I just wanted to let everyone know our experience with his math this year. To start off, we were using Horizons, which he had LOVED up until 3rd grade. He was almost in years everyday using it, and slowly we figured out that it was just too busy/colorful for him. I think he may be ADD/ADHD, but we've never had him tested since I'm not for putting him on meds even if he is. We just work around it as best we can. We ended up going with Teaching Textbooks (grade 4 according to the placement test), and he seemed to really enjoy it. I think now I know why though. Last week I decided to let him have a break from "real" school work, so I printed off fun math sheets/games, for LA we did Madlibs and just read fun books, that kind of thing. Well, I printed off just regular 3rd grade math stuff, but he couldn't do hardly any of it! He didn't know how to mark/write place values past a hundred, didn't know any measurement conversions, hadn't done any multiplication past single digits, lots of stuff! Just out of curiosity, I went to the CLE site and let him take the placement test there to see how he was doing. We're more than half-way through 3rd grade now but according to the test he should start in 3rd grade, around LightUnit 2-3. I have to say that I'm rather disappointed. Math has always been a strong subject for him, but it seems TT is not working for him. I think I am going to order some CLE math and try to get him up to speed. Has anyone else had this experience with TT? I SO wanted TT to work for us.
I just hate when curriculum doesn't work out... time and money wasted! But, then I have to think that if he were in school they wouldn't change it for him, so I would much rather have to do some trial and error.
Hold off on ordering more curriculum!!!! This is only advise, but I think that if you tried, you could work on place value and the four operations without spending $$'s on a completely different curriculum. Sometimes, you need to experience the material beyond the page of a book to get an idea of whats going on. I know because Place values in 3rd grade is where I had so much trouble! Try printing off some of those paper manipulative's, coloring each value a different color, pasting them on card board (ie cereal or snack food boxes) and working with them to do some of the problems from a worksheet. Look for videos on youtube on place value and have your son make an instructional guide to place values or to teach you or his younger sister about place values. You could use money to show how pennies go to nickles, nickles to dimes, dimes to quarters and so forth!!! Don't be too hasty to jump ship. You may need to just put in the work to help him understand a certain concept! You could save yourself a lot of money, curriculum hopping can be a major pitfall!
Another thing, Stephanie, your local bookstore will likely have lots of supplemental stuff for his age. tlsbooks.com also has a ton of free printables. When my daughter was his age we pretty much worked at home on that site alone (and it was because I felt the need to supplement public school curriculum). You will find the right curriculum for him. You are too determined not to. Hang in there!
That is difficult when a curriculum doesn't work out for you, but it is good that you tested him and found out where he should be. For place values, I like the Base Ten Blocks. I learned math that way when I was in elementary school and just got the starter set for my daughters. You can get a starter set for about $35.
