I need help recovering from public school math

[Mallorie]

Everyday Mathematics to be particular. I have just pulled my sons out of public school, with EM being a head-liner in my reasons to do so. Now, I need to know where to go from here.

 

Here's where we are at:

 

We pulled our kids monday morning. So we are TOTALLY new to homeschooling.

 

My oldest is 10, and in the fourth grade. He places advanced according to the school, but according to Saxon and Singapore, he's roughly beginnner 3rd grade. He wants to be a scientist, and is a self-motivated learner/reader/experimenter. However, Everyday Math (and a HORRIBLE teacher) has confused him, and he now HATES math. I need to get this child caught up, so he can learn to like math. His dreams of becoming a scientist will never be realized if he doesn't learn/like math. This year was not that great, and he needs a "de-schooling" period which i'm totally fine with, but i'd like to be ready with a math program when he shows to be ready to get on with things. He started reading Usborne and DK encyclopedias when he learned to read, very much a self-starter, let-me- go-do-it kind of kid. The system just beat him down a bit.

 

My middle child is 7, 1st grade. We waited to start him in kindergarten until he was 6, as he had a severe speech delay. He has improved to the degree that he was discharged from speech therapy 2 months ago. He shows beginning signs of not liking math, and they have been doing some calculator work at school (i'm not sure to what degree). He is asking for bookwork, and reads at 2nd grade level.

 

I also have a 4 year old daughter. I'd like to find a math curriculum that teaches her math well, but also the fun that math can be. As she's young and has not been exposed to public school, i'm not too worried, here, but advice surely welcome!

 

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I should transition them to? Or how to catch my oldest up to where he should be, without making him hate math more? I hate that I have to back-track him so far to get him caught up, but I am so thankful we finally realized this need, and did something about it.

[Parrothead]

I'd say let it go for a few months. Most school districts are getting ready to be done for the year so he won't miss much if you let him de-math for a while. If you live in a state that dictates that you have to teach math in your homeschool, work on time or money instead for a while.

 

We like using MUS (Math U See). I have a reluctant math student. MUS's approach is gentler than either Singapore or Saxon.

[Alice]

I only have young guys so no advice on the older ones. I think you're in the right place though...just from hanging out here and reading these boards I have gotten so many great ideas and resources. I'm sure others will chime in with advice for you.

 

For the 4 yr old we are using Singapore EB Math. It's really fun. My ds has liked it a lot. He's a workbook kind of kid and likes doing the pages. We also do a lot of counting, sorting ,etc with stuff around the house. He especially likes using M&M's and Jellybeans for counting. Hmmm...wonder why? :)

[plansrme]

I heartily applaud anyone who has pulled their kids out of school because of Everyday Math. It STINKS. My kids spent 2 and 3 years in a private school that used EM (I didn't know that when we enrolled the first one, or I would never have started her there), so we afterschooled for math until we pulled them out to HS full-time. I used Singapore from day one. It is an an excellent antidote to EM--the two programs couldn't be more opposite.

Just having to back up one grade isn't so bad--Singapore is at least a year's more challenging than many typical programs. Maybe you can work quickly through third grade over the summer, start fourth grade in the fall and double-up to finish fifth grade by the end of next year? Singapore doesn't have a lot of silly busy-work (not that Saxon is silly, but Singapore seems more efficient than Saxon), so if you child "gets" math, he can work through it more quickly. It will help if he knows his multiplication tables (if not, please try something called "Times Tales" for the tough ones--he'll have 6x6 through 9x9 down in an hour).

I wouldn't skip third grade Singapore, because that's when EM teaches long division--the good way, not the ridiculous EM method.

And again, good for you for recognizing the evils of EM!

 

Terri

[Reya]

I recommend Singapore. It's a stronger program. It is MUCH easier to accelerate to catch up in. It's mastery-based. It's very simple and clear in its presentation. I also recommend the Intensive Practice books to get him engaged. Critical Thinking Co. has some great, fun mathy workbooks, too, that could help him mentally reset--Mind Building Math.

[Mandamom]

came out of 4th grade and due to his personality it was better to just start immediately rather than deschooling (you know what your child needs) and I just started where he was. We also pulled out in December rather than May.

 

So, I gave him the placement test for Singapore and we started with 2A. He worked through it pretty quickly (although I realized later that I missed a few concepts but that was my fault rather than S.M.) and he worked his way through 5A.

 

The point of my message is to just start where he is and don't worry about where the school says he should be according to their books. If your son is concerned about the grade level on his books tell him that all math series are different. If he's strong in math he might be able to move through the early grades of whatever math program you choose quick enough to get caught up pretty quickly.

 

Good luck.

[H.S. Burrow]

The schools we were in used something called Sharon Wells Math. I'd never heard of it. We had a LONG period of adjustment, more so for my at the time 5th grader than my 2nd grader. I would give it the summer before you use any placement test to determine grade level to begin. If you really like Saxon (that's what we use) I would do simple math facts, time & money over the summer...in a VERY RELAXED way. Use the placement test again after he has been away from the "school's way" of doing math for 2 or 3 months.

 

If he is advanced and currently 10, I would NOT start with Saxon 3 but move onto Saxon 5/4. We tried Saxon 3 and it was TOO elementary for my gifted ds, although that is where he "placed". Saxon 3 has fewer problems to solve and the increments are very slow - my ds was BORED so he did not want to do Math. I decided to go ahead and get Saxon 5/4 and see how he did - and after a slow start, he is flying through it. I started by "splitting" the lessons and now he is just about finished with it - he will be 10 in August. Don't worry too much just now about what grade level you start him with. If he is gifted, he will catch-up and probably surpase his peers.

 

Be sure to read the gifted forum...there is another thread on here in that section about how some REALLY smart kids, just don't "get" some of their math facts. I'm new to this forum so I don't know how to copy that thread!! Maybe someone who is will read this and get it for you!!

 

Good luck to you!!

[Mallorie]

Thanks so much for the speedy replies. As I said, it's the first week, and i'm just so emotional, afraid, worried, joyful.

 

Singapore had caught my attention before, I might just order it and try it out.

[Mallorie]

We posted at the same time Tracy...I appreciate your thoughts on not placement testing right away. Maybe I will wait and test him after a while again. Saxon is another one I have been looking at for math. It's just so hard, i'm not starting at the beginning, and I have no experience with either curriculum.

 

I really welcome any more advice, I'm open to anything at this point!

[JFSinIL]

Everyday Math is what drove me to take my fifth-grader out mid-year this year. And I was upfront with the school folks about it - teacher was great - but the math program too confusing to dd (and me!). I put her into Teaching Textbooks 6 (which is really 5th grade math as most of us know by now - they run a year behind for whatever reason) and now math makes sense to her!!! It will never be her fav. subject, but it makes sense!!! Even if you do not plan to continue with TT, give your son a year of it to rebuild his confident, etc. If he was doing 4th grade EM, place him in 6th grade TT next fall (5th grade TT might be too easy, since he already has had most of a year of 4th grade math, which is what TT5 would be...only w/o the confusion of multiple ways of multiplying, etc.)

[Another Lynn]

If I were in your shoes I would probably decide between MUS or Singapore - I would think they would be less text-bookish than Saxon - which might be helpful in recovering from the beaten down feeling.

 

Kudos to you for pulling them out. Best wishes to you!

[Jacey]

We pulled my dd9 (3rd grade) out of public school at the end of February of this year- the math program used one of the reasons why (a "reform math" similar to EM). We decided to go with Singapore Math and have been thrilled so far. I believe it is giving her a solid foundation with just the right amount of problems needed to master each topic (too much repetition makes her loathe math). Ironically, she was also in the "advanced" math group at ps, but based on the Singapore placement test I started her in 2B. We are currently in 3B, so over the past 2 1/2 months she has gone through 2B & 3A.....we skipped some areas that she understood well and did only the sections that I felt was needed. It was a pretty smooth transition....

 

As a fyi...until we received our books (took about 2 weeks when ordered directly from the Singapore website) I did a lot of multiplication review and games- kept it light and fun.

 

I also second Mandamom.... We did not take any "down time" from ps and the transition was just fine. Maybe part of that was b/c my dd was anxious to *see* what home school was going to be all about! Also, I think it will depend on what your home school year will look like (ie...year round? are you going to take a summer break? etc). Good luck and try not to worry too much.....I know.... I've been there right with you!;)

[kpupg]

I would not de-math, but would start them out with short sweet daily lessons, continuing through the summer. But you should know that I am biased toward math. When we began home schooling (kids went through 2nd and 4th grades in a religious school), math was the first thing I investigated and the first lessons we began. In my way of thinking, math forms the brain in very positive ways, and I wanted to start the habit of daily brain exercise right off. Making lots of academic progress is not what I'm talking about -- the habit of thinking is really what I mean. By short lessons, I am talking about 10 minutes. Sometimes I read forums where moms describe kids spending an hour on a math lesson, and I want to run away from home LOL. Ten minutes a day is enough to start, maybe work up from there, depending ....

 

For your 10yo, I'd strongly recommend Singapore. You said he tested at 3rd level? Maybe start with a 2nd level book and let him work through it as quickly as he wants to. It will be a big change -- for the good -- from an insitututional setting! If he's much like my math-genius son, he might be offended to have a lower level book -- I'd spin it as "just to get things going over the summer ... want to keep it easy over the summer ... etc." Great timing for that approach, eh!

 

You might be able to start your 7yo there also, and just take it easier on the scheduling.

 

For your preschooler, I've heard good things about EB, but haven't used it myself.

 

Praying for you and the kiddos,

Karen

[Rhondabee]

My advice is that no matter which curriculum you choose, set aside a separate time each day to get the basic math facts down. That will go such a long way in getting your child "on grade level"; and until the facts are down, dc will have a hard time with math.

 

And, don't be afraid to just slow down - or even stall - if you need to.

 

Best wishes!!

Rhonda

[Mom2GirlsTX]

I hate Everyday Math, let me count the ways!;)

Let me applaud you for taking control of your kids education. I pulled my daughter out at the end of first grade and her math skills were horrible, even though she was in the schools Gifted/Talented program. We went with Saxon for awhile (she hated it) and then switched to Singapore Math which she loves. Singapore is awesome, and yes you do have to go back but it allows for easy acceleration and your child will truly "get" math. I would highly recommend Singapore, and don't worry, your kids will catch up quickly and then be wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy ahead of their public school mates.

I personally wouldn't worry with doing much school for the next month or two, just let your kids chill, do alot of fun reading (maybe history) and slowly work into getting ready for fall. Welcome aboard!:001_smile:

[Perry]

We were Investigations and Trailblazer (both similar to EM) dropouts. I LOATHE those fuzzy math curricula.

 

We used Singapore and didn't have any problem getting them straightened out. We did have to spend some additional time solidifying math facts. I'd start them a little behind in Singapore to familiarize them with the approach. They'll probably go through those books fairly quickly and soon be caught up.

[Tiramisu]

I took my kids out of ps and Everyday Math last year. This is our first year homeschooling. My second grader was so weak on her math facts, we were not very successful at Singapore initially. When her frustration level rose, I decided to stop and try Abeka because I heard it was good for drill and that's really what she needed. She went from saying she was "not a math person" to really liking math with Abeka. Now I know Abeka isn't perfect but it is working for her so we will continue and supplement with Singapore over the summer and see how it goes now that her facts are stronger.

 

My dd who finished fifth in Everyday Math last year is rather strong in math and placed very high in the Saxon placement test, but once we started it became evident that there were some serious gaps. Saxon's continual review helped address those in the first half of the year but dd really did not like Saxon so we left it behind.

 

From my experience with Everyday Math, I would consider thinking about these things.

1. Make sure they know their math facts and if not make this a priority. (That's just my view of the issue.)

2. Make sure they know the "standard" way of doing multiplication and addition. I would work on this right away with your older dc. I thought we could get by doing it the Everyday Math way but, I was wrong and we ran into trouble later.

3. Make sure your dc can work with large numbers. Everyday Math doesn't really have them do operations with numbers of many digits.

 

IMHO, and as a totally inexperienced homeschooler, I would consider using Math U See to get up to speed with facts and operations. Math U See is so non intimidating and could help boost your children's confidence as they build their skills. You could start at a "lower" level and work up quickly doing only as many pages as necessary. Then, I would consider making the move to Singapore. Or, you might be really happy with MUS and only want to supplement with Singapore.

 

I wish I knew these things a year ago. Perhaps they will help you.

[TraceyS/FL]

OK. I have a friend reading this thread.

 

She CAN"T HS - but how the HECK can she deal with this EM junk?

 

It's a disaster - maybe there is some help on the Afterschooling board, but any advice you could throw her/me would be appreciated.

[Mandamom]

EM in school (this year they are doing Trailblazer or whatever the other one is) and I'm not seeing any problems with it. BUT, my school is teaching it correctly with a lot of work on math facts and the teachers are using a lot of supplementary worksheets (from the internet usually) to ensure that the kids have the material down. My kids also aren't using calculators. My 2nd grader is already doing multiplication at home (although her teacher told her she couldn't do it at school @@) so I'm going to make sure she has most of that down over the summer correctly so she goes into third grade knowing her X and / facts.

 

My mom (a reading specialist and curriculum developer at a school for special needs) works with several public school attendees in the neighboring county and they are doing a lousy job teaching the program and the kids are having a terrible time with it. I just saw a press release from E.M today and they are releasing supplementary information for teachers on the web. I haven't looked at it but I wonder if it will make things better or worse.

 

So, my suggestion is to maybe spend 15 minutes a day supplementing afterschool with something like Flashkids or Spectrum along with drilling math facts.

 

I'm just glad I have a good school and my kids tend toward learning material really easily. I suspect I would have serious thoughts if my kids were struggling or learning disabilities. Of course, I did homeschool one who didn't do well in school, and we backed up in math about 2 years although I don't know what math they were using. who knows if it was E.M. as I just don't remember.

[plansrme]

I afterschooled both of my kids while they were in private school using EM ("evil math"). I used Singapore for both girls until my older daughter so outstripped her classmates that the school agreed to let her do her own math in the library during EM hour. That was a battle and a half, and an extreme case (she sat in the library and did Chalkdust pre-algebra in third grade), but it was worth it. She would take the EM tests, I mean, "assessments," but otherwise was never in the classroom during math.

Another parent at the same school lobbied the administration to have the teachers let her kids do multiplication and division the old-fashioned way, provided they could show they understood it (they did).

It took surprisingly little time to afterschool using Singapore. We just did it regularly over the summer, and during the school year, worked it into whatever else we were doing. The contrast between my first grader's math homework ("look through magazines and cut out pictures of numbers to glue to the back of this sheet") and the multi-step Singapore Challenging Word Problems that she completed successfully, was laughable. Sad, but laughable.

Terri

[Stacia]

If I were in your shoes I would probably decide between MUS or Singapore - I would think they would be less text-bookish than Saxon - which might be helpful in recovering from the beaten down feeling.

 

Kudos to you for pulling them out. Best wishes to you!

 

:iagree:

 

We use (& love) MUS. We used RightStart (up until the middle of 4th grade -- loved it up to then, but it just didn't work after that point). Switched to MUS this year (9yo & 6yo) & they love it. Their understanding is great.

 

FWIW, I tried Singapore when my dd was younger (didn't get the teacher guides), but I just don't think I explained things well enough. Maybe the teacher guide would have helped me, but I felt at a loss to explain things. I found that I needed a more scripted program to help *me* be a better teacher. So, I basically ended up using the Singapore workbooks as extra practice or the math we took w/ us when traveling (easier to pack a workbook than a curriculum w/ tons of separate manipulatives, etc...)

 

Also, esp. for your youngers, you may want to check out a free, downloadable math program that is aimed for gifted students. Actually, your 10yo might enjoy it in the meantime until you decide on a particular curriculum. The free one is CSMP & my understanding is that it was originally designed for gifted math students. However, it does require teacher training/involvement, which is why it pretty much fell to the wayside as far as the regular school system was concerned. There are extensive teacher notes/guides on this site, etc.... It takes a little bit to get used to it, but my dd & I did this when she was K/1st & it was fun & a wonderful program. I think their materials go up through the 6th grade.

http://ceure.buffalostate.edu/~csmp/

 

Good luck & enjoy homeschooling! And, welcome to the boards too. :001_smile:

[Mallorie]

For all of the replies! I have a lot to consider.

 

My 10 y/o is surprisingly good at Math facts, despite the EM, but the hitch is in doing longer problems the EM way, it's just confusing. I've been showing him my "old school" way, and he was like "wow, that's it?"

 

My 1st grader has been using calculators in school. :glare: I know in 2nd grade, they have a box of calculators. I like the idea that someone posted about their child doing their own math during EM time. If we have to look at going back to public school, I will fight for that as well. For now, we have the option to homeschool, so i'm taking it. We have decided to get through the summer, re-evaluate in August, and then again in December. As a newbie to hs'ing, I need these baby-steps.

 

I have decided on Singapore, I think my 10 y/o would like a faster paced curriculum. We were also able to get a 5A set at our Convention in the used book room for $2. He has looked it over and says he likes it. He can do math easily, he's just had EM shoved down his throat so long that he hates it right now, and there are gaps.. I told him i'd give him a few weeks to take a break, then we'll start again, but at a lower level to fill the gaps and build his confidence. He's ok with the plan. :001_smile:

[Sandy in Indy]

I'm tutoring a ps student who's having trouble with math...guess what the district uses??? Evil math is a really good name for it. I don't understand why any district chooses this program--it only took about 3 minutes on the internet to see that it's not a good program. My poor student is LOST in math. We're working over the summer and I'm hoping I can pump enough "real" math into her that she'll be able to survive next year.

 

Personally, I love Singapore Math. I have needed to work more on facts with my younger ds but he's understanding concepts very well so far. My older ds used the Primary series books 4-6 and was very well prepared to step into Algebra.

[MelissaMinNC]

I can't offer much advice - my kids are younger and have not been to public school, so....we don't have much in common, LOL.

 

However, my dd (1st grade, 6yo) was struggling a lot with math at the beginning of the year. We were using MUS Alpha, which I still think is a great program, but it was really not working for us. She was really starting to hate and dread math. I finally put away the MUS and just picked up a couple of different workbooks to use for a while, until I made a decision about something else.

 

Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided to give Singapore a try. I started with the very beginning, 1A book. The first couple of lessons were BASIC - just counting to 10. Super-easy and confidence building! Since then, the lessons have still been mainly review - basic adding and subtracting, but she is thinking about the concepts in a new way and really getting it for the first time. And she's enjoying it! She's happy to do math! And last week she said, "Hey, I just figured out something about math. Every subtraction problem, is just an addition problem backwards. Oh my word, she really does get it, LOL.

 

Anyway, my point I guess would be that when your dc are ready to get back to it, it might be an option to start them at a level that would be easy for them, review stuff that they can breeze through and build their confidence.

 

In the meantime, during your deschooling period, how about just reading some mathy type story books? (I am a living books sort of girl, LOL.) Your 10 yo might really enjoy the Sir Cumference books, and your 10 and 7 yos might like the "Penny" books ("Mapping Penny's World" is one, can't remember all the titles. Stuart J. Murphy has a whole series of math-concept books that are fun for all ages - from pre-math concepts (colors, shape, size, etc.) all the way to skip-counting and multiplying, etc. I think I have a Living Math Books website bookmarked, if you're interested in this. It just might help them see that math doesn't have to be dreaded and despised, but it can be fun and useful!

 

Good luck, congratulations on your decision, take some deep breaths, it'll all be okay.

 

:)

Melissa

[abreakfromlife]

 

I think I have a Living Math Books website bookmarked, if you're interested in this.

I would like to see the site if you still have it!

[Parrothead]

I think I have a Living Math Books website bookmarked, if you're interested in this.

 

I'll second the request for the website link.

 

Thanks

[CLHCO]

I've seen stuff on Everyday Math. He needs a completely new approach, imo.

 

I use Singapore with my son (7 also) and Math U See with my older daughters (14). In your situation I'd go with Math U See. First, Math U See doesn't have number grades on their books so backing him up won't make him feel stupid and hate it more due to having a "3" on his math book. Also, the number of problems on a page are not overwhelming and you can assign as much or as little as you need to get through it.

 

My daughters, long time math haters, not don't mind it at all. It's a good one for math haters.

 

However, it's expensive. I found the DVD and teacher's guide used.

 

If you are looking to just start your 7 year old, Singapore may be a good start. You can let him watch the Math U See DVD too, even if he's young, just so he knows the basic teaching style of this curriculum if you choose to then put him in it later and reuse the curriculum.

[CLHCO]

This has been posted before, I think, but some may not have seen it yet.

 

 

[abreakfromlife]

holeeee cow! :ack2: I'm only 3 minutes into that video - that is INSANE!!!!! good grief. I love stuff like this - it just cements my decision to nevernever send my kids to ps!!! What kind of dingaling invented this stuff??? :confused1::confused1:

[BlueGator]

I googled "Everyday Math".

 

This woman's blog will shed a little light on the issue.

 

http://www.parentpundit.com/2005/01/if_your_school_.html

 

I've never used EM and I don't know this woman.

 

I've used Saxon my whole HS career with a brief couple of months with Singapore.

 

Saxon uses the spiral approach also. It pre-introduces, introduces then reviews concepts. There are a lot of Math Fact drills.

 

It looks like the Language Arts approach to Math! I looked at the help sheets on the EM website. I can see where they are going, but I'm sure a lot of kids are lost in the maze of verbage.

[MelissaMinNC]

Found it!

 

Living Math!

 

I think I got the link from someone here originally; we've checked out a lot of books from the library using this list. Enjoy!

 

:)

Melissa

[TraceyS/FL]

:shok:

 

Those poor kids........

[Jen in DE]

Try Math U See. It's especially nice to watch the lessons with the kids, especially if they have math anxiety. That way, someone else is teaching them, not you! The approach is gentle, and can move as slowly or quickly as they need to go.

[Brenda in MA]

OK. I have a friend reading this thread.

 

She CAN"T HS - but how the HECK can she deal with this EM junk?

 

It's a disaster - maybe there is some help on the Afterschooling board, but any advice you could throw her/me would be appreciated.

 

Tracey,

 

I was in this position about 7 years ago. I used Saxon 54 with my then 4th grader after school. It wasn't pretty. We had to spend at least an hour, 4 days/wk doing math out of Saxon. He cooperated because he knew he was weak in math. The bright side is that after a year with Saxon 54, he was all caught up.

 

However, once I saw that I could successfully teach him at home, it gave me the confidence to begin homeschooling. He's still at home, a high school junior, now taking PreCalc.

 

The only advice I'd give your friend is that she's probably going to have to get some other program and do a good amount of math at home with her child so he/she learns the traditional approach. The other thing she should do (as someone else mentioned) is to make absolutely sure her child knows his/her math facts. I shot for 2-3 second recall of facts before I considered it learned.

 

You might suggest that she look at Aleks. It's an online program that pretests the child and then works with them on what they haven't yet mastered. Here is the web link for a free month. http://www.aleks.com/webform/c12 Maybe this would be enough to help her child.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

[sassenach]

Everyday math was our catalyst to homeschool. In fact, I guessed that your post was going to be about EM before I even opened it! Sad huh? I have good news for you, there is definitely hope for your kids to become math lovers. We pulled my dd out after her 3rd grade year. I realized that we were going to have to do major math rehab. She was so behind on multiplication that I decided to use Math U See to catch up. My plan was then to switch to a more traditional Abeka/Saxon type of program. Well she just took off with MUS and by the end of the summer, I was a believer. We've been with mus ever since.

 

That first year of hsing was hard. My social girl had a hard couple of months. Two years later, our whole family is happier for the choice. Good luck with getting started, and feel free to ask any questions!

[Kmommy]

Oh my!! This is exactly why I pulled my 3rd grader out two weeks ago. We "tried" PS for Grade 3. That EM program is a nightmare. We went back to CLE. But we went BACK to 3rd grade.

She is so confused by the language now, since EM is so different.

You would think the PS would smarten up.

Nah.

[Mallorie]

Wow. I'm sad and yet glad to hear your stories about EM. It helps confirm my decision.

 

I did order some Primary Math books, easy levels to start out with, see how the boys like it. I am also looking at MUS, it's been too strongly recommended to ignore. I will probably have to start my 7y/o with Alpha, and my 10 y/o with gamma.

 

I'm SO thankful we had the strength to pull them out of public school. I wish we would have done it sooner, but I can't imagine if we hadn't done it at all. My boys are smart, I know they'll recover. But, I feel so bad for the other kids left there. :(

[Suzannah]

I haven't had a chance to read all of the replies so forgive me if this is a duplicate. I'm a Saxon user and intend to stick with it. But Math U See seems like it would be a good fit for you. You can take a placement test at their website http://www.mathusee.com/ and begin with whatever level is appropriate. The levels are not meant to correspond directly to grade levels so your kiddos shouldn't feel bad about being behind.

 

 

As for your 4yo, we like "Funtastic Frogs". I bought mine (along with "logs" and workbook) from Rainbow Resource http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php . My DD has a January birthday and we did the frogs and free worksheets from Learning Pages http://www.learningpage.com/ for a while. Then when I realized she could handle a little more we started Saxon 1, just doing a few pages here and there when she felt like it. Next year she will be in first grade and we'll just need to finish up the book we're in and move on to Saxon 2.

 

Hope that helps! Welcome aboard!:seeya:

[amiechoke]

I have a similar situation to yours - smart 3rd grader in the advanced math group, but EM is confusing her. And she is appallingly weak on her math facts. We'll finish out the year and start with CLE math, which will be preceeded by some quality time doing math drills. There's a website called First In Math (cheap - 1 year student subscription is $8) that's all math drill games which she loves. I like CLE because it's straightforward and traditional math, but spirals enough to reinforce concepts. We've been trying Singapore Math but the one problem I have with it is you have to get a lot of supplemental materials to reinforce - in our experience, the workbook alone won't do it.

[LoveChocolate]

hi there,

we're another homeschool family that started homeschooling thanks to EM! I have a mathy kid who was just HATING math.

 

Singapore Math was a good choice for us. We pulled her out at the end of second. We did third grade over the summer, then 4th grade during the year. She is 1/2 through 5A, and she is technically just finishing her 3rd grade year, so you can see that Singapore can move quickly if the child is understanding the concepts.

 

We are now thinking about moving to another curriculum for next year. I'm not a mathmatical person, I don't even like it. So now, I'm a bit worried about me teaching it. I'm thinking about going with a program that has teacher instruction over the computer or with DVD. But, I'm glad I started with Singapore, it was a good transition program out of EM. It also can move quickly so you can catch up to make up for lost EM years.

[TracyR]

I would work on their math facts first before diving into any math program. You can print math fact sheets from www.math-drills.com

 

I like programs such as Bob Jones math or Singapore math for children who want to work in the science/medical fields. They are great for children who understand math.

 

If you have a child that struggles then something such as: Math U See or Saxon would work.

even a program like Christian Light math ( if your willing to use a Christian program).

 

Honestly though I would work on the math facts first. I had pulled my daughter from a cyberschool that used their own math program. Even though she was a year ahead in math I found I had to really back track because she didn't have a good grasp on her addition, subtraction and multiplication.

It just makes it so much easier for them to know those facts quicker. It definitely has made math more enjoyable now that she can figure out the problems quicker.

Edited May 24, 2009 by TracyR

[FO4UR]

MEP is a free online math. It might be a good place to start - it's not your typical math drill. Your oldest might really take to the logically challenging method.

 

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm

 

I am using Singapore and Miquon (and Rightstart math games for drill) with my 6yo - LOVE IT!:001_smile:

 

For a short season of "de-schooling," something like Rightstart Math Games might keep the basic facts fresh while having fun.

 

http://www.activitiesforlearning.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=12

[Testimony]

However, my opinion on choosing math curricula is always find out what kind of learner your child is before choose a math program. The way a child takes in the information should determine your math program. Books like The Way They Learn by Cynthia Tobias and Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell are two great books that help you to figure out what kind of a learner your child is. That's my opinion when it comes to math. I really think it helps.

 

On the other hand, you could use Singapore Math with the Challenging Word Problems and Intensive Practice.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony