What math curriculum do you use for a gifted math student.

[budeb]

Hi there. I decided to start a new thread from my previous post. I am thinking of afterschooling my ds (grade 4) for math. Just wondering what curriculum you use for a gifted math student. Just a little bit everyday. He's not getting what he needs in school.

 

Many thanks.

[jennynd]

Singapore Math. I use SM for my 2nd grader who is also not getting enough in school.

[boscopup]

Singapore is an excellent choice, especially the CWP and IP.

[MissKNG]

Singapore is an excellent choice, especially the CWP and IP.

 

This is what we use!

[Jen500]

Singapore is an excellent choice, especially the CWP and IP.

 

:iagree:

[ILmommaof2]

hi.. long time lurker first time poster..

 

 

We use singapore as well for ds

[Iucounu]

Singapore Math (with Challenging Word Problems / Intensive Practice), and Ed Zaccaro Challenge Math, Life of Fred, and random logic work as enrichment.

[JenneinCA]

I am using Right Start with my youngest. I tried Singapore with my older kids and it didn't work for me. Singapore can be great but it needs to be a good fit for both the teacher and the student.

[Crimson Wife]

Ditto the above recommendations of Singapore, Life of Fred, and Zacarro.

 

MEP is free and has some interesting puzzle problems. However, I personally don't use it because it's not a good "fit" for my teaching style. I did most of 1A with my 2nd child but felt like while he was doing a lot of interesting math work, I couldn't really judge if he was actually making any progress.

[Iucounu]

 

Sunshine Math, developed by the Florida public school system, is another decent source of free math enrichment.

[nov05mama]

Singapore is an excellent choice, especially the CWP and IP.

 

:iagree: This is what we use as well!

[Teachin'Mine]

We used Saxon beginning with 6/5. No idea if their texts earlier than 5/4 are good or not. I think it's because of Saxon that my dd has done so well. Other programs are good too. If you can get to a homeschool conference, it really helps to be able to flip through the different texts to see what you think will work best.

[Kathleen.]

We use SM and the extras along with Miquon. The two fit nicely together.

[Spy Car]

Primary Mathematics (which is what people generally mean when they say "Singapore Math") with the Intensive Practice (IPs) and Challenging Word Problems (CWPs), plus the Ed Zaccaro books, plus "MEP" which is the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (digital files available without cost online).

 

Miquon for younger students (but you are past the target age).

 

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) for a slightly older child (unless he is very advanced). An elementary aged program from AoPS called Beast Academy is in the works but will likely be too late for you. Level 3 is due this summer (this is very advanced third-grade math, so it might still interest you).

 

Mathematics 6 (aka Russian math).

 

These are some of the best options.

 

Bill

[NittanyJen]

I have two gifted kids at two different learning stages.

 

When my older was coming out of public school in 4th grade, we started in him Life of Fred: Fractions, and he has thrived in that series. He doesn't need the "step by step" type of instruction that some kids seem to need, and despite the impressions you can get from the fun storyline, yes, the "how" and "why" of the math is very much presented in these books. They are superior for a kid who can get it without needing the steps spelled out for them in a callout box. Fred can also be a great supplement, which seems to be what you are looking for, because it doesn't take hours upon hours of work to complete (it isn't "drill and kill;" it's more "think and skill.") After Fractions (if he has mastered long division) you can move on to Decimals and Percents, then he'll be ready for Pre-Algebra with Biology. I love all the ancilliary knowledge my son is picking up with Fred; my son can remember how many feet in a mile, the value of pi (and how it was derived) and other neat facts-- and he has learned the value of reading footnotes!

 

My younger (3rd grade) son is using Singapore, and we love it, too. The mental math aspect is great; their explanations of why things work is very good, though sometimes I find myself expanding upon those a bit (unlike Fred, which is self-teaching, Singapore is meant to be taught by the parent to some extent). At 8 years old, kiddo is handling long division like a pro, and found fractions a snap. One thing to consider if you look at Singapore is: What are your goals/what kind of time commitment are you thinking of putting in here? Obviously, you are in control, and can just say that you will do xx minutes of math per evening/week rather than trying to complete a book before the school year is out, or not require all of the problems. But if your son's school assigns homework at the same rate my kids' former school did, you may need to adjust your expectations accordingly in terms of pacing (my kiddo had 45-60 minutes of homework a night-- in first grade). With the textbook, time for manipulatives, drawing stuff, the workbook, and the fun part for an advanced kid, the intensive practice book, a kid with lots of homework or sports after school is not necessarily going to proceed rapidly in Singapore.

 

Spycar undoubtedly knows more about that aspect than many of the rest of us; if memory serves, I believe he is also an afterschooler.

 

Both boys enjoy Khan Academy, a free online resource. The video presentations are terrific; kids can control their problem sets and earn badges, and they are free to explore more advanced topics that sound interesting to them. DS10 was learning about the chain rule the other day (I had to take some time out and explain derivatives to him, but that didn't take long, at least to a superficial level. We'll have time to dig deeper there later). I love that Khan Academy encourages the kids to become curious about what's coming later in math instead of thinking it's all just add/sub/mult/divide. They can play with angles, trigonometry, and see glimpses of calculus.

[chepyl]

We use Singapore with the IP and CWP. DS tolerates the text and workbook so that we can get to the "fun stuff" in the more challenging books.

 

He loves a challenge:)

[Donna]

I used Saxon with all of mine. This year dd did Thinkwell's Pre-Algebra program which is an online course but now we are back to Saxon because I am not ready for her to do Algebra, yet. Tried Singapore and MUS over the years but neither was a good fit.

[Mommy_of_4]

We have only used Horizons so far.

[Iucounu]

Note that Saxon is relatively weak on problem-solving, including word problems, where Singapore is stronger. Thus some sort of additional problem-solving work should be added to a Saxon curriculum.

[Scuff]

This has been one of my biggest struggles in homeschooling. Right now we're using Mammoth Math and he's complaining that it's boring and too slow. We've also used Singapore CWP and a variety of other things not worth mentioning. We do love the Zacarro books. I just ordered AOPS prealgebra and I think I'm going to bump him into that while reviewing gaps with MM.

[higginszoo]

Miquon and Singapore, followed by Life of Fred, with MEP and Zaccaro as supplements has been the best combo for us here, with 4 math and science - gifted kids.

[regentrude]

We have been using Art of Problem Solving beginning in 6th grade.

(With the new pre-algebra book that is now available, we would have started in 5th.) I can recommend it for a child who is good at, and interested in, math and who is willing to go above and beyond the standard curriculum both in scope and difficulty.

[Ester Maria]

AoPS.

[quark]

Hi there. I decided to start a new thread from my previous post. I am thinking of afterschooling my ds (grade 4) for math. Just wondering what curriculum you use for a gifted math student. Just a little bit everyday. He's not getting what he needs in school.

 

Many thanks.

 

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is wonderful but wordy. We like it that way but it may not be practical for a 4th grader with less time. But if he really loves math and the challenge, then I'd say go for AoPS!

 

Math Mammoth or Singapore may be easier for you to schedule/ teach time wise.

[Spy Car]

My own personal copy of AoPs Prealgebra just arrived in the post. It's my Christmas present...but I couldn't help but sneak a peek :D

 

Happy dance!

 

Bill

[Carpe]

My own personal copy of AoPs Prealgebra just arrived in the post. It's my Christmas present...but I couldn't help but sneak a peek :D

 

Happy dance!

 

Bill

 

:lol: me too! Thanks for making me feel less crazy about it.

[jennynd]

My own personal copy of AoPs Prealgebra just arrived in the post. It's my Christmas present...but I couldn't help but sneak a peek :D

 

Happy dance!

 

Bill

I want to hear you thoughts on it. Although I like the discovery approach which I think DS is bit young for that, i don't think the question itself in the book is in par as IP/CWP in SM.

[Aquinas Academy]

Singapore, followed by AoPS.

[Rivka]

I really like MEP.

[Donna]

Yes, AoPS Pre-Alg is where I intend to go next with dd. We tried to start it back in Sept. but she was a little turned off by the wordiness so I put it away for awhile since she's still young. I am planning on bringing it back out this summer and give it another try because I really like it.:001_smile:

[Lasthenia]

Thanks for these links. Will try them. There's a good site with free ebooks, XPMath I think. New and unique perspectives on numbers.

[Brad S]

In addition to the extent of giftedness and learning style, I think the best math curriculum depends upon other things like age of the child. If a child is working at an extremely high level, but close to age level, AoPS seems great. When our son was 9, we started AoPS Intro to Algebra and it worked fine for awhile -- challenging but not repetitive problems. But I think that his attention span, and interest level, wasn't where it needed to be for AoPS to work well for him at that time (I'm also not sure that the approach was his optimal style anyway). He had very good mastery of pre-algebra. I think it's a great curriculum for kids who are a little older and/or a little more into math. Prior to algebra, we filled in some gaps on pre-algebra by having son read LOF Decimals and Percents and the two LOF pre-algebra books and doing some MOEMS problems. That worked great for us and it was good that son got practice learning math almost exclusively on his own through the LOF books. As someone else mentioned above, there are lot of other things besides the solid math that kids learn in those LOF pre-algebra books. (I don't think the AoPS pre-algebra book existed yet when we covered that material.)

 

I'm still not sure what the best approach for algebra for our son would have been; we ended up going back to more hands on instruction. I'm also not sure what the best materials would be after algebra 1 for 10-11 year olds. It would be great to find materials that worked well where he could go back to learning math mostly on his own again. We may try AoPS Counting and Probability or Jacobs Geometry or LOF Algebra 2 or something else. Any suggestions??

Edited December 20, 2011 by Brad S

[MBM]

I'm also not sure what the best materials would be after algebra 1 for 10-11 year olds. It would be great to find materials that worked well where he could go back to learning math mostly on his own again. We may try AoPS Counting and Probability or Jacobs Geometry or LOF Algebra 2 or something else. Any suggestions??

 

My son has worked through a number of the AoPS books. He seemed to do well plowing through, breaking, plowing through, etc. and then revisiting problem sets he did previously many months, or even years, later. He gets a kick looking over his old work now that he can see easier, more elegant solutions.

 

As for suggestions, AoPS's Number Theory would be a good choice after Algebra 1 as well.

 

AMC or MathCounts problem sets can be challenging.

 

We also like the mathematical logic classes from eIMACS. My son took Intro to Logic 1 last summer after his 8th grade (age 14), but a younger student could probably handle it. This spring, we plan to sign him up for the second course. He goes to a school, so we have to do some activities when time permits.

 

http://www.eimacs.com/parent_aml_overview.htm

 

Math Circles can be really wonderful. There might be one in your area.

 

http://www.mathcircles.org/

 

Math summer camps are also fantastic. Kathy in Richmond (she posts here) and her daughter direct and teach at two of them.

 

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/Mathematics_summer_program

 

Enjoy!

[quark]

I'm still not sure what the best approach for algebra for our son would have been; we ended up going back to more hands on instruction. I'm also not sure what the best materials would be after algebra 1 for 10-11 year olds. It would be great to find materials that worked well where he could go back to learning math mostly on his own again. We may try AoPS Counting and Probability or Jacobs Geometry or LOF Algebra 2 or something else. Any suggestions??

 

We are using a combination of the Jurgensen Geometry book, AoPS books and misc. logic puzzles, most of which are listed in this thread (post#19). I like how the Jurgensen book lays out concepts and we do some of the problems orally. The boy writes most of the B and C problems down and works on them independently, while I work on them myself next to him and we then compare answers/ methods and discuss if necessary. I find the best approach for my son has been to go deep into a text for a while, then put it away and let him play with puzzles or computer-based problems on his own and then go deep into a text again. We take breaks by watching some of the Teaching Company math courses too.

 

Two other resources we sometimes use:

1. You might already be familiar with Alcumus but I thought I'd mention it all the same.

2. James Tanton. He has made youtube videos and also written a number of math texts (we have only one so far) but he doesn't have answer keys available for sale atm. You may want to write to him for a pdf copy of the solutions if you buy a text from his Lulu store. He's very nice but may not respond immediately to an email.

Edited December 20, 2011 by quark
more details about Tanton's products

[jenbrdsly]

In addition to the extent of giftedness and learning style, I think the best math curriculum depends upon other things like age of the child. If a child is working at an extremely high level, but close to age level, AoPS seems great. When our son was 9, we started AoPS Intro to Algebra and it worked fine for awhile -- challenging but not repetitive problems. But I think that his attention span, and interest level, wasn't where it needed to be for AoPS to work well for him at that time (I'm also not sure that the approach was his optimal style anyway). He had very good mastery of pre-algebra. I think it's a great curriculum for kids who are a little older and/or a little more into math. Prior to algebra, we filled in some gaps on pre-algebra by having son read LOF Decimals and Percents and the two LOF pre-algebra books and doing some MOEMS problems. That worked great for us and it was good that son got practice learning math almost exclusively on his own through the LOF books. As someone else mentioned above, there are lot of other things besides the solid math that kids learn in those LOF pre-algebra books. (I don't think the AoPS pre-algebra book existed yet when we covered that material.)

 

I'm still not sure what the best approach for algebra for our son would have been; we ended up going back to more hands on instruction. I'm also not sure what the best materials would be after algebra 1 for 10-11 year olds. It would be great to find materials that worked well where he could go back to learning math mostly on his own again. We may try AoPS Counting and Probability or Jacobs Geometry or LOF Algebra 2 or something else. Any suggestions??

 

Hands on Equations? Maybe the verbal book?

[Brad S]

Hands on Equations? Maybe the verbal book?

 

For the pre-algebra, maybe early algebra 1, Hands on Equations might have been useful, but it doesn't look to go beyond that (may still be useful for others here).

[JeanM]

I'm still not sure what the best approach for algebra for our son would have been; we ended up going back to more hands on instruction. I'm also not sure what the best materials would be after algebra 1 for 10-11 year olds. It would be great to find materials that worked well where he could go back to learning math mostly on his own again. We may try AoPS Counting and Probability or Jacobs Geometry or LOF Algebra 2 or something else. Any suggestions??

 

My 12 yo is using Jacobs Geometry this year. We're going to start using Patty Paper Geometry at our coop, which should work nicely with Jacobs.

 

I thought the AoPS Counting and Probability looked interesting, and they have a Number Theory book too, that also looked good. We went with Jacobs for this year, but may switch to AoPS next year.

[MamaSprout]

This has been one of my biggest struggles in homeschooling. Right now we're using Mammoth Math and he's complaining that it's boring and too slow. We've also used Singapore CWP and a variety of other things not worth mentioning. We do love the Zacarro books. I just ordered AOPS prealgebra and I think I'm going to bump him into that while reviewing gaps with MM.

 

We pre-test with Math Mammoth- the light blue series has chapter tests. All we do is fill in gaps. We use CWP, too.

 

Bean

[ErinE]

I like the fact AoPS has a book on counting and probability. In finance, knowing stats has been very helpful.