Tip of the Week: Avoid This When Choosing Math Curriculum

Math texts are largely made up of computation and problem solving tasks that increase in difficulty as the student proceeds through the book.  Change in the difficulty level of problems is usually gradual.  Continuity between one lesson to the next, from one chapter to the next, from one book to the next, can be seen by glancing at the table contents.  What differs is the pace of change from publisher to publisher. What also differs is the way concepts are presented and the strategies taught for solving problems.

By the time a student reaches 5^th grade (maybe even earlier in some cases), there can be significant differences between text books produced by publishers who identify a book as a certain grade level. These differences increase the higher the grade level.  Changing publishers too often hoping to find “the right text for your child” can be a problem because your child may not have the skills necessary for success at this next grade level.  That’s because the book you used last year didn’t teach them or taught them differently.  Frequent changes will likely result in frustration for you and your children.

Trust the continuity and incremental development of the math concepts and skills presented by the publisher you used last year.  Go with the same publisher this year. Live with and overlook the little frustrations you may have experienced.

I realized after teaching my high-school age children Algebra I that if they were to go further in this subject, the instruction wasn’t going to come from me.  I didn’t have the time to study and prepare to give them what they needed.  So, I got some help.  Mr. Jerry Jones, our math and science teacher for almost 20 years, can make your job easier.  He did for me.  You can check out the courses he and the rest of our teaching staff are presenting this year here.

Avoid changing publishers, especially for math.

That’s the tip of the week!

Curt

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