Math curriculum for PG DS6

[KTPie]

I am probably going to have a million questions now that I have found this forum.  My apologies in advance!

 

My son is wrapping up a 1/2 day K program and we are 99% sure we will homeschool next year.  He is profoundly gifted and apparently very mathy.  I always did well in math but it's not an area that I feel particularly comfortable in.  He recently expressed interest in math so I started with nightly bedtime math and various storybooks about math and then a friend suggested ixl so I started him on that.  He's zooming through it independently, but there is no teaching.  

 

For those of you who have been there done that, what math curriculum have you liked?  I am looking into MM, BA, Khan.  Just wondering what has worked for others and why.  Thanks!!

[Runningmom80]

Singapore is excellent, but gets pricey when accelerating. Math mammoth with supplements would be good. Beast academy is great as well, there is a placement test online to see if your DS is ready for it, it starts at a 3rd grade level.

 

There are tons of supplements available, I will try to find the post that lists them all out.

[Runningmom80]

Here's an amazing list from quark, http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/320275-designing-a-non-traditional-math-course-for-a-math-loving-structure-hating-child/?do=findComment&comment=3272174

[Momof3littles]

We paired Miquon and Singapore in the early years.  Beast 3 came out when DS1 was past that point, but he did play around with it, as does my 7 yo DD.  We've also mixed in Zaccaro, math lit like Sir Cumference, Penrose, Mathstart (Murphy) books, etc. 

 

We didn't do the early levels of LoF, but DS1 wanted to try the Fractions, Decimals, Percents, so we did that, and then Physics and pre-algebra with biology (which I am not doing as a "pre algebra" curric, it is just something he does as a supplemental thing).  I really don't like LoF as a curriculum, and don't like some of the author's commentary and undercurrents, but DS1 enjoys it and likes working on it mostly independently, so I tolerate Fred ;)

 

We haven't done Khan as a program, other than the cryptology portion (early 4th grade).

 

[Dmmetler]

 

 

I would suggest math mammoth as a spine if your DS likes it because it's cheap and he'll probably go through elementary math quickly, with lots of other stuff (problem solving, logic, Penrose the Cat, Sir Cumference, etc). BA and LOF elementary both came out too late for my DD, although they were still fun to her. AOPS has been great once she reached the middle school level (and slowed her down a lot).

 

I will also say this-math has been consistently the easiest subject to find materials at DD's level in that were also age-appropriate as far as content goes. It's just emotionally kind of hard because math is so clearly leveled that acceleration is obvious, while in other subjects, it's easier to live in that happy state of denial a little longer (especially once you get beyond the first couple of years of school, when reading is no longer notable).

[KTPie]

This is great.  He has already fallen for Penrose and Sir Cumference.  We have the first LOF but he doesn't love it.  

 

Math Mammoth really looks great.  Where do I find the best prices?

 

I was definitely in denial because he's reading well above where I estimated him to be and we literally just started on math this spring (at his request) and the psychologist referred to him as "mathy"... this is going to be one interesting journey!

[Runningmom80]

Is he your oldest? We had no idea our DS was as gifted as he was until his preschool teacher mentioned the whole "profoundly gifted" thing. Even then, I didn't realize she was using a classification, I thought it was just a weird adjective to choose. It wasnt until i found hoagies and davidson that i understood. Lol!

[KTPie]

Yes, he is.  I knew he was gifted but not to this extent.  Testing was an eye opener :)  I have two others (4.5 & 2.5).

[basketcase]

Another vote for Miquon, BA and Khan. I love that Miquon is so flexible. We can work the pages in the order we choose, use manipulatives, and make our own problems. It's a little intimidating at the start, but after the first week, it was smooth sailing. My 5yo loves math and is also very artistic. The Miquon books satisfy her due to their variety. She likes having options and changing things up. She also likes to draw cat and dog faces on all her numbers - I think she likes having a page that isn't already decorated with cute pictures. Much better to make the pictures herself.

 

Beast Academy is amazing, the best program out there for that age group, but there are only a few books so far! I'm hoping that the later books come out fast enough for us, but not really expecting it.

[boscopup]

I agree with pairing Math Mammoth (do NOT assign all the problems!) and Beast Academy. My first grader is doing BA3 this year, and he's not PG, so your son probably could also. Give him the pre-assessment on the website, then use MM to hit anything not taught yet (in our case, subtraction with regrouping was the only thing my son hadn't learned, so we pulled out MM2 and did that section for a week).

 

MM regularly goes on sale at HSBC for half price. You can pick up the grades 1-6 package for about $68 then. Great deal!

 

Again, do NOT assign all the problems in MM! Your son likely won't need but half or less of them. You might also put the problems on the white board instead of making him use the worksheets. MM's presentation can sometimes be a bit boring for young kids. Also, it's VERY incremental, so feel free to skip ahead through some serious if your son doesn't need them. Basically, tweak the curriculum to fit your son. It's easy to tweak. :)

[Runningmom80]

Yes, he is. I knew he was gifted but not to this extent. Testing was an eye opener :) I have two others (4.5 & 2.5).

I think that's generally how it goes. Fwiw, my twins are closer to the middle of the curve, and much easier to parent! Lol

[raptor_dad]

I would suggest math mammoth as a spine if your DS likes it because it's cheap and he'll probably go through elementary math quickly, with lots of other stuff (problem solving, logic, Penrose the Cat, Sir Cumference, etc). BA and LOF elementary both came out too late for my DD, although they were still fun to her. AOPS has been great once she reached the middle school level (and slowed her down a lot).

 

 

I see several people on this thread and the other one suggesting MM because it is cheap. I would point out that the 6 Miquon books for 1st-3rd grade are <$30 total on RainbowResource.com. MEP is free, http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/ .

 

We use both and MEP is a PITA to compact and accelerate. Miquon is also quirky. But, even if price is an issue, there are many other options in addition to MM.  I think MM is the easiest to accelerate largely because it is an easier program with less problem solving built in. Thats fine... especially if you plan to supplement with living math books and such. However, I think it can be just a effective to have the challenge built into your main program.

 

[quark]

I was going to suggest MEP as well and if using MEP, be prepared to let him dictate how much of the teacher lesson plans he wants in the picture. Mine (a normally obedient boy) was very firm about only wanting to use the worksheets (and yeah, we compacted those too and agree with raptor dad...it's not the easiest one to compact but very worth it). The lesson plans contain value though so I had to get a bit creative with presenting the ideas in them, e.g. scribbling them on a whiteboard to use later as a game or incorporating them without the printed plans in sight and often, honoring his wish to ditch them. MEP uses a very puzzle-like approach and the critical thinking starts early. We started in Year 1A and jumped ahead and then back to lower levels too when needed, using several years' worth simultaneously.

[Crimson Wife]

I personally think Singapore text + Intensive Practice books is a better option for PG kids than MM if your budget allows. MM is a solid curriculum but easier than Singapore with IP.

[SierraNevada]

I'm another one for Singapore (Primary Mathmatics is the real name) using the Challenging Word Problems books along with Beast and other supplements as wanted for fun. I don't think Singapore is that expensive at all. But I guess it depends on how many of the extra books you get. We just do the WB, IP, and CWP. What we like about it-- it is easy to accelerate. The amount and style of word problems are great. Enough space in the wb and the CWP that young students can fit their own handwriting on the pages. (IP pages are harder to write on though). It's a good solid spine that has little repetition. We add LOF and Beast for fun and Beast for super challenge. Between all three I do spend too much money on math books. All well. For LOF we didn't use the elementary series. Only the Fractions/Decimals and shortly physics.

 

For what it is worth we started DS when he was 5.5, I think, on ixl. It was a terrible perfectionism inducing program. He did a full grade level on it (3) but it had its costs. He hated math for while after that, even though he wanted to do it at first and then later wanted to finish off the grade. That was when we switched to Singapore and he loved it. Some people use Dreambox. But I've heard mostly the same review of ixl-- perfectionism causing.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Be aware that when you first start it will seem like every month you are needing a new resource. This will keep up for about a year (though maybe a little less). Both you and he are needing to find his level. Once you find it, the pace slows a bit. It is still scary fast (that never goes away), but it is not "wholly crap" fast. If that makes any sense. The first year you might feel like you have no footing to stand on because everything is changing at lightning speed. Go with it; I promise it will get better.

 

After a year or so, a flow starts to develop. He still might go through places where he seems to leap so fast, but it is much calmer once a subject or two settle in. We only took on two or three subjects a year for the first couple years or I would have gone crazy.

 

Good luck!

[lewelma]

MEP is way harder than Math Mammoth.

 

As for singapore maths, I do prefer it to MM as I think the word problems in the IP are way better. I think that you could just buy the textbooks and intensive practice books and skip the rest of the books (WB, HIG, CWP). The textbooks you could reuse with your youngers, so you are only out the cost of the intensive practice books. I would also suggest you skip the grade 1 because it is super easy.

 

Ruth in NZ

[MamaSprout]

Singapore is excellent, but gets pricey when accelerating. Math mammoth with supplements would be good. Beast academy is great as well, there is a placement test online to see if your DS is ready for it, it starts at a 3rd grade level.

 

There are tons of supplements available, I will try to find the post that lists them all out.

 

It does get pricey (we went through 2 years worth in a school year doing every exercise with lots of supplements), but when it came down to it, Singapore Standards was what really worked for us as a spine.

[boscopup]

I don't think Singapore is that expensive at all.

 

I don't think one year of a Singapore is expensive, but if you need 3 years in a single school year, yes, that gets expensive. That's why I used Math Mammoth to accelerate intially, then switched to Singapore when my son had slowed down a bit in the grade 4-5 math topics. It was an easy switch, since the two are very similar. You can also use IP and/or CWP with MM if you want to up the challenge. I believe MM recommends CWP in the later grades anyway.

 

You can get the grade 1-6 MM package for less than the cost of one year of Singapore, so that's the benefit of using MM for acceleration - you don't feel like you just wasted $100 for a grade level that you didn't need half of. :tongue_smilie:

[MamaSprout]

I was going to suggest MEP as well and if using MEP, be prepared to let him dictate how much of the teacher lesson plans he wants in the picture. Mine (a normally obedient boy) was very firm about only wanting to use the worksheets (and yeah, we compacted those too and agree with raptor dad...it's not the easiest one to compact but very worth it). The lesson plans contain value though so I had to get a bit creative with presenting the ideas in them, e.g. scribbling them on a whiteboard to use later as a game or incorporating them without the printed plans in sight and often, honoring his wish to ditch them. MEP uses a very puzzle-like approach and the critical thinking starts early. We started in Year 1A and jumped ahead and then back to lower levels too when needed, using several years' worth simultaneously.

 

MEP was too fragmented for us. I love pieces and parts of MEP, but for us, it was wasted time (and frustration for dd). I rarely think any math is wasted time, so it is an intentionally strong word choice.

 

If your kid is a whole-to-parts learner, MEP would not be a good choice.

 

It is free, so no harm in checking it out. I think the secondary level would be a better fit than the elementary level for some kids.

[Crimson Wife]

MEP was too fragmented for us. I love pieces and parts of MEP, but for us, it was wasted time (and frustration for dd). I rarely think any math is wasted time, so it is an intentionally strong word choice.

 

If your kid is a whole-to-parts learner, MEP would not be a good choice.

 

It is free, so no harm in checking it out. I think the secondary level would be a better fit than the elementary level for some kids.

 

I wouldn't say that the elementary levels of MEP wastes time so much as it was hard for me to judge that my student was actually making any forward progress in math while using it. It felt like he was doing a bunch of really interesting puzzles but I couldn't silence that nagging voice of doubt about the program. Whereas with programs like Singapore, Right Start, Beast Academy, etc. it is very easy to gauge progress.

 

I do like the secondary level a lot better because it is topically arranged.

[SierraNevada]

I don't think one year of a Singapore is expensive, but if you need 3 years in a single school year, yes, that gets expensive. That's why I used Math Mammoth to accelerate intially, then switched to Singapore when my son had slowed down a bit in the grade 4-5 math topics. It was an easy switch, since the two are very similar. You can also use IP and/or CWP with MM if you want to up the challenge. I believe MM recommends CWP in the later grades anyway.

 

You can get the grade 1-6 MM package for less than the cost of one year of Singapore, so that's the benefit of using MM for acceleration - you don't feel like you just wasted $100 for a grade level that you didn't need half of. :tongue_smilie:

Well okay, you got me there. Having never used or seen MM I didn't know it was so cheap. Also we started SM at level 4 and compared to all the other programs we also use-- Beast and LOF added together-- it doesn't seem too much. Also we started math at grade three. Didn't even use the first three grades because that was just where he was automatically. So that saved some.

[quark]

MEP was too fragmented for us. I love pieces and parts of MEP, but for us, it was wasted time (and frustration for dd). I rarely think any math is wasted time, so it is an intentionally strong word choice.

 

If your kid is a whole-to-parts learner, MEP would not be a good choice.

 

It is free, so no harm in checking it out. I think the secondary level would be a better fit than the elementary level for some kids.

 

Totally understand and you are not the only person I've heard this from. FWIW, kiddo is also whole to parts but I will never insist on any program being the one for anyone and that's why I said "I was going to suggest". We still supplemented while using MEP (we used SM for the pieces and parts at that time). It's always different for each kid. I think the appeal for my kid really was that it was so "different". It was different from anything else he had done and he loved the early introduction to Roman numerals (another reason we jumped around across years so he could do the Roman numeral sections together) and it was the only program where he submitted to coloring (not a coloring pages kind of kid) in boxes and such. I loved the "we think you can start thinking critically from day one" approach...and am certain it was such a breath of fresh air for him after the more traditional workbook-y stuff we had bought for kindy and preschool.

 

However, I believe that if I had continued using the lesson plans as suggested by the program, he would have quickly lost his love for MEP. He hated being told what to do (again, a generally very obedient kid), hated having to skip count with beanbags and such...it was mind-numbingly boring for him and even reduced him to tears once when I insisted (and being the quirky, highly sensitive kid he is he confessed that it was not only because he already knew how to skip count but that he disliked having his darling bean bag tossed around too!). There were many parts where the lesson plans expected very basic things he could already do but the corresponding worksheets would be more challenging so we just did the worksheets most of the time. This is definitely not something MEP recommends and if you join their yahoo group (big reason why I unsubbed from the group), most parents will caution you over and over not to do it this way, but I never mentioned how naturally he got math so maybe they thought I was a crazy mom, who knows. :tongue_smilie: By that time I had already suspected that my kid learns differently and it might just be one of many tweaks we'll have to do to accommodate his needs. And so I continued without the lesson plans...and so I learned to tweak for the very first time in our homeschool journey (and have been tweaking every single other curriculum we've used since then). For us, the worksheets were valuable enough for me to make the effort, and so I did. 

[quark]

I actually found MEP's secondary level to be less interesting...like they suddenly decided to dumb it down! See how different the strokes are for different folks?  :lol: It's not because he had already mastered all of it...just that there was a lot of repetition from MEP itself and also the supplements we were using. To keep challenging kiddo, I would have had to jump to the GCSE level and even then we would have had to skip around. By that time, we had engaged the tutor and also discovered AoPS. Love how AoPS makes tweaking unnecessary (in most cases anyway).

[MamaSprout]

I actually found MEP's secondary level to be less interesting...like they suddenly decided to dumb it down! See how different the strokes are for different folks?  :lol: It's not because he had already mastered all of it...just that there was a lot of repetition from MEP itself and also the supplements we were using. To keep challenging kiddo, I would have had to jump to the GCSE level and even then we would have had to skip around. By that time, we had engaged the tutor and also discovered AoPS. Love how AoPS makes tweaking unnecessary (in most cases anyway).

 

It is a lower level. It begins around 4th grade level. I believe it was intended for secondary students who never used MEP before. If you track through at fastest track, it does pick up pretty quick.

[Crimson Wife]

I didn't use the elementary levels of MEP aside from Reception & 1A with my DS. But I did find the "express" track of secondary MEP to be useful between Singapore DM 7 and 8.

[lewelma]

We used the express track of secondary MEP between SM 5b and SM DMCC 7a, because younger ds wanted something different and SM6 was just more of the same.  The express track does have quite a few investigations like AoPS, and some decent challenging problems. However younger is not PG, so perhaps that is the difference. 

 

The main difficulty is weeding through all the stuff you aren't going to use.  Kind of a pain.

[Dory]

We do three programs MM, BA, and LOF. MM is our core, but the kids get bored with it after awhile. Especially my youngest. We do 3-4 pages and then do a week or two of BA when we finish a chapter in MM. LOF is what we do on Fridays.

[acurtis75]

As if you don't have enough suggestions already...

 

We used mathusee for our spine because we found it easy to accelerate. My dd just turned 9 but was about 6 when we started rapidly accelerating math. She is PG in language and reading and gifted in math. It isn't necessarily her favorite subject. We used alpha - pre-algebra in MUS and are now switching to AOPs pre-algebra. MUS pages are clean, plain and uncluttered (which was good for my young student) and it is designed to be flexible so you can use 1 or 6 worksheets per lesson depending on what your student needs. DD watched the video, then sometimes we did 1 worksheet and the test, sometimes just the test before moving to the next lesson.

 

Like most everyone around here we supplemented with a lot of other stuff: iPad game to practice math facts, LOF, BA, lots of living math books from the library, math puzzle books, iPad apps like dragonbox and hands on equations, math competitions, etc).

 

The downside to this approach was cost because we went through way more than 1 book per year. I justified the cost in my mind because I pass all my curriculum on to my sister in law who has 5 kids. Now we have a baby who will probably also use it so that makes the cost a little less painful.