Homeschool moms - I need help w/ math curriculum

[Chirpy]

chicksgalore asked:

For K-5, how much do you actually "make" your student do?

Great question and you'll get lots of different answers. You need to find what works for you and your children and remember, as I think you already know, that children are learning when they help you around the house, cook with you, shop with you, do outside chores and stuff with you, etc. You can play table games, stack blocks and talk about the alphabet letters on them, have them count change, etc. and count that as school.

I personally don't do pre-K as our kids learn just by being in the house every day and playing with friends. I, too, didn't want our children to burn out and believe that they will get plenty of school learning in the years to come so we had a very light work day when they were in the lower grades.

I also have special needs children who do even less than our other children. One daughter wasn't capable of sitting and doing school work for more than 10 minutes at a time for several years. My goal was to teach her to read and then, try for other things like math, etc. She's in 7th grade this year and reading at two grade levels above that! She actually didn't learn to read until she was almost ten years old... when it finally clicked... she took off and loves to read. Now, math and spelling pretty much elude her and she may or may not ever understand and be able to do them. That's Ok, we still work on those things every day.

So, I guess, to really answer your question I'd say it's been different for different kids in our house but we never pushed hard during their grade school years. I taught them the basics through school books and taught them the really important things about life (God, family, friends, integrity, etc.) every day by just living life and giving them lots of different experiences.​

 

[deb1]

Quote:
That sounds about right. Even with my kids who are older then yours, I give them lots of breaks.

If you were in public school as a child, you probably had a lot of periods in your school time when you did nothing. For example, think of the time used for a teacher to call roll, or all the time you spent bored when you finished an assignment before other kids. So, you are probably over all giving your kids as much actual learning time as they would get in public school.

 

[chicksgalore]

Thanks for the reassurance! Being new and all and sometimes reading the state requirements for what you have to turn in and all (plus hearing others' negative concerns), sometimes I just need a confidence boost. I feel very strongly about incorporating learning in everyday living and it's so good to hear from others who have successfully done this. I really don't want to recreate the exact classroom in our home.

 

[AngelzFyre]

We had the same ordeal with Saxon Math. Daughter didn't mind it so much but my son absolutely dreaded it. When we switched to A Beka DVDs totally for everything, we never had another problem. They test post high school in everything and enjoy math again.
Each child has different styles of learning. Most curriculums will send samples for you to try and see what works best for you and yours. Good luck and hang in there.

 

[1Speckled Hen w/Chicks]

I am going with the teaching textbooks computer CD program this year--for my son--
He is going to be a 6th grader--
We used Saxon last year and he found it very boring and i wanted something he could enjoy--
Look up teaching text books--they have an area where he can test to see what level you need to order....
It keeps the grades all in records and you can go back for help anytime!
I am looking forward to using this --hope this may help you too!
Have a good year!

 

[DuckyBoys]

Well we've used Singapore, Saxon, and have just started Teaching Textbooks (6th grade).

Hands down TT is THE BEST ever. He LOVES it.

 

[BowChickaBowMow]

Quote:
Teachers at schools have a harder time incorporating hands on lessons in their classroom setting. They don't always have access to a kitchen and other perfect areas for lessons!

I try to not do too much book work, sort of balance it w/ hands on. I don't want to cause burnout (w/ the kids, or myself) When we first started, I did that! I looked at the requirements for the law, and thought I had to teach all those subjects at all times! Well, duh, they dont' at school, they do different things broken down into semesters! It just didn't hit me, at first, to apply the same concept at home! So this "semester" our schedule isn't so jam packed w/ every single subject required. We do core curric. daily, year round, but it's not all book work.

One thing that we've done, that most families may not consider, but it wasn't a problem for us b/c we're in the middle of remodeling... is we installed chalkboard panels on the walls in a few rooms that we use regularly for lessons. The kitchen, the hallway, and the school room. We also have a panel in the bathroom and school room that can be used as a dry erase board. These are just like a paneling, you get them at the hardware store, and they were maybe $2 or $3 per panel. (maybe 3ft by 5 ft I'm guessing) We just screwed them right onto the wall. We use them to practice writing something right that instant that someone asks "how do you spell" or if we're making recipes, we put down, in writing, equations as we're measuring out ingredients. If I were required to keep all records, I'd probably have the kids copy the chalkboard things into their notebook once we were finished. The panels have helped us ot make lessons out of everyday actions, more easy. It's not likely that in the middle of making bread dough, that we'll go into the school room to grab a notebook and write down notes or math equations. Chalkboard is right there, easy acces, in the same spot always.

 

[deb1]

Bowchick, the dry eraser board is a brillant idea!

 

[deb1]

To answer the original question, I have used a variety of products. I like the thouroughness of Saxon. I can honestly report that my kids knew math well after using it.

But the problem was that math took such a long time each day.

We are using Singapore and the Key to.. series. The Key to series are very good to use in conjunction with other math curriculum.

My youngest does her Singapore each day and works a few pages in the Key to Fraction books. She loves it and she really understands fractions!

I went through three other kids trying to get them to understand how to add and subtract fractions with different denominators. Yes, they eventually got the concept but not as quickly as Sarah has.

 

[luvzmybabz]

I was using A>C>E> in 10th grade year it has been 22 years and my 10 year old goes to a christian school that uses that same cirr. I am getting ready to start homeschooling my 4 (5 year old 3 days after the cut off day)year old. My sister unschools her kids but she is a little out there for my tastes. My 4 year old is tickled pink about homeschooling and wants to start yesterday. ( just another on my to do list is setting up an area for just school work )