Help with a math planning question

[littlebug42]

My oldest daughter will be entering public school in fall 2012 as a 6th grader. The school that she will be entering uses Connected Mathematic which is along the lines of TERC/Everyday Math. What can I do for math over the next 1.5 years to help make her the most successful with this program? I have been mulling around either having her do Math Mammoth with concentration on her weakest skills and/or Saxon Math 6/5. Maybe a combination of both? If this were your child facing this situation what would you do? Also FYI- math is not a favorite for this child although it doesn't seem to be extremely difficult for her.

[Heigh Ho]

I would suggest continuing on with whatever works for her currently..and after she goes, just make sure that she stays on the trail.

[BabyBre]

My #1 recommendation is to enroll your dd part-time, if possible, and teach her math yourself. Our school uses TERC for K-5 and then Connected Math, and this is what I will most certainly be doing when we get to CM. I've been able to keep dc pretty well ahead of TERC's sequence using Saxon Math one year ahead of grade level, but CM relies too heavily on calculators for my taste so we won't participate at all when they switch to it in 6th grade. I don't know if Saxon 6/5 would successfully combat 6th grade CM, though. My dd is using 6/5 in the 4th grade and it's working fairly well, but she has required a couple crash courses on topics that her classroom teacher began to teach (in some really strange ways) before dd had mastered it in Saxon. You may need to advance her a level or two if she's capable.

If she's entering a middle school with a block or period schedule, it should be easy to not enroll in math. An elementary schedule is more challenging to avoid the math in because it's not a separate class, but it can be done.

That being said, if you can't possibly avoid CM, an absolute must teach at home (if she isn't already fluent in them) is 110% mastery of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, along with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and long division algorithms. I don't know specifically about CM, but many of these reform programs don't include practice of facts to mastery and don't teach long division at all in favor of using a calculator.

[littlebug42]

Thanks for the advice. Part time enrollment is not an option. If she goes to this school, there is no avoiding CM. I need to focus on what to solidify in her before she begins school there. The rest of the school is perfect for dd so I can't let CM be the deal breaker.

[Cadam]

My goal with dd who is in ps is to make sure that all topics are introduced here at home first so that the math program at school is (hopefully) just review.

We do math through the summer and on all breaks so that she stays ahead of the school curriculum. The longer she is there, the harder it is though. She was two years ahead when I put her in and now that has dropped to about six months ahead.

[littlebug42]

Thanks for the advice. We are looking into other options as I think the math program may be a deal-breaker for me.