Math question: should I start Miquon Orange now or wait until fall (start of first grade?)

[pehp]

I was originally planning to wait and start Miquon (Orange book) in September when we 'start first grade.' Right now my son, who is doing what I'm calling kindergarten, is probably about 2/3 or more of the way through the MUS Primer. He can do basic addition problems...skip counting....he understands place value fairly well.....he gets that if you have 10 chocolate chips and you eat 3, you have 7....stuff like that. :) And he can identify numbers....up into three digits most of the time. We can continue going through the MUS primer (we go fairly slowly, doing a few pages per week, with lots of games, playing shop etc mixed in), which is what I'd originally planned. But then today I started to wonder if I should just start the Orange book now. We're doing the MUS primer for exposure to basic concepts, but I feel he's got a pretty firm grasp on them. At the same time, I don't want to rush things--school is very VERY fun/happy/enjoyable for him now and I wouldn't want that to change if he's feeling too overwhelmed or challenged.

 

So--would Miquon Orange be too advanced for a 5.5 year old who has these (described above) math skills/concepts down? Would it behoove me to just let him wait and mature for another 8 months? Does it take a great deal of concentration on the part of the student? (He can concentrate well, but I will be working with him while also running interference w/ his 2 year old sister--this may not be a big issue, though, b/c she tends to do pretty well w/ little activities I give her. Sometimes I imagine that the toddler effect is worse than it really is!)

 

He's my oldest, and my first 'pupil', so I'm not experienced at figuring out the 'whens' of schooling. My common sense guides a lot of what we do--I can usually gauge whether he's ready to speed up or needs to slow down (we've really accelerated reading beyond what I'd anticipated for the year b/c he just 'gets' it). I will need to do some prep work on my own to learn the Miquon approach (I have the Lab Annotations).

[melbotoast]

Sounds like he's ready for it. I would just try it and see how it goes.

[Kathy in Richmond]

My kids liked to explore math with Miquon at that age. I'd just let him take the lead and set the pace, whether one page or several at a time. It's an excellent curriculum & will give him a wonderful conceptual basis for future math. The main thing is to keep math fun at that age. Get out the Cuininaire rods, read along in the lab annotations, and enjoy!

[Kendall]

I've used Miquon Orange with six of my 5 year olds. One of them actually started it at 4, but she was begging.

[Farrar]

A few things will seem simple, but Miquon approaches most topics so differently that a 5 yo definitely should start with Orange. And other things will be different and surprising or lead to things that are different or more advanced if he does Red.

[pehp]

We are definitely starting with orange....I am just trying to figure out if we should begin it now or wait until a bit later (when he is 6 & beginning first grade!).

[jennynd]

Sounds like he is ready :)

[kristinannie]

I am using it for pre-K with my daughter right now. She just turned 5. I wouldn't wait. My son started first grade with Miquon Red.

[Kendall]

I forgot to mention that when I used only Miquon, I did Orange in K, Red in 1st(sometimes we would get a little ways into the next book) and then 2 books per year in 2nd and 3rd.

[kwg]

I am starting it with my Kindergartner. Between Miquon and http://www.educationunboxed.com/ he just thinks we are playing. Often, he does his lesson then gets distracted/bored and plays with the rods which is fine for right now.

[blondeviolin]

I'd start it. A large majority of Orange is attainable to a K-er.

[Holly]

I'm using the orange book with my K'er. She's doing really well with it. We'd been taking it slow (and just playing with c-rods on some days), but I've recently picked up the pace at her request.

[Gentlemommy]

We just started orange with my 4 year old, and she's doing good with it. I'd say start! Miquon is by FAR the best math curriculum I've seen for elementary. We've had nothing but good things come from it!

[pehp]

Thank you all! This is very helpful. I don't want to push him...I want him to enjoy math....but I also don't want to plod along in the MUS Primer 'just because' it was in my plans to just finish it out for the kindergarten year.

 

I need to educated myself on Miquon now--I have the basic idea, but I need to look over the Lab Annotations and the Diary (?) to prepare myself as well. I want him to think of math is playful, problem-solving, interesting and fun. MUS primer is ok--he certainly doesn't dislike it, but I was looking through my plans for spring and wondering to myself "why finish this out if I'm just switching to something else anyhow? and do we NEED to really do this?" I look at things that don't need to be done as busywork.....and I'm uninterested in busywork. :)

[Alessandra]

I think it sounds perfect for your ds. My two cents worth;

-- tear out the pages -- they are perforated. It's easier to put the rods on a flat piece of paper.

-- share Rosie's videos on Cuisenaire rods with ds. Her site is 'Education Unboxed."

-- let your ds play with rods (as in the videos)

-- make sure to read some of the Miquon instructor materials

[Holly]

I agree with all of Alessandra's tips!