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Hi,
Have anyone used the Thinkwell 6th Grade Math? How do you like it?

I looked here:
http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/math-placement-tests

It says the child needs to have 5 correct on Test 1 and should go into 6th Grade Math? Looking at Test 1, it is very straightforward and I'm a bit surprised. Is 6th Grade Math that simple? Or perhaps a better question is -- is 4th and 5th Grade Math very very basic?

Obviously, I didn't expect that. Because looking at that test, my child can get more than 5 correct and I'm (heh) not mentally prepared for this next step.

Those are not sixth grade questions where I'm from. To read those questions, one has largely surpassed what fifth grade math has to teach, if one can simply compare two numbers and find the larger.

I would put those (highly repetitive) questions at roughly a normal third-grade level, going by New Hampshire standards. Of course, I don't know what they're going by. The bar might be a bit lower for previously homeschooled kids.

Thanks lucounu. Was just thinking about it more ... I suppose they believe that is all you need to basically know to go into their 6th Grade Math.

Oh, I agree. It just seems like they're missing a couple of years of standard math topics in there somewhere.

On the other hand, as long as the stuff's at an appropriate level for your kid, it doesn't matter whether it's off a bit. Sort of like manufacturer's recommended ages on games-- I often find them to be wildly off, even on the best games.

There's also a more cynical view that occurred to me. Their materials begin at the sixth grade, and they may want to encourage people to stretch a bit if they're on the fence. I wonder if the sixth grade placement test would be a lot harder if they had more elementary material.

I don't think those questions are representative of a child who should go into 6th grade math.

I have a child in 4th and they do long division starting in 3rd with basic remainders, then it gets more advanced with double digit and triple digit division by double digit divisors with remainders, area, perimeter, volume, metric measurement, estimating etc.

I didn't see anything that we covered in 4th on there and it seems more like what our state covers in 3rd as well, with some overlap in 4th. Mostly 3rd though.

If you look at your state standards should should have a better idea as to what topics would be covered.

We homeschool, but I can't say I know anything about Thinkwell. However, that entry test is so far off that it would make me think twice about using their stuff. It is at most an entry test for 4th, and it is missing some typical 3rd grade stuff.

Compare to the Singapore 3A exit test (middle or end of 3rd grade for an average student).

http://www.singaporemath.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/pl_pm3atest.pdf

We found in our school that 5th is a repeat of 4th and 3rd; 6th is supposed to be a repeat too. Something to do with reinforcement and also that 8 and 9 y.old kids can't handle the abstract concepts introduced in algebra. (??) Seems the only thing that changes is going from 2 -3 digit numbers to 3 and 4 digit numbers on which to perform the same computations. Seems boring as heck to me.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I think my 6 year old could pass that first test and I don't think of her as wildly mathy (or interested in math for that matter). We also use Singapore.

I used Thinkwell's Prealgebra course with my 9yo son. The lectures are great, but the problem sets are terrible. A well constructed problem set takes a student from what he knows through what he doesn't know but is learning by doing the problem set in a fairly seamless manner (Jacobs is the master of this, and Singapore is also very good). The Thinkwell problem sets are not varied enough nor do they develop a concept in a systematic way. Not recommended.