Has anyone used the Everyday Mathematics curriculum to teach?
Posted on 2009 under curriculum | 4 Comments3 Oct
My students are required to use this curriculum because they will use it in first grade but I find it very difficult to use and very general. Has anyone used this curriculum before? Any advice? Thank you.
My son had this when he was in elementary school. I thought it was rather imbecilic, but he survived. He still has an unfortunate tendency to want to multiply using the lattice method, however. I much prefer the old "drill and kill," myself.
by ND DVM, on October 4 2009 @ 5:03 am
My son had this when he was in elementary school. I thought it was rather imbecilic, but he survived. He still has an unfortunate tendency to want to multiply using the lattice method, however. I much prefer the old "drill and kill," myself.
References :
by GR8MIDWIFE, on October 4 2009 @ 8:13 am
Have had kids with that program; thought it worked well
by Amethy Smith, on October 4 2009 @ 9:11 am
My step s-i-l is a teacher & had to use that curriculum in a NJ school system. She hated it, they hated it, & it was dumped the following year. Actually, she dumped it on me, LOL, so I have a whole box of 4th grade EM. I’ve looked thru it & wasn’t too impressed…..
by DebB., on October 6 2009 @ 5:46 pm
I used Saxon Math with my 7 children and also with several other home schooled children that I tutored through a public school alternative program. (Two sons took Saxon all the way up through Calculus). While using this resource, I carefully watched the learning process and asked questions to get feedback from the kids. Every single student (my own as well as other families) eventually complained about too much repetitiveness in the Problem Sets, or insufficient explanation on complex problems, while giving exaggerated explanation on easier ones. Often mathematical wiz kids felt really tied down, but after awhile, it was very clear to me that all kids became bored with that series.
While tutoring, I met a college mathematics teacher, whose father and other family members were mathematicians. She’d experienced similar problems when using various resources for tutoring, especially Saxon, and was always searching for better resources. Both of us noticed too much repetition and parroting actually tended to dull the mind and prevent actual understanding/learning.
This became more evident to me, after one of my students explained to me how she’d immediately noticed how Saxon always reused the original examples they used when teaching new concepts. She then simply parroted the answer. (Perhaps they’ve corrected this practice in their updated versions.)
With my 6th and 7th children, I did some research and decided to use Everyday Mathematics. After having used Saxon for some time, and having missed earlier book levels, my 6th child didn’t like the extra step of using the resource book that must be used along with Everyday Mathematics workbooks. Basically, Saxon had already hampered her interest in learning math.
My 7th and last child enjoyed Everyday Math which seemed to approach math more intuitively. She had no problems catching on, but unlike her sister, she began with the first book. I also discovered that she always finished achievement tests long before time was up without having errors. As she neared the last two books in that series, I supplemented them with Saxon, just to see if learning had actually taken place, and she would be able to apply herself. She had no problems with transition like my other daughter did.
By the time she neared Pre-Algebra I found a great substitute in the Teaching Textbooks series. My 6th child liked that resource much better than Saxon – she really felt it’s explanations were much better, and they broke concepts down differently. Both girls made an easy transition into that series. I then bought all their resource materials.
I realize you’re dealing with a younger child, but I hope some of these examples will help you take a closer look at any resources you may run across.