Continuing my series about what we’re doing for sixth grade and why, as Charlotte Mason educators, here’s what we purchased for math:

This year, we did MEP Math, Year 2. Since they start Year 0 in first grade, this is actually third grade. He is in fifth grade, but this was the appropriate level for him. Shorty liked the gentle format, but his progress was very slow, so much so that we have been doing it consistently and we’re still not halfway through the year. Neither of us are happy about that.

A big hindrance is that he still hasn’t memorized all his math facts (though his speed has drastically improved) and so he hasn’t progressed very much. Neither of us enjoy the fact that it’s extremely teacher-intensive. This, I knew going into it, having read up on the Yahoo! group. but Shorty seemed to take it as an opportunity to argue with me constantly. I understand math triggers his OCD in an extreme way and I’m the only available target to vent his frustration on, but as a single parent that needs to work full time, I just can’t afford to spend 1-2 hours just on math every day, and that’s hwo long each lesson was taking. So we started limiting our math time to 20-30 minutes per day, which helped with frustration levels, but slowed our progress to glacier pace.

He was also getting discouraged that he’s still in “third grade math.” Exacerbated by the fact that MEP calls their third grade “Year 2.” He has recently developed a real desire to independently work to catch up to grade level and this was taking a toll on his self-esteem. I read many reviews of many different approaches and curriculums, trying to find one that would best remedy all these issues.

Developmental Math, Level 6 seems like the answer to our prayers – it is inexpensive; it is self-paced and entirely completed by the student; it emphasizes skill mastery over spiral progress; and he would start in “level six,” which he might think is sixth grade math (it’s midway through third, in reality, which is where he is, but he doesn’t have to know that – he can just be proud that he’s working on “level six.”) So that’s what we’ll be using next year.

Shorty is aware that his progress in math is not where it could be. I have no problem with children doing work below arbitrarily determined “grade levels” if that’s truly where their capacity is. But I don’t think it’s that he is not capable of doing higher level math yet, but that his OCD has been so severely triggered by math these last 3 years, causing tantrums, delays and just general obstinacy, all of which have delayed him significantly. I know he knows he can do better and that he’ll be better served with his career goals of computer programming and electrical engineering with stronger math skills; it is his own independent goal that he be “caught up” to at least 7th grade math by the 8th grade. I think this is totally doable with hard work on his end, and am pleased to see him taking so much initiative.

Recently Shorty asked me to dig out his addition and subtraction flash cards; he’s been working on his own for a couple of weeks with that and I already see an improvement. We’ll be spending the summer doing math drills and working on math facts, as well as working through the I Hate Mathematics book and doing a few lessons per week from MEP Y2.

Then he’ll be tackling Developmental Math Level 6 in the fall. We are very excited about this as a potentially low-stress method of building strong mastery skills he’s lacking. I am excited that he’ll hopefully be able to complete it on his own with minimal input from me. The only downside is that levels 7, 8 and 9 are all currently unavailable because they’re being revamped by the publisher. But I figure, by the time my kid is done with level 6, they should be done, or at the very least it will give me time to track down an older copy. If we don’t like it, we can always go back to MEP!