Evaluating Our 2010-2011 School Year Progress: Part 1 - Math

We are now on break from school which is wonderful.  We've been working pretty hard and consistently since August 2nd and the decision to take a long Thanksgiving and Christmas break was made when I planned our master schedule for the year.  We are now officially on Christmas break until January 3rd!

Since we have about four months of our school year completed and a long break ahead of us, I thought this would be a good time to evaluate my children's progress in all of their subjects.  To help me evaluate their progress, I am focusing on a few different questions.

• Are we on track to finish the curriculum at the end of the 2010-2011 school year?

While it doesn't matter to me if we completely finish some curriculum by the end of the 2010-2011 school year, there are definitely subjects that I want to finish by the end of the current school year.  For example, I don't mind if my youngest doesn't finish his grammar text - he can simply start with his unfinished lessons at the beginning of the next school year.  On the other hand, I don't want to be finishing our Ancient History study at the beginning of next year!

• Are my children doing well academically in the subject?  Are they learning the material and making progress in accordance with their individual abilities?
• Are my children enjoying the subject?  Now, schoolwork is not always fun but negative attitudes and discouragement on a child's part can mean that some changes are needed.
• Am I happy with how things are going in the subject? 
• Are there any changes I would like to make? 
• Are there any organizational or record-keeping tasks that need done related to the subject?

Going through this evaluation process is hard but will definitely set the stage for a successful and more organized homeschooling experience for the remainder of the 2010-2011 school year.  To start my evaluation, I took a close look at the subject of Math.

Math

• Are we on track to finish the curriculum at the end of the 2010-2011 school year?

Yes, we definitely are on track to finish our math curriculum at the end of the school year.  So far this school year, all of my children have been doing math lessons five times per week.  Amber (8th grade) has completed 61 out of 129 lesson in Algebra 1 and has completed 8 out of 18 chapter tests.  Therefore, she has 68 lessons and 10 chapter tests to complete.  By scheduling Algebra 1 for her four times per week, she will definitely finish by the end of the school year. 

Mason (6th grade) has completed 60 lessons out of 116 and 10 out of 19 chapter tests.  Therefore, he has 56 more lessons and 9 more chapter tests to complete.  By scheduling Math 6 for him four times per week for two weeks and then three times per week for the remainder of the school year, he will definitely finish by the end of the school year.

Duncan (4th grade) has completed 62 lessons out of 114 and 8 out of 16 chapter tests.  Therefore, he has 52 more lessons and 8 chapter tests to complete.  By scheduling Math 5 for him three times per week, he will definitely finish by the end of the school year.

• Are my children doing well academically in the subject? Are they learning the material and making progress in accordance with their individual abilities?

Yes, all three of my children are doing well in math.  They are all getting As in their math courses right now.

• Are my children enjoying the subject? Now, schoolwork is not always fun but negative attitudes and discouragement on a child's part can mean that some changes are needed.

All three of my children "enjoy" Teaching Textbooks.  By enjoy I mean that they enjoy the lesson format and actually find many of the story problems funny.  My boys complete their math lesson via the computer.  They both find the program encouraging and like the instant feedback they receive during the lessons.  While Algebra 1 is challenging for my daughter, she definitely has no complaints about the curriculum.

• Am I happy with how things are going in the subject?

Yes, I am definitely happy with Teaching Textbooks and my children's performance in math this school year.  I did not anticipate that Algebra 1 would take such a large chunk out of Amber's day nor did I anticipate that she would struggle with some lessons.  Up to this point, her math lessons have never been problematic for her.  I am very proud of the way she is taking notes, re-doing missed problems, watching lessons again, and studying her notes to work through the course and do well.

• Are there any changes I would like to make?

While logic problems are not exactly "math," I do tend to think of logic problems as being part of a math course.  I really cannot add any additional work to Amber's schedule in math right now, but I can add a weekly logic worksheet or game to my boys' math schedule.  Since they only need to complete three lessons per week to finish their math courses by the end of the year, I plan to add a weekly logic worksheet or logic game to their schedule.  I have a few Mind Benders workbooks that I can use.  I also have lots of thinking games like Rush Hour that I could use.  Lastly, I have a subscription to EdHelper and there are lots of critical thinking printables available on this website.  

• Are there any organizational or record-keeping tasks that need done related to the subject? 

I'm completely caught-up on recording all the math grades.  I plan to prepare some critical thinking printables over break. 

So, are you happy with the way things are going with Math in your homeschool?  Do you have any changes you would like to make after Christmas break?