We tried Calculadder and other math drills, but my kids always hated anything that was timed. They felt stressed out trying to reach the time goal, and it was making them hate math. We replaced drill-type practice with math games, and it made a huge difference. I've shared a dozen or more of these games on my blog: Math games at Let's Play Math blog

I have quite a few math games on my blog, most of which are played with basic cards or dice: Let's Play Math Games and especially for young learners: Number Bonds = Better Understanding (games at the end of the post)

I've always liked the idea of delaying formal math instruction. There are SO many great resources for playful math in the early years, and absolutely no reason to rush to a curriculum. I share informal math ideas on my blog, and you can find plenty of inspiration in my resource pages. For instance: Math Adventures for All Ages Elementary and Middle School Fun Stuff Links for Parents and Other Teachers

You could try Number Train. It's kind of like decimal pickle, but with whole numbers: Decimal Pickle.

Horseshoes is a great game for place value.

And some of the games in those books are also on my blog, though you have to work harder to find them. (Just opening a book is easy compared to browsing through nearly 1000 total blog posts, if you put any value on your time!) Here's the list: http://denisegaskins.com/category/all-about-math/activities/games/

For me, this was the greatest benefit of Singapore math. The teacher learns right along with the kids --- or at least that's the way it worked at our house.

If you're on Facebook, check out the 1001 Math Circles group. It's a great place to find inspiration and get answers to questions. Also, Rodi Steinig's blog is a great source of inspiration.

At this age, knowing the multiplication facts is far less important than learning to recognize what multiplication looks like in the real world. Check out the 12 models of multiplication from the Moebius Noodles people. You can buy a poster, too, if you want to put it on the wall for frequent reference. Encourage your daughter to keep her eyes out for examples of multiplication around the house or wherever you go. Learning the models will help her think flexibly about the math fact patterns when the time comes for working on memorization.

It doesn't matter whether you stick or change --- but either way, DO make sure that you are "pushing her to actually think." It doesn't do her any good to cheerfully memorize and follow steps that don't make sense. It's the sense-making part of math that will lay a strong foundation for algebra and for high school sciences. One way to push sense-making no matter what curriculum you use is to try buddy math.

The methods are the same. But giving the teacher the benefit of doubt, he/she seems to be asking that the student not flip the variables until the end. It's like saying, "Here is my equation f(x)=something-about-x. I am going to rearrange my equation so it reads x=something-about-f(x). That shows me how to find x when someone tells me f(x) -- which is what an inverse function means. Aha! So this new equation is my inverse function. Let me give it a new name, g(x), and write it in regular form..."

My rule of thumb was about 10 minutes per grade level, up to the max of an hour, which sounds like it lines up with the other advice you're getting. Depends on the child and on what you're doing. of course. With current dd, even in high school, she can't handle more than 30-45 minutes before the emotions start to flair. Mental exercise can be hard work!

I don't know how it is in KY, but in IL you really don't need to take the SAT or ACT at all. The community college will accept a student based on their in-house placement test, and the U of I will accept the student based on the community college credits. You do have to put in a couple years at the community college, but getting the Associate degree there is the cheapest way to get those general college credits anyway. Of my three kids who were accepted to (and graduated from) U of I, only one of them had bothered to take the test.

Robert Niles wrote his online “Statistics Every Writer Should Know†tutorial for math-phobic journalists or anyone else who wants to master the basics. http://www.robertniles.com/stats Modern statistical questions often deal with conditional probabilities. They ask, “If statement A is true, then what are the chances that statement B is also true?†For instance, we know that medical tests aren’t perfect. If the test came back positive, what are the chances that I have the disease? To answer questions like this, you need Bayesian statistics. For a quick introduction, read the New York Times article “The Odds, Continually Updated,†or Kevin Boone’s Bayesian Statistics for Dummies webpage. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/the-odds-continually-updated.html http://www.kevinboone.net/bayes.html One of the most important lessons for any statistics student is, “Correlation does not imply causation.†For example, department stores stock their shelves with shorts, flip-flops, and swimsuits. Soon afterward, ice cream sales begin to climb. Did skimpy clothes cause people to crave frozen desserts? Tyler Vigen takes statistical humor to new heights at his blog, Spurious Correlations. http://www.tylervigen.com For a full college-level course in statistics, check out Stan Brown’s Stats Without Tears course book and related materials. Or try Rice University’s online Statistics Education: A Multimedia Course of Study (LisaK mentioned this one above) or Carnegie Mellon’s open learning course in probability and statistics. http://brownmath.com/swt http://onlinestatbook.com/2/index.html http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/statistics-course-details

Are you supposed to use bar diagrams? At this point, the algebra seems so much easier. I did a bar diagram method by trial and error, but it's not worth the bother. I drew the original ratio, then crossed off the same amounts on each bar. It's easy to cross off four units from each, getting the ratio down to 1:2. Then you have to start cutting the bars, and it takes experimenting to find the right cut (which Lawana described above). But Singapore math makes a transition toward algebra in level 6, so I'm not sure the bar model is worth doing. Though I also wouldn't do the algebra equation with fractions. Instead, recognize that the ratio 5:6 means that W starts with five times some amount (5x) and S starts with six times that amount (6x). And the ratio 1:4 means after spending their money, S (who now has 6x - 28) has four times as much as W (who now has 5x - 28): 6x - 28 = 4 (5x - 28) etc.

Sooooo many creative resources here: Such a Thing as Free He could do a whole year of project-based math: just set up a schedule like Estimation 180 on Mondays, Visual Patterns on Tuesday, etc., or pick one site and explore it in depth. It's not like a textbook, but these types of projects would help consolidate everything he's learned up till now, by giving him a chance to use it.

Yes, what you describe is definitely do-able, and it sounds like a lot of fun. You might look for some inspiration at Moebius Noodles. They have several articles about doing math circles with kids---just scroll down and browse. Oh, and check out Rodi Steinig's work, too.

May I recommend that you supplement your math program with some popular books for the general lay reader? Just as a history textbook on its own can't give you a full understanding of history and an English language textbook doesn't really help you understand literature, so a math textbook or video program will not by itself lead to a mature understanding of mathematics. In particular, I recommend: Steven Strogatz's The Joy of X, which surveys a wide range of math topics, explaining them in ordinary language and showing how they relate to real life Danica McKellar's math book series, which offers creative explanations and mnemonics for math from general arithmetic through geometry You might also consider working together with your daughter through Jo Boaler's free online How to Learn Math course. It's very good for encouraging students who hate school math.

I'm not sure what Hunter had in mind, but there are a couple of dangers in using manipulatives: (1) That the child would rely on counting and not develop other strategies that lead to deeper understanding (such as rearranging numbers into "friendlier" options, like mentally changing 9+7 into 10+6). (2) That the adult would rely on the manipulatives to do the teaching, as though playing with them were magic. Whenever the student hits a mental glitch, the adult thinks it will be solved by pulling out manipulatives. Much more important than the manipulative, diagram, or other tool you use with your child is the conversation you have around it. Talk about what the child understands, thinks, notices, wonders, and what he or she can figure out. Discussion helps us make sense of math concepts. But don't fall into the trap of talking at the child, explaining things, trying to pour knowledge from your own head into the little one. Instead, talk with your kids. When the child does most of the talking, that means he or she is thinking and consolidating knowledge.

Here are a few games from my blog: Game: Tens Concentration Math Game: Chopsticks Maze Game: Land or Water? Math Game: Fan Tan (Sevens)

Lol! But really, imperial is for FRACTIONS. Almost everything is a half, third, quarter, or twelfth of something else. Lots and lots and lots of fractions. :)

I don't think any are essential. If money is tight: Pennies work well for counting, adding, and subtracting small numbers. If you use them with a hand-drawn ten frame, you can encourage children to look for patterns rather than just count everything. Craft (popsicle) sticks bundled with rubber bands work for place value, adding, and subtracting larger numbers. Sugar cubes are an inexpensive way to introduce volume and 3-D geometry.

Lap-size white board & markers. Our white board is just a big piece of white paneling, cut up into several pieces. We do math together, orally, and the white board is great for explaining one's thinking -- and for making mistakes disappear. ;)

Level 3 is a lot of fun. And even though I've taught for years (and even write books about math), I learned something from it. You certainly don't need to worry that it will be below her level.

In this case, I would NOT teach any rule at all. Rules are abstract shortcuts, but they only work short-term. In the long run, they get all jumbled up in memory and lead to confusion. I would approach each problem as a logic puzzle: "We measured 59 inches, but we'd really like to know how many feet that is, and how many extra inches left over. How can we figure it out?" If he can't logic it out, then try doing more real-life measuring until he internalizes what the units mean and how they are related. Don't let your textbook rush him through this. Measuring is important, so spend the time you need so it makes sense. Then in middle school (or some time before high school chemistry), he needs to learn dimensional analysis.