I found the book "The Singapore Model Method for Learning Mathematics" (link) very helpful. It has lots of sample problems and it shows the progression from the 4 operations, through ratio and percentages, up to the algebraic method. If you can read through this book once, you can then teach your dc to apply it to the word problems in the CWP book.

Thank you! I would agree with this and this is what I'll do with my dd.

Thanks! I'll check this thread after a few months :-)

Could someone please post the link to the teacher's guides?

Sorry, I saw your two posts only today. Yes it is, although I have read that some people find the practice (particularly word problems) not enough in MM. You may supplement with the Singapore IP and CWP books if needed. The thing I (and dh) like about MM is that it is an all-in-one text. I know I (and dh) would have disliked having to juggle the HIG, the textbook and the workbook. I suppose it may be used this way. We use Montessori math and MM independently of each other. MM is mainly used as reinforcement & extra practice. If worksheets is what you need for Montessori, there are printables in the Files section of the mm_math yahoogroup. HTH ~ Nandini

You can download them from archive.org. Search for the title, then click on "HTTP files" , then right click on the PDF link and Save to your computer.

Hi, There are Montessori Math albums available online that guide you in how to present them. Here are some links that I found useful. Albums, Printables & How-tos: http://www.freemontessori.org/wp-content/uploads/albums/Math_1_Album.pdf http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/_link.htm http://www.wikisori.org Scope & Sequence: http://www.montessori.org/sitefiles/math.pdf Montessori homeschooling group: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/playschool6 HTH ~ Nandini

I like the samples of 'Roots and Fruits' (link). It is a non-consumable vocabulary program using Greek and Latin roots and prefixes, but the intro says that it covers spelling through games and activities.

My reply is similar to nmoira's. I can write a very good cursive, but these days it is mostly for personal letters and greeting cards. Usually I write a hybrid which is mostly cursive. My cursive is the British form; I dislike the Q and G of American cursive. I have been reading extensively about handwriting and am convinced that italics cursive is the best trade-off of speed and legibility. I taught myself to write in italics this year and I'm teaching dd Getty-Dubay italic printing now. She will move onto italic cursive. She learnt to read my cursive, though, when we did Blend Phonics on the white board.

Hi, Sorry, I didnt see this thread come up in the last few days, so I didnt see your question. If you do the three CWP in first grade, you could get the WWE2 workbook for second grade and then move on to CW Aesop (as a pp suggested) or Writing Tales 1 (my pick) for third grade. Or, as another pp suggested, after doing the CWP, you could wing it on your own in second grade and then decide what to do for third grade. There are other books by Thornton Burgess and William Baldwin or books by EB White that will provide good narration/dictation selections. HTH ~ Nandini

I have both, but so far, have only done CW Primer with my dd. Also, I have only looked in detail at the first year of WWE. Here are the differences that I see: 1. WWE covers 4 years but provides only 1 passage for every 4 weeks and you have to select the passages for the missing weeks (although you have to buy separate workbooks if you want all the passages selected for you.) CW Primers have everything selected for you (the primer is the workbook and there is no real need for the 'teaching helps' sold separately). 2. That is correct. Apart from copywork and narration, the CW Primers also have a little bit of grammar instruction (plurals, homonyms, contractions etc), nature study and picture study. So they are more comprehensive. WWE only has copywork, dictation and narration, no grammar, nature study or picture study. 3. In CWP, the copywork and narration selections are different in the week. in WWE, the copywork and narration is from the same passage for that week. One line of copywork is directly taken from the passage, the other line is taken from the student's narration (answers). 4. In CWP, the narration is for a complete short story (Aesop fable or Baldwin story or Burgess story). In WWE, the narration is based on a passage from a longer book (such as Little House in the Big Woods) and the narration is basically answering questions (to test comprehension). 5. imo the CWP stories are shorter than the WWE passages, so it is easier for a younger child (i.e. you may start CWP in kindergarten but maybe not WWE.) 6. CWP only covers copywork and narration; WWE moves into dictation in the second year. Yes, but I plan to stretch out the primers over 2 yrs and 'pad' with lessons from Language Lessons by Gordy & Mead which also has dictation & narration. There are several options among old (vintage) books if you are interested. I like Language Lessons by Gordy & Mead, Talking with the Pencil by Swinton, Mother Tongue by Sarah Louise Arnold and Primary Lessons in Language and Composition by Maxwell. HTH ~ Nandini

Yes, I am a big DIYer (my dd is already using the Montessori movable letters and math bead material I made.) Dr Maria Montessori used whatever materials were available to her at that time; I am sure she would not object to us using different raw materials to make the manipulatives based on what is available/affordable to us in this present day :-) I already have some farm animals in a box which I think I will use with the free grammar box material on mm_share. I refer to the Language album I downloaded from freemontessori.org. Plus, there are LOTS of Montessori blogs and web sites and the yahoogroups for help on how to use/adapt the materials. What I like about Montessori is the concrete nature of every activity. So, for teaching prepositions (for example), one doesnt make the child mark the prepositional phrase on a worksheet, but rather, move the objects around to make the prepositional phrase true. It is very clear and direct and would make it easy for any child to understand. Due to the concrete manipulatives in every area of learning, it makes it easy to introduce the concepts even to very young children. Sorry about the long reply but (as you can tell) I love Montessori.

There is one member here who uses the Montessori grammar boxes, though not the farm. Here is her post (link). I have the DIY grammar symbols and plan to use them with dd soon. I think it is possible to DIY some of the grammar material. You may post your queries to the foll. Montessori-specific Yahoo groups; the members there are very helpful. playschool6 - for Montessori homeschool help montessorimakers - mainly for DIY info, but you may also post your queries mm_share - for sharing Montessori printables

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! :)

I second Peggy Kaye's book. My dd loves the games from that book. There is another book that gets talked about a lot - Family Math - but I havent tried it. At age 4 and 5 you could play lots of learning games to learn math instead of worksheets or formal curriculum. These are some that I made; please google for the printables: 1. several math games from filefolderfun.com 2. gave and take game Make namecard-sized cards each having the words - Give 1 or Give 2 or ... Give 10 or Take 1 or Take 2 ... Take 10 written on it. Each player starts with 20 candies. Then each player draws a card and gives or takes that many candies from the next player. Then calculate the new balance of both players (addition & subtraction practice). 3. Addition bingo, Subtraction bingo, Addition loop cards, Number bonds to 10 loop cards 4. Hundred board activities 5. Addition or Subtraction or Multiplication war (using playing cards) 6. Pattern blocks and worksheets or Tangram blocks and worksheets

Isnt this is just photographs? I cant see where it helps with what "math story" to make up, which sequence to follow, etc.

Another late bump! I really like the samples of this program and the fact that it is available as a downloadable e-book. I want to get this for next year if I get good feedback. TIA

I believe there are answer keys for the higher levels of MEP. You may want to join the MEP Yahoo group and post your questions there. MEP is 'scripted', so if you need that hand-holding, it is suitable. MEP goes upto high school level. I like Math Mammoth too. It is well laid out and very easy to use; said to be similar to Singapore math. My dd works on level 1 with only a little bit of guidance from my dh. There is no pre-reading/pre-work needed on the part of the parent. If you child likes explicit instruction, go for MM. MM goes halfway upto grade 6. Miquon is also good, but very different from the above programs and needs much more parent participation. There is a lot of pre-reading needed on the part of the parent. If you child likes to discover concepts on their own, go for Miquon. Miquon goes upto grade 3. HTH

You could try Blend Phonics on a whiteboard for reading. For initial lessons, I used to write the vowels with a red marker and consonants with a blue marker. If you want to also have him spell a few of the words, you can print letter tiles from MontessoriMaterials.org onto card paper. Another easy curriculum that I liked (but didnt need to use since Blend Phonics worked so well) was ReallyReading from Tanglewood Curriculum. A third suggestion is called "Learn2Read, Read2Succeed" from www.help-someone-learn-to-read.net This one comes with letter tiles. HTH

I agree. For instance, LAMom, if you look further into your SM 1B book, you'll see how multiplication is taught using bar diagrams, which is essentially, a pictorial representation of the C-rods. BTW, this link will give you the info you need. :-)

:bigear:

I cant help you with that non-working link. You can view different pages of each book's samples on currclick.com and sonlight.com. I want to add that the C-rods are really a very intuitive manipulative that you can use with any math curriculum, esp. with Singapore. You can teach the 4 math operations, GCF and LCM, squares and (if you have enough rods) cubes. If you get the base-10 set with the rods, you can also teach place value. I was surprised to find this page that teaches the English Verb Tense System using the Cuisenaire Rods! HTH

Thank you very much for the quick reply! I am also considering buying the pdf. It's good to know it is all-in-one. :) Regards Nandini

Hi all, I am considering getting FLL 1/2 for dd. Do we need the teacher's guide for this, or is the workbook (FLL 1/2) enough? I ask because I found that for WWE, the workbooks are enough. TIA. ~ Nandini

Montessori does, and with real thousand cubes as opposed to picture cards. I agree.