Please Help Me Decide on a Math Program

[Joyfullyblessed]

Hello,

 

I am new to homeschooling and will begin with my son in the Fall. My son turns five in August, so he will be a young kindergartener. I am planning on using the Heart of Dakota curriculum and I am very excited about it.

 

However, I am torn on the math portion. HOD uses Singapore, but I am not sure if that is the math route I want to take with my son. From my understanding, Singapore is good if you want lots of problem solving and mental math. Also, it seems you should be fairly well math minded yourself to teach it.

 

Well, I am not math minded at all and hate problem solving. I want to be able to be a good teacher for my son in all subjects, math included and I want him to enjoy it as much as possible.

 

I am really looking for something that focuses on place value, counting by 5's and 10's, integration and something that does provide review so that my son gets a clear understanding of what he is learning. Also, I need to be able to teach it without being confused myself.

 

Math U See seems to look pretty good, but I have also heard good things about Rod and Staff.

 

Please help me, I really want to go ahead and order my stuff, but this whole math thing is holding me up. All suggestions are welcome. Thank you and have a wonderful day! : )

[HollyDay]

I have heard good things about Singapore, but I have never used it. MUS does a good job teaching place value.

 

Have you looked at Making Math Meaningful? I think that combines the best of several "math worlds".

[Mandy in TN]

Singapore is definitely not difficult to teach at a K level and HOD includes math activities that coordinate with Singapore and a schedule to follow. Since you are using HOD, I would suggest just going with what they schedule for this first year.

 

It should be fun and painless.:D

 

HTH-

Mandy

[usetoschool]

Singapore is a good solid math program that teaches kids to think mathematically. There are really good homeschool teacher's guides available that explain the concepts and show you how to teach the subjects. It honestly isn't that hard, especially if you use it from the beginning. The only other math we have used is Saxon, which does a lot of hand holding with a scripted teacher's manual, teaches things in tiny bits and has a lot of review. For us it just goes too slowly. The Singapore lessons are short and to the point and the books are, not really 'cute' but attractive, kid friendly, nicely layed out. I kind of sound like a commercial, but we like Singapore and it has worked well for us.

 

ETA-I forgot about the place value part of your question. Singapore strongly emphasizes place value and it is part of how they teach mental math.

[Ummto4]

Right Start is v. strong in place value. It uses abacus to show the concept of tens and ones, and later on uses cards and other techniques to show hundreds and thousands. It also avoids the use of conventional numbering system while the children are mastering place value. So instead of saying seventeen, your child will be taught seventeen as one-ten and seven. Or instead of saying thirty-five, your child will be taught three-ten and five at the beginning.

 

It reverts back to the conventional name for numbering after 5 months approximately.

 

For a good pictorial presentation and drill on place value, you can get the Math Mammoth Blue Book (blue book is the topical workbook for Math Mammoth series) on place value. Between RS way and Math Mammoth workbook, my non-mathy son understands place value v. well.

 

Disclaimer: I do not use RS B as scripted. I take note of its principle in teaching various things and apply it whenever my son is ready.

 

HTH

 

Edited to add:

- RS also teaches mental math, although in slightly different way as S-pore. Math Mammoth also teaches mental math with the method exactly the same as S-pore. But it provides more practice and drills.

- Just saw that your son is 5 years. RS B is for a first grader, but it has the most place value concept in the RS series, and also for the addition mental math. YOu ccan try him with RS B but move very slowly. Alternatively, use RS A for kindergartner. It overlaps with some of RS B but it moves slowly.

-ANother cheaper alternative: get the book Activities with Alabacus by JOan Cotter, which is actually the basis of RS curriculum. The book has all you need to teach arithmetic the RS way. But you have to flesh it out yourself.

Edited July 9, 2009 by mom2moon2

[Rainbows]

we used Singapore last year for kindy (our first yr of homeschooling)

 

It was very easy to teach. The workbook was colorful and kept DSs interest. I was worried about it being too different a program from how I was taught, but we didnt encounter any problems.....and even better, DS loved math

[Storm Bay]

We use Math-U-See (MUS) and SM (Singapore) together, but we don't correlate them. MUS is great for place value and teaching stubborn children the need to regroup ;) (I had one who argued about that!)

 

Learning to solve math problems such as you see in SM is very important in developing logic and thinking skills. It has been a real challenge for my 11 yo to do this, since she is very visual and likes to solve math problems in her head if she can. But as she's learned to do this she has really developed her thinking and linguistic math skills. If you go with SM, get the standards Home Instructor's Guide, study it and implement it. It's a fabulous program if used properly. You'd be amazed at how you can learn to solve problems with simple math; the model method is FABULOUS.

 

We have tried a variety of math programs, and while I really like MUS and did use it, I think SM is one of the best ones out there if used they was it's explained in the Standards Home Instructor's Guides.

[Aurelia]

We used Right Start (level A for kindergarten) and it sounds like what you are looking for. It's spiral, so lots of review, teaches place value well and level A teaches counting by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s. It's really scripted, but it might take a little while to wrap your mind around it, because it is different than the rote drill method taught in most public schools. The abacus teaches grouping with 5s and 10s, and numbers greater than 5 are taught initially 5+X, for example, 7 is 5 and 2. Also, there are very few worksheets at the A level, which is good for little kids, IMO, and the ones that are there aren't overwhelming. (We originally started with Rod & Staff, but Ariel freaked out and cried every day because she hated the written work so much.)

 

Ariel LOVED RS A and demanded to do it every day that we had school.