This would be a great problem to draw out on graph paper, too, to see how the 16 square inches are in fact one-ninth of a square foot. Algebraically speaking, you have to multiply the units just as you multiply the fractions. This helps to show that you're now working with square inches (or feet) rather than linear inches or feet. 4 inches x 4 inches = 16 inches x inches = 16 inches^2 = 16 square inches 1/3 ft. x 1/3 ft. = 1/9 ft. x ft. = 1/9 ft.^2 = 1/9 square feet

I've personally switched a couple of times and been glad that I did. My take on it: Why it's okay to change math curriculum

My son used textbook, IP,and CWP when doing Singapore 2A and 2B, and it worked very well. At least at the 2nd grade level, IP isn't really that much harder than the workbook--it's more that the problems are presented in a more puzzle-y or interesting format. The IPs aren't quite as specifically coordinated with the textbook as the workbook, but they match up pretty closely and it's pretty easy to figure out which pages go with which textbook activities. The IPs do start with relatively easy problems, so the child still gets a gradient of work over the course of the chapter. I only used 2nd grade, though. (I used RS before that and Beast after that with my son.) Does it stay the same for the other levels?

1) Cut two cups off of an egg carton to make a 2x5 grid of cups. Use the cups to hold equal-size groups of counters. For example, to model 3x4 you can put 3 counters in each of 4 cups or 4 counters in each of 3 cups. 2) Arrays are a very helpful visual model, especially because they're useful later for modeling the algorithms for multiplication with larger numbers. You can have your daughter trace arrays of squares on graph paper (for example, trace a 4x3 rectangle and see that it contains 12 squares). Or, you can arrange square tiles or coins in a 4x3 grid and find how many total tiles or coins there are. 3) Bundles of straws or craft sticks. For example, have her use rubber bands to create bundles with 4 straws each. Then, take 3 of the bundles and skip-count to find that there are 12 total straws in the 3 bundles.

This really depends so much the quality of the time that she's spending and whether you're satisfied with her overall progress. But if she's putting 15 to 20 focused, brain-turned-on minutes into math and she's making steady progress, then all is well. My son spent about 15-20 minutes per day on math in 2nd grade, too. Now in 3rd grade, he has a slightly longer attention span and spends 20-25 minutes on math. I'm happy with where he's at in math, and I want math to be a subject he enjoys and looks forward to, so this feels sufficient for now. (Plus, the quality of his thinking declines so much after 25 minutes that there's not much point to making the lesson last any longer.) My goal is that he'll have the stamina to spend 45-60 minutes on math each day by the end of middle school, so my plan is to let the lesson length grow gradually each year.

Agreeing with the above! It will come naturally as she gets some practice. And, in an upper elementary orchestra, there is so much chaos that no one will notice when she makes a mistake--the other kids will all be making mistakes, too. I played viola in my ps orchestra all through high school, dropped the viola for many years, and have only recently picked it up again to play in my church's orchestra. For the first rehearsal, I felt just like your daughter! I had practiced the music, but remembering how to pay attention to the conductor and my music at the same time, listen to the other sections (but not too much!), and keep my place was really challenging. Now that I've played with this group a few times, it's gotten much easier, but there's certainly a learning curve! Orchestra was one of the best parts of my school experience--I hope your daughter has a blast. :)

Thanks for this reminder that we don't have to cover every single language arts topic every single year, Merry! Like the OP, I'm questioning my language arts choices with my third grader right now, and this is exactly what I needed to hear.

Not a full curriculum, but my kids and I have been enjoying using DK's Geography as our earth science spine this year. It covers nearly all the topics Lori D. listed, with gorgeous pictures.

I had a similar dilemma last year: my daughter loves workbooks, too, but I really value the way that RS A builds such strong number sense from the beginning. I ended up doing Singapore Essentials A and B with her, and then doing RS A after that, since she was only 4. Having done both, I think the biggest difference is the way RS emphasizes learning to visualize the numbers from 6 to 9 as "5 and some more." This is just unbelievably helpful for kids, since they can then visualize and manipulate these numbers more easily. The abacus and "math way" of naming the two-digit numbers is very useful, too. But I totally hear you about how intensive RSA is, compared to Essentials. Like amiesmom said, if you can get the hands-on part of Essentials done and add in some RS activities (especially the "five and some more" lessons, as well as using the abacus to represent the two-digit numbers) I think you'd still reap a lot of the benefits of RSA without all the direct teaching time. You could still use RSB after that, too, which repeats a lot of the same material from A. (At least, it does if you're using first edition--I'm not as familiar with second edition).

Classical Conversations sets the present tense endings to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" Here's a link to a cute little guy singing it.

I make quick handwritten charts for my kids as I discover the need for them, hang the charts on the wall in front of their desks, and then put them away when they're no longer needed. My 5-year-old daughter just uses an alphabet and number strip for proper formation, but my son has had a variety of charts so far this year: Latin endings when he was first learning to conjugate, a list of the square numbers when working on a Beast Academy exponent chapter, and a cursive chart (which he'll probably have up for a looong time).

I'm using CLE's Learning to Read with my 5-year-old (with the caveat that we don't do the whole lessons and we do a LOT of it orally). It's an extremely comprehensive phonics, handwriting, and beginning spelling curriculum--it begins with learning the letter sounds and ends with knowing all the blends and most common long vowel patterns. My daughter had already learned how to read with a combination of Explode the Code and Bob books, but she was doing a lot of guessing, so I've been using LTR to solidify her phonics knowledge and teach her how to write the lowercase letters. It's been great for that, but it feels like it moves very fast for a first pass at reading. If you slowed it down and did a lot orally, I think it would be fine for a five-year-old. (I'm not familiar enough with Rod & Staff or Abeka to be able to compare them, though.)

Do you have some "squeezy" things? That squeezing motion of closing the thumb and first few fingers is great for getting ready to hold a pencil. Big plastic tweezers, pompoms, and cups or ice cube trays for sorting are a great activity. Eyedroppers are a lot of fun, too, especially if you put a few drops of a different food coloring in water and then invite your kids to mix the colors by dropping them on a plate or into ice cube trays. (Yes, we really got a lot of use out our ice cube trays for a few years at my house!) Kumon makes some nice fine motor workbooks if you'd like something that has a progressive structure, too. My daughter really enjoyed their "Let's Cut Paper," "Let's Fold," and "Let's Color" books.

Do you use the Nova Excercitia Latina in place of the Exercitia Latina that Orberg published? Or in addition?

Absolutely. In fact, since many schools require a full four years of math in high school, it's important that you don't run out of accessible math for your daughter to do. For example, I did a quick search and found this page on high school requirements from the University of Florida. In it, they recommend four years of high school math and that students continue to challenge themselves during senior year. But if you take algebra in seventh grade, the usual track would then be 8th-geometry 9th-algebra 2 10th-pre-calc 11th-calc 12th--?? At that point, it'd be much more difficult as a homeschooler to find good options for a 12th grade math class that's sufficiently challenging. There's always statistics or the AOPS extra classes, but there's no need to squash those in there when the regular sequence fills the credit requirements just fine. I wonder what kids at your local school do for their senior year?

I agree! If it's working, there's no reason to change. Your current plan will prepare your daughter well for college entrance. For most kids, getting ahead in math has more downsides than benefits. It's much better for her to know the material well and feel confident in math than to be a year ahead and shaky.

If you don't mind waiting a couple months, I have a preschool math book coming out from Peace Hill Press later this winter. (It focuses on developing strong number sense with the numbers from 0 to 10 with playful, short lessons.) You can pre-order at Amazon if you're interested.

Also, Math Mammoth and RightStart are two good choices if you want to do a conceptual program that moves a little faster than MUS but not as fast as Singapore.

Based on what you're saying, I don't think a more traditional curriculum would feel right for you. It sounds like you really want your daughter to have good conceptual understanding (and I agree with how important that is!), and I feel like second grade is too soon to give up on that, even if it can be hard sometimes. That said, Singapore does move fast and require some big leaps, so MUS could be a good way to slow down the pace and scaffold her development of conceptual understanding. Before giving up on multi-digit subtraction, you might try breaking it down into smaller steps and doing a lot of mental math before going back to the written algorithm. I'd start with a lot of two-digit minus single-digit subtraction with manipulatives to help her make sense of regrouping in that context before moving on anything with more digits. Sequences that gradually build are good, too. For example, 20 - 1, 20 - 2, 20-3, 20-4, etc.... (to experience the need to regroup without any extra ones to deal with) 20 - 3, 21 - 3, 22 - 3, 23-3, 24 - 3 (to experience how 22-3 is different from 23-3 and 24-3 and understand why the regrouping happens) After she's pretty fluent with these sequences, I'd do the same with subtracting numbers in the teens: 20 - 11, 20 - 12, 20 - 13, etc. 20 - 11, 21 - 11, 22 - 11, etc. And then finally larger two-digit numbers. Start by subtracting them from 100, or from other multiples of 10 (70, 50, etc.) and then move on numbers with tens and ones (87, 45, etc.) But if that doesn't work, she probably just needs a month or two of not even thinking about subtraction--move on the next chapter and circle back in a month or two. Sometimes those little brains just need some time to grow. :)

I've never seen post-it note division before, but I love how it makes the "bring down" step so concrete. Thanks for posting about it!

Thank you, both for waiving the fee and posting about it. I had heard of the geography and spelling bees, but I didn't know that there's a history bee, too.

These suggestions from Lori D. are so, so good. My only other suggestion is that you might want to spend a minute or two each day talking about how the new content connects to what your son already knows. CLE can feel a little random in the order that it introduces topics, so a little conversation that helps the new info fit into the big picture can help some kids make sense of it better.

Luuknam, I love your tile example. Understanding where error creeps in is really important, and this example with area is a great example of how squaring a number magnifies the error. OP, I don't think it matters at least how far off your daughter's answers are as long as she understands how to measure with a ruler, how to calculate area, and why small differences end up mattering. The other thing I'd want to make sure your daughter understands is that the shape does in fact have one, true area--it's just our inexact measuring tools that make it difficult to find precisely.

I have full reviews of Math Mammoth, RightStart, Beast Academy, and Singapore at my blog if you'd like more info on any of those.

There have been a couple different shifts on this in recent years. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics came out in 2000. It emphasized including all five of the major strands of mathematics in elementary school: number and operations, geometry, measurement, algebraic thinking, and data analysis and probability. Since it was the most-influential set of standards in use, publishers aligned textbooks to it and made sure to label where the strands were so that curriculum committees could easily see it. (You can read a summary of these standards here.) In the curriculum that I worked on in 2004, we were always looking for ways to incorporate algebra and data to add more content to these strands. But one of the main complaints about these standards was that they resulted in programs that were a mile wide and an inch deep--everything was covered superficially, and number and operations didn't get enough time. In response, the Common Core standards were created to be much more focused. Taking a quick glance, I don't see anything specifically algebraic until fourth grade. There's still a little data in the younger grades, but it gets a lot less emphasis under Common Core standards than it used to. So a lot of the differences between school-oriented programs have to do with when they were published, and which standards were most influential at the time.