Anyone doing two math programs? If so, which ones? How's it going?

[BethG]

Anyone doing two math programs for elementary? (Since I can't decide, I think I'm going to try two and see how it goes for my mathy kid)....

If you do this, which ones? How's it going? Why are you doing both?

How much time does it take you?

[Farrar]

We do MM as our main program, but when it gets boring or there's some unexpected hurdle, we take a break and do some with Miquon. And we've been doing the Singapore CWP's, which have made a nice supplement. Plus we read lots of living books for math.

 

If we tried to do everything in all three of those - or even just two, then that would be a mistake, but it's nice to have different things going on for math.

[TC5]

We're going to try when we start our new school year next month, so I'm interested in how others are doing it and whether I'm planning way too much.

[ByGrace3]

We are currently using MM and Right Start games, but we are thinking about adding Miquon in once or twice a week...

[FairProspects]

We do MM as our main program, but when it gets boring or there's some unexpected hurdle, we take a break and do some with Miquon. And we've been doing the Singapore CWP's, which have made a nice supplement. Plus we read lots of living books for math.

 

If we tried to do everything in all three of those - or even just two, then that would be a mistake, but it's nice to have different things going on for math.

 

This is pretty much what we do too, except that we use the Marilyn Burns books or some other living math (like pumpkin math the last couple of weeks) instead of Miquon.

[Momma2Many66]

My first grader does Math Mammoth and Math U See Alpha along with Life of Fred Elementary on Fridays. We do an every other day thing on the Math Mammoth and Math U See. We also throw in some Math-tacular DVDs to help understand the concepts better when we come across something new.

 

My two 4th graders do Math Mammoth, Saxon 5/4 Math and Math U See Gamma. We do Saxon 4 days a week and Math Mammoth and Math U See Gamma on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We also throw in some Math-tacular DVDs when we come across new concepts for better understanding.

 

My 7th grader does Saxon Math and Math Mammoth in the same sequence as my 4th graders and he adds in Life of Fred on weekends.

 

My children (4th and 7th graders) also do 100 problem math charts each day for math facts mastering (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). They are really good at these and can complete the 4 different charts of 100 problems each in less than 3 minutes for each chart. That adds in only an extra 12 minutes a day or so of time, but has enhanced their math fact skills greatly.

 

It is going well, they don't get confused by the different programs and they are learning various math concepts thoroughly before moving on. We take our time and make sure they really have it down before moving on to the next chapter in each program. We school all year round here, so we have a lot of time to finish each program in the school year before moving onto the next grade level.

Edited October 15, 2011 by Momma2Many66

[songsparrow]

One day a week we work out of Mathematics: A Human Endeavor by Harld Jacobs. It was originally written for non-math college and hs majors, to give an overview of math concepts and mathematical thinking, but without requiring any math skills at algebra or above. So I think it's perfect for "mathy" kids starting in about 5th grade. Taking it this slowly, we'll work through it in 3 years; my hope is that we'll finish it up before we begin algebra. my daughter loves it and wishes we could do it every day. But it is not consistent with any typical elementary or middle grade scope and sequence.

 

Three other days we do Singapore Math. This covers the typical fifth grade scope and sequence. Two days we do lessons out of the textbook, and on the third day we work out of the Intensive Practice or Challenging Word Problems books.

[boscopup]

I use Math Mammoth as my spine, and add Singapore IP and CWP to it. I can't imagine my son doing 2 full math programs. I think he'd quickly get bored of the repetition. But adding a little bit of one to the other is fine. We don't do all of MM and we don't do all of IP/CWP, but we do what my son needs in both in order to get the concepts firmly into his head. ;)

[KristenR]

I started with Miquon and will be adding Singapore in next week. I am eagerly awaiting my order to come in from Rainbow Resource. :)

 

I posted a few math posts on my blog and have kind of been tracking our progress. We started with Saxon because I got a ridiculously great deal on the Saxon1 box set. It just never panned out for us. The switch to Miquon has been miraculous- to say the least.

[TC5]

My first grader does Math Mammoth and Math U See Alpha along with Life of Fred Elementary on Fridays. We do an every other day thing on the Math Mammoth and Math U See. We also throw in some Math-tacular DVDs to help understand the concepts better when we come across something new.

 

My two 4th graders do Math Mammoth, Saxon 5/4 Math and Math U See Gamma. We do Saxon 4 days a week and Math Mammoth and Math U See Gamma on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We also throw in some Math-tacular DVDs when we come across new concepts for better understanding.

 

My 7th grader does Saxon Math and Math Mammoth in the same sequence as my 4th graders and he adds in Life of Fred on weekends.

 

My children (4th and 7th graders) also do 100 problem math charts each day for math facts mastering (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). They are really good at these and can complete the 4 different charts of 100 problems each in less than 3 minutes for each chart. That adds in only an extra 12 minutes a day or so of time, but has enhanced their math fact skills greatly.

 

It is going well, they don't get confused by the different programs and they are learning various math concepts thoroughly before moving on. We take our time and make sure they really have it down before moving on to the next chapter in each program. We school all year round here, so we have a lot of time to finish each program in the school year before moving onto the next grade level.

 

I'm glad to hear this is possible, as I want my 6th, 3rd, and 1st graders to do MUS, MM, and LoF, CWP, and a few other smaller supplements. We're doing only 5 days of math each week, though, so we may not be able to do it all, in which case we'll do less of MM. We do school year-round, as well, but it's been tough to get all of our "school time" in the past couple of years because of unexpected, extended travel for my husband's job.

 

I like the reminder in your last paragraph to go for mastery, not to just get through a bunch of books. All too often, I have to remind myself of the purpose of these programs!

 

Can you tell me more about the 100-problem math charts? Are they filling in the multiplication table and similar? Did you make or buy them? Thanks for the idea!

[WVNA]

My first grader does Horizons Math and Singapore every day. My oldest does Saxon every day and we add in Singapore about twice a week.

[Roxy Roller]

My boys all do MUS and also do Horizons Math workbooks a year behind as a spiral review. I like MUS for the mastery approach, and since Horizons is considered by some to be slightly above grade level, doing it a year behind works great as review. I do have to occasionally teach a new concept that appears in Horizons Math, and the kids haven't covered in MUS, but it works out well, because when they hit it in MUS, they have had some exposure to the concepts, even if it is brief.

[Moniksca]

My ds is using Singapore as his spine and MM to supplement anything that needs further practice. He uses SM 4 days a week and LOF fractions on Fridays. It is going well so far and it gives us quite a bit of variety.

[momofCM]

We did and still do. Ds has been enrolled in EPGY math for several years. Along side we used Singapore Math.

 

Dd enrolled in EPGY math 2 years ago. She is now finishing up Algebra 1 and so far we have used Liall as a textbook.

[Ali in OR]

We've always done Singapore (textbook, workbook, CWP) and supplement with Horizons (I choose the problems I want them to work on in the Horizons book--maybe 1/2-2/3 of each lesson). My older dd will also do a LoF unit after completing a Singapore unit--she appreciates the break. She did Fractions last year and is doing Decimals this year. We can fit this all in just fine schooling mid-August to Memorial Day.

[Chelli]

My 2nd grader is doing Math in Focus (Singapore) as her main program and Horizons math workbooks as her second program. We supplement with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems a year behind and Intensive Practice a semester behind.

 

I usually break the Math in Focus lessons into an instruction day and a workbook day. I might move faster or slower depending on her understanding of the material. On days when it's just an instruction lesson in Math in Focus, then she will do all of the problems on the Horizons worksheet. If it is a day when she does the workbook problems from Math in Focus, then I pick and choose about 1/2 the problems for her to do on her Horizons worksheet.

 

Every day she does about two problems out of Challenging Word Problems and about 2 pages in Intensive Practice.

 

I like the Math in Focus because it helps with the mental math and the math understanding, but the Horizons is great because it is spiral so dd can keep revisiting things that have already been finished with Math in Focus.

 

It only takes about 45 minutes to 60 minutes to do a day's math work, including dd doing all the worksheets by herself and the teaching instruction.

[Trish]

5th grade, we are doing Singapore and Thinkwell (online) daily, plus Life of Fred fractions once a week. Singapore and Thinkwell each take 15-20 minutes.

 

7th grade we are doing Horizons pre-algebra, and Thinkwell 8th grade (since I'm using it as a pre-alegebra). I have him do Life of Fred (Pre-Algebra with Economics) once a week on Fridays. That's sort of a "reward" since he LOVES Fred.

 

With Thinkwell I like the idea of having a "math teacher" in addtion to myself. But, Thinkwell is all online with no book. So the other program fulfills my need for a book, and i do the teaching/guiding for that portion. Overall it doesn't take them more than 40-45 minutes a day. If it went over an hour I probably would NOT do two programs.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Trish

[Walking-Iris]

We do Miquon and Kumon for the extra practice. I incorporate fun games from Family Math or Scholastic books. I have Living Math but rarely get to it---we do keep up with the reading list though and I really like the Baltimore lesson plans. I'm toying with the idea of adding MEP.

 

Next year we will likely start Saxon and Key Tos...as well as the Miquon and Kumon.

[Mandy in TN]

Second ds used Singapore and Saxon in middle school and it went fine.

 

Third ds used Kumon and Singapore 1 and 2. Then, he used Kumon and Saxon and a lot of other stuff. It went fine through Saxon 54, 65 and half of 75. After that his Kumon and other work jumped him ahead of Saxon and so we dropped it. He is now using Foerster's Alg, Kumon math and Jacob's Mathematics: A Human Endeavor on the side. It is going fine. Jacob's is going to take forever, because he is only doing it 30 minutes each week with a tutor. OTOH- he is having a good time with the tutor!

 

HTH-

Mandy

[JenC3]

Dd does one worksheet from MM3a first thing in the morning then we read LoF as a group and do some fun math game. After she has finished with all the other subjects She does a lesson from TT4. We also read other living math books as well.

 

Ds and I do a lesson from the Miquon orange and then one from RSA. He also does a few worksheets from Singapore Essentials. He also loves LOF!

 

It sounds like a lot, but it's spaced out and very laid back. We focus on the 3 R's and use science and history as extracurriculars (such as the TV they watch constists of science and history dvds). Our RA's are all in those subjects as well.

[Rosie]

We so Singapore and Miquon. It varies from month to month (and year to year!) on how/when we actually use them, though. Sometimes we only do one for several months and then, when we hit a mental wall, go to the other program for a while. Sometimes I let them choose which they want to do each day. Sometimes I plan it out for them to do each program every other day. Right now I've been giving them a weekly schedule and I have Miquon on 3 days each week, Singapore once, and one day is mental math and a math/strategy/logic game. I'm doing this because they seem to fly through Singapore but Miquon makes them really think more and so it takes longer.

 

I like Singapore because it very clearly teaches them mental math. I never learned that in school and always counted on my fingers and tried to "add on paper" in my head when I had to do mental math. I'm learning along with my kids. My oldest is quicker than me at mental addition and subtraction. The other reason I like Singapore is because of the word problems using the bar method. It makes it so clear how to solve the challenging problems when you can see it on paper. And it also makes their brains work hard, which is the greatest benefit in my opinion.

 

I LOVE Miquon because it builds NUMBER SENSE, a mental map of how numbers relate to one another, in my children. I love it mostly because it challenges them, and they need to be challenged. Academics come easily to my kids and I wanted something that would keep them challenged right at their level. Miquon is so out of the box that it really forces them to use their brains more than a traditional curriculum (where you learn what to do and then do that for 20 problems) would do. If I could only choose one of our curricula, I would choose Miquon... and then switch to Singapore after that.

 

We do both programs fully. I do feel free to skip the practice problems in the Singapore textbooks if they clearly understand, but they do the entire workbook and my oldest is doing the CWP 2 book (just the challenging problems) in order to learn the bar method for next year when she won't be able to do them in her head.

 

We don't spend an inordinate amount of time doing math. I would say my almost 8 yo does about 30-40 minutes per day and my 6 yo does maybe 20 minutes. I started both my girls in Singapore 1A and Miquon Orange at around 5 years old. We just did math when they wanted to and didn't do it when they didn't want to. No pressure. I'd ask and if they said no then we'd do something else. Last year I had my oldest (at 7) do something in math every school day. I usually let her choose which curriculum she wanted to do. This year I'm having her do one problem from the CWP book every day and I schedule Miquon and Singapore for her each week (where she does only one each day). My 6 year old now has to do something from one math curriculum each day (except Wednesday when we do a game instead).

 

My oldest is pretty much right on target for grade level doing it this way and my middle (who is more math minded, makes connections without me explicitly showing her is 1-2 grade levels ahead. If they got behind I would probably drop Singapore for a while.

 

I'm SO glad I found these two curricula! They each have made such a difference in how my girls "see" numbers.

[veggiegal]

We use MUS and the Mathematical Reasoning series from CTC as our main spines, and it works great. I've written elsewhere on this board about how I think these work very well together; they complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. We also do LOF, other CTC math materials (Math Analogies, Balance Math, Balance Benders), the occasional MM topic (I bought the blue 'by topic' series) as needed, and word problems from the Math Olympiad book (which you can find on the AoPS site). Our schedule looks like this:

 

Mon-Wed: Math reasoning, LOF

Tues-Thurs: MUS

Fri: Math Olympiad word problems

Any day as a fun "warm-up activity": the rest of the CTC math materials.

 

MM got used last summer (when we take a break from MUS--we school year round). And of course we play lots of games, use apps, read living math books, etc. We use these after MUS on Tues/Thurs in the part of our day I call "math fun".

 

Yeah, we're kind of math obsessed here, but this is working really well for both boys. Both love math, both are working above grade level (even if older still forgets basic math facts at times); older took a standardized test last year and did very well. Though I know some people believe in using one and only one math program, that doesn't work for our family. Both dh and I want our boys exposed to lots of different approaches and ways of thinking about math, and think this 'mental flexibility' will hols them in good stead down the road. But both dh and I are math geeks who have no fear of our kids getting confused by different approaches and not being able to sort it out. Different strokes for different folks.

[abbeyej]

I have chosen to use multiple math programs with both of my kids -- the math-apt one and the math-phobic one. :)

 

For my oldest, who has lots of natural aptitude and curiosity when it comes to math, we did Horizons 1-6 as his main elementary program. We supplemented largely with Singapore. I think Horizons and Singapore are very complementary -- Horizons offers a great breadth of topics and constant rotating review, and Singapore offers fewer topics but more depth and really fabulous word problems and "thinking" problems. We also did a mix of other things as various supplements over the years... Number Devil, Zaccaro's Challenge Math, Math Olympiad (the practice problems books are great), some Key To books as ds made the transition to algebra...

 

After finishing Horizons 6 (and doing some of the Key To Algebra booklets), ds went straight into Docliani's Algebra: Structure and Method book 1. He was very well-prepared and did great. He's since done Honors Geometry (Jacobs) and is currently making an A in an Honors Algebra II class.

 

My daughter, on the other hand, struggles with math a lot. Strangely enough, I've found Horizons is still a great spine for her. She doesn't fly through it like ds did, and I never cut out excess problems for her (though she does two lessons a day), but it has the constant review and practice she needs. Singapore would not work well for her. I truly think that one of these days, she'll realize that math is a puzzle to be worked out, but in the meantime, Singapore would be torture (and not really get her anywhere). In addition to Horizons each day, she does Teaching Textbooks (a year above her Horizons level and she still calls it "baby math" -- but she *likes* it and it has helped build her confidence in her ability to do math), and Life of Fred (she *likes* it, and I'll take anything that gives her extra practice), and Timez Attack every day. (It takes her *so* much longer to make progress with it than seems reasonable -- but the game gives her practice, practice, practice and never gets irritable or frustrated with her need to repeat things.) Dd has made tremendous strides this year and I have high hopes that eventually she'll experience the same math successes her brother has had.

[zenjenn]

DD#1, age 9: I hesitate to say "non mathy" because I really think what we're seeing now is just dyslexia/dyscalculia related obstacles. She is using TT4 (3rd grade) to keep her moving through a curriculum with new concepts, but we are spending a lot of extra time on fact mastery (Xtra Math, Math Rider) and working with Cuisenaire rods, basic operations worksheets (to solve with rods), and spacial awareness games (Tower of Hanoi, Othello, etc). I really like that the simplicity and ease of TT allows her to move through these concepts (and she does not have trouble grasping new math concepts or procedures - she has trouble *calculating*) with a curriculum that leaves extra time and attention to spend on what she needs.

 

DD#2, age 6: VERY mathy child. She uses TT3 (1st grade) only because we already owned it and she wants to use this fun program like her big sister. She also uses Math Rider even though she doesn't need it, she likes it and it is helping her improve recall speed. We also use Math Mammoth 2 with her, and then move ahead with no particular curriculum. We're now up to about 3 hrs a week just moving ahead with long with more advanced concepts because it is entertaining/interesting to her, but TT/MM is still solidifying the basics and making sure things like analog clock reading and reading pictographs are covered. While TT is not considered a curriculum for an advanced math student, I find it great to cover these basic topics with her - she sees them once and really doesn't need a lot of repetition and reinforcement to remember those things anyways. MM helps establish mastery of topics she already knows, and the cutting edge of her learning is just parent-guided right now. I'm sure math with her will be a constantly evolving process so I hesitate to invest in expensive math curricula with her when she may just move past it.

 

REALLY thinking of getting Life of Fred for both these girls soon - as a supplement. My 1st DD enjoys math highly in-context and my 2nd would like the thought experiments, I think.

Edited October 16, 2011 by zenjenn

[MeganW]

Our goal is to do 3 programs:

2 lessons per week in RightStart A ("Math")

2 lessons per week in Miquon ("Math Lab")

2 lessons per week in MEP Reception ("Puzzles")

 

My kids don't realize we are doubling up in one subject as I refer to each by the name in the parenthesis. On my time chart RS-A and Miquon share a space (so ideally one should get done MonTh, and the other WedFri), and MEP shares a space with Lollipop Logic.

 

In reality, we never manage to get all 6 done each week. Usually about 3 to 4 a week. I often wonder if I'd better off just focusing on one and getting through it, then focusing on another, instead of all this switching.

[Five More Minutes]

I use Singapore (with the workbook, IP, and CWP) along with Miquon for my DD6. We typically spend 4 days on Singapore and 1 day on Miquon each week.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I am but not the same 2 for any 2 kids :lol:

 

 

Dd8th (NOT a mathy kid AT ALL) is doing Lials BCM and Patty Paper Geometry. She is also starting the Pre-algebra Module (A) in VideoText. It does not take lot of extra time. She does BCM M, T, W, Th and that takes between 30-45 mins. She does Patty Paper Geometry and a small section of VideoText A Fridays and this takes between an hour and 45 mins.

 

Dd4th does Horizons 5 days a week about 30mins a day, Calculadders 5x a week 3-4 mins a day depending on the drill she is on and she does Key To series. She does 1 key to booklet on each week off. That takes her about 30-40 mins a day M-F on our week off. That is done once every 3-4 weeks.

 

Ds1st does Horizons and Singapore 5 days a week. He spends a total of about 30-45 mins a day (his choice, he loves math) between the 2 books. Right now we just do a good amount out of each a day- sometimes 2 pages each sometimes 4 pages each. Sometimes one more than the other just depends on the day. He is also just beginning calculadders. Not timed at this point though. This takes him an additional 5 mins a day or so though.

 

Right now ds K just does Horizons but I am going to get him Kitchen Table math. He is a very naturally mathy kid (NEVER would have thought that before this year-- he seems to be a natural at everything so far :D) So I am not sure how long that will take a day but right now he does between 20-30 mins a day. He would do more if I could fit it in.

[Violet Crown]

We've always used dual curricula for math, in part because we teach math and arithmetic as separate subjects.

 

Middle girl uses AoPS for math, and Standard Service Arithmetics for arithmetic.

 

Wee girl plays with Miquon and Kitchen Table Math.

 

Great girl is no longer under our mathematical control and studies from whatever texts she's assigned.

[Osaubi]

My dd does MM and RS. She just told me on Friday that she would rather go with RS only for now. I think the worksheets in MM are not very exciting right now since she is doing a review. She doesn't like review or to tell me how she got the answer so I think RS is the way to go for now. We spend 20min at most on math per day.

 

 

My ds does TT (for review and fun), Daily Practice by Evan-Moor, and RS. I am looking for something else to add. I think I may have found it this afternoon. It is Famous Problems and Their Mathmeticians. My ds learns concepts better in story format and he loves history. My ds spends about an hour on math. Half of that though is playing RS games so it doesn't seem that long to him.

[momto3innc]

We do Horizons and Singapore here. It has been a great fit. As someone mentioned earlier, Singapore provides a greater depth in fewer areas at a time and I use their HIG as my spine/teacher guide (while I have Horizons TG, I rarely use it). We use their textbook, workbook, and CWP as well as doing all of the mental math. My son enjoys Singapore more and it challenges him more.

However, he really needs the spiral review of Horizons so we do 1 lesson of Horizons daily. This almost always falls behind what we're learning in Singapore so it is a good review and he can do Horizons fairly independently (he works on this while I do math with the younger two) then we do Singapore together.

For us, this takes about 45 minutes a day.

[Momma2Many66]

 

I like the reminder in your last paragraph to go for mastery, not to just get through a bunch of books. All too often, I have to remind myself of the purpose of these programs!

 

Can you tell me more about the 100-problem math charts? Are they filling in the multiplication table and similar? Did you make or buy them? Thanks for the idea!

 

 

I took the 100 math problems out of our Saxon Math workbooks and laminated them. Each one of the "laminated charts" has 100 facts of the multiplication tables, division, addition (single digit) and subtraction (single digit). So they do 400 math fact problems in total daily. I did this to get them to be really fast at doing their math facts. We have a lot of fun with it, I do them with my children and we race each other, they love to "beat mom". LOL !! The top scorer for the week gets to pick a treat from our treasure chest (we have a wooden treasure chest full of goodies that the top scorer picks from on Friday afternoons). Since we don't eat many sweets in our house, this is a real treat for them.

 

We do the same type of thing with our SOTW history, Geography Facts, Science Periodic Table and Grammer Terms using our "eggspert" buzzers.

Click here: Amazon.com: Educational Insights Eggspert: Toys & Games . My kids love the "beat the clock" or "beat mom" type games and it really motivates them to get down and really study all their facts and really push themselves to learn. I try to find a lot of fun ways to motivate my children with our homeschooling and to keep it interesting and appealing to them. Especially since we school year round and for 3 to 4 hours on Saturdays and Sundays, keeping schooling fun ( ala the books Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire & Lighting Their Fires by Rafe Esquith) helps to keep my children begging to learn more everyday.

 

I started doing these 100 problem math charts originally when my children did Saxon 2nd grade math and we got bogged down with too much Saxon Math in the early grades. I later revamped and we only use Saxon starting in 5/4 and up now. I found that I didn't care for the 1st through 3rd grade Saxon Math program, but I already owned all the books and workbooks ( I bought ahead thinking I'd use them all) and so I just pulled out the charts from the workbooks ( because we did enjoy the 100 math fact problem sheets), laminated them and my children use the thin expo dry erase markers to quickly fill them out.

 

They do these charts for 15 or so minutes every single day of the week year round, I change and rotate the charts to different problems weekly, so that they get a wide variety of different fact problems all the time. It has helped them get really fast and really "cement" the fact in their heads.

 

Whatever I have my children do, I do right along with them, so they know that I never ask them to do anything more then I am willing to do myself. For this reason, they push themselves harder and work faster to race along with me and we have tons of fun with learning by making a game of it all.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Momma2Many66

[SorrelZG]

I use Math Mammoth and Mathematical Power Learning for Children, supplementing with The Verbal Math Lesson (not a full curriculum) and Kitchen Table Math. When MM is kept to a minimum it all works just fine. I confess that I also occasionally switch things up by pulling out Miquon or Horizons K. DS likes them because they're easy and amazingly I'm not confused by all this variety and neither is he and, generally speaking, he usually only spends 15ish minutes on math per day.

[Mommy22alyns]

I'm using TT and CLE for Rebecca. She tested through about 2/3 of TT 3, so she'll finish that sometime soon and go to TT 4.

 

In all honesty I think I made a mistake adding TT on. CLE is teaching her very well and TT just doesn't seem to add anything at all. It was $$$, so we will finish it and I'll have Sylvia use 3 from the start next year (her 2nd grade).

[WIS0320]

We are using McRuffy Color Math and Singapore simultaneously. We do one McRuffy lesson per day and sometimes fly through a good bit of Singapore and sometimes we get bogged down and use some MM worksheets for review. I also occasionally use the C-Rods and Miquon Orange for review. Miquon was a lifesaver while we were trying to nail down Fact Families last week.

 

It sounds like a lot but we never use more than 2 programs in a day and I'm very selective about what I pull from MM and Miquon - they are only used for additional review if it is needed.

[edelweiss]

Both of my girls use CLE as their main math programs. We absolutely love CLE. After trying several math programs, we are finally happy. :001_smile:

 

However, I do add a few things. DD11 is doing the Key to Fractions series and DD8 is doing Mathematical Reasoning from CTC as "homework" after hours. We are also adding in Life of Fred Fractions for DD11 and Cats for DD8 (it is much too easy for her but she wanted to do Fred ;)) once a week or so. We also do Math Detective from CTC approximately once a week as well. Finally, I have them do word problems from Singapore's Challenging Word Problems periodically.

[The Governess]

We are using Saxon and Singapore. The combo is working well for us.

[Teresa in MO]

Monday thru Thursday my 2nd and 6th graders do one lesson in CLE and one page in MM. On Fridays they do two pages in MM and CWP.

[foxbridgeacademy]

DS does MM and LOF, DD does CLE and MM. It's going great for DS but we still haven't found the perfect fit for DD. Not sure that we ever will. I hate that we keep needing to switch her, so my plan is through it all we will keep with MM.

[ondreeuh]

My son is doing Saxon this year and is doing a review level (he covered everything in 54 last year, but forgot how to do so much over the summer that he failed the placement test). As much as he needs the constant review, I think the presentation is completely joyless. I am starting to do Life of Fred with him (Fractions now, then Decimals and Percents) but I haven't worked out a schedule for it. I printed out some free "Singapore style" word problems to do for fun, and I use some Math Mammoth for certain concepts since the Saxon is too easy.

 

Right now I am doing the "teaching" and practice problems in the afternoon during homework time, and he completes a timed drill and the practice set the following day during his math time at school. Then after school I correct it, tutor as needed, and teach the next lesson. That when I also add in any supplementary math, since it's been a few hours since his math time at school, it doesn't feel like too much. If I was 100% homeschooling, I would do it similarly - the main program in the morning, and any supplements in the afternoon after correcting the main lesson.

[Aloha2U]

I took the 100 math problems out of our Saxon Math workbooks and laminated them. Each one of the "laminated charts" has 100 facts of the multiplication tables, division, addition (single digit) and subtraction (single digit). So they do 400 math fact problems in total daily. I did this to get them to be really fast at doing their math facts. We have a lot of fun with it, I do them with my children and we race each other, they love to "beat mom". LOL !! The top scorer for the week gets to pick a treat from our treasure chest (we have a wooden treasure chest full of goodies that the top scorer picks from on Friday afternoons). Since we don't eat many sweets in our house, this is a real treat for them.

 

This sounds like a great idea!

 

I started doing these 100 problem math charts originally when my children did Saxon 2nd grade math and we got bogged down with too much Saxon Math in the early grades. I later revamped and we only use Saxon starting in 5/4 and up now. I found that I didn't care for the 1st through 3rd grade Saxon Math program, but I already owned all the books and workbooks ( I bought ahead thinking I'd use them all) and so I just pulled out the charts from the workbooks ( because we did enjoy the 100 math fact problem sheets), laminated them and my children use the thin expo dry erase markers to quickly fill them out.

 

They do these charts for 15 or so minutes every single day of the week year round, I change and rotate the charts to different problems weekly, so that they get a wide variety of different fact problems all the time. It has helped them get really fast and really "cement" the fact in their heads.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know where I can view samples of these Saxon charts that you speak of, or perhaps something similar? :bigear:

 

Whatever I have my children do, I do right along with them, so they know that I never ask them to do anything more then I am willing to do myself. For this reason, they push themselves harder and work faster to race along with me and we have tons of fun with learning by making a game of it all.

 

What a fun momma! :001_smile:

[MyLittleBears]

We absolutely love CLE. After trying several math programs, we are finally happy. :001_smile:

 

 

:iagree: CLE is great, and we also enjoy Miquon. These are gems!:D

[TC5]

Thank you Momma2Many66. That was very helpful.