Spiral math or mastery math? How to decide.

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  • retrofam
    Participant

    Jennifer,

    Yes, I have used Queen’s math, Math Lessons for a Living Education(Mlfale).

    There is a thread on SCM somewhere about it.

    I call it a workbook with some manipulatives included.It uses stories to incorporate math. The criticism is that you are reading about the life applications instead of doing them. Personally, I like it.

    It seems pricey, but there is no separate teacher key needed. The answer key isn’t complete, but it is elementary math, so it is ok for me. The lessons are short, so there is time to add games. They use copywork for math facts which isn’t pure CM, but worked well for my dd.

    I am not using it with my youngest dd because she has trouble with reading and I think the stories would frustrate her. She does well in math and needs hers to be lean on the words.

    Feel free to ask more about it.

    mama_nickles
    Participant

    Just wanted to mention that we are using Math Mammoth with my rising 2nd grader and it is going well. It is mastery, and was written specifically for HSers. The teaching is included on each page (she calls it a worktext: combining workbook and textbook), and we can skip things he doesn’t need. We skipped the whole chapter on telling time as he can already do this thoroughly. I got the 1st-3rd grade bundle as a download and just print the pages we need. Planning to use it for future kids as they come up too.

    jenhorsfall
    Participant

    Hello everyone!  So I just want to update you all on what I have decided to do.  I chose to go with R&S. We tried going back to MUS because I was thinking that it would be easier for me start from where we left off, but I was very, very wrong.  I dont think like Steve Demme, so to change my thinking of how to teach math was too overwhelming for me.  I had originally thought that it was a very neat way of teaching but then I started realizing that my ds was not retaining (long term)what he was learning for some reason.  Maybe it was a learning style problem, but I did everything I was supposed to.  It may have been that he just wasn’t ready.  Anyway, I took a step back and began to use R&S Arithmetic 1 and he is doing great.  It’s a bit repetative right now because he learned some of the beginning math from the MUS, but with having to write out the fact houses and the constant repetition, he is moving forward.  One thing that bothers me about MUS is that it teaches math facts out of order.  With R&S the facts are introduced in order and repeated over and over.  I still haven’t figured out why a teacher would need the extra practice sheets, but it’s nice to have them on hand if we hit a roadblock at the end of a lesson.  I can not find one single bad review for R&S arithmetic either, so with that I went for it!  Thanks for all your input 🙂

    BlessedMommy
    Participant

    I use both mastery & spiral! We are using CLE for spiral & Miquon for mastery. My daughter does 1-2 Miquon sheets daily as a “warm-up”. I will either pull sheets that focus on concepts that are new to her or ones that focus on things she needs more practice with. Then she does CLE. You can read my original post here… https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/found-our-new-math-and-some-tips-for-miquon-users-long-post-#post-145888

    And the CLE teachers guides do have guided lessons that are not necessarily covered in the light unit. Such as measuring cups into quarts then quarts into gallons etc. and a short guided lesson where you work something out together on the board (a problem different from what they do independently in the light unit).

    Anyways, using the 2 combined is still working REALLY well for us. My daughter LOVES CLE and she seems to breeze right through it but, I firmly believe that’s because the Miquon is setting her up for greater success. She likes Miquon but, it’s definitely a bit more challenging (at least the sheets I pull for her anyways) but, she needs that challenge. I think she loves CLE so much because after Miquon it seems so effortless. With both currics she can do pretty much most of it independently. She asks for help with Miquon more often which I do give, but I always encourage her to first be a math investigator & use what she has available in her “Math Lab”. Sometimes she does great at figuring it on her own and other times she is just insecure and needs to know I’m there to help. 🙂

Viewing 4 posts - 16 through 19 (of 19 total)
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