Miquon for PreK?

[Slache]

I've read in 2 places now that you can use Miquon with an average Prek student, but I've also read that it's too advanced for a typical Kindergartner. What saith the hive?

 

 

ETA: I intend to start a formal PreK year after he turns 4.

[Rachel]

My 4 year old enjoys playing with the rods and I think she could do a lot of pages in the Orange book, but I don't think she is truly ready for it yet. It worked better with my 5/6 K'er. I do play games from education unboxed with my 4 year old though. She does seem to be math oriented but not gifted in math.

[pehp]

I started Miquon w/ my son when he was 6. I think you could use it for a 5/6 year old, but I do think 4 is young. I would recommend using the c-rods to play games (see Education Unboxed videos), etc. to gain familiarity w/ the rods, but take your time on starting the books. HTH!

[Ellie]

A good precursor to Miquon would be Mathematics Made Meaningful. Miquon assumes that children are already familiar with C-rods; MMM would do that. :-)

[Coco_Clark]

I've started Miquon at 5 and advanced slowly with a kid that was chomping at the bit to begin. Id be hesitant to begin at 4. Can he count to 20 and to 100 by tens? Can he recognize and form the numerals 1-10? Does he understand the basic theory of adding and subtracting? I think those are all prerequisites to Orange.

 

I second the Education unboxed videos. Lots of fun math games for the pre-k set and it will get your kiddo used to the blocks.

[Slache]

Thank you everyone. I've decided not to go forward yet, which is where I was leaning. I've looked at your suggestions and I'm not sure what I'll do, but whatever we do it'll be fun. :)

[Walking-Iris]

I'm on my second go- through of Miquon. I wouldn't use it with a Kinder. It looks deceptively simple, but it is not really. Miquon also doesn't assume prior knowledge of c-rods. There are plenty of activities in the Orange book and in the Lab Annotations (which you should read and use if you're doing Miquon) that get the child familiar with c-rods. 

 

Education Unboxed is a good start with pre-Ker's. C-rod activity books are good. http://www.nurturedbylove.ca/resources/cuisenairebook.pdf

 

I'm working with Saxon K and SM math K in these years before 1st grade. Adding some Montessori inspired math activities is helpful with little ones as well. 

http://www.pinterest.com/jojoebi/montessori-maths/

 

MMM is a good program. So are the RightStart games cards.

 

They will take you beyond 1 year of use as well....so that's a value.

[MeaganS]

I just started with my bright 3 almost 4 year old daughter.  I used Miquon for a little while with my almost 6 year old as well, but the style didn't work for her at all.  She could do the page, but she just didn't make the connections that Miquon is designed to help them make.  She's ASD, so I think that is the reason. She's now doing Saxon and it is working for her beautifully.  Because I used Miquon before, at least the first two levels, I understood what it would ask of a child and I knew that dd3 could handle working through it slowly.  Sitting in on her sister's math, she would see the patterns and understand the theory behind the math before her sister would.  She LOVES it so far and literally cried today when I told her we weren't going to do any more until tomorrow.  My plan is to work through it with her as she is able, supplementing with Essential Math B and Education Unboxed, as well as Kitchen Table Math.

That said, she can count things reliably, read numbers (not write them yet, but I can scribe for her), and she has a basic understanding of the c-rods themselves.  She also is inclined to do math and loves worksheets, so this is also fairly child-led.  I wouldn't do it with her if she hated it.

[AimeeM]

I would not do it with a 4 year old who isn't gifted (or at least advanced) in maths. I do think you can use it if the only thing your child is lacking is the fine motor skills to write - I scribe for my son with fine motor skill issues and he's doing very well in it. We started it when he was 4, stepped back when he didn't seem to enjoy it, and now we are happily doing a mix of Miquon and CLE 1 with him as a barely 5 year old.

 

 

[73349]

I did the orange book with DS when he was 5 1/2 (kindergarten) and then started the red one when he turned 6.

 

Before that (4?), he did Singapore Math Essentials Kindergarten B, which is cute and fun.

[Slache]

I just started with my bright 3 almost 4 year old daughter.  I used Miquon for a little while with my almost 6 year old as well, but the style didn't work for her at all.  She could do the page, but she just didn't make the connections that Miquon is designed to help them make.  She's ASD, so I think that is the reason. She's now doing Saxon and it is working for her beautifully.  Because I used Miquon before, at least the first two levels, I understood what it would ask of a child and I knew that dd3 could handle working through it slowly.  Sitting in on her sister's math, she would see the patterns and understand the theory behind the math before her sister would.  She LOVES it so far and literally cried today when I told her we weren't going to do any more until tomorrow.  My plan is to work through it with her as she is able, supplementing with Essential Math B and Education Unboxed, as well as Kitchen Table Math.

 

That said, she can count things reliably, read numbers (not write them yet, but I can scribe for her), and she has a basic understanding of the c-rods themselves.  She also is inclined to do math and loves worksheets, so this is also fairly child-led.  I wouldn't do it with her if she hated it.

 

This is my concern with him. I don't want to waste what could be fantastic because he's so young, but I thought it would be fun to do something. I've been looking at the Education Unboxed videos and I think they're probably perfect for him.

 

What's ASD? I assume Autism Spectrum Disorder? Is that another term for Aspurgers, or is it more severe?

[MeaganS]

This is my concern with him. I don't want to waste what could be fantastic because he's so young, but I thought it would be fun to do something. I've been looking at the Education Unboxed videos and I think they're probably perfect for him.

 

What's ASD? I assume Autism Spectrum Disorder? Is that another word for Aspurgers, or is it more severe?

Yeah, she's autistic.  She would probably be considered more Aspergers now, except she has language issues too.  She just could not make the connection that the more "discovery" type math programs (my dream programs!) looked to make.  She has to be told explicitly what to do and seeing a bunch of different ways to do the same thing confuses her and doesn't help.  Thus...Saxon. She will likely never do AOPS or anything like that.  Traditional math is better for her.  Of course, this may change, she's only almost 6 after all, but we'll see.

 

This is a simple, but important example of the differences in learning styles:  One morning a while ago, I was working with my older daughter.  She had 10 linking cubes connected together and I asked her to count how many there were.  When she was done, I handed her another tower of 10 linking cubes.  I put it right next to the first and asked her to tell me how many there were.  She immediately just started counting the second tower.  My 3 year old, otoh, proclaimed, "there's 10, because they are the same!"  This is the difference.  My older daughter would happily just count them every time, she wouldn't try to see the little tricks and patterns.  But my younger daughter already is starting to see them.  If your son is able to see little connections like my younger daughter, you would be fine to start, I bet.  I wouldn't worry about "wasting" it.  So long as you are doing what is appropriate for him now, then he would likely benefit.  Besides, I use the .pdf from currclick and can print off the same pages to use later if I feel like there would be benefit to doing that (and I have done that in the past).

 

ETA:  I think it works great with Education Unboxed.  Both my dds played with the rods and did activities from Education Unboxed before they started Miquon.  And if we hit a brick wall, I step back and do games and activities from there to fill the time and help them get a better understanding of the concept.

[carriede]

Check out EducationUnboxed.com - lots of c-rod play without using the Miquon books!!