hands-on-mama Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I bought Book A of this series and it is waaaayyyy to easy for my daughter. We will work through these pages as extras, but now i'm wondering whether I should order Book B for her or move straight to 1A. She is halfway through MUS Primer. I just wanted to try out Singapore to see which we wanted to go with for sure. DD also just needed a change of pace. She was getting tired of the monotony. Where do I go from here. I don't want a pricey program. I might would try Math Mammoth though if the first level is appropriate for her. Please help! Lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 If you're thinking of MM, there are TONS of sample pages that you get for signing up. Actually, whatever program you're considering, print out as many pages as you can find (Christian Book often has quite a few sample pages) and try them out with your kid. Forgive me for asking, though... if you're using MUS and she's learning and thriving, why consider switching? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hands-on-mama Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Well, my main reason is that she doesn't like coloring all the blocks in MUS. I may just do that part for her. Sje really just seemed to be getting bored, so i thought we would try what HOD recommends (we are doing LHFHG after MFW K. I may find though that we need to stick with MUS. Real answer, i'm a curriculum junkie and can't help muself. ;p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hands-on-mama Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 I will say that this book will be awesome for my 3 year old quite soon. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esse Quam Videri Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Essentials A is a Pre-K book, while B is the Kindy book. I would try B before you give up on SM. If she knows how to recognize, count, and write numbers 1-20 and can do simple addition and subtraction easily, she may be ready to jump into 1A. Check out MM 1A sample to get an idea of where she needs to be. Also, 1A in either program is going to require a lot more writing from her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Essentials a is much easier than b. My dd finished it in like a month, but b took quite a bit longer. She loved book a even though it was easy. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I would try Essentials B - with my own DD I did some of Horizons K til she was writing numerals to 20 and then did Singapore 1a along with Horizons K and that worked very well. If you want a cheap program you could also try MEP - either reception which is only 60 lessons or straight into MEP 1 - again the writing could be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North Coast School Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Singpore 1A might work for an advanced K'er. My DD was a delayed first grader last year and she did well in 1A and 1B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Well, my main reason is that she doesn't like coloring all the blocks in MUS. I may just do that part for her. Sje really just seemed to be getting bored, so i thought we would try what HOD recommends (we are doing LHFHG after MFW K. I may find though that we need to stick with MUS. Real answer, i'm a curriculum junkie and can't help muself. ;p Give her a bingo dotter for the MUS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hands-on-mama Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Give her a bingo dotter for the MUS. We have actually done this some with do a dot markers. :) If the writing ever gets to be too much for her, we pull out our number stamps as well. :) Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommie_Jen Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Just another one chiming in to say DS has found Essentials book B a lot harder than A. A was a fun review, easy way to get him in the habit of doing daily math. Now we are in our week long break of book B because he just got stuck at a spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devan Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 My Kindergartener flew through books A & B (we skipped a lot of A because it was so easy.) He's now in MM at the 1st grade level and doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferLynn Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 We went through A quickly too. B was fairly easy but once we got to 1A things slowed down and in retrospect B was a good preparation for 1A. Otherwise we would have moved much more slowly through 1A, leading to frustration. For pre-K, we also did a lot with Rightstart, and some Miquon. Singapore ended up being a great fit but I wouldn't have bet on it based on our Essentials experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfatherslily Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 If you decide you don't want to use it, I'll buy it off you for the remaining pages;) It was great for us, but each kid is different! Book B moves into addition and might still be worth using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 My dd in K is using MUS Primer and SM1A. I let her show me what block and skip coloring if she got bored with it. She just laid it over where the coloring block was. Easy :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Well, my main reason is that she doesn't like coloring all the blocks in MUS. I may just do that part for her. Sje really just seemed to be getting bored, so i thought we would try what HOD recommends (we are doing LHFHG after MFW K. I may find though that we need to stick with MUS. Real answer, i'm a curriculum junkie and can't help muself. ;p Oh my....you sound like me!!! My Ker is doing MUS Primer, SM 1A, LHFHG and MFW 1st. I have problems! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hands-on-mama Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Oh my....you sound like me!!! My Ker is doing MUS Primer, SM 1A, LHFHG and MFW 1st. I have problems! :D OMG! I'M NOT ALONE! We are thinking about doing both. She is very strong in math so far, so it wouldn't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 OMG! I'M NOT ALONE! We are thinking about doing both. She is very strong in math so far, so it wouldn't hurt. Both are fairly short at this point. That should workout fine. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 If she's strong in math, you may need 1A. My K'er is doing 1B now and loving it. (I've also used 4A-5B with my older son, and we love those levels) We did EM K at age 4.5, and I think we spent about a month going through book A. We spent a LOT longer on book B. It ramps up quick, even getting into missing addend problems (only like 2 per page, so totally doable for a K'er). I had to break out the C-rods for sure. But after doing book B, 1A was a very easy transition. The big boogey man in 1A is unit 6, where it does adding and subtracting across tens, using the mental math techniques. That's the topic that trips up some kids, even when working at grade level. But that doesn't mean your kid will get tripped up. Mine didn't. We did slow it down some in that part, just because there wasn't much practice (some things had ONE exercise and that was it!), but once we got to measurements in the next unit, we were doubling up lessons. We're still doubling up lessons now in 1B because some of it has been pretty easy. DS can't wait to get to multiplication. :D One thing I liked about EM book A, even though it was easy, was that it got the kids explaining WHY they chose something. There are often multiple possible answers! It certainly gave me insight into this child's brain... On the one with 3 aliens and a boy, they were supposed to pick which one didn't fit in the group. My son chose one of the aliens. Why? Because he had spots and the others didn't. :lol: I loved seeing why he chose different things. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hands-on-mama Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 If she's strong in math, you may need 1A. My K'er is doing 1B now and loving it. (I've also used 4A-5B with my older son, and we love those levels) We did EM K at age 4.5, and I think we spent about a month going through book A. We spent a LOT longer on book B. It ramps up quick, even getting into missing addend problems (only like 2 per page, so totally doable for a K'er). I had to break out the C-rods for sure. But after doing book B, 1A was a very easy transition. The big boogey man in 1A is unit 6, where it does adding and subtracting across tens, using the mental math techniques. That's the topic that trips up some kids, even when working at grade level. But that doesn't mean your kid will get tripped up. Mine didn't. We did slow it down some in that part, just because there wasn't much practice (some things had ONE exercise and that was it!), but once we got to measurements in the next unit, we were doubling up lessons. We're still doubling up lessons now in 1B because some of it has been pretty easy. DS can't wait to get to multiplication. :D One thing I liked about EM book A, even though it was easy, was that it got the kids explaining WHY they chose something. There are often multiple possible answers! It certainly gave me insight into this child's brain... On the one with 3 aliens and a boy, they were supposed to pick which one didn't fit in the group. My son chose one of the aliens. Why? Because he had spots and the others didn't. :lol: I loved seeing why he chose different things. :) Thanks for this! I think we're going to blow through A quickly and then go through B before fall. Then, in the fall we will MUS Alpha and Singapore 1A. I know it sounds crazy, but i like teaching more than one way to look at things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Essentials A is a Pre-K book, while B is the Kindy book. I would try B before you give up on SM. If she knows how to recognize, count, and write numbers 1-20 and can do simple addition and subtraction easily, she may be ready to jump into 1A. Check out MM 1A sample to get an idea of where she needs to be. Also, 1A in either program is going to require a lot more writing from her. I would have ordered 1A but read at Rainbow Resource that 1A was pre-k and 1B is for K. We are using 1B for my k'er and she is doindg well. We are covering simple addition and subtraction problems right now. It seems to reinforce the math skills covered through mfw k hands on math. I am planning to do 1A for my ds next year when he is 4 years old. 1A would be too easy for a k'er. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I would have ordered 1A but read at Rainbow Resource that 1A was pre-k and 1B is for K. We are using 1B for my k'er and she is doindg well. We are covering simple addition and subtraction problems right now. It seems to reinforce the math skills covered through mfw k hands on math. I am planning to do 1A for my ds next year when he is 4 years old. 1A would be too easy for a k'er. It sounds like you're talking about Earlybird 1A/B. Most in this thread have been talking about Primary Math 1A/1B - ie, the first grade level of the program. You are correct that Earlybird 1A is more PreK level. My son did Essential Math K A and B at age 4.5, then started PM 1A (first grade level) at age 5.5. He's in 1B now and has a solid foundation. I've been very happy with the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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