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Switch math for one child or not?
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I would appreciate thoughts on whether I should switch math curriculum for my daughter, and if so, what a good choice would be.
We have used MUS for all our children so far, it’s gone well for most of them. I now have two children that do Teaching Textbooks simply because they prefer not to wait for me to get to them in the morning math line:) I have one child that struggles daily with math, and other conceptual things as well, and we are both discouraged with how math goes each day for her. She tried TT and did not like it at all and chose to go back to MUS. We’ve done/and continue to do worksheets, flashcards, computer games, etc. Basic facts are learned and forgotten easily, once I feel she has finally mastered something and we move on, it’s like the new concept pushes all the familiar ones out. Lessons can drag well past half an hour without even getting one concept down, or problem done. I try to limit the lessons to no more than 30 minutes though, but sometimes feel as if we should push on.
She is 8 years old, starting “third grade”, and just started Beta MUS recently, and stalled again when we got into multiple digit addition. She also feels very behind despite our encouraging her that we don’t care about grade levels, math levels, etc. and that if she is working hard that’s all that matters. Her younger brother is very gifted in math so it doesn’t help her confidence. She is a very visual learner, so the MUS blocks do help sometimes, as do drawing pictures, etc.
Is this a curriculum problem, or just a not ready problem, or am I doing something wrong? If there are better choices for her I am willing to look into them, but can’t spend a lot of money, and don’t have a lot of extra time for teacher prep since I have 6 children to tend to:)
Thank you
My son struggles in math, so I can relate. We also started with MUS Alpha and he just was not understanding the blocks well enough. Though I kept the blocks to use for place value and Decimal Street along with the place value cards in RightStart. I think the AL Abacus really helped math click for him. There are 5 yellow and 5 blue beads on each of the first 5 lines, then it switches to 5 blue and 5 yellow beads on the last 5 lines, so it is easy to “see” the numbers without counting or memorizing colored blocks. We also played many of the RS math card games, our favorite being like Go Fish, called Go to the Dump. Your matching pairs are sums = 10. Then later you can do a variation of sums = 11. There is a lot more manipulatives and mental math and few worksheets in RS level B. There are more worksheets in RS level C. I think it layed a good math foundation for him. But really I think he does better with more of a spiral approach and lots of review. So he now does CLE Sunrise light units and we sometimes supplement that if he is having trouble still. We used to also play the DVD weekly for about 15 – 20 minutes of Mathtacular 1 and 2. I think that may have helped some. Playing math games is very helpful. The RS author says something like this: games are to math what books are to reading. So even games with numbered cards, dice, dominoes, keeping score, etc is a great way for them to apply math. I purchased my RS used on homeschoolclassifieds and ebay. You could have your older children play the math games with this child, which will be good review for them too and free you up. You can set a timer for the math lessons if you want to do them based on time and not based on one lesson per day. Just pick up the next day where you left off the day before. xtramath.org is free online and worked for two children to master math facts. They spent about 3 months working on them 3-4 times per week. And CLE Sunrise has a short math fact drill with each day’s lesson so it has kept them fresh in their minds.
“once I feel she has finally mastered something and we move on, it’s like the new concept pushes all the familiar ones out.”
This makes me think she would do well with spiral math. MUS is mastery based. Also with a younger sibling, it may help to have her do a different math so as not to compare her place with theirs. RS is very unique…somewhat mastery and somewhat spiral. CLE Sunrise is very spiral. It lends itself to being very independent too, especially past level 2. You can see pdf samples here, if interested. https://www.clp.org/store/by_course/46
Thank you for that extremely helpful post. I have avoided spiral curriculums because I feel it’s overwhelming to her to work on more than one concept at a time, especially since I would think that could mean several concepts at once that she couldn’t understand, and that still may be the case. My friend just switched to CLE so I’ll look at that program, and the RS you mentioned. Thanks again
I also forgot to ask if there are any CLE users, and if it would be an okay program for visual learner, and if it’s mostly a good fit for workbook loving kids?
My oldest son did not do well with spiral. It was just as you said. He was faced with several types of problems every day that he didn’t remember how to do. It took him forever to look back and review the concepts, let alone deal with the new material. That said, MUS was his answer.
I just switched to Right Start for two of my daughters. I was hesitant because I have a full house too. I decided that my time will be better spent teaching a program that my dds are more likely to understand. It should be less stress in the long run, and better for my girls.
If money is an issue, you could start with the Alabacus activity book and the games.
We got the second edition manipulatives kit yesterday, and the kids were busy “playing with the toys” for hours. They want to do it again today.
We use CLE and if my kids need a visual, we just get something from around the house and use it. So, candy bars for fractions, or a pie for fractions, linking cube things for tens and place value. Things like that.
My oldest daughter (6th grade) learns best if I read the instructions and actually work the sample problems with her, but my 3rd daughter is in 2nd grade and does just fine on her own.
I cannot speak for other spiral math curriculum, but CLE gradually builds concepts each lesson so there is not anything major to learn in one day. There are many “we remember” problems they already learned in prior lessons and should still be “familiar” to them. So in working a few of those problems daily, the new concept does not push the familiar ones back. This has worked great for my son who struggles in math, by keeping concepts more current. And the speed drills help them retain their math facts. We have used our AL abacus many times as a visual, as well as other household items. Many times they have a picture of items and you could grab real items to work with. We have also used Math Mammoth blue series for help with the difficult concept of long division. We set CLE aside to work more on this area. So MM might be a good option for you if you still want mastery based. Since it is a different program than your other children use, she would not be able to compare directly where she is at compared to the others. Homeschool buyers coop has MM for a discount at times, though it is inexpensive. It is also written to the student, though you may need to help them work through the lesson. I don’t think there is any separate teacher book, just answers.
Thank you for all the thoughts. I did a lot of research yesterday and keep coming back to CLE, so I think we may try it since it’s so cheap, and just see how it goes. I also may get the abacus to see if that would help her visualize things.
I did not go so much by the placement tests for our math, but their scope and sequence and their pdf samples. I started them one or two light units below where I thought they would be to build confidence and to catch up on any of the other math we may not have covered yet, like some of the measurements and geography concepts. I had called CLE for their advice and they were very glad to help. I have since bought some on ebay and homeschoolclassifieds, but do watch which edition you get as I got one teacher guide that was older and not useful to me. They need to be the most current “sunrise” edition. Teachers books include mini student pages with the answers, which really makes it a breeze for grading. It is inexpensive to try, which is one reason why we ended up giving it a try last year. Regardless, I hope you find what works for your child. I hate to change curriculum, but then I am glad we can find what works for our children too. I hate to think how lost and how far behind my son might be if he were in ps where they are not going to find which curriculum would work best for each student.
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