If you ever wondered where your child is at in math

[canadian gardener]

I was poking thru my old homeschool links and noticed that one of the math programs I've always heard good stuff about has a skill test here that you order and give to see where your child is shaky. http://www.masterypublications.com/Skill_Inventory.htm

although it looks like it comes with the math program I notice here http://www.masterypublications.com/Order_Form.htm you CAN order it separately.

One of the things that really helped us at the beginning of homeschooling (and I wish I'd done it when they were in reg and in private school on a fairly routine basis) was to test where the gaps were in their math knowledge.

I used the Alpha Omega test kit but that is keyed to their workbooks. This looks like it might simply tell you exactly what is missing, so you can work on it with your child and bring them back up to where they feel confident in math. They also sell a math program that consistently gets rave reviews in Mary Pride and Cathy Duffy's books on homeschool resources.

One of the problems I had when my kids were in school was the teacher jumping around in the text book. I couldn't tell where they were, or what they'd covered or what exactly my kids were shaky in by about grade 3 or 4.

When ds and dd were going into gr 9 and 7 we began homeschooling and I noticed they were having real troubles fitting into the math text I'd chosen (saxon) at the grades they should have been in.

When I tested them, they had weaknesses in a number of areas.

The school principal and I had a long standing relaxed friendship, and I was able to ask her why. She explained that although they used a spiral curriculum (which repeats over and over) the spiral of teaching occurred over 3 grades, and at times each teacher would make a decision what to cover, and often assumed a topic had been covered or would be covered.

When it wasn't then the kids had kind of a gap.

Also when kids are out of school due to illness, trips, or just aren't able to pay attention due to stress or ADHD they zone out or aren't there when a topic is taught.

It's helpful to know what exactly got missed because math builds on itself and when most kid's break down is the first year of algebra when all those x and y abstract numbers put stress on the child's grasp of math principles.

So I thought if any parents out there want to test, then teach the missed concepts, here is a link to a product you can use.

You don't have to be a homeschooler to appreciate what this might mean to a child struggling in math.

It also might be a help for any school teachers coping with kids who are struggling in math.

hope it's a help

[homesteadmamma]

Margery, thanks for sharing your wealth of information for homeschooling.