Miquon Math?

[Blessed with seven]

Hi,

 

Anyone use Miquon Math? I would not use this as my "main" math program but would love to use something to help them "see and understand" before we go into drill, drill, drill.

 

Kim

[danivdp]

I used it with my DD in 1st-3rd years of homeschooling. We only got 4 books dones, but she went into Saxon 5/4 this year just fine.

 

She loved it and "got" the idea of math. It's very conceptual, and I did have to reinforce with some extra drills (just internet printables.)

 

My boys hated it last year and I bought them Seton Grade 2 books this year (2nd and 3rd year homeschooling for those two.) They didn't get the conceptual part of it, and are much less motivated as DD. So it was too much thinking for them.

[Julie of KY]

I'm on my third child with Miquon math used alongside Singapore math.

Love it (except the purple (last) book which we usually skip).

[Blessed with seven]

they can go into Saxon 5/4? If I use Miquon and do timed drills, we have a program called Captain Jax Math Facts, that we use...would that be good or should we do another math along w/ it?

 

Am I thinking right that Miquon would be Similar, in concept, to Rightstart, just uses the rods instead of Abacus and obviously much cheaper?

 

Also..sorry...if you have all the TE helps is it hard to figure out how and when to do the pages in the workbooks. That is one negative I read, that people can't figure out what you are supposed to do on each workbook page.

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

[BatmansWife]

I will be starting it as a supplement soon with my 6 year old. She already loves the rods. I just need to find the Orange book (hard to come by...I'll probably have to place an order for it new somewhere). The Annotations will tell you just what to do on each page. I don't think you could possibly do the Miquon books without the Annotations (although, I'm sure someone here has and will say you can....but I don't think you'd get the full benefit without it).

[StephanieZ]

Love it here. All 3 dc have used Miquon alongside SM until they finish Miquon, at which time they just carry on with SM.

 

I love, love, love it. Dc love it as well.

[Spy Car]

they can go into Saxon 5/4? If I use Miquon and do timed drills, we have a program called Captain Jax Math Facts, that we use...would that be good or should we do another math along w/ it?

 

Am I thinking right that Miquon would be Similar, in concept, to Rightstart, just uses the rods instead of Abacus and obviously much cheaper?

 

Also..sorry...if you have all the TE helps is it hard to figure out how and when to do the pages in the workbooks. That is one negative I read, that people can't figure out what you are supposed to do on each workbook page.

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

 

Miquon makes "concrete" thought the use of Cuisenaire Rods the same basic whole-parts approach to math used in Singwpore Math. They are a wonderfully strong combination as each has strenghs that reinforce the other.

 

I strongly advise getting all three teachers books and reading the First Grage Diary (even if you are starting in pre-K or K) and Notes to Teachers before you start using the program. In the mean time the children can start with rod play as described in "Notes."

 

The Lab Annotations is the manual for individual pages, and a guide to teaching concepts. This book is qn invaluable resource. But it is (IMO) insufficient alone for an parent who has not taught this style of math previously. The other books take care of that problem. People who "can't figure it out" are stumped because they never that the time to actually read the teacher materials. In truth Miquon is VERY SIMPLE to teach, but one does need to get past the initial unfamiliarity to see how simple it really is.

 

The teachers materials are a gold mine for parents who want to give their children a through axiom based math education, and want to make what might be "complex" ideas really sipmple and age appropriate for children.

 

Miquon is a very effective method for teaching math and reinforces Singapore Math very nicely.

 

Bill

[tuesdayschild]

Yes we use (have used) Miquon Math.

 

Once *I* got my head around how to approach Miquon we were good to go.

 

For DS we started out with Singapore & Miquon - he didn't like Singapore so we just used Miquon (up to yellow book), and lots of other math tools to change pace, (Bill Handley, Murderous Math, Mathtacular DvD's, Board Games etc..).

He's a mathy.

 

With our DD, for whom math is a stop and pause for reflection journey, Miquon is a good change from MMM, our other math curric. We're still Miquon with her.

 

Hope you find Miquon a good fit for your family.

[FO4UR]

I love Miquon! Every time we need to teach a new concept, it's a sure bet for my ds7.

 

There are some threads here comparing RS to Miquon if you want to look at those. There are some differences, but both teach conceptual math.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Another Miquon lover here. It's our main math program. We used Singapore Earlybird for PreK, but there was too much writing for my dd to continue. Miquon has been wonderful. We do use Oak Meadow math for fun games and stories. I've also tried RS; it bombed with both of us. I would never have expected that.

 

 

I'm on my third child with Miquon math used alongside Singapore math.

Love it (except the purple (last) book which we usually skip).

 

What about the Purple book makes you skip it? Just curious. We haven't gotten there yet. We are almost done with Red.

Edited September 29, 2010 by Cindie2dds

[Guest Cindie2dds]

In truth Miquon is VERY SIMPLE to teach, but one does need to get past the initial unfamiliarity to see how simple it really is.

 

This is one of the main reasons we have continued to adore it. It's oriented toward the student learning on their own with very little to no interference from the "teacher." I really believe this type of math gives a student confidence that math can be mastered. I give my daughter the lab sheets and she runs with it. If there is a new concept (like a number line), I will explain it to her, then let her go. It is so discovery-based that you can actually see "lightbulbs" go off.

[Blessed with seven]

This is great, thank you all for the input, can't wait to use it. I really wanted to use Rightstart but just couldn't spend the $ and didn't really want ALL of it. Anyway...then I remembered a friend of mine used Miquon Math so I started looking it up.

 

Thanks again very much!

 

Kim