ksr5377 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 We started with Horizons because it was recommended by SL. We're in Horizons 1 now, and I'm confused. Not so much by the math, but by how to explain it to her. And she LOVES math, wants to do it three times a day. I really want to find a program that we're both happy with so that we can stick with it and not be jumping around. She likes to use manipulatives but she doesn't have to. She loves to do workbooks, we can never leave a question unanswered because, according to her, that's skipping the "fun stuff." So far the only thing I have noticed she doesn't like are computer or video based programs. She doesn't consider them "school" and becomes very resistant. Any suggestions are appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 CLE. It does a great job of explaining in the TM so you can explain it to the student. I haven't had any problems with 100. By 300, there's very little I have to explain to Rebecca. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Anyone else? Teaching math was my only major concern going into homeschooling. Ideally DH would teach, but it's just not logistically possible for that to happen 5 days a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendag Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 RightStart is a scripted program that I use which is very hands on and is top notch in my opinion! I don't have any experience with Singapore, but sounds great from what I've read. Singapore uses workbooks if that is what your daughter likes. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwena Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 MUS-My dc love Mr. Demme, there's manipulatives. It makes sense. I never struggled with math as a child. I just did what I was told and it worked. After hearing Mr. Demme's explanations, I understand the why behind the Math better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 We love Math Mammoth. It certainly is far from scripted, but it just makes so much sense it is easy to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I'd go Singapore. You'll need the standards edition for their Home Instructor's Guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 MEP does have a teacher's guide, but it doesn't give all the answers in a clear document for some levels. It's free so you could take a look at it. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Have you looked at Math in Focus? It is strong mathematically and the teacher's guide explains everything. There are manipulatives and an explanation of how to use. It is also quite do able with them. It has a workbook with lots of fun problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowfall Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I think Singapore, Math Mammoth, or Rightstart are great for a teacher who doesn't love math. Rightstart doesn't have many worksheets in level B though, so your daughter might not like it. MM is like CLE, with all the instructions in the text, and it's very cheap when HSBC runs a sale. It's more colorful than CLE, which your dd might appreciate, coming from Horizons. The SM texts are very colorful, but the workbooks are b&w. However, both are very cartoonish, with lots of fun activities, which appeals to my dd. I agree with you that the Horizons TMs don't do a great job of explaining the concepts for a teacher who's not confident with them (like me, lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyderiver Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 If you are truly math phobic, I would stay away from the mental math curriculums (MM, RS, Singapore). If your dh wants to help, I would have him use MM as a supplement. For you, I would recommend CLE! You can have an eager learner practically independent and the teachers guide gives you everything else you need. You will need to read the guide, but it is great at being incremental and gentle. Get a TG used and purchase a couple LUs. Maybe a $12-15 investment, but I think you will be adding your name to the "wish I had found CLE sooner" thread! Happy Math Hunting:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Wow, thank you everyone so much for your ideas. Lots of things to look into now. I had never even heard of CLE before, sometimes I'm amazed at how many options I have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 CLE or R&S. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowfall Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 If you are truly math phobic, I would stay away from the mental math curriculums (MM, RS, Singapore). If your dh wants to help, I would have him use MM as a supplement. For you, I would recommend CLE! You can have an eager learner practically independent and the teachers guide gives you everything else you need. You will need to read the guide, but it is great at being incremental and gentle. Get a TG used and purchase a couple LUs. Maybe a $12-15 investment, but I think you will be adding your name to the "wish I had found CLE sooner" thread! Happy Math Hunting:) I would never shortchange a mathy kid just because the parent doesn't like math! I'm not saying CLE would do that - I've actually heard that it teaches somewhat conceptually - but I strongly disagree with giving a kid a subpar math education just because the parent had one. To me, recommending someone should avoid some of the best programs out there, just because she doesn't like math, is saying to do exactly that. Those programs ALL have explicit instruction in the TGs or the texts, so any parent can teach them, with a little effort. That's not to say they will all work for everyone. Obviously that's not true. However, it should never be just because the parent doesn't like mental math. The reason people are math-phobic is because their own math education wasn't any good. Now is the perfect time to remedy that, rather than pass it on to the next generation. There is no reason a reasonably intelligent parent with a cruddy math background can't use a conceptual curriculum that teaches a few mental math stategies. Hundreds of us are doing it, precisely because we want our kids to have a better math education than we did. Again, I'm not slamming CLE, as I've heard it's pretty good. I'm simply saying that the solution to a math-phobic parent teaching a mathy child is NOT to make sure the mathy child never learns anything the parent wasn't given the opportunity to learn. My disagreement is with that attitude, not the curriculum recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksr5377 Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 I would never shortchange a mathy kid just because the parent doesn't like math! . That is exactly what I'm afraid of doing! I need something that I can implement that will work for her, and maybe even teach me some things along the way. I suppose it's not that I don't like math, just that I don't KNOW it. This is something I do NOT want to pass on to her. DH and I have a lot of research to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 That is exactly what I'm afraid of doing! I need something that I can implement that will work for her, and maybe even teach me some things along the way. I suppose it's not that I don't like math, just that I don't KNOW it. This is something I do NOT want to pass on to her. DH and I have a lot of research to do. Snowfall gave you some great advice. You can even work through the lessons (years) ahead of your child to solidify your own skills. As for specific programs, you've gotten some good advice on those too. I love MM, particularly the all-in-one-book nature of it, no separate TM to look at, though there are lots of options. Do plenty of research, find one that helps you provide the explanations you're looking for, and have fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Late to the party, but I highly recommend Professor B Math. It comes two ways: 1) scripted textbook or 2) CD. The CD is not at all game-ish (a good thing in my book). If you look up math-phobic in the dictionary my picture is there, seriously. So it is a very big deal to me that neither child has my math phobia. Professor B was how I survived. I just read what was in the book. If the child didn't understand it, he/she waited until Dad got home. It worked great for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 CLE. It does a great job of explaining in the TM so you can explain it to the student. I haven't had any problems with 100. By 300, there's very little I have to explain to Rebecca. :iagree: Yup.. CLE. Directions in the workbooks are very straight forward. If you need more there is more direction in the teachers manuals. You can't go wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I would never shortchange a mathy kid just because the parent doesn't like math! I'm not saying CLE would do that - I've actually heard that it teaches somewhat conceptually - but I strongly disagree with giving a kid a subpar math education just because the parent had one. To me, recommending someone should avoid some of the best programs out there, just because she doesn't like math, is saying to do exactly that. Those programs ALL have explicit instruction in the TGs or the texts, so any parent can teach them, with a little effort. That's not to say they will all work for everyone. Obviously that's not true. However, it should never be just because the parent doesn't like mental math. The reason people are math-phobic is because their own math education wasn't any good. Now is the perfect time to remedy that, rather than pass it on to the next generation. There is no reason a reasonably intelligent parent with a cruddy math background can't use a conceptual curriculum that teaches a few mental math stategies. Hundreds of us are doing it, precisely because we want our kids to have a better math education than we did. Again, I'm not slamming CLE, as I've heard it's pretty good. I'm simply saying that the solution to a math-phobic parent teaching a mathy child is NOT to make sure the mathy child never learns anything the parent wasn't given the opportunity to learn. My disagreement is with that attitude, not the curriculum recommendation. That is exactly what I'm afraid of doing! I need something that I can implement that will work for her, and maybe even teach me some things along the way. I suppose it's not that I don't like math, just that I don't KNOW it. This is something I do NOT want to pass on to her. DH and I have a lot of research to do. I agree with this, and I am math phobic. :blushing: But as my husband and I discussed the reasons why this is so, it became clear that it's because I don't know math. I had really, really, really poor math teachers for many years of school. When I tell my husband what we did in math class, how the teachers "explained" things, what our assignments were, he just shakes his head. Instead of passing this on to our daughters, we are trying to work towards something better. I used Horizons last year for K and this year for 1st, and it's driving me up a wall. :glare: The TM is (IMO) useless, even though the worksheets are so nice and pretty. :D My daughter has moved beyond the point of enjoying the colorful worksheets, to where she really needs and wants a better math course. To help with this, we started using Math Mammoth (Blue Series), which has been so good for solidifying concepts. I like the way MM teaches, and I have learned a lot from watching Maria Miller's videos on her website, www.homeschoolmath.net. Next year (2nd), for better or worse, we are diving into Singapore. I've been studying the materials ahead of time. I wish I had been taught this way. Even the subtraction and addition concepts, as simple as they are, make more sense the Singapore/conceptual/Math Mammoth way. Also, we are only in 1st grade, but I could see my daughter becoming frustrated with Horizon's endless spiral. Every lesson was a little of this, a little of that. We'd have place value, along with divide the shapes in half, along with write the number words, along with write the number that is one less.... :ack2: The only way to move along at the student's pace with a program like this is to CROSS OUT half of each day's "lesson." I think that we will move faster (or slower) with a mastery-based program, rather than a spiral approach. We can always do extra practice and/or MM worksheets for review, but in Horizons the concepts -- such as they are -- were coming along too slowly (for us). We will finish this year's Horizons, but I'm looking forward to starting afresh with a more conceptual approach. It does help to have a "mathy" husband on hand, in case I ever have a point of not comprehending what I need to teach. But I'm not intimidated by Singapore anymore, now that I've seen it and studied it. (Now all I we have to do it teach it, LOL). Even so, I know that from what we've already implemented in our home just to this point has brought the girls up to a higher level of understanding what is happening in math problems than I ever achieved in school with the "just do it this way" method. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsplaymath Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 That is exactly what I'm afraid of doing! I need something that I can implement that will work for her, and maybe even teach me some things along the way. I suppose it's not that I don't like math, just that I don't KNOW it. This is something I do NOT want to pass on to her. DH and I have a lot of research to do. Here is an article that might help you, no matter which program you decide to use: Relational and Instrumental Understanding "Instrumental" understanding means just learning and following the rules of math. "Relational" understanding means seeing the underlying patterns and reasons behind the rules. Most of us had a school education that focused on instrumental understanding, but what a student like your daughter really needs is relational understanding -- and knowing the difference will help you learn math along with her! Example: Area of a triangle. Instrumental understanding means memorize the formula (area = 1/2 * base * height) and know how to apply it. Relational understanding means knowing why the formula is true and how it grows out of the more basic concept of finding the area of a rectangle, as well as knowing how to apply the formula. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyderiver Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I would never shortchange a mathy kid just because the parent doesn't like math! I'm not saying CLE would do that - I've actually heard that it teaches somewhat conceptually - but I strongly disagree with giving a kid a subpar math education just because the parent had one. To me, recommending someone should avoid some of the best programs out there, just because she doesn't like math, is saying to do exactly that. Those programs ALL have explicit instruction in the TGs or the texts, so any parent can teach them, with a little effort. That's not to say they will all work for everyone. Obviously that's not true. However, it should never be just because the parent doesn't like mental math. The reason people are math-phobic is because their own math education wasn't any good. Now is the perfect time to remedy that, rather than pass it on to the next generation. There is no reason a reasonably intelligent parent with a cruddy math background can't use a conceptual curriculum that teaches a few mental math stategies. Hundreds of us are doing it, precisely because we want our kids to have a better math education than we did. Again, I'm not slamming CLE, as I've heard it's pretty good. I'm simply saying that the solution to a math-phobic parent teaching a mathy child is NOT to make sure the mathy child never learns anything the parent wasn't given the opportunity to learn. My disagreement is with that attitude, not the curriculum recommendation. Wow, that attitude was not my intent at all. I would never want a kid to suffer in any area because of a parent. I just wanted to suggest the program I thought would be the best for BOTH parent and child. Sorry if the wording came across as a negative attitude against using mental math curriculums if you dont like math. The mental math programs are one way "math phobic" parents and kids have found a love for math! I just thought CLE would be a good fit for an inexperienced or unsure teacher and an eager child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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