Shelsi Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 This is driving me crazy. I'm a mathy person and not having a curriculum that fits both myself & dd is driving me insane. We've used MUS for my 8 yr old ds since he was in kindy. Dd HATED it. She said it was too boring, didn't like the blocks, etc. So we've been trying MEP and while she seems ok with it, I can't stand it. It feels disorganized to me. It's hard for me to follow in that sometimes it refers to things I can't find online or I don't know...I just don't like it and I guess I have a hard time putting my finger on exactly why. So, other ideas? I hate how expensive most of these other programs are. I strongly suspect dd will flourish more with a spiral approach. I believe the mastery of MUS is what bored her along with the black & white worksheets. Right now where we're at: she understands number concept, can count to 29 but then often goes from 29 to 80. This entire year I've worked on her with recognizing a 6, 9, or 8 and for some reason they are not clicking. She can count out 8 of something but if she sees the number 8 she just guesses at what number it is. She has no number recognition of the teens. She seems to understand adding & subtracting but then sometimes something will come up that makes me think she doesn't actually understand the concept at all. Help? I'd like to find something that works this year so that we can progress from here on out - I do not like curriculum jumping when it comes to math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceFairy Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I am going to throw out Liberty Math from CLP. Straightfoward, effective, thorough, and in expensive. Its a page a day program without bells and whistles but in my opinion is the best K-2 math series out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 If you want spiral, I'd suggest CLE Math. It's very good. I use Singapore Essential Math K for K math here, and I really like it. It's not as mastery as MUS is, but not spiral either. The K program is $15 for the entire year, so a great deal. Then we move on to Singapore Standards Edition. I've tried MEP multiple times, and yeah, I just can't get into it. I like something that is straightforward and has a clear path. Singapore does that for me. I know exactly where it's going, and it's easy for me to teach. I do add C-rods for my K'er (he's almost done with 1A), but my older son has never used manipulatives. You might try different manipulatives... money is great. For K math, I also printed out a 100 chart and we added a new number each day, emphasizing the tens and ones, and counting it out with straws and money, bundling tens of straws with a rubberband and converting coins as needed. I wonder if your DD might work with money? Sometimes that is more fun than MUS blocks. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I used Horizons K and it helped with the teen numbers when my DD was struggling with them. The colour and spiral approach helped but there was a lot of writing - I did some of it for my DD as some pages were a bit excessive with the writing requirements. You should NOT need the teachers guide for the K level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie131 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I love RightStart. Love it, love it, love it! It is a spiral approach, lots of games, few work sheets, easy to teach and everyone has fun. It expensive though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Oh my! You have exactly described my DD5! She is 6 in March. Everything about math that you described is my DD. I have played around with a few things, trying to get number recognition down for her, but nothing is working. I even had a thread on here asking for help. I know for sure that I will use CLE with her next year, the same as her older sister. It is spiral and seems to work with most children. CLE does have 5 K workbooks that work on number recognition, though they include letter exercises mixed throughout. I've been using those for several months and MEP for only a couple of weeks. I am at a loss, and at this moment, I'm just continuing to explore numbers by playing Uno and Go Fish and the CLE and MEP stuff. I am considering it to be developmental. Listening in for more opinions too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I could make all sorts of suggestions, but I'm not sure if you'd want to keep going with them. My Kindy math is pretty darn gentle. (When I tried to start one with a program (Singapore Earlybird then Horizons K), it backfired hugely. That one HATES math.) I used a Miquon-approach with the next one. Worked awesome. I'm using a Miquon-approach with my #4 kid but he's still pre-K in my eyes. If she doesn't like manipulatives, she might not like Miquon or RightStart. (RightStart gives a GREAT base of understand for place value. Their games are awesome, too.) Have you looked at McRuffy (spiral, colorful but also has lots of manipulatives)? CLE is a good program, too (spiral, not colorful, not as many manipulatives, inexpensive). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 I think I've looked at Right Start at least 10 times in the last few years and their info on their webpage always turns me off & then the price ultimately leads me to click away from the site. I'm gonna have to ask my HSing friends what they use - maybe someone has a sample for me to look through. Overall I think dd prefers worksheets. She does not like to be asked questions directly for school or otherwise. I certainly could never start a math lesson asking her to count as high as she can or asking her to group manipulatives in different ways to make 9. That would be an immediate shut-down on her part. Yes, schooling/teaching her makes my life "interesting" lol. The best way I have found is to give her worksheets & then say, "here let me show you how to answer these." CLE looks good but we're secular and the samples I looked at seemed fairly steeped in a christian theme - any secular folks use this and care to comment? The color and pages of Singapore look like something dd would love. What is the difference between the different editions for 1-6? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 Ok, I know I said spiral, but I just came across Math Mammoth. Thoughts on that one? I'm thinking Singapore for the rest of Kindergarten and then MM next year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I'm not thrilled with Professor B, but it's the best I've found so far. I like TEACHING it, but as I'm SELF-TEACHING myself I feel blindfolded; there are VERY few diagrams and there is just text written to the teacher. It has helped to highlight and take notes in the teacher manual. When I buckle down and commit to it, I do have excellent results with students. It's not hard to understand the TM. It's just that it doesn't meet MY learning STYLE, if you know what I mean? Sometimes I also use the copywork in How to Tutor. Here is a free article by the author Sam Blumenfeld. If you find any of Sam Blumenfeld's opinions about teaching math interesting, you will like reading the math section in A Guide to American Christian Education. All 3 of these resources teach conceptual methods but propose a narrow scope that emphasizes and points out the beauty of the arabic-hindu place value system. Manipulatives are pennies and fingers. All the other conceptual curricula have wide scopes and give equal time to arithmetic and the rest of the strands of arithmetic. I prefer to teach the other strands with a few picture books and leave it at that, until the basics of the arithmetic system are mastered. I am going to throw out Liberty Math from CLP. Straightfoward, effective, thorough, and in expensive. Its a page a day program without bells and whistles but in my opinion is the best K-2 math series out there. I really want to get a look at this curriculum. I really like what I have seen in the samples. Are there plans to continue it to higher grades, or is the long term plan to use Saxon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 We love RightStart here but if I had a child like yours I would try Math Mammoth. I have no experience with MM, so this recommendation is only based on short samples and words of others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maela Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Ok, I know I said spiral, but I just came across Math Mammoth. Thoughts on that one? I'm thinking Singapore for the rest of Kindergarten and then MM next year? This sounds like a great plan to me. Seems like yours would do well with Earlybird A & B? We started out with that. My dd loves MM! We got the grades 1-3 Blue Series books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceFairy Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Would you like me to snap 20 or so pictures from throghout the book? I could do it tonight and email it :) I'm not thrilled with Professor B, but it's the best I've found so far. I like TEACHING it, but as I'm SELF-TEACHING myself I feel blindfolded; there are VERY few diagrams and there is just text written to the teacher. It has helped to highlight and take notes in the teacher manual. When I buckle down and commit to it, I do have excellent results with students. It's not hard to understand the TM. It's just that it doesn't meet MY learning STYLE, if you know what I mean? Sometimes I also use the copywork in How to Tutor. Here is a free article by the author Sam Blumenfeld. If you find any of Sam Blumenfeld's opinions about teaching math interesting, you will like reading the math section in A Guide to American Christian Education. All 3 of these resources teach conceptual methods but propose a narrow scope that emphasizes and points out the beauty of the arabic-hindu place value system. Manipulatives are pennies and fingers. All the other conceptual curricula have wide scopes and give equal time to arithmetic and the rest of the strands of arithmetic. I prefer to teach the other strands with a few picture books and leave it at that, until the basics of the arithmetic system are mastered. I really want to get a look at this curriculum. I really like what I have seen in the samples. Are there plans to continue it to higher grades, or is the long term plan to use Saxon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Would you like me to snap 20 or so pictures from throghout the book? I could do it tonight and email it :) Thank you SO much, but I have seen some samples. My choice to adopt a curriculum is mostly based on the big picture and seldomly on the details. I need to sit down with ALL the books, and see how things PROGRESS, if you know what I mean. The introduction to word problems looked promising in the samples. Have you heard anything about possible plans for more grade levels, or is it going to be a K-2 curriculum? I was looking at the series with the most interest when I was planning to follow up with Saxon, which I understand is what CLP uses now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 We used the K math book from CLE, the Kumon workbook for numbers to 30, and now were on Saxon 1A. The CLE and Kumon helped him a lot. So far the Saxon is too easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Another vote for Singapore. I've been using the Essential books A and B with my Kinder. Really inexpensive, but you may want to go with Earlybird if you want more colors. I've tried to use the Reception year with him and I just never get around to doing MEP either. It's free, so maybe that's why I feel I ought to take advantage of it, but I just never do it. I also used a really inexpensive workbook form Walmart---My Big Kindergarten Workbook---and oddly enough it worked brilliantly next to Singapore. I feel there's a lot of emphasis in SM on adding and subtracting ad nauseum that I got the other to break up that monotony. It really gave a good 2 steps back review and introduced things I felt were lacking (or not introduced at all) in SM K. Right now he's using an Evan Moor Skills Sharpener math book along with SM. I really wouldn't use a Singapore K book all by itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hands-on-mama Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 We are doing MUS primer and Singapore Essentials K A right now. We just do a sheet or two a day from one of these. I like both approaches and my husband and his dad were math/physics majors so... Yeah, we believe in math here. She is picking up on these programs well even though she is young. We use stamps for the numbers to make it more fun. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NASDAQ Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Funnix Math. I would not recommend Singapore Earlybird or Essentials if she's having trouble identifying numbers. There isn't a lot of work with that in those books; The numbers are mostly introduced and then you work with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceFairy Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I don't think there are any plans. I was worried about that at first but the foundation is SO strong I think moving into any program a kiddo will have a leg up. Thank you SO much, but I have seen some samples. My choice to adopt a curriculum is mostly based on the big picture and seldomly on the details. I need to sit down with ALL the books, and see how things PROGRESS, if you know what I mean. The introduction to word problems looked promising in the samples. Have you heard anything about possible plans for more grade levels, or is it going to be a K-2 curriculum? I was looking at the series with the most interest when I was planning to follow up with Saxon, which I understand is what CLP uses now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I recommend Singapore or Horizons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 I ended up ordering Singapore Essential A & B. We just got it in the mail today and dd has flipped through it and is excited about it! So that's good. She even sat down and did a few pages on her own and she loves that she can color in all the stuff which hopefully will keep her interested without being too terribly distracting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkd Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Miquon, Math Mammoth, Excel Math Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I ended up ordering Singapore Essential A & B. We just got it in the mail today and dd has flipped through it and is excited about it! So that's good. She even sat down and did a few pages on her own and she loves that she can color in all the stuff which hopefully will keep her interested without being too terribly distracting. Good to hear! I hope she enjoys it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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