JennyD Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Could anyone possibly recommend some fun, problem-solving-type math resources for early elementary? My DS6 is in SM 2A and clearly feels as though he is getting the short end of the stick, math-wise, as compared to his older brother, who gets to use not only SM but also BA, AoPS, Zaccaro, etc. He has been dragging the 3A BA Guide around the house (most recently I found it under his bed) but he just isn't ready to start the problems yet. IIRC, oldest DS used and loved Primary Grade Challenge Math at this stage, but I'm hesitant to try that just yet with DS6. For whatever reason, this child has major confidence issues and new challenges have to be introduced very, very gradually. I'd like to find something that is thoroughly at his level, but just a bit challenging/different, if that makes any sense. I should note that he already does the SM CWP and -- sometimes -- the IP, which are fine but not quite what I'm looking for to break up the SM plod. He adored the Bedtime Math books (we have both), and we have a shelf full of math books that are all just a little bit beyond him at the moment. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 The Bedtime Math website has a daily math problem: http://bedtimemath.org/dailymathproblem/ My son is at about the same point in math and he's enjoying the Borac books: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?field-keywords=borac%20competitive%20mathematics We've also done the DragonBox and Hands on Equations aps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
give_me_a_latte Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Have you ruled out the Life of Fred elementary books? It took awhile, but my son eventually warmed up to Fred and enjoys the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 You could teach him to use a soroban. Then he'll have a special math tool he can play with--it's very compatible with SM 2A, but more interesting than a regular abacus because some beads are worth 5 and some only 1. I got ours on Amazon. There are instructions at http://www.soroban.com/howto_abacus_eng.html, or you can get books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 These are awesome suggestions, thank you so much! I had not heard of those Borac books but they look just about exactly what i was looking for. And a soroban is an inspired idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelea6 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I don't have anymore suggestions for you but I just need to say soroban is fabulous. We were stationed in Japan the last two years and my son was part of the soroban club sponsored by the school. He learned how to use the soroban and participated in the yearly soroban contest. I want my other kids to learn to use it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tress Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 The Borac books, the Borac books, we :001_wub: Borac. (Well, except the Observation and Logic book...that fell flat. A lot of exercises just felt dumb or were not translatable into Dutch. Pairs of people and pairs of jeans, just isn't funny in Dutch.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 MEP is very good at introducing challenges gradually. However, it's not a flashy program and has dull graphics (Borac has a similar low-tech graphics look) compared to Singapore and *certainly* to Beast Academy. There are some neat problems in there, though. You might be interested in Marilyn Burns' books I Hate Math book and Math for Smarty Pants, books by Johnny Ball, and Murderous Maths (a bit of a stretch for younger kids, but very boy-friendly). The Living Math books website has tons of suggestions for trade books that are math-worthy. The Anno math games books are kind of simple but quirky. I am not sure if they'd be at the right level, but you may want to look at them; they are not scary. There are interesting problems by level at http://nrich.maths.org/frontpage (Well, except the Observation and Logic book...that fell flat. A lot of exercises just felt dumb or were not translatable into Dutch. Pairs of people and pairs of jeans, just isn't funny in Dutch.) I felt they were a bit, no actually fairly, weird as written in English, too. I felt confused. Especially the problem about the girl going down the stairs. Or was that being able to switch perspective?? Did you see the author's post on Amazon? http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Combinatorics-Competitive-Mathematics-Students/dp/0615868630/ref=cm_cr-mr-title I groaned that now they are revising them and adding material, and they are combining the 4 books into 1. Oh well. Apparently they have errors that have been corrected, but I am not entirely sure how to find them all. One is listed here in response to a 2 star review http://www.amazon.com/review/RW2I35IRP3IJO/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0615843271#wasThisHelpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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