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Which math programs allow you to move on quickly when mastered?
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14-year-old son told me he’s bored and frustrated with math because, “The first 60 lessons were review. I didn’t learn a single new thing. I want to move on when I know it and spend more time when I don’t.” We did 4 levels of RightStart and we were able to skip lessons when I knew he understood it or hang around for a bit when it was harder. Then he went solo into Teaching Textbooks and has done 3 levels or so. It has been much harder to tailor since it’s on CDs. Sometimes he needs more practice for a concept than they give and other times he’s got it and doesn’t need the repeated work.
Any suggestions for a math program that he can do himself and that meets his above requirements?
Thanks!
I have not used this, and mostly looked at earlier grades….
Christian Light Education – boy I hope i have the right name – CLE has math in ‘light-packs’. It is used by a lot of people that have kids doing self-taught education.
In the samples I looke at, earlier grades…, each unit of lessons have a pre-test, and if they score high enough, they can move on to the next unit. Lessons are generally made to be self-taught.
My 14yo math guy does Life of Fred in his own. The answers are there do he can check his own work. You can’t really skip but it moves along well and is interesting enough to keep his attention. We have also used math u see and just said things like “if you get the A page all right you can skip B and C.”
Nebby
A fresh perspective might do him good. Nebby’s right that MathUSee wants you to master and move on. Saving pages for review later, if needed. The newness of seeing even polynomials in algebra modeled w the blocks might also be a nice difference than a million repetitious problems. The transition period might also provide a little bit of a challenge to look at the math and see it from a different perspective, thereby engaging him!?!
May God give you the wisdom you seek,
Joanna
Thanks all. Every time we started a new level of RS, I could skip a lesson if he knew it, thereby cutting out the ‘beginning of the year’ review. All 3 levels of TT have had about 60 lessons of review each. That’s a lot of review for a kid that wants to get moving! I wish it were a little easier for me to determine which is ‘new’ material and which is ‘review’.
With MUS…how many pages of problems do you do per lesson? How many can you skip if needed? Is there a way to get extra help (more problems) if he’s stuck or do you keep going and eventually he’ll catch on?
I’ll look at CLE too.
I have three levels of MUS … dd is FLYING through her first level and will go thru the next this year, also since she has finally mastered a spot in which she was struggling. Son just started a level today, since my husband is on call, and we couldn’t go to church. He begged to do it. They think Steve Demme is funny!
I met him at the hs convention this year, my first one. He was a great speaker/preacher…and was extremely kind.
In these three levels, it seems like each lesson has only 7 pages (back and front) to do. Each page has 20 or LESS problems to do. The first three A,B, and C are specific practice for the new skill. Do one, skip rest if want. The next three D, E, and F are systematic review, as needed and to keep things fresh. And the last page is enrichment…puzzles and such that use the math that are fun. They really look forward to those pages.
I looked on their website. They have more practice problems available through at least alg 2, if you needed to practice more. And a worksheet generator for the levels through pre-alg.
Go under the e-learning tab and the resources by level to see what is available.
later,
jo
Oh…and with him being 14 you’ll be coming up on algebra 1 sometime in the next years if you haven’t already, and they have an Algebra 1 readiness test if you need it.
Just think about this son of yours. Will he watch a short presentation from a master teacher? Will he roll his eyes at the use of the manipulative blocks? Will he try to see the graphic representation of the concepts or will that irritate him? I was fascinated when I first saw polynomials represented in college! I had no idea…it was so neat and intuitive and useful…yet no where had it been taught. Yet my learning style is audio and kinetic, w a dose of visual. I loved the new representations of concepts mastered long ago and felt wistful…would have loved them when learning! And will he mind watching a guy with a quirky sense of humor….apparently my children inherited my sense of humor b/c I really found him humorous…and so do they!
Just some thoughts to ponder and maybe even ask your guy? Him being enrolled in whatever you do could only be a plus!
Jo
Joann-
Have you used RS in the past? Am I remembering wrong that you previously gave positive reviews for RS?
We are using MUS for some and RS for other kids in our family…….we like them both-just curious as to your opinion. I apologize if you have already discussed this? maybe I misssed something?
Thanks!
If you would be willing to forget textbooks/workbooks and have your dc learn math by doing hands-on activites and playing games, Math on the Level is a math program that allows you to cover your choice of concepts and work on them only as long as necessary. MOTL lists all concepts needed to learn from beginning to pre-algebra. You choose which concepts you want to work on. There is a little written work as you give review problems, but those are done in a notebook. So, written work is minimal. We just started it this summer and it has really been a blessing. It eliminates a lot of busy work, like pages full of problems they already know. We can spend more time working on new concepts.
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