My son’s school is now doing something called calendar math. It is supposed to supplement the regular program. His teacher tried to explain it to me. I didn’t follow her explanation but could be me. The manual she was showing me had “Every Day Math” on the front as well. Wonder what people thought of it, especially for a LD kid.
Re: Calendar math
Thanks for the good advice. His teacher is very experienced at teaching but the Calendar math is new to the whole school this year. My son is actually pretty good conceptually so maybe he will like it. It went over my head though!!!
I am planning to continue working at home with him on the basics. We started the Singapore circlu. this summer and I love it. Wish we could trade it for the textbooks his school is using. Ugggh.
Re: Calendar math
I am a first year LD / EBD teacher of grades 1 through 3. We use “Everyday Math”. It is a very comprehensive math education program designed by the University of Chicago (also called “Chicago Math”).
Personally, I like it so far. It seems the students like it too. It uses ideas to which they can relate.
Perhaps this site will help you some more:
http://live.looksmart.com/cgi-bin/view_a_question.cgi?qptr=qa_2000-05-24.dat:000735031
Good luck!
I haven’t had personal experience with “Every Day Math”, but I’ve read a lot about it. This is a love it or hate it curriculum. Lots of math teachers love it and get good results with it, lots of parents hate it and feel their kids aren’t learning much. My impression is that an expenienced teacher who already knows how to teach kids the basics can use the program well and introduce students to a lot of interesting and advanced math concepts, but a less experienced teacher may get sidetracked and then the kids miss out on the basics. LD kids tend to need more work on the basics, so these kids are especially likely to get lost with this program unless somebody is keeping them on track with the basics. OTOH, LD kids can benefit from exploring math concepts in a less traditional manner.
Find out from his teacher what the objectives are for the calendar math unit, and then help your son to master those skills. Don’t get sidetracked by just trying to help him get homework done- make sure he is developing the basic skills that will enable him to make steady progress, not just complete assignments.
Jean