Math This Year

We have been doing math just a bit differently this year. Grace and Christopher are using Saxon instead of Rightstart. We switched because Rightstart only has so many levels, and there isn't a whole lot of teacher-help in the last two levels. I'm not terrible at math myself, but I am pretty bad at explaining math. I really needed clearer explanations than RS was giving to be able to help the kids.

So Saxon it is. James will do Rightstart C, then switch to Saxon 3. At least now that is the plan. We did the placement tests from Saxon and both Grace and Christopher tested one grade below level. Grace has been using Saxon 65, while Christopher is using Saxon 3. Saxon 3 is really way too easy for him though, so we have been skimming through lessons to get him up to something more challenging.

This is how we do math.......

Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. is math time.

• First, I set Grace up with her Saxon lesson. I make photocopies of the lesson master sheets and tear out any workbook pages she will need. She goes off on her own to do it. Every 15 minutes or so, I badger her to see how she is getting along, since she tends to get distracted and slow down.

• If needed, I set Rose up with something to do. She often likes to work on some of her preschool workbooks while everyone else does math.  If she is busy playing, I leave well enough alone;).

• Next I grab one of the boys and sit down with them for 30 minutes. I usually start with Christopher. We spend half an hour skimming through 5 lessons or so (like I said, the beginning of Saxon 3 is too easy so we are just skimming for review) and then I give him the worksheet that goes with the last lesson we get to. Once he is set up....

• I move on to James. We are usually able to complete one Rightstart lesson in half an hour. While I am working with Christopher, James is usually finishing up chores, doing independent work, or feeding the animals.

• Anybody that finishes early gets to work on a Life of Fred chapter or their Drive-Thru Menu Math workbook.

• At 9 we stop. If Grace didn't finish, she'll go back to it later. Then we move onto the next subject!

• On Friday mornings, we set aside a bit of time for Life of Fred, if we didn't get to it much during the week.