I think I need another math spine...

[Kerileanne99]

I am always struggling to find new areas of interest in math for a seemingly insatiable mathy kid.

She wants, constantly, to learn something new in math that she did not know previously...but it is getting almost impossible to balance her very young (as in does NOT have the patience to struggle through long problems!) mentality with her desire to learn new topics.

 

Two things jumped out at me his week as I read a couple of other math posts:

1) my dd does not seem to struggle with the unwillingness for repetition that seems so common with advanced/gifted kids. She just likes doing the math! As long as she has something NEW going concurrently, she is perfectly happy just to be playing with anything math. For example, she has recently learned to use squares and square roots to solve basic algebraic equations (she already had them memorized) but is also happy to work through a few pages of 'Two Plus Two is Not Five' because it irritates her that her addition/subtraction facts are not as fast as some of the kids (twice her age!) she had in her math group.

And she sees thinking it through (8+5=13 problem: her thinking if it doesn't immediately come to her might be well, 8+2 =10 and 3 more is 13, which I would actually prefer over memorizing any day!) as inferior:(

 

2) we have been working through Singapore 3A because I want her to complete the problems, including CWP and EP, but she complains that she wants new material. Unfortunately, it seems 3B is going to be very little new material as we have done a lot on materials in this level...the more I try to supplement and make up fun challenging 'home taught' materials, the faster we wnd up going through the Singapore books.

 

We already have A LOT of supplements that she loves, and would not want to drop. Because she is actually not due to officially start Kindya year from this Fall, we also choose to go primarily interest led, which means I cannot even spread her 'school time' between lots of different subjects. She can read anything put in front of her, and spends a tremendous amount of time on science. She also loves spelling, but that takes all of 15-20 minutes and does not satisfy her desire to sit and 'do school.'

 

 

So...I am thinking another full spine, with math material presented in a totally different manner, might be what she would enjoy.We already read Fred and Penrose for fun together, along with lots of living math books. She really likes BA, but does not have the patience to work through longer problems. What program would gel nicely? I should also say she does Soroban, so mental math is a game to her.

 

I am wondering if a more traditiona program might work? I have significant health problems, and am always concerned that a B&M school MIGHT have to suffice someday, albeit private...although I have no idea how:)

 

What do you think? Is there something that might satisfy her until she has a bit more maturity? I was thinking of 'Kindy' plans 16 months from now, and panicking more than a bit...this is a kid that NEEDS to stay with her age group, no question of even starting kindy early. She is too young socially and emotionally even for that:(

 

Oh! And I did give her the ADAM test online. Which for all of its subtexts Nd the fact that I think it truncated too,early due to the strange, non traditionally linear path we have taken, STILL returned a roughly grade 4 score in most areas.

[kiana]

I can't think of another one right now, but if she's in SM3, you might consider hands on equations as another supplement. I'd also get her math for smarty pants if her reading is as good as her math.

[Crimson Wife]

CSMP is very different from pretty much every other math program I've seen for elementary. I've only dabbled in it a little bit with my kids but your DD might really like it. http://ceure.buffalostate.edu/~csmp/CSMPProgram/Primary%20Disk/Start.html

[Dmmetler]

Have you looked at MEP? http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/

It's free, and is different than most math programs.

[bakpak]

I know you were specifically asking about math, but I would suggest adding a language or two for her. I bet she would eat them up. If you were able, you could teach the math in a 2nd language, which would add a fun dimension.

 

 

[acurtis75]

We also added fun foreign language (Song School Latin, Song School Greek) at that age. MEP is free and would probably be my first choice in your situation but if it isn't a good fit we used Mathusee and it has worked well for us. We went at a very accelerated pace and it was the perfect spine for my dd. She also enjoyed the manipulatives when she was younger. She didn't really use them for the worksheets because it wasn't necessary to figure out the problems but she did play on her own and discover a lot of the concepts that would be taught later. We didn't do every worksheet every lesson (there are lots of threads about how we accelerated the curriculum but I'm not sure how to link) but if your dd doesn't mind review you might use more.

 

The only down side for MUS for us is that when you use several books a year it is rather costly. I found some books used but between our spine and supplements we've spent more on math curriculum than any other subject.

[cmb6]

She sounds like she would love Latin.

 

For math, at that general stage, DS loved doing some of the problems from LHS's Historical Connections in Mathematics. I particularly remember him loving lattice multiplication and an Archimedes mobile. At that point, we did better with "dabble spines"--things rich with interesting math, but that could be done in a non-linear way.

 

 

[Korrale]

Physics? I suggest that because James is enjoying watching Eureka right now. The math is enticing and practical.

How about coding?

[SierraNevada]

I personally wouldn't add another spine. SM and BA are more than enough-- trust me we have so many books lying around right now we could spend years on them all-- just to go through them even though there isn't alot of new material. If she wants new math material but isn't ready to do the deeper mental thinking required to really bring anything new to the table, then personally I'd just move into a different subject like others suggested. Languages are great for mathy kids or an instrument. But yet another set of books I don't think is going to give you what you really need-- which just seems to be time to mature into deeper thinking skills.

[mathwonk]

"what is mathematics"?  or "principles of mathematics", are books that have so much material that they will last her for years, or decades.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Elementary-Approach-Ideas-Methods/dp/0195105192/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398221237&sr=1-1&keywords=what+is+mathematics

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/PRINCIPLES-MATHEMATICS-CLETUS-BARNETT-ALLENDOERFER/dp/B000W6JYMM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398221294&sr=1-1&keywords=principles+of+mathematics%2C+allendoerfer

[lifesadream83]

Have you thought about teaching her ancient number systems? ETC Montessori has the materials for the math with different number systems used throughout history. One of them uses a base 30 system versus base ten. Could be the fun/ challenge you are looking for.

[Kerileanne99]

I can't think of another one right now, but if she's in SM3, you might consider hands on equations as another supplement. I'd also get her math for smarty pants if her reading is as good as her math.

Funnily enough, I have this on Kindle. At your suggestion I pulled it up and gave it to her for quiet time. She read for quite a while, and I really think she likes the style. Thanks for the reminder:)

 

ETA: yes, she does HOE about 1-2 per week, although this I have out and she asks me for...and the app and the Dragonbox apps have saved me more times than I can count when I am having a hard day with health issues...

[Kerileanne99]

CSMP is very different from pretty much every other math program I've seen for elementary. I've only dabbled in it a little bit with my kids but your DD might really like it. http://ceure.buffalostate.edu/~csmp/CSMPProgram/Primary%20Disk/Start.html

This is SO cool! There is so much material here. I am awful at printing stuff and organizing it as a program (which is why MEP never worked for ME even though I think dd would love it!), but really amazing things there. Thanks for the tip.

[Kerileanne99]

I know you were specifically asking about math, but I would suggest adding a language or two for her. I bet she would eat them up. If you were able, you could teach the math in a 2nd language, which would add a fun dimension.

I am trying, believe me:)

We are doing quite a bit of Spanish through a couple of different programs, as well as having a college student come once/week to 'play/chat' in Spanish with her.

I bought the same programs (the DVD-based vocabulary ones and Song School) in Latin, but we are no where near as far along...and Latin is a whole new thing for me too:)

 

I love the idea of math in Spanish! I am not fluent enough for that by far, but maybe the girl who comes would be:)

[Kerileanne99]

She sounds like she would love Latin.

 

For math, at that general stage, DS loved doing some of the problems from LHS's Historical Connections in Mathematics. I particularly remember him loving lattice multiplication and an Archimedes mobile. At that point, we did better with "dabble spines"--things rich with interesting math, but that could be done in a non-linear way.

Is this what you are referring to?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1881431355/ref=pd_aw_sims_1?pi=SL500_SY115

 

This looks very interesting. She enjoys more outside the box math, every since I bought her the movie Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land when she was two! We read children's stories about mathmaticians and scientists, mostly because at this age she seems to have the idea that ALL math is easy an because she enjoys the stories. Maybe this would be something fun for summertime.

[Kerileanne99]

I personally wouldn't add another spine. SM and BA are more than enough-- trust me we have so many books lying around right now we could spend years on them all-- just to go through them even though there isn't alot of new material. If she wants new math material but isn't ready to do the deeper mental thinking required to really bring anything new to the table, then personally I'd just move into a different subject like others suggested. Languages are great for mathy kids or an instrument. But yet another set of books I don't think is going to give you what you really need-- which just seems to be time to mature into deeper thinking skills.

I absolutely agree in some ways! She needs time to mature and be willing to work through the problems that cannot be solved in one sitting:)

 

But in the meantime I want to encourage her passion. I am hoping that lots of fun extension ideas and a program with a different style of thinking things through will allow her that maturation time whilst not discouraging her.

[Kerileanne99]

"what is mathematics"? or "principles of mathematics", are books that have so much material that they will last her for years, or decades.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Elementary-Approach-Ideas-Methods/dp/0195105192/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398221237&sr=1-1&keywords=what+is+mathematics

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/PRINCIPLES-MATHEMATICS-CLETUS-BARNETT-ALLENDOERFER/dp/B000W6JYMM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398221294&sr=1-1&keywords=principles+of+mathematics%2C+allendoerfer

Ooh! *I* want these. I have no idea what SHE will think, but I just found used copies and ordered them. Thanks for these!!

[Kerileanne99]

I received the new Timberdoodle catalogue in the post today and spent quite a bit of time eyeing the TT sets.

I like the idea that she could do them when she wants, but she just seems so young for something like that. Anybody used them with very young kids?

 

I also just spent a small fortune on Prufrock Press books as fun things to do on our LONG driving road trip this summer. Things like Amusement Park Math, Camp Fraction, Math Extensions, and lots of others. She doesn't do well for long periods in the car unless she has something to do, so I am hoping these will be hits she can work on quietly:)

 

Hopefully, I can find another challenging geography supplement as she also really likes that and maps, Geocaching too!

[MissKNG]

Have you looked at MEP? http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/

It's free, and is different than most math programs.

 

We dabble in MEP but I cherry pick through the "puzzle" questions in the Practice Book and not use the entire program.

[bakpak]

I _thought_ you were doing Spanish, then didn't see it in your signature. MEP is printed in Spanish up to Level 4. Not sure how MEP levels translate to SM/BA. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/spanish/default.htm It's nice because the instructions are there in Spanish, so you can just read them, and/or you can look at the English versions for translations.

 

[Kerileanne99]

I _thought_ you were doing Spanish, then didn't see it in your signature. MEP is printed in Spanish up to Level 4. Not sure how MEP levels translate to SM/BA. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/spanish/default.htm It's nice because the instructions are there in Spanish, so you can just read them, and/or you can look at the English versions for translations.

LOL,

See, I always end up discounting MEP because I am ridiculously unorganized at printing pages! But now I have to give it another look if I can find it in Spanish:)

 

And the signature...ah, yet another thing I am horrible at updating! The last time must have been before Christmas according to the read-a-loud. Updated now, Thanks for the reminder:)