Math Woes

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  • MissusLeata
    Participant

    Each of my children are doing a different math program. My 6th grader is using Saxon and enjoying it, but I set a timer and he is done when it goes off and then just goes on to the next lesson the next day. Since there is so much review, this is working well for him.

    My 4th grader is using Study Time Math. The lessons are HUGE. There is lots of review and I try to do the same thing, but he ends up with so much left undone, I feel like it’s a problem.

    2nd grader is using CLE. Again….3-5 page lessons. When I set the timer for 20 minutes, he may or may not finish a lesson.

    1st grader is using School Aide math. 2 and 3 pages a day. I let her skip a LOT of it since there is so much review and I think she is doing great on math. But, again, I feel like I’m being wasteful somehow when they have so many blank spots in their books.

    Should I just do the timer and then call it done?

    Besides MUS, what math programs have more age appropriate lesson lengths? I’m wondering if I should make an adjustment, especially for the younger ones, next year. I just think the lessons are far too long!

     

    Ruralmama
    Participant

    My friend switched this year from CLE to rod and staff and says the lessons are much shorter and more appropriate. Her girls are doing well with it. It is traditional and easy to teach and cheep;) You do need the teachers manual for at least 1st and 2nd. I like how it is less sprial (jumpy)than CLE or Abeka but has plenty of review. It is much less mastry than Math u see. I actually gave it to her as I was considering using it. I like many parts of it, but ultimatly went another way with RightStart which I am loving for my kids. It fits my teaching style perfectly😀 If I wanted traditional textbook, I’d do Rod and Staff or Bob Jones. They both look good.

    Becky
    Participant

    My DD used CLE & I set the timer. Sometimes she also finished the lesson & when she did not then she finished it the next day.  She was 2 grades below her ‘grade’ level but when she took the SAT achievement test at her grade level, she scored average in math.  Cle has been known to be advanced. So, even though we went through the books slower because of using the timer, she still scored well on the achievement test. (By the way, just to be clear, she is behind in math but it wasn’t/isn’t *because* using the timer slowed her down. She was having troubles long before I started using the timer. )

    MissusLeata
    Participant

    None of my kids have a hard time with math concepts. It’s just the length of the lesson that is getting to me. 🙂

    Ruralmama
    Participant

    One thing i liked about Rod and Staff was that at least at the 1st grade level there was the lesson (front and back of 1 sheet) and then a selection of optional extra worksheets. One for average one below average and one abpve average. This way you knew what was most important and only could add on if necessary.

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    For Saxon, you could assign just the odd or even numbered problems.

    For CLE, it is not as easy as just doing evens or odds, but you can quickly go through and either cross out redundant review problems or circle the ones you want them to do.  They can work all of the problems from the new lesson and then only one of other review problems if you think they are doing fine with it.

    Amanda
    Participant

    When my children were doing CLE math I would go through the review section each day and circle about 1/3 of the problems that I wanted them to complete for that day.  I just made sure to circle a couple from each concept each week for review.  It worked well for my kids but we ultimately moved to an online math program this year.  CLE is very advanced so I wouldn’t worry about moving at a slower pace through the units if you need to.

    Becky
    Participant

    Yes, that is why I also started using a timer, because of the length of the lessons. My DD was also dreading to do math because it took so long.  It worked great using the timer. She started enjoying math again & would sometimes work past the timer!

    Amanda said it better I think. It was what I was trying to say in my first comment–” CLE is very advanced so I wouldn’t worry about moving at a slower pace through the units if you need to.”

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