BoZeeCo's Mom Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Hello all. I'm trying to organize (pause for laughter) our curricula for next year when my son and I will get more serious about homeschool. I am absolutely loving OPGTTR, and I just purchased Story of the World Vol. 1, which honestly I know we will start as soon as I get it. My question is about math. I am a math-phobic person, and I really don't want to appear that way to my kids as they are starting. Should I just go for broke and purchase Essential Math Kindergarten A with the Earlybird Activity book and the corresponding Readers with the Teachers guide as well? Is this over kill? It just seams like a lot of material to cover. I really like the sound of Life of Fred Apples, too. I'm pretty confused. I want something that he enjoys doing and that I can learn from, as well. What are other kindergarten parents doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Queen Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Kindergarten math is easy. Counting, shapes, colors, more/less, coins... My kids learned most of it through life before K started. Don't "go for broke" buying a K math program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 You don't need all of that for K math. Get the Essential Math books A and B. The instructions are at the bottom of the page, and they're very easy to use. Nothing scary in there. It's just K math. Also spring for some Cuisenaire rods and have your son start playing with them, build a staircase, make trains, build random things. Use the rods with EM book B when they get to addition and such. Also, get yourself a copy of Liping Ma's Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. Read through that during the K year. K math doesn't have anything scary in it, so no reason to be math phobic quite yet. ;) Also, it's not in the EM books, but I suggest working with a 100 chart daily. Each day, add a new number, and get a straw for that number (100 straws is about a dollar at the grocery store). When you get 10 straws, bundle them together with a rubber band and point out that you have †one tenâ€. Then each day when you get a new straw out, you again emphasize how many tens and how many ones you have. So 13 is 1 ten, 3 ones. I also use money during this, and when you get 5 pennies, exchange them for a nickel. By doing this 100 chart time, you'll be teaching place value (very important!) and coin values all at the same time. My oldest did this at school, and I've never had to teach him place value or money sections. My middle son, who isn't particularly mathy yet, is picking up the place value and starting to understand money. Once you get a bunch of days on your hundred chart and your child knows how to count well, you can throw in things like †What number comes before 52?†and you can practice skip counting, odds and evens, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yucabird Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Essentials and Earlybird are different series; I'm not sure if the topics would correspond. We used Earlybird, and my daughter was happy with it, but many on this forum much prefer Essentials. For Earlybird you really don't need the teacher guide because instructions (for the teacher) are at the bottom of every page. The readers are cute and my girls enjoy them (They are short mathematical "takes" on traditional stories and poems.), but they are not a necessary purchase. I can't comment on LOF, but to our kinder program I added Miquon and various workbooks. If you do a search in this forum on kindergarten math or Singapore you'll get a lot of info. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I was exactly like you when I started out homeschooling. Math scared me. I have despised math for most of my life and I was worried about passing that fear on to my kids. I highly highly HIGHLY recommend cuiseniare rods (not the linking ones) and you should look into Miquon math. It has changed my world (at least mathematically). You can see Miquon math in action on some of my blog posts here. I post about my amazing experiences with it often. Here are some more relevant ones. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide! Switching Gears Math Update Ecstasy in Math For the Love of the Rods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssavings Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I'm using SM Essentials with my DD(just turned 5) and DS(just turned 4). It really doesn't require an additional textbook or a teacher's guide. Honestly, I'm the least mathy person on earth, and even I can manage from the notes on the bottom of each workbook page. I didn't get their math readers, because we already own a ton of math stories - there are a lot on Amazpn. But I do like having some math-themed reading around (my DS is mathy, so he enjoys them). We also have other "fun" math stuff around (Montessori hundred board, Domino Addition, Teddy Bear Math, tanagrams, pattern blocks, C-Rods, whatever manipulatives I get on sale). Essentials is a pretty gentle program. It leaves plenty of time for adding in "fun" supplimental math stuff. I love the idea of working with a hundred board daily! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellamoon Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 My dd will be starting K soon and we will be jumping in to 1st grade math just because she has covered everything for K math in everyday life (and she loves workbooks since she thinks she is working when big brother does) You might find K math to be way to easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I highly recommend two things: for you, the book Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math Even if You Don't by Patricia Clark Kenschaft. It talks about math learning, how it happens, the stages young children go through, and easy, fun ways to support that development through games and activities. I would also recommend Kitchen Table Math, which teaches the teacher how to teach math, in an organized and systematic way, building on the concepts that come before. It's great. We love LOF at our house, but I don't really think it's best with K students. Not because the math is difficult, it's not - but because it is a complex story, with quirky humor, and I'm not sure if kids really "get" it at 5. My dd5, who is both math and language arts "advanced" likes Apples fine, and can do the math, but she doesn't "get it" or adore it the way her older sister does. I'm thinking we'll try it next year when she's 6, because I really want her to get the full benefit, which I believe she will when she's a little older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amie Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Aside from picking out a main math curriculum, here are some fun lists of mathy storybooks/readers you might like to try. Choose the category/level of math you are in, then take a list to your library and have fun (many of these can be found in libraries). http://www.livingmath.net/ReaderLists/tabid/268/language/en-US/Default.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoZeeCo's Mom Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 You guys- this is amazing. I could cry. Thank you so much for all the info, both for me and my son. This forum is such an amazing resource. I'm so new to all of this, and I am so excited that a community like this exists. I'm telling all my friends that are starting to homeschool. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amie Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 You guys- this is amazing. I could cry. Thank you so much for all the info' date=' both for me and my son. This forum is such an amazing resource. I'm so new to all of this, and I am so excited that a community like this exists. I'm telling all my friends that are starting to homeschool. Thank you, thank you, thank you![/quote'] Welcome to the forum! If you hang out here for a while you'll find your feet in no time. (BTW, I have a ds 10/06 as well. ;)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 You guys- this is amazing. I could cry. Thank you so much for all the info' date=' both for me and my son. This forum is such an amazing resource. I'm so new to all of this, and I am so excited that a community like this exists. I'm telling all my friends that are starting to homeschool. Thank you, thank you, thank you![/quote'] Yes, welcome!! I don't know how I would have coped with being a beginning homeschooler without the Hive. I got talked down from a ledge just the other night . . . these people are incredibly thoughtful, helpful and generous. You're gonna like it here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 The SM Earlybird Readers are printed in small black-and-white format in the teacher's guide. We read through the first one, but it was really not needed at all. They really just slow you down. I suppose they might be kind of fun (my DD did like it and wanted me to do others), but they aren't worth the time to me. I personally like Earlybird and found the teacher's guide very helpful. Few people on here will recommend it to you, though, as the price of Essentials rules supreme. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbeth Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Just an FYI, I'd take a look at samples of Early Bird or Essentials A before you buy. Honestly, the A is very, very basic. My 4k'er completed A in just a few months this fall. She's the youngest so was dying to dive into school like all her sibs, but really you might want to start in the B books. My child had math at all. We're working a bit more slowly through B this spring. I'm undecided about doing 1A/1B for K next year or doing something different like MM or Miquon instead and hold off on the Singapore until 1st. Essentials and EB mostly correspond well with the exception of just a couple of topics (1 covers either money or time and the other doesn't). We used Essentials as the main text and used the EB Activity Book for fun. It was a good combo. I've got no experience with the readers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petepie2 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) For both my DD and DS, we used Earlybird Math A in K4 and Earlybird B in K5. As such, we were done with book B halfway through Kindergarten. At that point, they both started Rod&Staff Math 1 to start learning addition/subtraction facts. (I didn't think it best for my kids to start Primary Math 1 in Kindergarten.) In 1st grade, we combine R&S and Singapore Primary Math 1. Our manipulatives include a bucket balance, linking cubes, and c-rods. We also have pattern blocks, which are nice for K and even older. Also, once your child is starting to learn their math facts, Sum Swamp is a nice little game. ETA: We also have a 100 chart on the wall. We practice counting to 100 and skip counting by 10s, 5,s and 2s. Eventually the skip counting comes up explicitly in math curricula, but we always start it before then. Lots of repetition, you know! Edited February 28, 2012 by petepie2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I disagree that Kindergarten math is "easy." This is a time when a parent/teacher must bridge the gap of understanding that exists between the way their adult human mind understands reality and the way a child learns. That is no small thing. Especially if you want to lay a solid foundation of mathematical reasoning (and associated critical thinking and problem solving skills) from the beginning in ways that inspire confidence, competence, and autonomy. As far as the materials go, I used Earlybird and found it so-so. The story books, which adapt nursery rhymes to mesh with lessons were a nice amusement, but not worth the $$$. If a used set fell into your hands they are cute, but far from essential. The Activity books are full of cutting and pasting activities that would have driven me insane. "Patient Mothers" with patient children who like to neatly cut and glue "stars" (and other objects from one sheet and glue them on another, might enjoy thirds books. Ours went unused. If I had it to "do-over" I would have used Essentials (based on recommendations, not first-hand experience. With the money you save, read Liping Ma. Get a set of Cuisenaire Rods, a set of base-10 "flats", consider Miquon (which is a fantastic way to introduce whole-parts Singapore math to young children) and look at the free-to-download materials from the Mathematics Enhancement Programme. This is an amazing age for children to learn and there are some amazing recourses out there to deepen your knowledge base and theirs. Best wishes. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmarango Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Hello all. I want something that he enjoys doing and that I can learn from' date=' as well. What are other kindergarten parents doing?[/quote'] I think we might be able to give better recommendations if you tell us what your son is already capable of doing. What number is he counting up to? Can he easily complete patterns? Shapes, colors, positional words are all known? Has he any exposure to clocks and money? Is he doing simple addition and subtraction? That sort of stuff. :). And welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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