If you used Miquon...

[AimeeM]

What comes next?

I'm starting Miquon soon with my son and I'd like to have a game plan for where we'll go next.

The kicker? I prefer spiral and I'm not a Singapore fan. Because Miquon is so different than other math programs, what type of holes should I expect in the next couple of years, if any, that I would need to fill in before moving him to another program after completing Miquon? And what level would that leave him at? I ask because, looking at the sequence, many of the topics look very advanced, but I'm assuming there are holes somewhere...

[FO4UR]

Possible holes: drill & story problems. Get Singapore CWP even if you don'y use any of the rest of the program.

 

 

Consider MEP math. I am sort of kicking myself that I didn't stick with that one. It spirals and it's a very challenging and conceptually sound program. I'd still use Miquon along with at the beginning, if for no other reason than to influence how you teach the MEP material. Many of the MEP extension activities lend themselves well to the discovery style of teaching in Miquon. If you use MEP, drill and story problems will be amply covered.

[Farrar]

There is no good follow up. None. NONE! :crying:

 

MEP might work for some kids - it does have some spiral aspects. It didn't work here. Right Start might work for some, but it will end soon thereafter, so I don't find it a great option, myself. Beast Academy has worked for us so far, but it will end really soon too. I've heard some people say Life of Fred. I've heard others say the Key to series worked for them with some minor adjustments, even though it's really different from Miquon. We have some individual C-rods books that I'm planning to use as well that are good resources for 4th/5th grade math.

 

Basically, there's nothing else like Miquon. Curse you, Lore Rassmussan, for making me love Miquon so much and not taking us through all of elementary math! Why! Why?!? Why can't it go on and on!?

 

Oh, did I mention we're in the middle of this transition? In case you couldn't tell. :D I've been drawing out the end of Purple a bit while he does Beast Academy 2B. But it can't last forever.

[AimeeM]

There is no good follow up. None. NONE! :crying:

 

MEP might work for some kids - it does have some spiral aspects. It didn't work here. Right Start might work for some, but it will end soon thereafter, so I don't find it a great option, myself. Beast Academy has worked for us so far, but it will end really soon too. I've heard some people say Life of Fred. I've heard others say the Key to series worked for them with some minor adjustments, even though it's really different from Miquon. We have some individual C-rods books that I'm planning to use as well that are good resources for 4th/5th grade math.

 

Basically, there's nothing else like Miquon. Curse you, Lore Rassmussan, for making me love Miquon so much and not taking us through all of elementary math! Why! Why?!? Why can't it go on and on!?

 

Oh, did I mention we're in the middle of this transition? In case you couldn't tell. :D I've been drawing out the end of Purple a bit while he does Beast Academy 2B. But it can't last forever.

 

Crap.

Lol.

I can't stand LOF.

[wapiti]

Beast Academy should be complete by the time your ds needs it. Whether it'll fit or not, I can't say, but I'd definitely keep it on your list of possibilities. While it would not fit your spiral requirement, it seems to be good for VSLs, like Miquon.

[Lori D.]

There is no good follow up. None. NONE! :crying: ... Basically, there's nothing else like Miquon. Curse you, Lore Rassmussan, for making me love Miquon so much and not taking us through all of elementary math! Why! Why?!? Why can't it go on and on!?

 

 

 

:smilielol5: LOL! Yes, we felt that way too. (and we didn't have Beast Academy back then!)

 

While finishing Miquon older DS transitioned into Singapore. He loved it as well. Same with younger math-struggling DS who did best going from Miquon to Math-U-See (with Singapore and some of the Keys To... series as supplement). But again, MUS is mastery.

 

 

One thought is to use Singapore as supplement if you don't like it as the spine. Or, if you just don't like Singapore, consider looking at Math Mammoth as a supplement, as it is a gentler or more accessible "version" of Singapore.

 

The spiral programs I'm familiar with are Saxon and Teaching Textbooks (gr. 3-12), but they are not at all like Miquon in presentation. And while Alpha-Omega's Horizons Math (gr. 1-12), Rod & Staff Math (gr. 1-12) and CLE Math (gr. 1-12) are all Christian-based and very traditional in instruction (rather than the Asian thinking style of Miquon), I believe they are also more spiral-based in presentation and instruction rather than mastery-based.

 

Have you considered pairing a traditional spiral-based program as your spine, with a more Asian-approach (Singapore, Math Mammoth), or math-thinking (Art of Problem Solving), or non-traditional (Math-U-See, Life of Fred, Keys To... series) program as your supplement? That worked well here, even for our math-struggler. I'm a big proponent of using more than one math program to get the concepts from several very different types of instruction, as it really helps build math connections and math thinking, somewhat similar to the way that the discovery-approach of Miquon does.

 

 

Other programs to look at as you research "what's next":

 

- Math Mammoth

mastery, but a "gentler" version of Singapore; many use this as a supplement

 

- MEP (gr. 1-12)

Free, downloadable.

 

- Art of Problem Solving (pre-algebra and up)

Not spiral, but fabulous in developing problem-solving skills and math thinking.

 

- Keys To ...series (grade 5-6 math topics up through Algebra and Geometry topics)

Presents topics with a variety of viewpoints to encourage math thinking and connections; very gentle and very visual -- great for VSL.

 

- Life of Fred (gr. 1-12)

Wery untraditional approach, but really encourages real-life connections with math usage, and in developing problem-solving skills.

 

- Ray's Arithmetic (gr. 1-12)

Links and info in this past thread: Free - Ray's Arithmetic online). Vintage, traditional texts, free online.

 

- Russian Math

Links and info in this past thread: Russian Math online curriculum for kids. Similar to Singapore. Downside: not all levels are translated into English, and it heavily relies on the instructor's abilities to teach.

 

 

BEST of luck as you work your way to the next thing! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[junepep]

If you supplement Miquon with a traditional program from the beginning (we use it with MEP at the moment, but everything that people mentioned would work well, they're all great programs), then you won't have to worry about possible holes and maybe (huge maybe ;)) the transtion will be easier.

 

It might feel awkward at first, but once I was comfortable doing both, I was eventually be able to use the elements that I liked from each and carry them over. It's also made it easier for me to be more flexible in my teaching. I feel like I've been able to integrate Miquon's freedom into MEP and use the lesson plans from MEP to supplement Miquon, not to mention the huge influence that the First grade journal had on my approach to teaching Singapore when we first started out. Combining texts might be a bit crazy, but it's really worked for us, math is Kit's favorite subject.

[Farrar]

Crap.

Lol.

I can't stand LOF.

 

Me neither. The aesthetic sensibility offends me.

 

I do find that there aren't a lot of holes. My Miquon boy did better than his MM brother on our faux standardized testing last week and the reason was that he was better able to reason his way through things that he didn't remember the algorithm for.

[AimeeM]

Which MEP is best to use in conjunction with Miquon?

[Mandy in TN]

Maybe BJUP Math? It has daily review, strong conceptually, and has teaching material.

 

Or Making Math Meaningful by Cornerstone Curriculum? It isn't spiral, but something about it felt a little like Miquon to me.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[Zoo Keeper]

It might feel awkward at first, but once I was comfortable doing both, I was eventually be able to use the elements that I liked from each and carry them over. It's also made it easier for me to be more flexible in my teaching. I feel like I've been able to integrate Miquon's freedom into MEP and use the lesson plans from MEP to supplement Miquon, not to mention the huge influence that the First grade journal had on my approach to teaching Singapore when we first started out.

 

Same thing happened here at my house....

 

The kids loved Miquon, I loved MEP, and couldn't let go of Singapore because everyone said it was sooooo good. So for three years, we did all three programs (yes, alllll of the three programs-every workbook, textbook, and supplement.)

 

But.... I'm not doing that anymore. Working through those three programs with my boys has made me a better teacher. I now know how to teach in a more "Miquon" or "Singapore" style, even if I am using my R&S text. I use Lab Sheet Annotations with ALL my math programs as I teach the younger ones. I do think that MEP is a great fit to go *with* Miquon, or to go after it.

 

I also agree with Lori D. that combining elements of a traditional program (for us, R&S has been a good fit) and something very different (MEP/Miquon) makes for a stronger student---and TEACHER. Both the kids and I have learned that thre are many ways to think through a problem. I did find Miquon to be lacking in word problems, so we have supplemented SIngapore's CWP since the beginning.

[AimeeM]

Maybe BJUP Math? It has daily review, strong conceptually, and has teaching material.

 

Or Making Math Meaningful by Cornerstone Curriculum? It isn't spiral, but something about it felt a little like Miquon to me.

 

HTH-

Mandy

For personal reasons, we prefer to steer clear of BJU (anything), but I hadn't heard of Making Math Meaningful. I'll look at that. Thanks!!!

[AimeeM]

Thus far I've used Math Mammoth, Singapore, Saxon, and LOF. We cared for none of them. The one staple that we do like is Horizons - it's fast paced for my mathy daughter, colorful, spiral, and rigorous. Traditional, yes, but still rigorous.

 

Would it (Horizons) be *too* traditional a text to add in with Miquon? I've only used the upper grades, so I would have no clue where to start with a very young child who just intuitively *gets* math. I didn't start homeschooling dd until age 9... my son will be the first I have from the beginning, lol.

[Mandy in TN]

 

For personal reasons, we prefer to steer clear of BJU (anything), but I hadn't heard of Making Math Meaningful. I'll look at that. Thanks!!!

 

There are 2 math programs called Making Math Meaningful, so, if you look at MMM, be sure it is the one from Cornerstone and not the Waldorf program. :)

 

Mandy

[Farrar]

Which MEP is best to use in conjunction with Miquon?

 

There's only one MEP as far as I know. Since your ds is so young, I would assume you'd start with MEP Reception and just keep going. It was not a fit for my Miquon lover. But it might work for you.

[mysticmomma]

Gftyis

[junepep]

Which MEP is best to use in conjunction with Miquon?

 

 

I'm not sure how other people have done it, but there was this great pre-Miquon book (short, but filled with games) written by another mom that I would use along with some of the games in the First Grade handbook, and cuisinaire "art" days until Kit was really comfortable with the rods. For the art days we'd make alphabet letters, trains, boats, pyramids, castles, stables and horses (a particular favorite), etc. This was back when we were using Singapore Early Bird.

 

About 1/2 of the way through Early Bird A I began alternating Miquon days with MEP Reception days (it might have been a bit later, it was right after she learned to write her numbers) and then by about 1/2 way through Singapore Early Bird B we switched over to MEP 1 and Miquon Orange. By then it was probably silly to keep using the Singapore book, but it was so easy and MEP and Miquon Orange were right on the edge of what she was able to do that I sort of just used it to keep her confidence up (and to use when we ran into a struggling point in reading, because I've tried to make sure that she's only got one "difficult" subject at a time).

 

All in all Orange was great until we got about 1/2-2/3rds of the way through MEP 1. At first I would assign pages and teach material that weren't based on what we were working on in MEP, but eventually I would just let her choose a page and do her thing. Since I'd read through the 1st grade diary twice and through the annotated labsheets once I was able to just jump in with a lesson if she'd chosen something that she'd never done before. Miquon is very much her experimental math. In it she'll take chances. The first time that she tried to add something to a number with hundreds was in Miquon, and it was because there's always that expectation that you'll try to make up your own problems and forge your own path that's simply embedded into the program.

 

Now that we're starting BA we're alternating that with Miquon Red/Blue and MEP 2B. Mostly to draw out the life of Beast Academy, but also because she's a bit young for BA still, and using it slowly as a supplement allows her to use it as "fun" opt-in math rather than her -I must do this every day- math. It seems like the perfect fit at the moment. We started BA3 around lesson 80 where MEP has a nice little segue about quadrilaterals. Sadly, these days Miquon is our easy / low stress math. But in the end, it's just as useful there as it was when it was her most challenging math, and she still uses the material in Miquon to challenge herself, which makes me love it even more.

 

PS - With my youngest daughter, who is much more visual and tactile, I'm adding Miquon in later. Right now I'm having her work on MEP Reception while she powers through the Singapore EB 'geometry', pattern, and measurement chapters. Once she's up to the addition and subtraction and through reception I'm going to explain all of the mathematics that they're going to want her to do through Miquon, so that she learns it in her strongest learning modality first and then it'll be reinforced through the abstract work in MEP1. We're still negotiating about what to do for Early Bird. Right now she's in measurement and still bored - the negative to letting her listen in to Kit's schooling for the last two years since she dropped her morning nap I guess. So, what I'm trying to say with this digression into the sticky quagmire that is Mim's math "plan" is stay fluid, and respond to what your child needs now, not what worked before, or what someone else did & I'm sure that you guys will have an awesome time doing math!! :)

 

(edited to add) PPS -- Here's the pre-miquon book: www.nurturedbylove.ca/resources/cuisenairebook.pdf - it's short, but with fun games and I found it very easy to expand on the games and ideas in it to get a good grasp on what I could do to help my girls get used to the cuisenaire rods... because I really couldn't think of anything to do with them at first... they just boggled me, I was very slow to warm up to Miquon, but I'm glad that I took the time to understand it, because we wound up loving it.

[AimeeM]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! I downloaded the book! Excited!

We're using Singapore Essentials now.

I'm not sure how other people have done it, but there was this great pre-Miquon book (short, but filled with games) written by another mom that I would use along with some of the games in the First Grade handbook, and cuisinaire "art" days until Kit was really comfortable with the rods. For the art days we'd make alphabet letters, trains, boats, pyramids, castles, stables and horses (a particular favorite), etc. This was back when we were using Singapore Early Bird.

 

About 1/2 of the way through Early Bird A I began alternating Miquon days with MEP Reception days (it might have been a bit later, it was right after she learned to write her numbers) and then by about 1/2 way through Singapore Early Bird B we switched over to MEP 1 and Miquon Orange. By then it was probably silly to keep using the Singapore book, but it was so easy and MEP and Miquon Orange were right on the edge of what she was able to do that I sort of just used it to keep her confidence up (and to use when we ran into a struggling point in reading, because I've tried to make sure that she's only got one "difficult" subject at a time).

 

All in all Orange was great until we got about 1/2-2/3rds of the way through MEP 1. At first I would assign pages and teach material that weren't based on what we were working on in MEP, but eventually I would just let her choose a page and do her thing. Since I'd read through the 1st grade diary twice and through the annotated labsheets once I was able to just jump in with a lesson if she'd chosen something that she'd never done before. Miquon is very much her experimental math. In it she'll take chances. The first time that she tried to add something to a number with hundreds was in Miquon, and it was because there's always that expectation that you'll try to make up your own problems and forge your own path that's simply embedded into the program.

 

Now that we're starting BA we're alternating that with Miquon Red/Blue and MEP 2B. Mostly to draw out the life of Beast Academy, but also because she's a bit young for BA still, and using it slowly as a supplement allows her to use it as "fun" opt-in math rather than her -I must do this every day- math. It seems like the perfect fit at the moment. We started BA3 around lesson 80 where MEP has a nice little segue about quadrilaterals. Sadly, these days Miquon is our easy / low stress math. But in the end, it's just as useful there as it was when it was her most challenging math, and she still uses the material in Miquon to challenge herself, which makes me love it even more.

 

PS - With my youngest daughter, who is much more visual and tactile, I'm adding Miquon in later. Right now I'm having her work on MEP Reception while she powers through the Singapore EB 'geometry', pattern, and measurement chapters. Once she's up to the addition and subtraction and through reception I'm going to explain all of the mathematics that they're going to want her to do through Miquon, so that she learns it in her strongest learning modality first and then it'll be reinforced through the abstract work in MEP1. We're still negotiating about what to do for Early Bird. Right now she's in measurement and still bored - the negative to letting her listen in to Kit's schooling for the last two years since she dropped her morning nap I guess. So, what I'm trying to say with this digression into the sticky quagmire that is Mim's math "plan" is stay fluid, and respond to what your child needs now, not what worked before, or what someone else did & I'm sure that you guys will have an awesome time doing math!! :)

 

(edited to add) PPS -- Here's the pre-miquon book: www.nurturedbylove.ca/resources/cuisenairebook.pdf - it's short, but with fun games and I found it very easy to expand on the games and ideas in it to get a good grasp on what I could do to help my girls get used to the cuisenaire rods... because I really couldn't think of anything to do with them at first... they just boggled me, I was very slow to warm up to Miquon, but I'm glad that I took the time to understand it, because we wound up loving it.

[FO4UR]

Which MEP is best to use in conjunction with Miquon?

 

 

I'd start with year one after a good grounding with Miquon (half-way through Orange maybe). It will seem like a backwards step to go to 1+0=1 in MEP, but keep with it. They put a ton of "meat" to those basics.

 

 

This is just my opinion after working with my own dc. My youngest is pretty much just doing MEP with things I remember from Miquon thrown into lessons as needed. I couldn't teach like this without first having taught Miquon. kwim.

 

Don't try to line up concepts or anything. Let your child make the connections, remembering, "We did this with the rods, mom!"

[Grover]

we did Miquon and started Life of Fred about half way through red. I threw in xtramath to improve speeded recall of basic facts and now we use Fred, hands on equations (just finishing up) and kahn academy + random extra bits and bobs if I feel like a little more practice is needed (I like the sheets from pizzaz most often for that).