Math Advice for 3rd Grader

[mommyofmany]

Our 8yo 3rd grader is using Bigger Hearts this year- which we love!! We've been using CLE math for him for most of the time we've homeschooled. Last year we switched to Teaching Textbooks for a time because he has A LOT of difficulty listening to me (he does have ADHD & I know this is a big part of the problem). He gets frustrated when I have to "teach" him anything. So I thought, "Great, let the pretend computer "teacher" do the teaching and then he won't be upset with me over it!" It seemed like a dream come true... except he started losing skill in areas he had "down" before with CLE. I feel this is mostly due to the lack of drill in TT vs. CLE. Math is definitely *not* his strong area. However, he is very gifted in language arts. I've hesitated ever using Singapore with him because I thought he wouldn't be able to keep up with it or "get it". My current dilemma is that math is eating up our homeschool day!! I've looked at the recommended box times for Bigger and other people's schedules and it seems like math for a 3rd grader should be taking about 20-30 minutes. If I'm not sitting right next to him the entire time and keeping him totally focused (and he gets irritated when I have to hover over him) our math stretches out to 45-60 minutes! I feel like CLE is a good, solid math program and don't want to do a lot of hopping around but I'm wondering if it's overkill for him and just making us both frustrated. I know there is never going to be some quick fix to our homeschool woes because of his behavioral challenges, but any advice on streamlining math would be greatly appreciated. Prayers are welcome too!!

ETA: CLE is a spiral approach math program rather than mastery- so many concepts are covered in each lesson..... addition, subtraction, multiplication, money, time, word problems, temperature, & measurement. Do you think this could make learning more difficult for a child with attention-deficit issues? I've wondered if that is contributing to the problem. Thanks!

[4arrows]

Have you ever heard of Right Start Math? It's very hands on and uses math games as a means of learning facts. It truly focuses on understanding math not just memorizing facts. It does require teacher time to teach it though. For this reason (had a new baby), I left it and tried teaching textbooks for 2 years. Although, I liked a lot of things about TT, I have returned back to Right Start because it has short focused lessons that really work and keep the kids attention and helps them really understand math and use mental strategies. It is amazing and to me goes so well with HOD/Charlotte Mason's philosophy. May the Lord lead you and your DS... I know these decisions can be difficult and agonizing! He knows our needs much better than we do though, doesn't He?
In Him,
Elizabeth

[LynnH]

We used CLE for several years and loved it, but I did cut some of the problems each day. If it was a concept I knew my ds had down then instead of 5 problems that might be scheduled I only had him do 2. I tried to keep math to around 30-40 minutes with CLE. If TT wasn't enough repetition and he has lost some things he had down, then I am not sure that switching to a mastery program would be a good idea because then there is very little review once they cover a topic.

[mommyofmany]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions! I will try crossing off some of the ones that I know he already knows. I'll check out Right Start math too- I've never looked at that program before. I probably just need to be more realistic about time frames and accept that maybe he needs more time devoted to math since it doesn't come naturally to him. I might try breaking up his lesson into 2 parts and doing one in the early morning and one in the late morning and see if that helps.

[luv2homeschool]

I actually switched from CLE to TT and it's going very well for us. We do supplement with xtramath.org for facts practice. Same as you, math lessons with CLE were taking an hour and it was torture for both of us. It was just *too* spiral as well. I have friends who use Saxon and say they take an hour or more for a lesson. I truly don't believe that a math lesson should take that long. We didn't start HOD until my son was in 3rd grade, which I felt was too late to jump into Singapore.

[mommyofmany]

Thank you for the feedback Christine. It helps to know that it's not just us that have struggled with CLE being time consuming!

[mom23]

We've also used CLE, successfully because of the spiral approach, but not successful because of the practical aspect of fitting it into our day, like you mentioned! I'm with you-I really wish there were a spiral program (my kids really need that constant review) that did not take us an hour to get through. We've just made the switch to TT, so I'm not sure how it's going to pan out for our family. At this point it seems it may help one child quite a bit, but may not work for the other one.

I've also tried cutting out some of the problems-I found it really difficult because I could see reasons for all of them to be in there! I'm still using CLE for my 1st grader because the foundation that it lays is wonderful! I'll probably end up supplementing TT with something else for the older kids. We're using X-tra math already, but will likely bring in something else one day a week, or something like that.