care to list your favorite math curricula for elementary-level math-accelerated kids?

[wapiti]

Or maybe I should just post a poll.... :D Mostly I'm just curious and want to make sure I haven't overlooked anything. You may vote for multiple choices. I forgot LOF and MUS.
 

Edited February 6, 2015 by wapiti

[Runningmom80]

:lurk5:

[JenneinCA]

I don't know if such a curriculum exists. You want "open and go" and "not teacher intense" and still advanced. The best programs require not only a teacher, but a teacher who really gets the material and can adapt it to the student on the fly. I don't think what you want is possible.

 

Now, as to reality. Have you considered the "Keys to" series of math books? They are the only thing I can think of that might work in your situation.

[farmwife]

CLE fits the bill

[LittleIzumi]

I don't feel like SM is too teacher intensive. Maybe that is because everything I use is teacher intensive and in comparison it's not that bad. I never have to prepare ahead. I just open it up and we do it. The part where I explain stuff takes minutes. And I don't understand that because I didn't think I was a math whiz. LOL

:iagree:

[LittleIzumi]

Maybe we are closet math wizards. :tongue_smilie:

 

A very deep closet.

[LittleIzumi]

Yes, very deep. Like the wardrobe leading to Narnia.

 

Singapore is like my flashlight!

 

Okay, I think I've run out of weird analogies :lol:

[butterflymommy]

IMO Singapore is phenomenal and the best program out there for gifted students. Unfortunately my kids aren't accelerated in math (sigh) but I still try to sneak in as much Singapore material as possible.

[Satori]

We've used a bunch of programs, and while there are some out there I liked, the one that has completely clicked with us has been Singapore Primary Math. Math is finally interesting and fun for my daughter. I love that it has her thinking deeper about math (we use it all - IP, CWP). It's also easy to accelerate if the lessons are mastered quickly.

 

RightStart is great but since the lessons were long and teacher-intensive, it would be hard to accelerate the lessons for a gifted mathy child. I felt like there was some sort of block there that prevented us from taking that next step. Math Mammoth doesn't bring out the math love for us. But Singapore? As a teacher, it's now my favorite subject to teach! For my dd6, it's really pulled out something in her I never knew she had. She's taken an interest in math (as She says math is the most challenging subject for her, but now it's currently also her favorite subject.

 

We also just started EPGY Math, but so far it's been too easy. I have to find the right spot for it to challenge her more.

[wapiti]

I don't feel like SM is too teacher intensive. Maybe that is because everything I use is teacher intensive and in comparison it's not that bad. I never have to prepare ahead. I just open it up and we do it. The part where I explain stuff takes minutes. And I don't understand that because I didn't think I was a math whiz. LOL

:iagree:

Ok, thank you for your thoughts, Closet Math Wizards :). I personally would be fine with that if I were doing the teaching, and I might expect to use SM if I had him home. But what if you had to hand it to a teacher to use to teach your child? I have every bit of confidence in the teacher (not sure about the assistant teacher), but time is an issue. For, say, SM 5, how often/how much would she need to look in the TM/HIG? Would you say that looking at the textbook/workbook would be enough for the teacher to answer questions about a lesson, in just a few minutes (like 5 minutes, not 25 minutes), most of the time? :bigear:

 

If it helps to understand the situation, ds has slow processing speed, which sometimes slows him down when he's calculating on paper, so it's fortunate that he does not seem to need many practice problems. However, in spite of the slowness, oddly he "gets" math very quickly.

 

Ultimately I might have to buy the books and see, and then see what the teacher thinks (she already loves MM, as we used it the last few months of the school year - relatively independent and conceptual = very Montessori. But, a bit too incremental for ds). She would have to agree to the plan, of course. But if there's no hope of this idea realistically working, I don't want to waste the money - I'll just fiddle with MM or figure out a way to regularly keep tabs on ds8's status, or some other team effort with the teacher.

Edited June 15, 2011 by wapiti

[Satori]

Oh, and Singapore Math has been pleasantly open-and-go for me (which I didn't expect). I don't have any problem teaching it everyday. All I need are the books, a whiteboard, and a little plastic case with our base-10 stuff. I use the HIG and glance at the lesson in a matter of seconds, and then am off to present the lesson!

[jenbrdsly]

We've been pretty happy with Right Start Level C for my six year old. I especially like the big box of math manipulatives. Here's my whole review: http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/06/14/review-right-start-level-c/

[wapiti]

I don't know if such a curriculum exists. You want "open and go" and "not teacher intense" and still advanced. The best programs require not only a teacher, but a teacher who really gets the material and can adapt it to the student on the fly. I don't think what you want is possible.

 

Now, as to reality. Have you considered the "Keys to" series of math books? They are the only thing I can think of that might work in your situation.

 

Thanks for your comments. This is sort of what I'm afraid of, that hs-ing is the only real answer (I love his current classroom and don't want to hs him just yet).

 

As for the Key to books, they'd probably be what he'd end up with at school if I hadn't stepped in with my special requests :D (my dd used the Key to books in her grade 4-6 classroom). I think he needs a full curriculum though.

 

Oh, and Singapore Math has been pleasantly open-and-go for me (which I didn't expect). I don't have any problem teaching it everyday. All I need are the books, a whiteboard, and a little plastic case with our base-10 stuff. I use the HIG and glance at the lesson in a matter of seconds, and then am off to present the lesson!

 

I appreciate your thoughts - I wonder what the time/effort commitment is like at the 5A/B level.

 

As for EPGY, ds did some of that last year. The most difficult thing about the younger levels were the simultaneous equations - we never figured out whether the program gave an actual lesson on how to do them. So Dh and I each taught the kids our own, different ways LOL. It was a fun supplement for a while (all four kids I had using it were also in school at the time), but when they finally got to new material, it seemed harder to learn from the lesson on the computer than it would be from a book curriculum. And like you're finding, there's a lot to wade through that's too easy. The kids liked it though - any excuse to be on the computer. Some days I think I should sign them all up again, but not as a main curriculum - just not the right fit.

Edited June 15, 2011 by wapiti

[Tracy]

We use CSMP, which I find fairly advanced. It is mostly open-and-go, though there are days that I open it up and find that I need something I don't have. But it is written to be taught. It cannot be done by the student indpendently.

[EKS]

I voted for Singapore and RightStart and then I read your post!

 

If you need to have a teacher deal with this I would vote for EPGY, though you did say nothing computerized. In our school district where there is no gifted program though at least 10% (if not more) of the student body could use extreme differentiation, the answer is EPGY.

[Staceyshoe]

Whether SM is teacher-intensive, I think really depends on the child. I think some can do it fairly independently while others need a lot of direction. But I certainly would not automatically write off SM as being a teacher-intensive program.

[wapiti]

We use CSMP, which I find fairly advanced. It is mostly open-and-go, though there are days that I open it up and find that I need something I don't have. But it is written to be taught. It cannot be done by the student indpendently.

 

I'm not familiar with that one, and this is exactly why I posted the poll - more choice is better :D. Do you happen to have a link to where it is sold/samples, etc.?

 

I voted for Singapore and RightStart and then I read your post!

 

If you need to have a teacher deal with this I would vote for EPGY, though you did say nothing computerized. In our school district where there is no gifted program though at least 10% (if not more) of the student body could use extreme differentiation, the answer is EPGY.

 

Thank you - you were supposed to vote how you did! I wondered what the most popular programs were.

 

I didn't care for EPGY as a stand-alone curriculum, though I had my moments. I loved not having to be the main force moving forward, particularly for a couple of my kids (they were using it after school). I could be sucked back in one day, who knows :). I'm fascinated that your district uses it. For a while, I thought it was The Answer to the differentiation problem, and maybe it will be one day. If I loved it more, I might be able to make it happen in the classroom, but there would certainly be hurdles.

 

Whether SM is teacher-intensive, I think really depends on the child. I think some can do it fairly independently while others need a lot of direction. But I certainly would not automatically write off SM as being a teacher-intensive program.

 

This makes sense. Good food for thought.

[Dinsfamily]

Oh, and Singapore Math has been pleasantly open-and-go for me (which I didn't expect). I don't have any problem teaching it everyday. All I need are the books, a whiteboard, and a little plastic case with our base-10 stuff. I use the HIG and glance at the lesson in a matter of seconds, and then am off to present the lesson!

 

:iagree: Same experience here.

 

ETA: We're in 3B. I think that if you have a student who 'gets' the concepts easily, it isn't very teacher intensive. The only concept that has required more out me of thus far was introducing long division. I didn't need to study the HIG any more than normal, just needed to work with mainpulatives and pictures more until he could see what was going on. Now that he's got it, the lessons have gone back to normal. Unfortunately, I don't know if 5A/B will be any different yet.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Dinsfamily

[Guest momk2000]

Teaching Textbooks

[mycalling]

My favorites for my gifted mathy kids are Singapore and Teaching Textbooks (used 1-3yrs ahead and skipping every other one). The best supplements that have advanced their skills the most have been the workbook Math Logic & Word Problems (3rd/4th grade) and Hands-on Equations with the word problems workbook (2nd-5th).

[wapiti]

My favorites for my gifted mathy kids are Singapore and Teaching Textbooks (used 1-3yrs ahead and skipping every other one). The best supplements that have advanced their skills the most have been the workbook Math Logic & Word Problems (3rd/4th grade) and Hands-on Equations with the word problems workbook (2nd-5th).

 

Thanks. Can you comment more on your Singapore and TT combo? Where do you cover a topic first, in TT or in Singapore? That's not a combination that would have occurred to me.

 

Now that I think about it, I wonder whether there is any value, for some whole-to-parts, big-picture thinkers, to have some automacity in procedures before learning the concepts. This idea strikes me as counterintuitive and heretical, LOL, but it wouldn't be the first time my mind wandered down such a controversial road :tongue_smilie:. General thoughts or contemplations, anyone?

[Charles Wallace]

Or maybe I should just post a poll....:D Mostly I'm just curious and want to make sure I haven't overlooked anything. You may vote for multiple choices. I forgot LOF and MUS.

 

***

It would be really helpful if you post to indicate such a program if it also happens to be open-and-go, and not teacher-intensive. I have a situation involving ds8 (rising 3rd grader) at school - his Montessori teacher will be using MM 5 with him, at my suggestion. While I'm very happy with it, I'm finding during the summer that it might be too incremental for him. That's easy for me to adjust for at home - I have no problem doing so on the fly mid-lesson - but not so much at school (teacher has 28 other students). We need the program to be totally open-and-go, where he can flip to the page himself and ask a few questions as necessary to help him get started. Nothing computerized.

 

My gut feeling is that if I were hs-ing him, as I may for 4th gr, I'll probably continue with MM 6 at that time because it's easy for me to make adjustments at home. SM would be the other one that comes to mind, but I don't think that would work for this school situation. (I think the current school situation is very good for my late-blooming still-in-speech-therapy ds, otherwise I'd already be hs-ing him. His teacher has been super flexible. I'm not sure how to balance this goofy math set-up with everything else - if you think I'm nuts and should have him home immediately because he ought to have more attention, I'm not afraid to hear it, though it's not on the table at the moment. Math is a very high priority for our family; it's just a matter of finding the right balance with everything else.)

 

We were very, very happy with Miquon as a foundation because the manipulatives (especially) were a must-have for us. They helped concretize number and relationships of numbers, so that a "1" was very obviously different from a "10," for instance. We then went to Singapore and are now on Life of Fred, which we love.

[Diviya]

I think Singapore could work for you. Here is how I would do it. I'd just do the textbook and workbook. If you want to do the other books, do them at home - those are more teacher intensive. Have him work through just the workbook at school. If he gets to an exercise he doesn't know how to do, the teacher can use the textbook to introduce/explain it to him, and he can work through the textbook orally with him. This is what I did with my daughter last year while she was still in school (2nd grade), except I did it myself, and it worked great. I used the teachers manual exactly once to check a solution for one of the problems in 5A. She did 2A-6B in about a year. The other piece of this puzzle is that she has been doing Kumon math since she was 5. This has cemented her math facts. So what you were speculating about above has really worked for us. My personal opinion is that once you have your math facts, most of Primary math is simple. Most of the time, by the time she hit something in SM, she had already encountered it in Kumon, and so she was able to sail through. Of course, there are many ways to work on the math facts/automaticity; Kumon is just the easiest, most reliable way for me to get it done. It's likely there will be some word problems he can't do with the teacher. I'd recommend skipping those particular problems at school and having him work on them with you at home. The hard times will start for you after he finishes 6B and you have to find what to do next. :D

It's wonderful your teacher is willing to work with him and do a real curriculum.

Hope that helps - let me know if you have any questions.

Oh, I didn't vote, but obviously, I love Singapore!! I think I own almost every math book they sell!

[wapiti]

Diviya and Wendy, those are extremely helpful ideas.

 

I think what I will do is order the 4B text and workbook to start with (I'm not ready to choose the word problem book yet, and I do have all of MM right here, so I could always use something from there). Looking at the end of 4B exam, there are some things he needs to learn before he'll be ready for that (not to mention that if I actually gave him the 11-page standards placement test, it might take him several days LOL). Then my goal will be to fill in holes in 4B over the summer. School starts 8 weeks from tomorrow. It isn't a big deal if he still has a few ends to wrap up from that level at the beginning of the school year, but the summer working with SM might give me a better feel for whether this would work with his teacher in the fall.

 

Does anyone know how long it usually takes to get books ordered from the SM website? I should plan ahead, so that I have them in time, though I want to wait on ordering 5A until I see how it goes with 4B (and I'll have to order 4B asap). I always have MM to fall back on and plenty to keep us busy, but the S&S is just a bit different around the 4B/5A area.

 

And another day I'll figure out what to do with his twin brother's math (just as capable, but with more perfectionism issues/reluctance to try challenging tasks) - I'm not sure his teacher will be quite as accommodating, but I won't know till I ask. If all is going well with the first one, I can use that example and ask to do the same. I'm working with him over the summer too. *sigh* maybe I need two workbooks...

 

I appreciate everyone's advice - thanks! And thanks for voting in the poll - gotta love math polls :D

[Tracy]

I'm not familiar with that one, and this is exactly why I posted the poll - more choice is better :D. Do you happen to have a link to where it is sold/samples, etc.?

 

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

I is free online. I love that my 6yo can learn things like fractions and negative numbers with lessons designed for kids her age. When we did worksheets, she always said she hated math, but since I started using CSMP, she often asks to do more.

[Beth in SW WA]

My favorites for my gifted mathy kids are Singapore and Teaching Textbooks (used 1-3yrs ahead and skipping every other one).

 

This has been an effective combo for us as well. Dd8 (not 'gifted') is doing Singapore 4A w/ TT7 (and MM blue supplements on various topics).

 

Today we skipped much of a TT lesson due to review -- and we usually do odds or evens. But now that it is getting much more challenging for her I expect her to start doing all the problems.

 

She did TT3, 4 & 5 last year in second grade. I do not own 6 so we are doing 7. We may still be in 7 by this time next year. Level 7 requires a lot of mental math which the early levels did not require.

 

I am drooling over HOE.

Edited June 18, 2011 by Beth in SW WA
clarify

[SnegurochkaL]

Singapore PM, Russian math and MEP are for my oldest child. Russian math, SM, MEP and Miquon is our choice of math for my 4.5 years old.

 

Whether SM is teacher-intensive, I think really depends on the child. I think some can do it fairly independently while others need a lot of direction. But I certainly would not automatically write off SM as being a teacher-intensive program.

 

I agree. My daughter was doing 3A/B mostly independently with some questions regarding long equation (mostly because of the difference in the recording). She usually tries to work on her own until she hits "an underwater stone" and starts "sending SOS signals" asking for some help.

Edited June 17, 2011 by SneguochkaL

[TKDmom]

Whether SM is teacher-intensive, I think really depends on the child. I think some can do it fairly independently while others need a lot of direction. But I certainly would not automatically write off SM as being a teacher-intensive program.

 

I know I'm late to this conversation, but I had to agree with this. My 7yo does SM almost independently. He's not particularly advanced (just finishing up 2A), but every morning he opens up the textbook, reads through the lesson and informs me that he understands it, does not want my help, then proceeds to do the workbook pages pretty much by himself. He gets really annoyed when I try to "teach" him, unless he's truly struggling. :tongue_smilie:

[lillysmom216]

My favorites for my gifted mathy kids are Singapore and Teaching Textbooks (used 1-3yrs ahead and skipping every other one). The best supplements that have advanced their skills the most have been the workbook Math Logic & Word Problems (3rd/4th grade) and Hands-on Equations with the word problems workbook (2nd-5th).

Can you please tell me the publisher of these supplemental workbooks? Thanks :001_smile:

[mycalling]

Can you please tell me the publisher of these supplemental workbooks? Thanks :001_smile:

Math Logic & Word Problems (Creative Teaching Press)

It looks like they're going to stop selling this one, but I really liked the way it presented a type of word problem/logic problem and step-by-step walked them through how to solve it, then gave two pages to practice it.

 

Hands-On Equations This worked amazingly well with my chess-loving sons and put my step-daughter ahead of most of her 7th grade math class when she transferred mid-year to ps.