If you strongly emphasize math, please share what you do

[msjones]

The Saxon thread has me thinking. I am not too familiar with Saxon, but am trying to do provide strong math teaching. If you emphasize math, would you mind sharing your schedule/program?

 

I suppose I should share first!

 

My boys do:

- daily facts review (Flashmaster or worksheets) of all facts (add, sub, mult, div),

-the daily lesson (Right Start for my 3rd grader, Singapore for my 4th),

- a Singapore mental math page,

- and a home-made review page (usually about 6 problems reviewing previously-taught algorithms)

 

I don't have any daily word problems, but wish I did.

 

If you have a math plan that you're happy with, I'd love to hear what you're doing. My favorite thing about this forum is learning from all of you!

[EKS]

I don't know if I strongly emphasize math but we do:

 

Singapore PM textbook and workbook,

MathExpress workbook or fact practice,

and Challenging Word Problems

 

daily.

[2cents]

ABeka-Main

Supplement with LOF & Dolciani.

We do math everyday and never skip problems.

[Medieval Mom]

Keep in mind we're only in 1st, but we do:

 

1. CLE 1 (usually 2 lessons per day)-- never skip a problem, always do the flashcard drills and all speed drills

2. Ray's Arithmetic word problems, MEP, or number bond game on the computer

 

Also, ds likes to make up an "extremely hard" math problem for ME to solve, then watch as I do so on the markerboard. :lol:

 

 

We do math daily, 5-6 days/wk., aiming for about an hour.

 

Edit: I'm glad to know, mommahawk, that CLE + Singapore works well for you, as I'm considering this for next year. I imagine we'll quickly get to the point where we'll be slowing down to 1 lesson per day in CLE. (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE CLE math!!)

Edited January 24, 2010 by Medieval Mom
Response to post below. Great thread!

[SophiaH]

We finished up RS C at Christmas, which we were supplementing with MEP. This semester we switched to a lesson in CLE and Singapore TB/WB daily. We plan to continue this combination for at least the next couple of years. Through the summer, we will continue with two lessons in CLE a week just to keep it fresh, as well as doing the Singapore CWP/IP books for the level we were working on the previous year.

 

DD needs the spiral of CLE, and I want to keep the "thinking" math that we started with RS by using Singapore--less teacher intensive and where we were heading long-term anyway.

 

For my ds, we will again do RS B in 1st for the great foundation, and supplement with either MEP again or Singapore.

[8filltheheart]

My kids are very math oriented and of the oldest 4, 2 will definitely have careers in math/science and the 3rd is discerning a major in forensic science.

 

So what have we done for the elementary yrs? Horizons k-6 math books.

 

Nothing else as far as school is concerned. However, I think the key is that we are a strategy game oriented family. We play games all the time and the mental strategies for competitive playing are much like mental math strategies and science theorizing.

[msjones]

My kids are very math oriented and of the oldest 4, 2 will definitely have careers in math/science and the 3rd is discerning a major in forensic science.

 

So what have we done for the elementary yrs? Horizons k-6 math books.

 

Nothing else as far as school is concerned. However, I think the key is that we are a strategy game oriented family. We play games all the time and the mental strategies for competitive playing are much like mental math strategies and science theorizing.

 

I'd love to know your favorite games!

[ondreeuh]

We do CLE math now and it has everything built in - fact practice, timed drills, lots of practice on the full range of skills. Before this we used Horizons. I have heard complaints that it isn't complete, but the instructions for the drill are in the first teacher's guide, and the supplementary worksheets are in the 2nd guide. I had the bindings cut off the teachers guides and workbooks and I shuffled everything into the correct spot in a binder - so everything I needed for each lesson (teaching instructions, workbook page and extra worksheets) were in one place. That made it "open and go" and super easy to remember to do everything.

 

Before Horizons we used Singapore and the mastery approach just made me crazy because the program itself was nowhere close to complete w/o heavy supplementing (for my kiddo - your mileage may vary). I also disliked 3 books to juggle (HIG, text and workbook).

[brownie]

We are math oriented and also expect all our boys to have engineering/science/computer careers. I don't feel I do quite enough right now but getting better...it's hard because WTM emphasizes liberal arts and there's only so much time.

 

We use Singapore, including 2 challenging word problems daily. 4x a week they take a timed 100 problem mult quiz and 1 minute subtraction fact quiz. DS9 also needs daily practice of long division and multiplication. As we wrap up our math curricula in a month or so I plan to do an Archimedes unit study.

 

We also try to play games and do puzzles on a regular basis. Set, Blink and RushHour are in the classroom for when DS7 is ahead of schedule in his math work. DS9 is working on learning SCRATCH programming from MIT. We play fraction games from a cheap workbook I picked up to introduce fractions. In our free time, we love anything by gamewright. Chess and blokus and battleship are favorite longer games when we have lots of time, as well as some games that are just fun! DH loves to play some of the more intellectual Webkinz games in front of the boys on weekend mornings and get them to help :tongue_smilie: (This actually drives me crazy but I try to keep my mouth shut.)

 

We also are just good at pulling math into everyday life, much like others are good with discussing literature or history at the dinner table. DH will take the boys shopping and have them comparing prices, using coupons, etc...

 

Brownie

[8filltheheart]

I'd love to know your favorite games!

 

If you do a search, there have been several threads that have discussed this in the past.

 

A quick list

 

Board games:

 

Settlers of Catan (especially with Castles/Knights and Barbarian extension packs)

Risk

Stratego

Blockus

Scrabble

Word Exchange

 

Card games:

 

Canasta

Maneuvers

Shanghai Rummy

Hearts

Spades

24

[PeterPan]

I think what you're doing is great for those ages! At some point you might like to add in some living math books (Number Devil, Gebra Named Al, etc.) and some brain-tingling stuff like the Math Olympiad books from http://www.artofproblemsolving.com I also like the SM CWP books. You're hitting the basics really, really well, so it's just a matter of applying it to more challenging situations if they seem to enjoy that.

[peacefully]

..

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We do:

 

K-3 Singapore Math with IP and CWP supplements plus Miquon, daily math drill

4-6 Singapore with IP and CWP supplements, math drill as needed

 

HTH

[Pongo]

The Saxon thread has me thinking. I am not too familiar with Saxon, but am trying to do provide strong math teaching. If you emphasize math, would you mind sharing your schedule/program?

 

I suppose I should share first!

 

My boys do:

- daily facts review (Flashmaster or worksheets) of all facts (add, sub, mult, div),

-the daily lesson (Right Start for my 3rd grader, Singapore for my 4th),

- a Singapore mental math page,

- and a home-made review page (usually about 6 problems reviewing previously-taught algorithms)

 

I don't have any daily word problems, but wish I did.

 

If you have a math plan that you're happy with, I'd love to hear what you're doing. My favorite thing about this forum is learning from all of you!

 

We are pretty serious about math...I think?

It is one of 3 subjects that gets done 5 days a week.

Daily lesson 30-60 minutes w/ problems, depending on grade.

Daily drill 5-10 minutes, I keep the wrap-up's in the car, if we are inside we do calculadders, flash master or online drill.

6-10 word problems a week. I assign them on Friday.

15 minutes of homework each night, after supper. Either finishing up lesson or doing even problems (I only assign odd ones during class time for 5th and up)

Edited January 24, 2010 by Pongo

[lovemykids]

I like to think we emphasize math; for pre-k, I use books from the library and manipulatives, such as blocks, puzzles, foam numbers, flashcards, teddy bear counters, games, stuffed animals etc.

K-3 is done with Abeka plus the speed drills and flash cards, games etc.

We are supplementing with CSMP, we also play “storeâ€, and read living math books...more manipulatives for this age; the usual kit contents.

I have a few computer math games the kids like to play; Math Blaster, etc.

The children draw stories for the problems they have trouble with.

4th and up we skip to TT (TT 5 for fourth) with a supplement!!

5th my oldest skipped from TT 5 to TT 7 (she’s in fifth) there are living math books for this level as well. We supplement with LOF.

I also periodically give my children placement tests from other math companies, just to see how they handle it. I make up some of my own word problems. Occasionally, I print out practice worksheets from the internet….that’s about it.

[2squared]

I think we are a math oriented family, well I am :D. The others should be too, right?

 

I selected a strong math program - RightStart - for the fundamentals. We only spend 25 min/day on math lessons for my 7yo, but she is definitely learning how and why numbers work. I don't see her use rote memorization or other shortcuts yet.

 

I think being mathy is a way of thinking, not necessarily how much knowledge you have. So, I strive to develop curious minds that see questions and mysteries. I view life as problems to solve, and I present things to my dc that same way. I worked in finance before staying at home, and I think my success was due to in part to ability and fundamentals but mostly in how I viewed numbers and relationships between events.

 

My kids are finally getting to the point where we can play strategy games. I see game nights as a big part of my dc's math and science education.

 

I'm looking forward to others' responses.

[JudoMom]

My guys do Saxon (core, every problem), Life of Fred (my older 2 do this one day a week instead of Saxon), Evan Moor Daily Word Problems (1 a day), and Quarter Mile Math (10 races/day).

[MissKNG]

Math is very important here because #1 dd said that is her favorite school subject and #2 she seems to be very bright in math. So I am working hard to find something to keep her happy!

 

We finished Singapore EB last week and I was supplementing it with Critical Thinking Company Level A. Because of her age, I'm holding off on going into 1st grade math fully (she can't write, for one reason) so we are going to go through Horizons K and supplement with Rod & Staff 1st grade.

 

I also ordered A beka 1st grade to look at and Singapore Math isn't completely ruled out. Right now, she is working through Reader Rabbit K -1st Math (she wants to complete the certificate on the back cover). When that is complete, we will start the Horizons/R&S combo.

 

A Singapore/Horizons combo isn't ruled out either(shout out to Dinsfamily here! LOL!)

 

I document our math "journey" a lot on my blog.

[Jennefer@SSA]

My guys do Saxon (core, every problem), Life of Fred (my older 2 do this one day a week instead of Saxon), Evan Moor Daily Word Problems (1 a day), and Quarter Mile Math (10 races/day).

 

Have you enjoyed the Evan Moor Daily Word Problems? I have been looking for something since Singapore's Challenging Word problems is not available.

[Mandy in TN]

The Saxon thread has me thinking. I am not too familiar with Saxon, but am trying to do provide strong math teaching. If you emphasize math, would you mind sharing your schedule/program?

 

Let’s see. I don’t know that I strongly emphasize math over other subjects, but my youngest loves math. He is a math kid for sure.

 

When he was very small, he loved Lauri puzzles, Duplos, Cuisenaire rods, and Wedgits. He also loved counting… everything. Then, he loved dice, dominoes, pattern blocks, and playing cards. Next he discovered checkers and chess. For fun, he would fill up the computer screen with calculators and then fill all the calculators with numbers. He would take post-it notes and see what number he could get to if he wrote very tiny. I printed off 100’s charts. (He loved to carry these around so much that his dad laminated one for him.) He would color every other number, every third number, every fourth number, etc. He loves finding patterns. These are all math activities, but they were child-led activities that I am not sure I would have pursued if he wasn’t interested.

 

As for math curriculum, he has used Kumon workbooks (tracing, counting, easy addition, easy multiplication), Miquon Book 1, MUS Alpha, Singapore Primary Math books 1 and 2, Saxon 54, Key to Fractions books 1-3, and Kumon math through level D.

 

He is currently using Key to Fractions book 4 and Saxon 65. We do every problem in the Saxon book, but we don’t use their drill sheets. Instead of Saxon’s drill we go to Kumon for computation mastery. This month he took a break from Kumon math (first one in 2 ½ years), but next month he will start back to Kumon math going on Mondays and Thursdays to work in level E.

 

He also goes to a math tutor on Tuesdays, because he wants to go. (His big brothers have gone to this tutor for a while now and he doesn’t want to be left out. Getting to go to the math tutor was actually his b’day present this fall and he was thrilled!:D) I sent MEP level 3 to the tutor this past week. I decided that I wanted them to look at something fun that approached math differently from his other material. Since the approach is different, I wanted to start the little guy where he had already mastered the computation being taught, so that he could focus on the approach. Both the little man and the tutor loved it!

 

Right now the plan is to continue with Saxon at least until he finishes 87. We will also continue with the Key to books. The plan is to go through decimals, percents, and then at least some of Key to Algebra. We will also continue with Kumon. Anything else he does will just be because he enjoys it. The little man is in first grade and turned 7yo this fall, so this should hopefully take us through third grade.

 

Beyond this it becomes sort of sketchy. We may do the Art of Problem Solving rabbit trail books (Counting & Probability, Number Theory- these sound fun) and Mathcounts workbooks (to keep middle school math fresh) while continuing with a more traditional high school math program. This is currently how I am leaning, but <shrug> I may feel differently tomorrow.

 

HTH-

Mandy

Edited January 24, 2010 by Mandy in TN

[Just Robyn]

With my children in grades K and 2 - Saxon, Singapore and time4learning plus

Moneybags though I don't actually recommend this game (works, but it's boring. If only someone would spill something all over it so I could get a different money game.)

additional workbooks, but the only one I recommend (so far) is Flash Forward Math

Yahtzee

Hoping to get Math Blasters soon.

[Guest]

My daughter was very narrative/story-minded, so we did lots and lots of projects stemming from picture books. One of the first was Miss Bindergarten and the 100th Day of Kindergarten; my daughter also positively doted on the Sir Cumference books, and we have acted them all out multiple times.

 

I was wanting to emphasize math but had a child with fine motor problems, vision problems, and no writing stamina at all, so much of our math for years was non-worksheet-based. I loved the Marilyn Burns books, all of them, for their emphasis on process and understanding -- like an earlier poster, I, too, went all the way through calculus getting straight A's, but had no idea why anything worked the way it did and no understanding of why you would need these procedures. So this is what I emphasized with my child.

 

I made a booklet as she grew older with word problems and spatial problems re-written so that they tied in with her current literary obsessions (Harry Potter; Sherlock Holmes; Star Trek). She would do hours upon hours of these while when faced with a worksheet of the same kinds of problems would declare she hated math and couldn't think.

 

Briefly she went to school in part of 8th grade and lo and behold, she was a year ahead. I think the lesson I learned from my daughter was that if her interest was engaged and math became a learnable thing she desired, even if indirectly, she did not need all that drill or all those worksheets to arrive at the same point in the end. I know this will not work for every kid... but so far that's what we've done.

 

At the moment we're nearly through a book called Crossing the River With Dogs, which is organized not by mathematical topic but by a particular strategy or method for solving problems. Regular math books are scorned but this one was eagerly accepted. So perhaps if anyone else has a reluctant mathematician who likes stories, some of these will be useful???

 

Would love to hear similar things that worked for high school.

[mcconnellboys]

My son does Singapore 6 (one lesson up to the next exercise, which he does on his own, or a review page, etc.). He does 2-3 pages of work from a Key to book. He completed Percents earlier in the year, as well as a geometry book. He's now completing a second geometry book, then he'll be doing work in a Singapore Topical Math problems book.

 

He has a once weekly, hour long small class with an outside math teacher. They are using the Brown, Dolciani algebra book. He does some of his algebra assignment generally 3-4 days per week to get ready for his next lesson.

[Karenciavo]

This year my ds7 will finish Horizons 2 and complete half of Level 3 as well as Singapore 2A & 2B (just textbook and workbook.) We do flashcards 2x a week, play math games listed in the Singapore HIG at least 1x a week, and do either timed sheets or mental math 2x a week.

[amsunshine]

We are only in 1st and 2nd grade, but here's what we do:

 

My dds both do Singapore PM. Dd6 is starting 2A next week and dd8 is starting 3A in two more weeks. We use both the textbook and the workbook (stds version). We also use the HIG and the mental math drills in the back of the book about 1-2X per week. After we finish a chapter in the tb/wb, we go through the problems in the Intensive Practice book on the same topic. Then, we proceed to the next topic in the text, but at the same time, I have them do a few problems each day from the CWP on the topic we just finished. For my older dd, I also use the cumulative tests from the tests booklet. Occasionally, I'll give her the test on a particular topic I feel she needs a little more practice on. I use the tests book in lieu of the extra practice book as it has more material in it to choose from, and the cumulative tests are nice to have.

 

We play lots of games, i.e., Parcheesi, Blokus, Chinese Checkers, Set, Mancala, Math War (Multiplication), and games by ThinkFun. We use QuarterMile Math about 1X per week. I also have the girls help me with measuring for cooking/baking, telling time, etc.

[SophiaH]

English major here. ;) But I have a near obsession with getting my children to have a better foundation in math than the one I received. I was taught to memorize the math facts, memorize the algorithm, memorize the structure of the word problem.... I got As in my math classes and passed AP Calculus, but as anyone who knows me will tell you, I am absurdly bad at math. What a waste of an education. :glare:

 

 

Wow! I could've written this exact paragraph! Except I didn't take AP Calc in HS, but I took Calculus I & II in college, made all A's and had absolutely NO idea what I was doing!! :D

 

Hence, math is now a focus in our family. And I actually (truly) learned more about math in Rightstart B than I did in my Calculus classes combined! :rolleyes:

[Poke Salad Annie]

My daughter was very narrative/story-minded, so we did lots and lots of projects stemming from picture books. One of the first was Miss Bindergarten and the 100th Day of Kindergarten; my daughter also positively doted on the Sir Cumference books, and we have acted them all out multiple times.

 

I was wanting to emphasize math but had a child with fine motor problems, vision problems, and no writing stamina at all, so much of our math for years was non-worksheet-based. I loved the Marilyn Burns books, all of them, for their emphasis on process and understanding -- like an earlier poster, I, too, went all the way through calculus getting straight A's, but had no idea why anything worked the way it did and no understanding of why you would need these procedures. So this is what I emphasized with my child.

 

I made a booklet as she grew older with word problems and spatial problems re-written so that they tied in with her current literary obsessions (Harry Potter; Sherlock Holmes; Star Trek). She would do hours upon hours of these while when faced with a worksheet of the same kinds of problems would declare she hated math and couldn't think.

 

Briefly she went to school in part of 8th grade and lo and behold, she was a year ahead. I think the lesson I learned from my daughter was that if her interest was engaged and math became a learnable thing she desired, even if indirectly, she did not need all that drill or all those worksheets to arrive at the same point in the end. I know this will not work for every kid... but so far that's what we've done.

 

At the moment we're nearly through a book called Crossing the River With Dogs, which is organized not by mathematical topic but by a particular strategy or method for solving problems. Regular math books are scorned but this one was eagerly accepted. So perhaps if anyone else has a reluctant mathematician who likes stories, some of these will be useful???

 

Would love to hear similar things that worked for high school.

 

Brilliant!

 

And I understand the calculus issue as well. One of my children took AP Calculus in high school, made all A's, but to this day has no real understanding of it all. And her teacher cared not whether any of the students passed the AP exam at the end of the year. Since this child is not a math major, I guess at this point in time it does not matter, but I want this last child to *understand* what we're doing and why.

[JudoMom]

Have you enjoyed the Evan Moor Daily Word Problems? I have been looking for something since Singapore's Challenging Word problems is not available.

 

Yes (well, as much I can enjoy word problems :001_smile:). We're using grades 5, 4, 2, & 1 and I've been happy with them all (I plan on getting 6 & 3 when the time comes). Now, I am a CWP drop-out--DWP aren't as challenging as the CWP, but there is a wide variety of problems, and some are easy, but many require thought and multiple steps to complete.

[Jennefer@SSA]

Yes (well, as much I can enjoy word problems :001_smile:). We're using grades 5, 4, 2, & 1 and I've been happy with them all (I plan on getting 6 & 3 when the time comes). Now, I am a CWP drop-out--DWP aren't as challenging as the CWP, but there is a wide variety of problems, and some are easy, but many require thought and multiple steps to complete.

 

Thank you. I am going to add this to our shopping cart today. :)

[Haiku]

 

I don't have any daily word problems, but wish I did.

 

 

 

I don't know whether anyone has mentioned this, but we use Evan-Moor's Daily Word Problems and are very pleased with them.

 

Tara

[rwilliams]

After much exploring and educating myself about Math programs, I have found what I think may be the most complete approach to raise a mathematical thinker. In my searching, I seemed to find programs that taught math skills or taught mathematical thinking but not both together. I feel it is very important to build a strong foundation in math with lots of generalization and mental flexibility early on. Everyday Mathematics from the University of Chicago seems to provide both. It is written for a teacher in a classroom, so it will take some time to process and understand the approach. It will not be as user friendly as other homeschool math programs but I feel that the research behind the program is the best and the end result will be a child who is very skilled in math.

[8filltheheart]

After much exploring and educating myself about Math programs, I have found what I think may be the most complete approach to raise a mathematical thinker. In my searching, I seemed to find programs that taught math skills or taught mathematical thinking but not both together. I feel it is very important to build a strong foundation in math with lots of generalization and mental flexibility early on. Everyday Mathematics from the University of Chicago seems to provide both. It is written for a teacher in a classroom, so it will take some time to process and understand the approach. It will not be as user friendly as other homeschool math programs but I feel that the research behind the program is the best and the end result will be a child who is very skilled in math.

 

I do know people who have used this series with success. However, there are a lot of educators and parents that disagree with the approach of Everyday Mathematics. http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/books.htm I am only posting the link so that those who are unfamiliar with the program can read opposing POV in order to make informed decisions if they are reading these posts to investigate curriculum.

[Haiku]

Thank you. I am going to add this to our shopping cart today. :)

 

There was a thread recently that mentioned how to get the student workbooks (which are less than half the price of the teacher books, which is what is sold on Amazon and through RR) by calling Evan-Moor directly.

 

I never used CWP so I don't know how DWP stacks up, but my kids find them both fun and through-provoking. Each week is based on a theme, and at the end of the week fun facts about the theme are given.

 

Tara

[LindaOz]

You could also try http://www.mathletics.com.au for a bit of variety. ALL my kids love this site and are currently using it nearly every day. It does cost to sign up, but I'm finding it really good and it covers all levels.

[LindaOz]

 

Board games:

 

Settlers of Catan (especially with Castles/Knights and Barbarian extension packs)

 

 

 

We are loving Settlers of Catan here at the moment. What a great game!! I still need to add the Castles/Knights etc extensions yet though. Am looking forward to that..... ;)

[jeh]

What did you do for high school?

 

 

My kids are very math oriented and of the oldest 4, 2 will definitely have careers in math/science and the 3rd is discerning a major in forensic science.

 

So what have we done for the elementary yrs? Horizons k-6 math books.

 

Nothing else as far as school is concerned. However, I think the key is that we are a strategy game oriented family. We play games all the time and the mental strategies for competitive playing are much like mental math strategies and science theorizing.

[Hedgehogs4]

my son is in third grade math and he is very naturally talented at math, but we struggle with the process. because he can see numbers, as well as do operations (fairly complex ones, for his age) without writing them down, he really hates to compute on paper. when he does this he often makes careless mistakes.

 

we do one lesson and one review page of MUS every day, do not skip problems, and correct all errors--together if there is a lack of understanding, or on his own if i'm making him check for careless errors.

 

i often have him teach me the concept the second day after we have introduced a new chapter. it helps him understand it.

 

when we were learning multiplication facts, we bought the game cinq-o, and played that. it's an amusing dice game that uses both multiplication and addition.

[cjbeach]

I have been looking at Zaccaro's books but haven't purchased them yet.

Has anyone used Primary Grade Challenge Math?

 

My ds loves Horizon, did not love Singapore. However, I think the combo of 2a,2b, CWP and IP worked well for him. I believe we just needed a change.