Spiral math or mastery math? How to decide.

I’ve used CLE for my kids from early years through to grade two level.  After this we switch to Teaching Textbooks.  We are extremely happy with CLE for the early years.  Conceptual understanding has been easily accomplished.  Lesson length is just right, every day includes speed drill for math facts – either on paper or via flashcards or both.   Word problems and mental math start almost immediately in grade 1.  The story problems are terrific, sometimes 2-part problems, sometimes purposely “wordy”, requiring the child to really listen and really work to figure out what figures or computation is required.  I was thrilled that this task (word problems) was present in the grade 1!  Hands-on activities using manipulatives found easily in your home are integrated within the lessons as required, i.e. coins, toothpicks, marbles, square blocks.  The TM guides you on how to order the flashcards so that the child is getting constant variety and testing of the facts.   We love that the student booklets are in short units.  The child moves into a new booklet about every month or so, and it makes the child feel a great sense of accomplishment – “I’m in a whole new book already!”

I can’t speak at all to high school levels.  I knew I wanted Teaching Textbooks for the bulk of our homeschooling because of lectures being included for every lesson and the fact that the TT includes grading and even tutorials for each every single problem.  This was too juicy to pass up, for me anyway!  But if I had not found and loved TT to this extent, I very likely would have kept on with CLE.

We had tried Saxon and it was not for us, but we do like RightStart, Life of Fred, and have recently used some CLE Light Units. I have the teachers guide, but I have not found much use for it. All of the new lessons are right there in the students’ light units. They can read it themselves. You can go over it together. If it shows pictures of money or pencils, you can get those physical items to demonstrate. I think one thing I hated about Saxon was how scripted it is and to me they seemed to jump around. I have heard some who like CLE did not like Saxon, even though they are both spiral. They are still different enough from each other. As far as being written for a classroom vs. homeschool, we have not noticed anything bothersome. Saxon is secular. I appreciate the little Christian and Bible themes in each light unit of CLE. We had tried MUS, a mastery program, but have not tried R & S. My son had a hard time understanding the MUS blocks. He understands the AL abacus from RightStart, and so he uses it with CLE. He needs the “we remember” review problems. Because even though he can understand the math in a lesson, he needs the practice to keep up retention.

I should add that we are using levels 200 and 300 in CLE, as a supplement. I do not plan for them to do all 10 light units. It is more for the practice since we were not getting the games played in RightStart. But I like that they thoroughly teach measurements in both standard and metric and drill geometry. In upper levels of CLE, the teachers guide may be needed more. There are several pages per light unit you can print free as sample pdf’s from the CLE website. You can also see the pdf free scope and sequence to try to place him in the right place, being careful to go easier rather than too difficult, to build up confidence rather than to frustrate. Also, I have heard their placement is more advanced than other math. Do not be shocked if he looks to be 1 or 2 grades behind in their curriculum compared to other programs or his actual grade level.

This post is what got me interested in CLE: http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/questions-about-cle-sunrise

Basic differences are of course, mastery vs spiral, and textbook (after gr 2) vs. worktexts.  Both go through gr 8, although Alg 1 should be available by the time you need them.  Both have them in the works but not ready now. 

While both are “classroom” materials, they are primarily used in one-room schoolhouse settings.  So, they still work very well for us as hsers.

After 8th (or 9th – Alg), you would still have to switch to another math for HS.  I would switch before Alg, just to keep it all the same company.  I use R+S and switch to MUS or VT for HS. 

I have tried many, many maths and we all keep coming back to R+S.  They all basically ASKED to go back to R+S.  One after trying BJU 6 – didn’t even get through the first chapter; the 2 youngers just this past week – after starting MUS at Gamma. 

The benefits I’ve found using R+S is that it’s very easy to skip the sections they know well.  Because it’s mastery, it’s easy to know which ones to choose.  Also, I’ve had them do just half the problems in a lesson, which can be plenty.  This also gives extra practice for those sections/dc who need more practice.  There is built-in review in each lesson, another plus for us.  Another benefit w/ R+S is that the texts are written right to the dc from gr 4 up.  But, even w/ gr 1 – 3, I’ve been able to tell them what to do w/out needing the TM, even my dc were able to know what to do most of the time.   

As for the TM, I primarily use it for an AK.  I “get” math so it’s easy to teach.  If I need to, I can read over their lesson and teach from that just fine.  But, if I need it, I can use the TM for some other ideas to help w/ understanding, along w/ some extra practice when needed.  And, it’s not overly expensive, especially the few consumables.  I have a friend who struggles w/ math and found R+S easy to use w/ her dc.  It gave her the hand-holding she needed when she needed it.  It gave her the confidence to teach math.

It can get boring at times, but what can’t.  There’s not a lot of variation, especially at first while they’re learning their math facts (lots of practice).  They do include money, time, shapes, basic fractions, etc at the same time, so that’s a help.  At the same time, this repetition has helped solidify the facts for my dc.  My dd knew them inside-out when she was done w/ the gr 3.  She’s lost a few since then, but I know by working through it again, she will regain it quickly.  My ds fought me to finish gr 2 and was excited to start MUS, but even he asked to go back to R+S, and has since sat up and finished the lessons in record time.  He knows his add/sub facts lickety-split.  Another plus to the mastery is it will be easy to add in games and other fun things that will practice what you’ve learned.  (Not that you can’t w/ a spiral approach.)

I’ve been very pleased w/ R+S and I know lots of people who feel the same way about CLE.  Both are solid and reputable.  You can’t go wrong either way. 

I guess the question to ask yourself is why isn’t MUS working well.  If he’s like my son, though, it won’t matter what you choose.  He’s going to want to be jumping around and avoiding anything sit-down like the plague – even choosing chores over schoolwork.  LOL  If it’s any consolation, my ds will be 11 this summer and he’s finally “getting it” about sitting up and doing his work.  He’s done very well w/ that this past week.  Little trouble today, but it’s been crazy in a new way as we adjust to summer and different things happening, particularly w/ the older boys.

Sorry, this ended up longer than I thought.

HTH,
K

I liked Ray’s for introducing new concepts, but I needed more structure to make it the full curriculum we needed. I tired of finding new games often too. Dr. Wright’s is my games/activities. Mastering Mathematics comes with games too.

Cindy West suggests using math curriculum three days a week and living math(games, activities, real life math) the other two days. She says to skip the beginning of textbooks because they are review anyway.

I started out with MCP math then went to CLE for two years. I explained the mastery and spiral approaches to my daughter then in 4th grade and she thought she would like spiral. So we went with CLE. I liked it and I wish I would have read Wings2fly response above two years ago about skipping the quizzes and such because while I did cross a lot of problems off their assignments it still took forever. I liked how it taught a small new concept every time and it helped me teach it as I would see it and go “oh yeah, now I remember how to do this”. But it was taking up to much of my time in the afternoon with corrections sowe just switched to Teaching Textbooks. But I did really like CLE.