This is our first year. We are in week 3. Every day, math seems to be a struggle. He is and always has been a straight a student. the only time he made less than 100 is when he doesn't finish his work, because he got frustrated at ps and didn't ask for help. We are doing abeka. books, not online. I may need suggestions on another program. He may need to do something online, where I am not the teacher. I just don't think I want to do abeka online. He seems to enjoy all the other subjects, but math is our stressfull event of the day. It isn't even hard for him, he just hates to do it. suggestions?
My first question is, is he having to do something that he already knows? If so, I would probably either skip ahead to something he doesn't know yet or, if you want him to review, cut the number of problems in half. If he already knows how to do it, there's no reason for him to have to do a million problems. I have never used Abeka, but I have friends who do and they tell me that there is a lot of busy work in it that you don't really need to do.
As far as math goes if he has been getting 100% then he hasn't been at the right level. Math needs some challenge. He shouldn't be getting everything right if he is working at the right level. By struggle do you mean that he is not getting 100% or is he not understanding the concepts? Is there a placement test he can take? What math program was he using in ps? Not all math programs work through concepts at the same level. When I switched math programs I had to drop down 1.5 grade levels because I moved to a stronger math curriculum.
I really agree with this. All programs work differently and do not always present the same material at the same time. I would check to make sure you are using the right book first. If it is the right level and you still feel you might want to change there are some great programs where you can use video or computer interaction. Saxon with the DIVE cds or Teaching Textbooks come to mind first.
Migoal, just because he used to get 100% in math in public school, doesn't mean that he really grasped the concepts they were teaching. The public school program might have been particularly weak (and several public school programs are notoriously weak), so that he's not prepared for the Abeka's stronger program. OR he may be bored because he knows this material already. You MAY want to look at Christian Light Education's math program. It's built to be done very independently by the student. AND there's a placement test online, free for the printing. I'm going to suggest that you give the 400 level of this test, because CLE and Abeka cover *about* the same concepts. If he doesn't pass it with the score CLE recommends, then the problem is the wrong level of math.
I have to say Teaching Textbooks has been a god-breeze here too. My son has an learning disability in math and TT has helped him so much! He really enjoys the lessons. My older son is doing pre-alegbra and same same thing! He normally throws a fit for math and refuses to do many problems. TT has really helped with that. Though my guy get 90%+ on almost every assignment. I did do placement tests before picking their levels. (My older son too, though you really have to just "do" geometry. ) I was thinking it would get a bit harder through out the year. Do a couple of different math placement tests and see where your son is, he might surprise you
Same here with TT! (And, btw, I have a 5th grade set I might be willing to sell. I need to find out if my friend wants it first.)
Thanks for all your responses! I looked at the TT placement test, and there are not any problems on the test that he even started with on abeka. In other words, the end of the test had single digit division, and the beginning of abeka has him dividing two digits into 5 digits or more. And multiplication is 3 digits times 3 digits in abeka. So we may be starting too heavy for him. He took the Saxon math test before we chose our material, and he got to 8 th grade, where I made him stop. I thought abeka 5th would be good, since he was so quick on Saxon 8th. It must be the intimidation factor of the large problems to start with. Now he feels like he isn't good At it, so he is aggravated. I may need to switch gears here...... Thanks all!
I second looking at CLE.... we went to it this year for 5th and my son is doing better so far than he ever did in the Horizons, TT, or others we tried.
