Homeschooling Part 2 Math

   

      I had made huge mistakes with Bradon's Math.  I had started him in Saxon Math, but switched to Alpha Omega.  I don't remember what I did for grade 3 if I did anything.  In grade 4 and 5 I went back to Saxon.  It is a great program, but we had some problems. 
     First of all Bradon knew his multiplication, but his computation (speed) with these problems was very slow.  The repetition of skills in the Math book frustrated him when it came to something he'd already mastered.  I kept pushing him through (as if I had not learned from this mistake before). 
      When I had him tested in grade 6, I discovered we were way behind.  I had missed something.  Probably jumping from one Math curriculum to the other hadn't helped. 
     Trivium's theory of not using Academic Math before age 10 was really starting to make sense to me.   We put all the books away and just worked on flash cards and speed drills for a couple months.
     When it was finally time to move back to books I chose something new.  I know, I know! 
     I found Teaching Textbooks.   I wanted Bradon to have a tutor on the computer, since Math is not my forte!   I have always resisted having an actual online teacher, I relish my independence.   (This may change as we hit grade 10, but we'll deal with that later.)   I love Teaching Textbooks!  Bradon passed Grade 7 Math with 85%. 
    I have bought TT Math for Bevan's grade 5.  Natalie really wanted to do Math on the computer too, so I got her the grade 4, but it's just for fun really.  I would like to stick to the no formal Math until age 10.  She will be 10 this summer. 
     It's not that we don't do any Math before age 10.  We measure our baking and creating, we learn our numbers and how to write them.  We count, we add, subtract, and Multiply.  All in games and everyday life, not sitting down and doing pages.  I do have math pages from old Saxon books and it's a good thing too because Ashley loves them!