Math for advanced KG'r - is there any point . . .

[SKL]

Is there any point in doing KG math curriculum if it is clearly below the child's level?

 

Are there any KG math concepts that would be missed or confused if child just started with 1st grade curriculum?

 

Thanks!

[lewelma]

No, there is no point. My best suggestion for you would be to do math word stories with your child throughout your day as you are walking to the park or in the car. They go like this:

 

"Once upon a time, there was a giant with 3 large castles in each castle he kept 3 cooks. How many cooks were there? Now each cook loved to bake and every day cooked 2 large chickens and 10 loaves of bread. How many chicken were cook for the giant? bread?.. ......"

 

You get the idea. Have fun and do it often.

 

Also, I would recommend, lots and lots of estimating. This is a very advanced skill. Do this in both measurement (How far to the car? How much does this weight?) and in general number (How many birds are on that roof? )

 

These 2 things will get your child very very far without using very silly Kindergarden curriculum.

 

Good luck,

 

ruth in NZ

[Deniseibase]

If you are concerned about missing something, you could borrow a K math curriculum from someone or your library, take a quick flip through it, and if you see anything that isn't covered in the first grade curriculum you plan to use, or anything that might be difficult for your child to grasp, give it a quick once over. I did that last year with the second half of Saxon K right before we skipped ahead to Saxon 1, and I think the only thing we ended up covering from the second half was left and right. There's not much beyond basic counting in a typical K curriculum that won't be covered again in 1st.

[genny]

I skipped K and went straight to 1. I had bought Singapore Earlybird and was really disappointed when it arrived and was too simple...

[boscopup]

K math usually involves learning to write numbers, counting to 100, patterns (AB, ABC, etc.), basic shapes, left/right, more/less, same/different, etc. Math Mammoth has a page on K math. If your child can do all of that (and I think many bright kids pick all of that up on their own during age 3-4), then 1st grade math it is. Just keep your child's age in mind if you run into any roadblocks. :)

 

http://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/kindergarten.php

[abbeyej]

No point.

[gracyomalley]

No point at all - pick a program and do a placement test for your child - if they are ready for seat work (and a lot can be done orally at this age, with limited practice writing numbers out - for instance when my Ker did MM1 (after saxon 1 and part of 2), he did about half of the writing himself...but worked every problem out. By MM 2 and 3 he could do all the writing fine (2nd grade).

 

Erin

[LittleIzumi]

No point. I can't believe we wasted that long on K math, lol. When we hit the 1st grade book & she STILL knew everything, I skipped the first one of those & started on the next book. No problems related to skipping the book at all. (We need more fact practice but that is just from flying so fast through the concepts, not from anything she "missed." I went through the whole workbook & she knew it all, and the placement test put her partway through the next book as well.

[Tracy]

No point. I would have been better off doing no math at all than trying to have my advanced K'er doing K math. I made her hate math. It took me way too long to figure out that I needed to bump her up a level. Luckily, it was fixable, and she loves math now, mostly.

[EKS]

I agree with the others--no point.

 

If you want something that's young kid friendly but really solid, RightStart B is awesome.

[nov05mama]

No point. I can't believe we wasted that long on K math, lol. When we hit the 1st grade book & she STILL knew everything, I skipped the first one of those & started on the next book. No problems related to skipping the book at all. (We need more fact practice but that is just from flying so fast through the concepts, not from anything she "missed." I went through the whole workbook & she knew it all, and the placement test put her partway through the next book as well.

 

:iagree: I should have followed my instinct with this same situation and just started him with Singapore 2A when we started back in July. I started 1B instead thinking there was something we might miss, considering he's not even 6 yet, but so far, it's all just been review. He doesn't seem to mind, but he gets very bored with it. We have just started 2A now and it seems to be right on level with where he's at.

[go_go_gadget]

My son never did K math; he started RightStart Math B at 5.5 and it was a perfect fit. My daughter started K when she turned four, and the slower pace and shorter list of topics in RightStart A was a better fit for her at that point. Everything covered in A is covered again in more detail in B, so there's no worry about missing anything if you start with B. The only reason to use A first is if you're starting with a very young student, or one who other reasons for needing a lighter introduction to math.

[chepyl]

We never did Kindergarten math. We kind of skipped first grade too. I bought a 1st-2nd grade math workbook from Walmart and we played in that for 3-4 months, then started going through it more systematically. We did 4-6 math problems a day in Kindergarten. They were addition of 2-3 digit numbers, addition or 3 or more numbers, and introductory multiplication concepts. He picked it up fast (I felt very comfortable teaching the math concepts without a TM or full program). We also played with some manipulatives. After that workbook he scored 97% on the 1A placement test, 90% on the 1B test and he could have tested out of 2A, we are speeding through that and will be getting to 2B before Christmas.