Wow, Mags... we have a very similar situation.
I have a DD7 as well, in second. Last year in 1st, I send in singapore math for her to do, she completed 2A,2B, and 3A, but I was hesitant on advancing her too much, so we also did the 2nd and part of 3rd grade Singapore Math Process Skills in Problem Solving, which focuses on the heuristic approach. That is what our GT coordinator suggested. Didn't work out as great as I wanted, as if she had a problem, she would either just sit there without asking for help, or the assistant would show her how to solve it incorrectly. I corrected it at home, and the poor kid would do 2 pages incorrectly, I would show her in about 10 seconds, and then she would get them all correct. But I loved, loved, loved those workbooks.
This year, they agreed to let her do Aleks. She started third grade curriculum in mid Sept, and is almost done with it. She basically already knew all the addition/subtraction/multiplication/division part of the chart, she just needed to be shown/review measurement and decimals. My thought, however, is to bring in Singaport Math again before advancing her to the fourth grade level. I'm not an educator, but the entire lesson on area and perimeter was literally "For area you multiply these two numbers, for perimeter you add these 4." And that is it. "Angles... >90 obtuse, <90 acute, =90 right." DONE. She got all the problems right, reviews and assesments on that right... but really???
My goal is NOT to have her reach a certain point at a certain time, but rather not be bored, be challanged, and absorb everthing completely. I'm not quite sure what the answer to that is, I'm just exstatic that her math education no longer consists of being the "helper"! I absolutely LOVE Aleks, and love the fact she can advance at her own pace in her classroom, and be stopped if she is having difficulty, without relying on the teacher. For her, its soo much better than their "differentiated" instruction, as her class's top 10% could not keep up with her, or even subject level advancement, as she would be stiffled yet again, even if less so. It also supports the need for her differentiation, as it does assessments and crosses of each and every line off the necessary grade level "goals" that they need for the state. My only concern is having her fly through three years of math this year, and then struggle with advanced concepts in Trig and Calculus because she doesn't have a strong foundation, or isn't mature enough to handle it... (I don't know, I never took calculus!)
If you are paying for Aleks, you will be the one with the administrative code. If they are, they will have it. I don't think it much matters either way, thought. The pie chart and progress can be seen from the student's account, and it is accessible online from anywhere.
Oh... and we had an issue with the plug in at one time. DD couldn't use it in the computer lab. I went to see what the problem was, and clicked the button for "download". Now she uses it on only that computer. Don't understand why that was an "issue", or if I wasn't supposed to do that.
Last edited by Weids13; 10/11/11 01:29 PM.
