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Lynette
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| Posted: June 09 2010 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
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Hi!
This is a curriculum question....
This was our first year hsing. My daughter did MCP level D this past year. Well, we still have 3 chapters to finish up-- fractions, decimals, and probability/graphing. She is a slower student in math. Or I could be that MCP wasn't a good fit?
We are following MODG (non-registered) for next year. They recommend Saxon 6/5 for 5th grade. This is assuming the child did Saxon 54 in MODG 4th.
My questions:
So, since we did not do Saxon 54 and she seems to be a slower math student where should I put her in? I fear if I put her in 54 she will be a year behind forever. And what if it is too easy?
Or, since she hasn't done the "Saxon" way should she start 54 to ease into the way the program runs?
Also, her younger brother (3rd grade) will be doing Saxon 3 next year. (He did fine in Saxon 2 this past year). Will this be a problem down the line with them only a year apart in math?
Truthfully, I'm worried Saxon won't be a good fit at all... She wants manipulatives and colorful pages.
Someone please help the newbie mom! 
Lynette
dd10 and ds8
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: June 09 2010 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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Does Saxon have placement tests? that's a good way to figure out what level to use in a different program from what you've had.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 09 2010 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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No worries, Lynette!
First, Saxon has placement tests available for free online.
Start there.
If you end up putting her in Saxon 5/4 next year, she's not stuck being a year behind for the rest of her life!! My dd is what I would consider average in math - definitely not brilliant, and it's not her favorite subject. She's faced her own struggles with math. Even with that, because of the repetition in the Saxon books, we completely skipped Math 8/7, only did a half year of Algebra 1/2, and she's right where she should be in 9th grade - in Algebra I. We move at a nice slow pace.
A couple of quick ideas for you with Saxon. It's not the perfect math curriculum by a long shot, but it can be good enough. It's *good enough* for us anyway, but I've learned a bit about how to use Saxon to play up its strengths and not allow us to be overwhelmed by some of its weaknesses.
The biggest problem is the number of problems required by the student every lesson. Most people either assign odds only or evens only and that works out fine. My dd really, really needs every.last.bit of that review and practice, so we do all the problems, but rather than requiring them to be complete along with the lesson all in one day, we spend 2 days on one lesson. It takes us longer to get through, but I'm content that my dd's comprehension is solid this way.
The other tip that a good friend of mine shared with me a long time ago is to let them test through the beginning of each new book each year. In other words, let's assume you work through the majority of Saxon 5/4 this year. And next year, you start with Saxon 6/5. Start on the first day by offering your child Test 1 which covers up to lesson 10. As long as she scores a 90% or above, I keep moving on to the next test, until I get a score of 90% or below. That's where we start in the book. It's not unusual for us to start around Lesson 40.
NOW....if she wants manipulatives and colorful pages, you're right, Saxon is not that!!!! I supplement Saxon with a lot of manipulatives we own.
How about Right Start Math? Have you taken a look at that? I did use that one year for my son. It's a really good math program for elementary.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Faithr
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| Posted: June 16 2010 at 7:50am | IP Logged
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I've done this before! My oldest dd went from MCP D to Saxon 6/5 with no problem! (Actually it might have been 7/6!) MCP is underrated but it is a solid math program and Saxon has so much review built in that the first 3rd of the book is basically reviewing all the math learned up to that point. It could be that your student is slower because she needs more review? Saxon could solve this problem. MCP is more of mastery with a little bit of review built in. Saxon is constant review with new stuff slowly folded in. Might be a good fit for your dd. My kids have thrived on it.
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: next year math question?
