My 8yo son is currently using Horizons 3rd grade math. We both like the worksheets and that it has built in review. He's moving through it fine, but I feel like we're reaching a point where he is looking for more of the "why" not just the "how". I'm not looking to abandon the curriculum entirely, but I'm looking for something to add to round out the conceptual side of math that I feel is lacking. I've seen a lot of people talking positively about RightStart, Singapore (I see there are 2 options, Dimensions Math and Primary Math - happy to hear about both of these), and Math in Focus and would love some feedback. In my mind, the ideal situation would be for him to complete 1 page of Horizons a day as review work (he really goes through them quickly) along with 1 lesson from something more in depth. I don't mind spending 30 or so minutes a day of active teaching time on math, so if something is more teacher-centric that's not a deal breaker. We tried Beast Academy and he was luke warm about it, and to be honest I was too. I think it's a great program, just not a good fit for us. I had seen in another post that someone was using a RightStart/Horizons/Singapore Challenging Word Problems combination which (without actually doing it) seems very well rounded. I'm open to any thoughts and suggestions! Thanks!

Last year we used MUS Primer with lots of supplements to fill in the holes. My son's favorite subject WAS math. For 1st we switched to Mammoth Math, because I felt Alpha seemed light. He hates it. The pages and amount of problems we need to do are overwhelming to him. He IS really progressing with math and I like open and go nature of MM. I'm torn because while I like the program it is killing his love for math. It has also become a fighting point during school. We finished the first book but I don't think I have it in me to fight through the second book. I kept hoping he would adjust but he isn't. I wonder if we just need a switch. I don't want to juggle a bunch of books and it needs to be somewhat open and go. I have a newborn and a 3 year old so my time is precious. I just don't know what I would replace it with. 1. Singapore has so many books to juggle although it looks like a great program. It's not out of the running but I have hesitation. 2. MIF sounds promising. Maybe this is our compromise curriculum. 3. Miquon sounds great. I own all the books but I open it up and even look through annotations and its just confusing and I feel like I can't afford another math switch or we may fall behind. I am very drawn to this curriculum. This is my first choice if I can figure it out. 4. I could also go back to MUS but I just don't feel this program is rigorous enough. This is probably MY last choice, but my son did like MUS. I think I need help sifting through my options.

Does anyone know if Math in Focus explicitly teaches the stacking algorithm for adding multi digit numbers after student master the concept behind it? DD7 is in first grade and so far, they are only doing smaller numbers, but I hope MIF does eventually teach the traditional algorithms eventually. TIA!

I am going to be homeschooling for the first time next year, and I am trying to make decisions on curriculum in advance....I will have 3 kids--kindergarten, 1st grade, and 3rd grade.... My biggest anxiety is finding a good math program....I think I have it narrowed down to either Math in Focus or Math U See but I am stuck at that point....any suggestions from experienced homeschoolers???

I'm going to be switching my 2nd and 4th grader over and need some advice. Looking at the TOC, I think it'll be fine to just pick up midyear at grade level for them. We can slow down if necessary and go over concepts that are expected to have been learned before progressing though. Advice there? I'm also thinking about starting my 6th grader in MiF Course 1 while he continues with TT. What do you think? I'm not sure which will end up being the supplement, but I'm thinking he can just do every other problem in TT or whatever if it's overkill. About my 7th grader, I'm thinking it's to late to jump into MiF? Should I start him in Course 1 too or just forget it? He's not doing prealgerba this year but is doing TT7. Thoughts?

I switched from Singapore math to Math in Focus. I like Math in Focus so much better. The explanation and amount of practice is much better. I love the colorful books as well. Although I love the teaching methods, I have a hard time with the word problems that they assign in the book after they teach a concept. For example, they will teach a new concept and have guided practice problems. Then, the independent practice problems are based on those guided practice problems and also include many problems that take the concept to another level. I like higher level thinking word problems but I have to say even the word problems are quite a challenge for me. Does anyone have this problem? My son was getting so frustrated and started to get turned off on math. I have started skipping many of those complex word problems. Has anyone done this? What should I do? I love the books and hate to scrap this altogether but I don't know if my son will lose out too much if I take out some of those difficult word problems. What are people's thoughts on this?

I was looking into Singapore Math programs today and noticed that on the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt page they sell a Spanish version of Math in Focus. Does anyone on the forum have experience with the Spanish version of this program? If so, what are your thoughts? Where did you purchase it? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Heather

I just stumbled upon some information about Math in Focus. Has anyone ever used it? I know it uses the Singapore model, but is it better than the materials directly from Singapore Math? My ds and dd are using Singapore Math 2B and 1B, respectively. I find that my daughter is flying through the material, but my son has become bogged down with what we are doing. (We have just really started to delve into regrouping and he seems to be struggling with the concept.) I was wondering if Math in Focus might be a better fit for him. Any opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated! Thank you! Gayle

We're coming off three years of K12 math and are now using Math Mammoth 5 A & B along with Singapore Practice 5A & B from Frank Schaffer. Singapore 5 claims to be intended for 6th grade, but the skills are right at my student's level. Drat! This student does not care for Math Mammoth and avoids it. I pick and choose problems so she doesn't get bogged down by the page. Much of the Math Mammoth is review anyway. Math in Focus is a reasonable option, but where to place my child is another question. Do I use a Singapore placement test? The samples online for grade 6 seem too easy after using Math Mammoth and K12. K12 math is too much online time. Can anyone compare Math Mammoth and Math in Focus at the middle school level?

I'm considering switching from RightStart to Math in Focus. My 8 yr old is almost done with RightStart level C. A friend loaned me Math in Focus 3A and B. I've started looking at 3A and see that my son has already learned the first several sections of the book "the RightStart way". I gave him a problem or two from the Math in Focus book that I knew he knows how to do in his own way (from RighStart) but he had a big reaction to it saying he had no idea and couldn't do it. When I explained a few things he was able to do it. But I' wondering... should he learn how to do it the Singapore way too? Or if he can do the math his way is that fine, and I shouldn't be concerned if he's not able to do it a different way? One example would be that Math in Focus uses number lines and in RightStart there has not been any use of number lines. Plenty of other examples too. also- if anyone happens to know how the two programs line up after completing Right Start level C I'd love to hear about it. Where to start in Math in Focus...

Okay, I got recommendation to check out Math in Focus textbooks and workbooks for our DD, age 6. So I'm looking at 1st (now) and 2nd (next year). Here's the recommendation to buy the MIF texts: 1A textbook: http://www.amazon.co...&condition=used 1A workbook: http://www.amazon.co...1&condition=new 1B textbook: http://www.amazon.co...&condition=used 1B workbook: http://www.amazon.co...1&condition=new The thing is, I was given a couple of books which I think are Singapore math. I have Primary Mathematics 1A textbook and 1b workbook. But they look like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/390686740128?lpid=82 It says U.S. edition and Marshall Cavendish or Federal (on one copy) on the spine. What have I got, and is this really different from MIF (Math in Focus)? Is it worth getting MIF instead?

Okay, I got recommendation to check out Math in Focus textbooks and workbooks for our DD, age 6. So I'm looking at 1st (now) and 2nd (next year). Here's the recommendation to buy the MIF texts: 1A textbook: http://www.amazon.co...&condition=used 1A workbook: http://www.amazon.co...1&condition=new 1B textbook: http://www.amazon.co...&condition=used 1B workbook: http://www.amazon.co...1&condition=new The thing is, I was given a couple of books which I think are Singapore math. I have Primary Mathematics 1A textbook and 1b workbook. But they look like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/390686740128?lpid=82 It says U.S. edition and Marshall Cavendish or Federal (on one copy) on the spine. What have I got, and is this really different from MIF (Math in Focus)? Is it worth getting MIF instead?

Singapore Math in Focus and Primary Math Standard Edition and Math Mammoth A Comparison of 1st Grade I was able to take a long and (relatively) uninterrupted look at Singapore Math in Focus Grade 1. I had the Teachers Guides, Textbook, and Workbook. I own the Singapore Math Standards edition with HIGs of first grade and Math Mammoth Light Blue 1A and 1B so I compared the programs. Here are my observations. Scope and Sequence MIF and Singapore Primary Standards cover basically the same material. They both start out with counting to 10 and cover addition and subtraction facts to 10, shapes, ordinal numbers and position. They move onto numbers to 20 and addition and subtraction facts to 20. The later half of the year they cover graphs, numbers to 100, and addition and subtraction facts to 100. Math Mammoth has a more narrow focus and starts at a more advanced place. It covers addition and subtraction facts within 10 in the first book. In 1B it covers place value, skip counting, clocks, measuring, money, and +/- facts within 100. Some differences are that MIF covers mental math strategies explicitly in a separate chapter while these techniques are folded into the addition and subtraction chapters in Primary Math Standards Edition. Primary math includes capacity while MIF does not. Also, Primary Math covers halves and fourths and I didn’t find that in MIF. Terminology They both cover the fundamental concepts of multiplication as repeated addition and division as sharing equally. However, Primary Math actually uses the word multiplication whereas MIF does not. It emphasizes 5 fours =20. It would say 2+2+2= 3 twos = 3 groups of 2 = 6. Also in MIF they compare numbers with words but don’t use >, or < signs that I could find. There is no multiplication or division in Math Mammoth 1 that I could find. Singapore Primary Math doesn’t include as much terminology as you would see in Math Mammoth or MIF. In Math Mammoth they use terms like addend, minuend and subtrahend in the text. In MIF these terms as well as the properties (like commutative or identity properties) are present in the teachers text but not in the student text or workbook. One interesting thing I notes was that Primary Math HIGs say renaming, MIF says regrouping, and MM uses terms like making 10s, within 10s, or make 10s. I grew up with borrowing and carrying so I have no idea what I am going to use. I used regrouping with my older ds and that worked well so I will probably stick with that. Specifics I picked the topic of subtraction with 10s to compare how each program presents the lesson. For MIF the teacher guide has the fundamentals. They start in the TG with emphasizing how subtraction is related to the part-whole concept taught in addition. It goes on the list the strategies they use to teach subtraction – taking away, counting back, counting on, and using number bonds. The chapter planning guide breaks down the chapter into 45 minute instructional blocks(days) and tells you what resources to use each day. Each lesson starts with a 5 minute warm up and then moves to guided practice. Frequent use of manipulatives and/or pictoral representations is provided. They focus on manipulatives that directly assists with the lesson like the 10-frame, linking cubes, and place value charts. One or two games are included in the student text but they would be more fun with more than one kid participating. The lessons proceed logically and clearly and no leaps are made or expected of the student. The concept is taught, reinforced in the text, and finally workbook exercises that coincide directly with what was taught are assigned. Answers are provided to everything in the TG. Problems with missing subtrahends and minuends are provided and a challenging problem or two are presented in the text and workbook for every lesson. The chapter ends with a two page summary of what you have learned explicitly written out to the student in the text and very helpful. In the Singapore US Standards edition the text isn’t as helpful if you are having problems. There is little explicitly stated and the pictures are large and cartoon like. The HIG emphasizes taking away and part to whole but other strategies aren’t explored explicitly. Fact families are emphasized as the most important concept. The HIG explicitly states to commit facts to memory and this isn’t found in MIF. The teaching in the HIG is fairly unconnected to the text. That being said, I think Singapore is a strong program and for a math intuitive mom and/or kids this program would be easy to accelerate. In Math Mammoth 1A subtraction is presented as taking away with pictoral representations emphasizing that. Counting back is presented in the context of a number line an explicit work with jumping back on the number line is illustrated multiple times with many opportunities for the student to practice this. MM works with number before for example ____,55 and ___,___,55. Counting back is taught and missing subtrahend and minuend problems are presented. Fact families are taught and comparing with > and < are explicitly asked of the student. For example 3-2 ____ 5 or compare 8-5___2+1. Math Mammoth also explicitly teaches the student that you can’t subtract a bigger number from a smaller number without going into debt. Of the three MIF seems the clearest with the best presentation. It is visually very clean and the TG is excellent. It isn’t as challenging as Math Mammoth and some of the problems seen in the Singapore Editions of IP and CWP are a good deal more difficult to do. Math Mammoth is easy to implement and covers things well but the presentation is more appropriate to a more mature student. The text and pictures are small and there are a lot of problems on the page, which appears very overwhelming. MIF is more thorough and explicit in its’ instruction and it would be easy to teach from just the text and workbook with a mathy dc in first grade. I am going to look over the regrouping lessons when I get a chance so I might have more comparisons to post later. HTH

Hello, I teach 3rd grade in public inner city school. I am looking at using the Math in Focus next year. I see that there is a 2009 version and a 2013 version. Does anyone know if there's much of a difference between the two? The words "Common Core" appear on the front of the 2013 one, but I'm wondering if it's pretty much the same as the 2009 one. The reason I ask is that I can find the 2009 texts for much cheaper, and it looks like I might be purchasing this myself for my 30 students. I don't want to pay oodles more for the 2013 version if it's not much different than the 2009. Thanks Linda

Just curious for those who use Math in Focus did you piece together your manipulatives or did you buy a kit? I noticed that Rainbowresource has a manipulative kit; has anyone purchased one of these? Did it have all of the manipulatives that you needed for the grade or did you still have to buy more? Thanks!

We're using Math in Focus for our twin boys next year and I originally decided to not get the extra practice but am now undecided as to whether or not to purchase it. They both hate to write so my original thinking was that if we have yet another workbook for them they'll completely shut down. But I wonder how much it adds the their retention of the concepts? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm looking at both of these and want to know if one is really better than the other? I'm especially interested if you've used both. Thanks!!

We're doing 1AB and 3AB. Its an armful of books! wow! Its labled "The Singapore Approach" and my local homeschool store I bought it from calls it the "Saxon/Singapore math". lol So far, just a super quick look through - I really like what I see. The workbook page are graphic and "fun". Their are not too many problems crammed on one page (which intimidates my 8 yr old). The teacher manual looks very thorough, and even has fun math game ideas for each chapter. I hope this is the ticket for our math this year!

For those of you using Math in Focus, do you find that it has enough drill built in or do you feel a need to supplement? If you are supplementing, what are you using? Also, do you feel the teacher guides provide enough explanation for how to teach concepts, or do you sometimes find it lacking? Do you find it difficult to use the materials for homeschooling since they were written for a classroom? Overall, what is your impression of the curriculum so far? Since it is pretty expensive and a pretty new curriclum, I'd like to get some more feedback on it before I purchase it. Thanks!

Has anyone used this or know anything about it? I just got my new RR catalog and this was in there and looked interesting. They have a really long review in their catalog but I can't find one on their website to link to but I did find some info on the publisher's website: http://www.greatsource.com/singaporemath/index.html Thanks!

We use Saxon Math right now for my 3rd grader and 1st grader and have since they both were in Kindergarten. We have another child about to be in Kindergarten this fall. I was looking at the Math in Focus that Saxon publishes and was wondering if anyone out there uses it and what they think. It is supposed to be a Singapore approach. Thanks

Singapore users- I'd love your opinion on whether the S&S for the new Math in Focus series strikes you as being a bit behind the Primary Math one. I was focused on 4th grade as my DD is currently finishing up 3B. Am I crazy in thinking that a number of the topics in 4th grade MIF were covered in 3A/3B of PM?

So is anyone considering using this INSTEAD of Singapore workbooks and still using the Singapore HIG's for teacher helps based on the concepts? And, does anybody know if a child is in 1A Singapore math, will they all also be in the 1st Semester MIF book? IS there a placement test that a child could take?? THANKS