using a CM boxed curriculum so I can’t reference any of those for instance.
We do math every day. We use Math U See and we don’t move on to the new concept until they understand and have the new math facts memorized. So we review A LOT. My oldest dd had a hard time getting the 2’s addition facts down, so we spent 2 mos on them! Some she had no trouble memorizing so spent less time. We add games to our daily math time so it’s not all worksheets.
HTH!
TaraWe do math daily. Ages 11, 10, and 7. The older two work for 30 minutes, the 7-yr-old for 15 or so. We use RightStart and they do one lesson a day (sometimes it’s spread out over 2 days). A day/lesson looks like this: 5 to 10 minutes review of previous concepts, 10 to 15 minutes new material, another 10 to 15 for a worksheet or game to practice what they learned that day.
Heather
Hmm…I guess this is hard for me to wrap my head around. For instance, we worked on times tables all last year but he still doesn’t have them memorized. Does that mean I should have not introduced any new material at all until all he had them all memorized? In that case, we would have been doing the same thing all year long. It just seems to me that we can review the same thing for weeks in some cases before it is memorized.
Then again, like I said, I don’t have any of those curriculums. The cost of buying those is pretty much my entire homeschool budget for the year:(
Hi Amypixie,
We have a 9 yr old who does about 20 mins math a day for 5 days. 4 days are lessons and 1 day a quiz or review. On top of the we play a math game each day. We use Teaching Textbooks 4 (our main resource), games, puzzles etc It’s all quit casual though.
Warmest wishes, Renelle
Math U See has you gain mastery before moving on. I don’t think all programs are like that. The way I understand it is if a child masters add/sub then he will learn mult/div much easier. Subtraction is coming easier for my 8 year old because she has memorized all her add facts (though we still have to review because she forgets them). We spent all last school year mastering addition facts. We are now starting our sub facts and she is in 3rd grade.
Also Math U See divides up into addition fact families I guess you would call them. First we add by 0’s. Then by 1’s. Then 2’s. Then add by 8’s, then 9’s. And so on. It gives you tips on how to remember them (skip count by 2’s, 8 wants to become a 10 so eats 2 from the number, and so on). So after your son would have his multiplication facts memorized then he’d move on to division facts. Yes sometimes it takes weeks or months to get some facts down. That’s why we played a lot of games to keep it fun!
Tara
Different programs and different approaches teach different things. For example, my older boys have been working on their times tables informally for almost 4 months (daily “tell me the multiples of 4 or 7 or whatever). We typically move on when they understand the concept, but don’t have it “mastered” because we review it often and keep playing games to reinforce the skill.
While they’ve been working on multiples, they’ve learned long addition and subtraction, time, money, etc.
There are several online, free math programs if you’re looking for something more “curriculum-like”. MEP is one that a lot of ladies here use.
We typically do math 5 days per week, ages 6, 7, & 15. Last year, we used Math-U-See.
So for those of you using mastery program, MUS for example, what if you complete the workbook pages and still have not mastered the concept? Do you move on to the next lesson of workbook pages or what do you supplement with? Also, with MUS, should they have all addition facts mastered after Alpha?
Thanks,
MelissaI’ve used MEP and loved it until my son got stuck….
Just wanted to mention that Khan academy is great if you need more practice on something and is free. I know a few people use it for their main curriculum – but I personally don’t like the videos to teach things… so my kids just play on it. (great when they choose math practice for play!)
We do math every day. I print extra worksheets from the MUS website for more practice of problems. We also play Rightstart math games and other typical board games that use math. I think they are supposed to have the addition and subtraction facts memorized after MUS Alpha. MUS uses the mastery approach versus the spiral approach. My experience with ds7 is very similar to that of thepinkballerina’s dd.
We do math every day, and, no, I don’t wait until they’ve mastered facts before moving on to something else. Now that “something else” may be a completely different concept such as telling time. I wouldn’t, for example, move on to multiplication if we’re really trying to nail down subtraction, but when they’re fairly comfortable, we’ll move on to the “concept” of multiplication. That’s what’s going on with my 8yo now. He’s working on using manipulatives to show what multiplication “is.” Then we’ll begin the process of memorizing.
Reading back over, that sounds clear as mud…
Wow, I had never heard of memorizing add or subraction facts at all. So the kids aren’t allowed to count it out on their fingers? My son has the mechanics of all four processes down very well but certainly not memorized. I’ve only thought of times tables in that regard.
Btw-what sort of inexpensive math games can you all recommend. My son hates workbooks and rote work so this is something we definitely need more of.
For math games – my main recommendation is the Right Start Math Card Games!
I’ve heard of a game called Timez Attack (free version – or get more for a cost) for times tables – but we aren’t there yet.
We are using some old Reader Rabbit Math games on our computer, and my kids also like Khan Academy…. it isn’t so much a game, but they like earning badges…
We also are using MUS. I think it is a pretty good program. I took my kids back to the basics so they could get all the concepts. I also am starting to use a book called ” Family Math” it has math games in for just about every math concept. I also have used Yahzee. 🙂 I saw some other games that looked neat. There was a blog about using a bean bag and numbers taped to the floor. You throw the bean bag and add or subtract the numbers on whatever it landed on. Same with multiplication, history facts, geography, english ect…. you can even make up your own board games and use peices from other games to play the same way. I used an old game. We just modified it. The circles all have the different game facts on them. Same game just a little switch of the facts.
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