I made a mistake with my daughter. I was trying to follow the method used in the Robinson curriculum and with Ace School of Tomorrow. I was having Laura grade her own math work. I did this for months last year as we used Christian Light math.
Then we didn't do any math over the summer. I usually try to keep lessons in math going over the summer with Laura because math is a struggle for her. She often doesn't retain what she learned in math if she isn't using it. This past summer was busy, so the math was not done.
When the school year began in August, I naively thought Laura could just pick up where she left off. I was very wrong. I switched to grading the work myself because I had added students and I wanted to keep up with where they all were. Laura bombed her work.
I had Laura take the free, online diagnostic test for Ace math. I wanted a general idea where Laura actually was. I had a sneaky suspicion that, while grading her own work, when she missed problems, she would put the correct answer down without understanding. Throw in a summer of not working on math at all, and I ended up with a daughter that had once again gotten behind.
Once I knew the results of the diagnostic test, I had a choice to make. Did I try to redo the Christian pace lightunits or should I purchase the recommended Ace paces? The diagnostic test for Ace revealed what is known as "gap paces". These gaps are areas where Laura has forgotten or perhaps never understood the work. I decided to order the gap paces to catch Laura up to where she should be.
Now, in mid-September, Laura had completed two gap paces. I have her working at a quick pace. Her test scores have been 94% and 85%. Usually her errors are caused by carelessness.
I now check every problem. When it is wrong, she is made to correct it. I do this for everything except the pace tests. If she doesn't understand something, I can catch it quickly.
For now we will stick with Ace math. If I notice that Laura isn't retaining concepts because she isn't reviewing them enough, I'll switch back to Christian Light math because it is spiral in its approach. Ace is mastery. So far, however, this is working well in getting Laura back on track.
One thing I will say about Ace math is that it does work well for struggling students. While some kids might think Ace contains a lot of "drill and kill" practice, the concepts are cemented in their heads. For Laura, where math retention has been an issue, this "cementing" is vital. When Laura finishes a pace, she KNOWS the material inside. On Laura's diagnostic test, her gaps were not in concepts she learned with Ace, but with the other programs we used last year.
Do I stress about playing catch up? A little because I don't want my daughter to feel frustrated. But, with Ace, the paces aren't numbered by grade levels on the books. She will just seamlessly go through her gap paces right into her level without constantly seeing that she is catching up. She might not even realize that she when she is back on track. I very much appreciate this line upon line, precept upon precept approach for my math-challenged daughter.
Then we didn't do any math over the summer. I usually try to keep lessons in math going over the summer with Laura because math is a struggle for her. She often doesn't retain what she learned in math if she isn't using it. This past summer was busy, so the math was not done.
When the school year began in August, I naively thought Laura could just pick up where she left off. I was very wrong. I switched to grading the work myself because I had added students and I wanted to keep up with where they all were. Laura bombed her work.
I had Laura take the free, online diagnostic test for Ace math. I wanted a general idea where Laura actually was. I had a sneaky suspicion that, while grading her own work, when she missed problems, she would put the correct answer down without understanding. Throw in a summer of not working on math at all, and I ended up with a daughter that had once again gotten behind.
Once I knew the results of the diagnostic test, I had a choice to make. Did I try to redo the Christian pace lightunits or should I purchase the recommended Ace paces? The diagnostic test for Ace revealed what is known as "gap paces". These gaps are areas where Laura has forgotten or perhaps never understood the work. I decided to order the gap paces to catch Laura up to where she should be.
Now, in mid-September, Laura had completed two gap paces. I have her working at a quick pace. Her test scores have been 94% and 85%. Usually her errors are caused by carelessness.
I now check every problem. When it is wrong, she is made to correct it. I do this for everything except the pace tests. If she doesn't understand something, I can catch it quickly.
For now we will stick with Ace math. If I notice that Laura isn't retaining concepts because she isn't reviewing them enough, I'll switch back to Christian Light math because it is spiral in its approach. Ace is mastery. So far, however, this is working well in getting Laura back on track.
One thing I will say about Ace math is that it does work well for struggling students. While some kids might think Ace contains a lot of "drill and kill" practice, the concepts are cemented in their heads. For Laura, where math retention has been an issue, this "cementing" is vital. When Laura finishes a pace, she KNOWS the material inside. On Laura's diagnostic test, her gaps were not in concepts she learned with Ace, but with the other programs we used last year.
Do I stress about playing catch up? A little because I don't want my daughter to feel frustrated. But, with Ace, the paces aren't numbered by grade levels on the books. She will just seamlessly go through her gap paces right into her level without constantly seeing that she is catching up. She might not even realize that she when she is back on track. I very much appreciate this line upon line, precept upon precept approach for my math-challenged daughter.
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