Lacie Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I am trying to plan for next year. But I am having a hard time because of all the choices. My ds counts over 100, skip counts and can add/subtract 0-9 (not by memory). We have planned to work on money, clocks, parts of a whole, and measuring before the year is over. We have done math on our own this year (without a book). I made a list of all the things he had been asking about and that is what we started working on. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Singapore Math has placement tests which you might find helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacie Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 I will have to look for those. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Here ya go.;) This is through the Sonlight site, which is the one I am most familiar with. BTW, you are not far from me. :) http://www.sonlight.com/singapore-placement-tests.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 My favorite first grade math program is Right Start B. It is not cheap but it provides such a wonderful foundation for the student. I find RS a lot easier to teach than Singapore even with the HIG's (I switched my oldest to SM after she finished RS C). I also really like how "hands-on" RS is with physical writing minimized. To me, that's a lot more developmentally appropriate in the primary grades than a workbook-based program like SM. You can download some sample lessons of RS B over at the AL Abacus website. That will give you an idea about whether it's something that will work for you & your student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepymommy Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 We use a combo of Math Mammoth and MEP. Math Mammoth has placement tests on their site. http://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/placement_tests.php You can also get a bunch of free samples to see if you like the format. Money, measurement and clocks are mostly in 1B and addition and subtraction within 10 are in 1A. MEP is free (excluding the cost of ink and paper). I don't think there are placement tests but you could easily just go through and look at the different grades and levels. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm\ I love both of the programs, MM is our main program but we use MEP regularly too. I just like the different ways that math is presented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomesteadMommy Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 It sounds like he's covered a lot of 1st grade math already. We've used MUS, MEP and MM they are all great. You could look at the materials and start part way through a book. Or start at the beginning of a grade 1 book and go through it quickly as review until you hit new material. Not to hijack the thread. But Sleepymommy, I tried to PM you but your inbox is full. :tongue_smilie: I had planned to use MEP and MM together this year. MEP being my main and MM extra practice. So far I've had a hard time working MM in to MEP. Maybe because the lessons look so different.... Any tips would be appreciated! I always find it tricky trying to line up different programs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyLittleBears Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 We absolutely love math u see. The manipulatives are essential for a child's understanding of the consepts. (This according to many experts) Of coarse, you can use manipulatives with any math coarse you choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepymommy Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 It sounds like he's covered a lot of 1st grade math already. We've used MUS, MEP and MM they are all great.You could look at the materials and start part way through a book. Or start at the beginning of a grade 1 book and go through it quickly as review until you hit new material. Not to hijack the thread. But Sleepymommy, I tried to PM you but your inbox is full. :tongue_smilie: I had planned to use MEP and MM together this year. MEP being my main and MM extra practice. So far I've had a hard time working MM in to MEP. Maybe because the lessons look so different.... Any tips would be appreciated! I always find it tricky trying to line up different programs... Hi! Sorry about that, I went and deleted some things in my mailbox just now. I don't try to align MM and MEP together. I just do them as separate curriculums. I try to do MM (1 page) every day and we do MEP (1 lesson)in addition to it if the MM didn't take too long. We probably spend 40 min to 1 hour on math. I haven't encountered any problems so far doing it like this. He's farther along in addition and subtraction with MM than in MEP, but there are other things in MEP, like the puzzles and such that challenge him. He could always use review so the adding and subtracting of things he already knows doesn't bother him, it boosts his confidence. Hope this helps! Feel free to PM me if now if you'd like. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I'm also using MM and MEP together. I don't align them - I just use MM as our main program, going through it as quickly as he needs (we're kind of flying through 1B right now and will likely start 2A in February, once I've made sure he has the foundation that grade 1 lays). I am going through MEP 2A (just started that this week - we did MM 1A after school last semester, hence why I'm at different places in the two programs), one worksheet per day. There are only 4-5 problems per page. So far, math has been taking us 30-45 minutes to do both programs in one sitting. Not bad. I might have to break it up later when we get into MM 2, but we'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaM Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 We are using Math U See and really like it. It is going to depend on if you want a mastery or spiral program though. We tried a spiral and I felt like the girls were getting a basic grasp on the how but weren't really getting the why. MUS has been great for getting a very firm grasp on topics, but won't work for you if you are not wanting/needing to spend quite a while on single topics. Last year we did Horizons which is spiral. I liked it. It just didn't work for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 My oldest just switched back to Right Start after using Singapore Math first semester. I would prefer to teach from a workbook but Right Start just works much better for her. We're also doing the math in our A Little Garden Flower syllabus. DS will probably be doing MEP 2 and Miquon when he is in first grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 First some questions: Do you have a sense of his learning style yet? Does he like using manipulatives? Spiral or mastery? Does he like color pages or are they distracting? Does he like working semi-independently or does he like you there every step of the way? How does he feel about workbooks? How's his handwriting stamina? Do you prefer secular materials? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 First some questions: Do you have a sense of his learning style yet? I'm not sure. He love knowing how things work, why things happen. Does he like using manipulatives? Yes. Spiral or mastery? I don't know. I'm not really sure how thy are different. (I feel like I should know, but I don't) Does he like color pages or are they distracting? Color pages are fine, but depending on how much the books cost I might end up just copying out of it so that I can use them again for my younger son. Does he like working semi-independently or does he like you there every step of the way? He gets sloppy or distracted if I am not right there with him. How does he feel about workbooks? He likes work books. How's his handwriting stamina? His handwriting stamina is good. We are still working on a few handwriting issues: writing his 3's backwards, writing 13 as 31. Do you prefer secular materials? Any materials would be fine, I have a hard time finding religious curriculum that I agree with. I have Classic Curriculum Arithmetic Series 1 books 2-4. I picked them up a year ago or so. I had forgotten that I had them until a few days ago. I don't know how they compare to any other curriculum. Thanks for all the responses. Y'all have given me quite a bit to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 First some questions: Do you have a sense of his learning style yet? I'm not sure. He love knowing how things work, why things happen. Does he like using manipulatives? Yes. Spiral or mastery? I don't know. I'm not really sure how thy are different. (I feel like I should know, but I don't) Does he like color pages or are they distracting? Color pages are fine, but depending on how much the books cost I might end up just copying out of it so that I can use them again for my younger son. Does he like working semi-independently or does he like you there every step of the way? He gets sloppy or distracted if I am not right there with him. How does he feel about workbooks? He likes work books. How's his handwriting stamina? His handwriting stamina is good. We are still working on a few handwriting issues: writing his 3's backwards, writing 13 as 31. Do you prefer secular materials? Any materials would be fine, I have a hard time finding religious curriculum that I agree with. He might like Math Mammoth. It's more writing intensive than other programs I've tried, but it has good explanations and is very inexpensive. You could always download one of the topic books (e.g. Addition 1) for a few dollars and see how he likes it. I have the blue series topic worktexts for K-3 and use them occasionally for extra practice. McRuffy Color Math is a very fun program. I've found that it works well for both my mathy-girl and my reluctant learner. It's not pushy, has lots of repetition (this can be good or bad depending on the kid) and covers quite a bit of ground. LOTS of hands on stuff. If he likes figuring out how things work, he might enjoy doing the pattern block and tangram activities (about one a week). Manipulatives are used almost every day. Oh, I almost forgot: MIQUON. Again, this might appeal to his desire to figure out how things work. It's a discovery-based program, very hands-on and just, well, cool. :) I'm adding in a once a week Miquon day to our schedule. I wish I'd had Miquon when I was in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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