Rod and Staff/Pentime Handwriting. You can find them on milestone books. They're effective yet simple.

Oh wow that's great to know. Yes, it's a bummer that it only goes to grade 5. Thanks for telling me about the levels. I'm waiting on my new budget to purchase.

An update: I will be continuing with Singapore but as a supplement. I really do like the layout just not necessarily how it teaches some things. My spine and "drill" will be Themeville math. I bought the K5 and Grade 3 math manipulatives pack from BJU Press. I laminated them so all my children will be able to use them. I also will be purchasing a set of Cuisinare Rods to use for bar modeling, fractions etc. I was heavily considering Math Mammoth but it's too similar to Singapore and I prefer Singapore's layout.

An update: I will be continuing with Singapore but as a supplement. I really do like the layout just not necessarily how it teaches some things. My spine and "drill" will be Themeville math. I bought the K5 and Grade 3 math manipulatives pack from BJU Press. I laminated them so all my children will be able to use them. I also will be purchasing a set of Cuisinare Rods to use for bar modeling, fractions etc. Thanks for all your input. I will give an update in a few months about this new routine.

I have also been on the hunt for a new math curriculum and posted about it in "BJU Press Vs Rod and Staff...Vs Singapore" for my 2nd grader. Here's what I've found out: 1. BJU Press is great but goes at a slower pace than Singapore. It's also expensive. 2. Rod and Staff is inexpensive but may be too much drill. It won't be the best if you want your child to have a STEM career. 3. Singapore is great at mastery and mental math. However, you will have to learn how to teach it properly. Plus it is best in conjunction with manipulatives. There is not enough drill for some people and in general it seems to be a hit or miss. 4. TGTB is beautiful but there are too many extras. Many STEM people believe that you're better off with Math Mammoth or Singapore Math. 5. Math Mammoth is highly recommended. However, people complain that there are too many problems per page ( i.e. the page seems crowded) and it's not very pretty. But most agree that it's a solid program. Many people say that it's similar to Singapore Math but Rainbow Resources Center disagrees. They even have a PDF document comparing many math curricula. I'm still contemplating switching to Math Mammoth. 6. Themeville Math is currently what I'm investigating because it's just one big worktext with Teacher's instructions included and a Solutions book. It's very detailed but minimal and has lots of mental math. Older versions are in the format of 1A, 1B, 1C and so on. It currently goes from Grade 1-5. It's the most affordable of all that I've listed. 7. From what I've seen Math Lessons for a Living Education is all over the place and too gentle. It also seems like it would be a setback. Many people I know tend to switch during their second year of using it. I really wish that choosing and using a math curriculum would be soo much easier. But I hope my summary helps.

@Clemsondana Thanks for such a detailed response. No I don't have the teacher's guide. We've taken a break from math since Wednesday. I'm taking a closer look at our curricula for everything and I'm aiming to fine tune everything. So that's where we are at the moment.

Either it was fun but not enough drill or child didn't get it. But I'm going to look into it.

Yes I actually need to check that out for myself. I've heard mixed reviews but I've never actually looked at it. So thanks again for your help here and on my topic I started yesterday.

@Not_a_Number Yes I've added pocker chips to my manipulatives list that I started based on the feedback. Thanks.

@daijobu No it's not in my version but I'm realizing that I will have to increase the use of manipulatives instead of just occasionally. Thank you.

I just saw this after posting lol. Is this a 2nd son thing? My 2nd son is the same. But what I plan to do if I really buy Math Mammoth is to get manipulatives specific to him. So I'm thinking of STEM blocks, popsicle sticks and even cheap Matchbox cars as counters. He's obsessed with action figures so maybe toy soldiers? Not sure but I'm planning it out. Thanks to @TK5004 I'm really considering it now.

I totally understand and relate to everything you said! I was leaning towards BJU. A friend of mine showed me Math Mammoth and I've rewatched YouTube flip throughs and it really does look like it's everything I'm looking for. I guess it just doesn't look very pretty but the colored version seems doable. It seems straight forward that even if you don't like Math, you could still teach it. So I've added the 2 sets in my cart on Rainbow Resources. The set has the work texts, answer keys and reviews. I know that I could buy the CD and print but since I would need to print for my 7 and 5 (soon to be 6) year olds, I think the set is cheaper. Or maybe I just love books?!😁 If I do buy it, I'm going to start them both at 1a ( go quicker with my 7 ) and then just move on to the next level when either is finished. But since both would be using it then I would just need to buy the extra books not the set twice. Oh and she suggested that I could use Mathematical Reasoning by Critical Thinking Co and Singapore word problems occasionally. That's where I'm at as of this afternoon. 😀 How does this sound to you?

@Masers Have you decided yet? I want to switch from Singapore and I posted about that today in a new topic. Lots of people (in real life) say Math Mammoth but I don't know why I'm hesitant. I too looked into Horizons. I had narrowed it to BJU PRESS math and Rod and Staff but I got an excellent comment today which made me scratch Rod and Staff. I would love to hear what you decided. Thanks.

@Not_a_Number He would put 14, 16, 18 and if space is allowed on the number line, he'd put 20. Lol. He knows the answer is 14 and apparently he HAS to fill out the full sequence.

@Not_a_Number Ooohhh! I think you've cracked it. Ok he says he knows the expansion of hundreds tens and ones but apparently sometimes he sees the numbers separately or like spaces between?! So not 500 but 5 0 0. And then he treats it as five zero zero. That seems to happen when he's doing practice problems and sometimes with his word problems. But I'm going to let him use manipulatives more and practice more. With the Prime Mathematics book, there is heavy emphasis on word problems. Not necessarily lots of practice. So even topics such as number patterns in sequence we had to really hone in on the relevant pattern. The book didn't dive into explanation other than numbers on the number line. But because we have charts he was able to visualize and understand. For example the number line has 6, 8, 10, 12, ___ but if there was space on the line then he'll add as many as possible instead of just 14. And I would have to remind him that he does not need to do so. And he does not need to get caught up on ALL the possible patterns. So I'm really not sure that Singapore is going to be great long term.