4th Grader Needs Math Help!

[als907]

I am homeschooling my 9 year old this year. She is in fourth grade. My husband and I decided to that homeschooling was the best thing as we did not feel she was getting what she needed from school. So anyway my problem is that even though she has my one on one attention she is still struggling with Math. It doesn't matter how many times we go over it or how many problems we work together it just doesn't seem to sink in. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions that may help. And also what Math you think is better. I purchased the Saxon Math 5/4 because that is what they use in our public school but she seems lost for the most part. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks
Kelly

[love2bastayathomemom]

Hi,
I just posted a request about math myself. I was going to choose the miquon math, but noticed that everyone is using Saxon!? I read up on the Miquon math and the curriculum includes lots of manipulatives! I thought that would be a lot of fun instead of the boring textbooks. It comes with cuisenaire rods and a bunch of other stuff. Maybe your daughter would benefit seeing and doing along with the textbooks? Just a thought.
Suzy:)

[momo3boys]

I love miquon, but you really need to supplement for any math curriculum that you choose. Math games are a great way to get concepts remembered, just dice games, and making charts of things. What concepts is she struggling with. Maybe you just need to do some review and she where she is.

[als907]

I will check into that math. She seems to be stuggling with the basic addition and subtracting if the problems contain alot of numbers. I have been using flashcards and have been lookin for some games that might help. It just seems that what we learn today she has forgotten by tomorrow. She does really well with everything else except math.
Kelly

[love2bastayathomemom]

You will find out eventually what works with her. it's such a learning process with us all, but it'll come to her, you'll see.
Good luck!

[momo3boys]

Another thing that helps my memory challenged son, is the What's wrong, and what changed activities. THese help to organize facts. Another thing that helps is songs. If you can put it to music the brain can store it differently and it can be more easily retrieved. Sara Jordan has some great songs for math facts.

[Ramona]

I never used Saxon. My son has been homeschooled throughout his life and he's now starting 12th grade. He just got a 20 on the Math ACT this summer. He's starting computer programming.

I never bought a math curriculum. We based our homeschooling on the Core Knowledge Series of books through 6th grade and since then he's been using some basic algebra and trig books and stuff DH and I come up with.

When my kids were little I decided I didn't want to buy manipulatives. We used Legos for addition and subtraction and marbles for multiplication and division.

Ramona

[Lenethren]

We used Legos for addition and subtraction and marbles for multiplication and division.

I never thought of Lego! I've used marbles but Lego is a wonderful idea. Thank you.

[AnnetteR]

I will check into that math. She seems to be stuggling with the basic addition and subtracting if the problems contain alot of numbers. I have been using flashcards and have been lookin for some games that might help. It just seems that what we learn today she has forgotten by tomorrow. She does really well with everything else except math.
Kelly

People learn math in different ways; some people are more tactile (problems with objects to represent the problem), some just more visual (problems with visuals), and some need less sensory (simple problems with no visuals).

Experiment and find out if one method works better than another.


As for fractions: I have always found pizza and coin currency to be very useful.

Sometimes the best way to teach math is to apply it to something the child can relate to and has an interest in.

[LisaMKH]

You bought Saxon math because that is what they used at the public schoo, yet, you homeschool because you felt the public school was not doing a good job educating her. So you must have assumed it was just the teachers and not just the books they were using?

My dd is a genius at math. My dd's IQ so far has been immeasureably high. She now takes the ITBS at 2 grade levels ahead and still scores 99th percentile in math. It is her best best subject. But if she tried to do Saxon, I am certain there would be daily tears. I doubt she would have gotten to where she is.

I am going to highly recommend Math-U-See for your daughter. Other programs worth considering are BJU Math, Singapore Math, and Rightstart math.

[SciMom]

It sounds to me like your daughter is behind a bit, maybe back up and do Saxon 3 instead of 5/4. We are using Saxon this year and I have used other programs in the past including Singapore, I would definately NOT NOT NOT advise Singapore for your daughter. It's definately a good program, but requires starting from the beginning to be able to work the problems with their methods and it requires a LOT of supplements in the early grades. I tried to use it from the beginning with my youngest but there was way too much teaching and not enough practice or emphasis on memorization of facts. If you tried to start her on Singapore 4th grade she would probably be more lost than she is now.

My son likes Saxon, the first 50 lessons or so, which only took us about 4 weeks to do, was a lot of review, but now that we're into it it's much better.

Like another poster said, ALL math programs should be supplemented with something. I like Wrap-ups and Calculaddars for drills.