After reading so many positive reviews of CLE's curriculum, I decided to take a closer look. I've had some mixed feelings about our current curriculum; in particular, math. We use K12.com materials (independently, not through a virtual public school) and have found them to be fairly rigorous, but the math lessons are LONG. It's taking DD 60-90 minutes to finish a math lesson. And this is without completing all the worksheets. Granted, some of the topics that she's encountered lately are challenging; however, the amount of worksheets with each lesson seems excessive. And I've noticed the creep of CC influence on the way math is taught, and I'm not liking the result. So......I'm considering a change. DD is currently halfway through K12's 3rd grade math. I took at peek at CLE's 300 level math, and it assumes knowledge of concepts that we haven't hit yet -- like time to the minute, conversion of metric and US units of measurement, decimals, etc. Much of the computation of the 200 level, however, seems too rudimentary for DD. Any thoughts from those of you that have made the switch? Start with the 200 math and whiz through it, or start with the 300 level? I wish we'd started with CLE from the beginning! Their curriculum seems quite rigorous, in a good way. I appreciate any wisdom you have to offer!
The first light unit of each grade is review, so I would start with 301 and work through it, teaching anything that she has missed. Did you have her do the placement test?
We started with CLE in the 3rd grade. I have been very very happy with it. I would suggest downloading the placement test and having her complete that if you have not already done so. The placement test is available on their website. You just download it, have her complete it, you grade it, and see where she places. It was very accurate for us.
I so agree -- give the diagnostic test first. If she should come out as needing to start with 200, I recommend getting a 200 TM, and giving her the (reproducible) Alternate Unit Tests from the back of the book. If she scores 80% or better, she can skip that unit. This will tell you exactly which units you need to order, and which you can skip. Some people recommend that you use the diagnostic test and print off the Sample pages from the website and use those as well, to get her up to speed for 300. I'm not so sure about that, but some people swear by it. It's not that big a deal to have a 3rd grader working in 200 anyway. It's pretty advanced. When my DGS took his achievement test last spring, he scored really really high on his math portion.
Thank you so much for all of this feedback! It's been incredibly helpful. I'm so glad I had DD complete the placement test. I made a lot of assumptions of her knowledge based on the fact that she breezed through these areas in K12's curriculum, but I suspect the key is that K12 is mastery-based rather than spiral. DD demonstrated understanding at the time (in fact, math has always come pretty easily to her), but there were several areas she just obviously doesn't remember anymore. I think the spiral approach will be a big help. Although I feel K12's math is quite challenging, clearly CLE introduces a series of topics even earlier than curriculum used in public schools (a la K12). There were a number of questions on the placement test that covered things DD hasn't been exposed to yet -- she made 100% guesses on these. I marked the answers wrong when she guessed a multiple choice and got it right solely based on luck (she admitted she had no idea, just guessed) to get a more accurate result. To start 300 level math, she'd have to get 55 right. DD was just under that at 54 correct. So I'm ordering 200 and 300 math with the plan to start at 200. I'll use your suggestion Lindina (thank you) of administering alternate tests for units that seem like they're 100% review; if so, we'll move along. If not, we're making sure we don't leave any holes. So glad I'm switching before we got further along! Thanks again for all of the input, everyone.
Just wanted to follow up -- I got our materials and we completed our first lesson this afternoon. DD completed the lesson in about 25 minutes, and was so excited she begged me to do another lesson so she could try another speed drill. Uh, begging for more math? Really? Pinch me! So far, I love the way that the lessons are organized, with the pretest and accompanying lesson as appropriate. I also love the "Just for Fun" section offered in the lessons. My daughter got a kick out of measuring her cubit (this was new to me too....), then using it as a unit to measure me. All in all, day 1 I'm really pleased with CLE math. (Oh, and in a major goof, I ordered the 200 level teacher guides but not the Light Units, so we dove right into the 301 unit. I think with a little catch up on a few concepts like basic geometry and telling time to the minute, this approach might work well.)
The -01 unit of each level is a review unit of the "high points" of the previous level. It's intended as a reminder of the previous level's work after a long summer break. The -01 unit is therefore put together differently. The -02 unit and the rest are the real level's work.
Great idea about giving the alternate tests! I am thinking about switching my girls from Saxon to CLE math and I gave them the diagnostic tests. They both struggle with math, one worse than the other. They are going into 7th and 8th grades next year, but the 11 year old tested at going being ready for CLE 500 and the 12 year old tested at being ready for 600. I was somewhat discouraged (but that is for another thread altogether ). But I hadn't thought of giving them the tests to see where the actual gaps might be. I just ordered the TMs for both 5th and 6th grades and will be giving them the tests. Thank you so much for the suggestion that wasn't even directed at me!!
Brandy, I have found through experience that my students who had finished Saxon 54 then tested into CLE 400, and those who had finished 400 tested into Saxon 76. I had one who had completed 7th grade in public school, tested into and finished CLE 400 (in 8th grade), then did the algebra/fractions/geometry Skill Development Sheets over the summer and then tested into 87, then skipped Algebra 1/2 and went right into Algebra 1. So CLE seems more advanced than Saxon on that basis. I hope it works well for you!
