Thank you!

Thanks, I haven’t heard of iMac and I had forgotten about the Stanford classes - I will give them a look, it is nice to have options! The art of problem-solving courses are very popular on this message board, and I know they are good, but just not gelling right for us at this time!

Hi! I have a 6th grader who just finished up the Counting & Probability & Math Counts “prep†class from Art of Problem solving. He has completed (with book but not online class) first half of the Art of Problem solving Algebra book. I was planning to role right into their Algebra 1B, but... My son is great at math but doesn’t love the Art of Problem solving format. I am looking for suggestions. We did Saxon algebra one last year, and half of the Jacobs algebra book before he told me that he detests Jacobs. That’s when I decided to take a detour to some fun types of math with art of problem-solving, but now we want to get algebra one finished up so we can move on. I’d love a work at your own pace option, with somebody besides me doing the teaching & grading - he is my oldest of five, and I am trying to outsource some! From looking through the forms I have down Derek Owens to research, any other ideas or thoughts on courses you have used and loved? He’s an analytical kid who catches on quick, and I would love to find him a teacher who inspires through their obvious passion for math. :) Thanks!

Thanks, I'll check out Splash Math!

I'll check them out, thanks. :) I haven't updated my sig in a while, kids are a BIT older now - but math does happen to be an area we're ahead of the curve on. It's a favorite subject!

Hi! I was wondering if anyone has seem/used some great websites or apps for teaching their kids fluency and comfort with their decimals/fractions/percents. We used ReflexMath and XtraMath and loved them both for mastering all of the basic four operations, and I would love to find something similiar for the decimals/percents/fractions. Want something that challenges them to be speedy. Not having much luck with google and thought maybe someone here would already know the answer! :) Thanks in advance, Kara

Thanks for all the ideas! Maybe in a year or two I'll give Phonics Zoo another try with my oldest. In the mean time I'll check out Rod & Staff/Apples and Pears/MCP and perhaps even try to "chill"/give him a break. :) I think I'll keep plodding along with AAS with the not so natural speller as long as we can continue to like each other while we do it. :)

Probably a sign of my crazy life that I hadn't even considered the "just quit" road. :) Thank you for the advice. It's not a bad idea.... I guess my hesitation is that I like that the boys LIKE spelling, and think the rules are fascinating. I just don't like the time involved right now, and as you say, there are better ways to use my time.

Hi! I'm looking for some guidance/direction on spelling programs to look at. My experience up until now has been with All About Spelling. My 2nd grader is 1/2 way through Level 4. We finished Level 3 in 1st grade and moved to the Phonics Zoo A in the fall - he didn't love the way the program was structured, and I didn't do well with the looser scripting of the lessons. I was also a stickler for repeating the list (like the book said to!) when he missed any words on the list, and that may have soured him on the program. :/ So we went back to AAS. It works, but he's a natural speller and AAS seems to move a bit slower - we cruise through it without any problems. I feel like I'm putting in time that maybe don't need do. My twins are a year and a half younger and we're just finishing AAS 1. One of them is a natural speller and the other makes me want to pull my hair out. When we don't get back to the lessons for a few days she forgets all the rules and her phonics. I love the idea of phonics and knowing all the rules behind how our language works. I'm a strong fan of spelling programs. I just need to clear up some time in my schedule for other subjects that I do one on one with them, and I would love to find something self directed that I can leave them to do, without as much interaction, that will still teach the rules to help them make sense of English. They are all excellent readers. I've heard maybe Calvert online, but I can't get much of a feel for the program/find an in depth review of it. Also see some posts on the forum about Rod and Staff, wondering if someone who uses it can tell me if there is a large amount of teacher time involved in it? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I agree. I've seen/used both and I think it simply depends on your child. If they are really into the fun colors/readers of Foundations they might think Essentials is a bit dry.

Hmmmm... I have Alpha/Beta/Gamma/Sigma/Delta/Epsilon right now. I've had my kids watching the lessons for a *fun* different approach to some basic math concepts this summer. I like the idea of blasting through using MUS as a spine, I guess I just wonder with the mastery approach how I really KNOW if they've got the concept or if they just got it for a day or two? I suppose the fact they can continue to move through the levels and do the more advanced work *should* indicate they have an understanding of what comes before?! :) It seems like with bright kids they can pick up a concept just like *that*, but you have to review it a few times to make sure it's still there! Also not sure my oldest really likes MUS, I think he finds it a bit boring and is humoring me! Ana, what does your eldest use for math now? I was looking at the first Art of Problem solving books/reading the sample pages, how young have people started their kids with it? I think it would be a bit much for my 7 year old still, just not sure he could conceptually handle all those long equations? Acurtis -> We have the new pre-algebra book so now we've added the honors lessons by having her work a few problems a day on that. ?? What are the honors lessons? TGHealthyMom - wow! You must be even busier than I am with child management. :) How did you get a year free with CTC if you don't mind me asking? I'll have to go see if they have a free trial and give them a look.

I don't know much about CTC - anyone here use it/is it a good/in depth understanding of topics? I"ll look at Math Buddies too, wondering how parent intensive it is. Thank you for those suggestions. Is CTC a core or do you use it to supplement? My main beef with TT is that I don't think it explains concepts in much depth (or always in an extremely intelligent way, for that matter) - I don't care so much that it's a grade level or 2 behind, because you just work ahead. But I want my kids to have a solid understanding of why and HOW math concepts work and play together!

I'm a bit of a math junkie, sadly math mammoth completely escaped my mind when writing this post - I do own math mammoth, I thought it would be a good resource for supplementing problem areas. Do you think it's "solid" enough and does a good job explaining the material, to work as a rigorous spine? To be honest I haven't explored it much yet despite owning it (embarrassing - that's what the toddler and baby have done to my brain!!). I've heard some say it's similar to Singapore math, is that a valid statement?

I need some opinions, please! I feel like I've done too much thinking and am now paralyzed in indecision. :) My 7 1/2 is accelerated in math, but not terribly so? I think I haven't really pushed him much yet though - we coast through easily. I have a 10 month old and a 2 year old so the last two years we've done easy *dumb* math as our spine (dumb in my opinion, but it did ensure math was done daily... !). We started with Right Start Math and I didn't care for it, then did some Math on the Level in areas, and in the last year or so he's done Teaching Textbooks 3, 4, and 5. We've also done book A of Beast Academy, and we read the Life of Fred Elementary series. He has all of his addition/subtraction/multiplication/and division facts through 12 down cold (LOVE reflexmath.com for that!). I'm not sure what to do next. I'm ready to spend more time with him on math and don't love the way Teaching Textbooks explains concepts, so I'm planning to give it "the boot". I own Singapore Math 2B which I purchased last year, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of parent involvement. I still kind of like the idea of it but I don't honestly think it will get done - I have 5 kids and am trying to come to terms with the best curriculum being the one that is manageable! I know Singapore is popular but I'm just not convinced I will make the time to wrap my head around it. I'm considering Saxon. It's solid if boring? Or is it too slow? We'll continue with Beast Academy, but it's more of a fun supplement for us. Some sections he can blaze through, others frustrate him (which is good, in my opinion - I don't want everything to come easy). Looks like year 4 isn't going to be fully available until at least NEXT summer so I'm okay with taking it slow and just using it as a different way of looking at problems. I'm using Math U See with one of my younger children but I don't think it's the right fit for him. Basically we're solid with addition through division of all kinds, but need to spend some more time with fractions and geometry and percents before hitting higher level math. And I'm not even sure that I want my 9 year old doing algebra if we keep up at the same pace? Any thoughts for me? What would you/do you use as a good solid spine? I know this type of question has been asked before so I appreciate your time pondering my specific situation. This website is such a great resource to me - and since I've been wrestling with this choice for a few months now I figured I would just get some more opinions! Thanks in advance!

Thank you for the input. I will look into Dragonbox and maybe go with the hands on kit for Hands-On Equations. The *problem* of these message boards - I always leave for the day with more I want to know more about!!! :)