Western suburbs relocation? (Cleveland, Parma, Lorain: for sale, real estate, how much)

[EggMaker]

Thanks for all this great information! You guys are thorough and thoughtful - I appreciate it.

[EggMaker]

Somewhat random question that perhaps citymama can answer: What elementary math curriculum is used by Rocky River City Schools?

I absolutely detest the curriculum currently used by some of my kids' schools, so that is an important factor in location if we decide to do public school.

[teacherdad]

EggMaker,

Are you referring to the standards per grade level, or the actual curriculum as in "brand" like HM, Go Math, McGrall Hill, etc.?

[EggMaker]

Originally Posted by teacherdad

EggMaker,

Are you referring to the standards per grade level, or the actual curriculum as in "brand" like HM, Go Math, McGrall Hill, etc.?

The actual curriculum. E.g., Saxon Math, Everyday Math, Singapore Math, etc.

[teacherdad]

What are you guys using at your school?

We are using Go Math

[citymama]

Originally Posted by EggMaker

The actual curriculum. E.g., Saxon Math, Everyday Math, Singapore Math, etc.

My first grader uses Everyday Mathmatics and my 5th uses Go Math along with Simple Solutions.

I'd be interested in your thoughts! Curriculum and best practice are huge interests of mine.

[EggMaker]

Thanks! I don't want to derail the thread but -- I have kids in different schools. Some use Everyday Math, some use Houghton Mifflin math.

I'm not a super-traditionalist, but the relentless spiraling of Everyday Math has resulted in one of my kids having no mastery, and we now have to home tutor. Plus as a parent, I feel as if I'm in a re-education camp when faced with terminology like "HomeLink" instead of homework, and "Number Story" instead of word problem.

[teacherdad]

I know what you mean. The first few years will be tougher because so much is new terms. We have already seen a huge increase in just one year, however, of students having a far better understanding of number sense (3rd grade). My daughter, in 6th, uses CPM, which is used in junior high (here that's 7-8th). It's much more complex than when I was in school, but I feel even if she is "average" in this curriculum, she is ahead of where I was. I thought I was good at math because I knew my facts as a kid- was always first in tests. However, in high school, I struggled. My older kids have done well in much higher math than I ever did.

We use Go Math. I focus on equations and manipulating numbers vs. just doing a fact. Facts are a big part of 3rd grade and we practice everyday, but there is a lot more. I hear kids who may struggle in reading making incredible connections and complex reasoning vs. just a few years ago. Example: 4 + (2 x 4) - 5 =

Almost all the kids used the order of ops to find the solution. I had an average reader with horrendous spelling skills say, "Well, it's really just 8 - 1." Everyone looked surprised and I asked her to explain. "The subtraction is only 1 more than the adding of 4 so you just take 1 from 2x4." For an 8-year-old, I thought this was pretty sweet.

These are things that I love about visual math vs. algorithms. I see more creativity, reasoning, and understanding.

You can always use Xtramath.com for your kids at home for facts if you are into that, or IXL.com (I buy a subscription for my class each year).

As my dad would say, "You want to clean toilets? Go ahead, but be really good at what you do and be happy."

[Scottnmo]

We live in Strongsville and it is very nice, still affordable and a great location. It has become much busier traffic wise over the past few years with the population explosion in Brunswick/Medina just south of us and the fact that we have a major mall and stores such as Best Buy, Costco etc. Christmas is the worst but other than that it takes 20 minutes to reach the airport, 30 minutes to reach downtown Cleveland - 45 in rush hour and you can be on the turnpike heading East or West in about 10 - 15 minutes. Strongsville is right on I-71 so getting around is quite easy.
The school system is very highly rated although there was a bitter strike here a couple of years ago and there are still some hard feelings but most have moved past it.
Good luck in your search

[maxmodder]

Originally Posted by teacherdad

I know what you mean. The first few years will be tougher because so much is new terms. We have already seen a huge increase in just one year, however, of students having a far better understanding of number sense (3rd grade). My daughter, in 6th, uses CPM, which is used in junior high (here that's 7-8th). It's much more complex than when I was in school, but I feel even if she is "average" in this curriculum, she is ahead of where I was. I thought I was good at math because I knew my facts as a kid- was always first in tests. However, in high school, I struggled. My older kids have done well in much higher math than I ever did.

We use Go Math. I focus on equations and manipulating numbers vs. just doing a fact. Facts are a big part of 3rd grade and we practice everyday, but there is a lot more. I hear kids who may struggle in reading making incredible connections and complex reasoning vs. just a few years ago. Example: 4 + (2 x 4) - 5 =

Almost all the kids used the order of ops to find the solution. I had an average reader with horrendous spelling skills say, "Well, it's really just 8 - 1." Everyone looked surprised and I asked her to explain. "The subtraction is only 1 more than the adding of 4 so you just take 1 from 2x4." For an 8-year-old, I thought this was pretty sweet.

These are things that I love about visual math vs. algorithms. I see more creativity, reasoning, and understanding.

You can always use Xtramath.com for your kids at home for facts if you are into that, or IXL.com (I buy a subscription for my class each year).

As my dad would say, "You want to clean toilets? Go ahead, but be really good at what you do and be happy."

I don't know much about math as I've only taken Calc 1,2,3,& 4 and multivariable calc but when I saw my friend's daughter's homework last week I was shocked. It was a very simple problem like 43 + 167 but instead of just placing the numbers on top of each other and putting a "0" to the far right and carrying the 1 etc like how it's always been taught, she was drawing a straight horizontal line with curves above it with various other numbers on the line and above the curves. Apparently is some new way of teaching addition in a tedious fashion that will never be applicable to real life?