Help me: K/1st Math

[Ginger]

I just realized I still haven't decided on a math program for my third child, my daughter who will be 6 in August. I did not consider her kindergarten this past year since her birthday was so late, but we did some math. She knows how to do simple addition/subtraction, count by 2's, 3's. She's close to counting to 100...

 

I feel like I've used about every math program out there between my other two children: Rightstart B,C,D,E,, Abeka 1st and 2nd, Alpha Omega K, Math U See Primer, Rod and Staff 2nd and 3rd, TT 4. And I still can't decide what I want to use with my dd.

 

I was leaning toward using Abeka 1 with her this year (she's done some work out of her sister's old book, and it seems to be a good fit for her) but the 180 lessons intimidates me. Also, I used that book with both my other children, and they never seemed to get a good grasp on math facts (could be the kids, not the program, though).

 

I've dabbled a little with Singapore 1A with her, but it just didn't seem to give enough practice. I don't want a mastery program for that reason, too. And I think she'd do better with something colorful. One thing I haven't tried is Saxon in the younger grades. But I'm thinking that is black and white.

 

Any suggsetions for me? FPEA is tomorrow and I'd like to have it figured out by then (last minute, I know!)

[Closeacademy]

Have you thought about Rod and Staff?

 

It is mastery. 1st grade year works on addition/subtraction within 10, counting to 100, number order, greater than/less than, place value, counting by 2, 5, and 10, pennies, nickels, dimes, time to the hour and 1/2 hour.

 

By the end of the year they pretty much know the facts backwards, forwards and upside-down. :001_smile:

[Ellie]

I like R&S's Beginning Arithmetic. Gentle yet comprehensive, easy to teach.

[Lovedtodeath]

I love Abeka for 1st grade and it really helped DD with her math facts after trying about everything else. I plan to use a combo of Abeka and MM when DS gets there.

[sagira]

Programs you could check out:

 

Horizons (colorful)

Math Mammoth (like Singapore, but with built-in practice - you could even create your own worksheets, random, and print them out)

 

You could also add MEP as a supplement to any program requiring more practice.

[hsmom]

McRuffy. The lessons are just the right amount of information without overwhelming the child. I highly recommend it to everyone. My son is using math 1 right now and loves it.

 

We were doing Horizons K last year and it was just away too much.

[3peasinapod]

 

I was leaning toward using Abeka 1 with her this year (she's done some work out of her sister's old book, and it seems to be a good fit for her) but the 180 lessons intimidates me. Also, I used that book with both my other children, and they never seemed to get a good grasp on math facts (could be the kids, not the program, though).

 

 

 

We are having problems with math facts after completing nearly all of Abeka Math 1 with DD7. We have 15 lessons left, and she definitely understands the concepts, but just can't remember the facts. It may be her also, though, as she doesn't like memorizing things. She's good with poetry, as she loves the cadence, but not math facts and Bible verses. She is also weak in story problems. Abeka basically teaches that if there is a certain phrase, i.e., "altogether, etc." it is addition or "how many left or how many more" is subtraction. I want her to be able to reason more than just trying to pick out key phrases, as we all know those key phrases are just not always going to be there.

 

I, too, have been considering a combination of Abeka Math 2 next year with either Math Mammoth or Singapore, but I can't wrap my mind around combining them without taking up all our day.

[shinyhappypeople]

Since she already likes Abeka, how about adding on something like "Math Mix & Match Games" or "Math File Folder Games to Go" to give extra practice on the math facts?

[Ginger]

I used R&S with my son in first and second grade. While it was a good fit for him, I think my daughter would like something 'flashier'.

 

I looked up reviews of Math Mammoth and McRuffy. The reviews seemed similar to most other math programs...either you loved them or hated them.

 

Any chance that either of those would be available to look at at the FPEA this weekend?

[Lovedtodeath]

Math Mammoth has a little bit of hands one with an abacus and it has internet links to online games that you can use for review. Other than that it isn't flashy.

 

McRuffy looks pretty flashy with all of the manipulatives.

[hsmom]

Have you went over to the McRuffy site? They have samples of all the material, TE, workbooks, etc. It is very hands on fun, "flashy" as you would put it.

[Lovedtodeath]

 

Have you went over to the McRuffy site? They have samples of all the material, TE, workbooks, etc. It is very hands on fun, "flashy" as you would put it.

Like your avatar. :lol:

[bry's-gal]

We started with Saxon but found it moved to slow for our needs. I've switched to Horizons and have been please with it. It has a similar approach to Saxon but is about 6 months ahead of them.

[Crimson Wife]

What's the reason you do not want to use RS?

[Devotional Soul]

My 5 year old and I both liked McRuffy K Math. It was a very fun introduction. Each lesson had hands on exploring and then one colorful but not distracting workbook page. I think your dd could probably start with the 1st grade.

 

The tm is lightly scripted and easy to use. You need to read it ahead of time to gather the manipulatives, games, or cards for the lesson. One thing I thought about the K is that it is very spiral and seems to jump around a lot, although there were weekly themes.

 

I didn't get McRuffy 1st grade math and my ds misses it. I went with CLE because it was cheaper, and now he refuses to do math because it's not as much fun. All workbook and no toy exploration has burned him out. I had thought all the McRuffy manipulatives were distracting him because he would have so much fun playing with them, but now I know that was successful learning, not distraction. HTH!

[Ginger]

I don't want to use RightStart again because my older daughter went all the way up through E and she really didn't retain anything from it, as far as the 'conceptual understanding' that I hoped she was getting. She did great with it at the time we were using it, but once we'd move on from that topic, she'd forget. We switched to Saxon this year for Classical Conversations and there was stuff that she had learned in RS that she didn't remember. I also didn't like that it didn't have much review.

 

It just never worked at all with my ds. He was like a deer in the headlights the whole time. After a year he was still counting the beads on the abacus to get "5". (again, that was just my son--learning issues).

 

I've been using the RS abacus with my 5 year old dd, and whatever program we choose, I will use the abacus to present the concepts that I can.

[Lovedtodeath]

That sounds like my daughter. If manipulatives are available she will use them as a crutch and never really learn beyond that. Math Mammoth is working well for us, but I wouldn't call it flashy. We use the abacus some, and a clock with movable hands and that is all besides dots on paper. When we used Abeka I kept getting the MUS blocks back out and I thought their explanation of place value was brilliant!... it just didn't work for DD.:001_huh:

[Ginger]

After looking at the convention last night, I decided to use Horizon's K. It looks very easy to use, colorful, open and go, and challenging.