Choosing math for 2nd grade

[ErinSo]

My daughter is only a few days away from finishing her light blue Math Mammoth 1A. We alternate with a Life of Fred lesson every few days.  She LOVES Life of Fred, but is not a fan of the Math Mammoth.  I have promised her we will choose something different for 2nd grade (which we will start as soon as we finish the 1st grade math mammoth). We have also done most of the Orange Miquon book, but that wasn't a hit either.  I am not sure what her learning style is as she seems to have many characteristics of all types.  She does strongly prefer Life of Fred to Miquon or Math Mammoth.  I feel like she had more success with Math Mammoth than Miquon though.  She does great with Life of Fred.  She loves any word problems that we come across in Math Mammoth as well.  Any suggestions on what I should consider doing next?  We will continue with Life of Fred, but I would like to have something else to mix in with it.

 

 

[Gil]

What is it that she doesn't like about MM? Knowing why she isn't a fan can help you understand what she might like or if there is any way you can alter the way that you use MM to better fit her needs. Personally, you will never get an unbiased opinion from me about Math Mammoth. We loved it here, used MM1A-6B and even several of the gold/green units. Math Mammoth fit our needs like a glove, but I can't say that every level was used the same.

 

Just based on what you shared, I'd guess that she is highly verbal (auditory?) and values clear instruction vs discovery/constructionist teaching.

 

 

[Five More Minutes]

Math Mammoth is excellent, but my girls couldn't stand it. We ended up using Singapore Standards, which has a similar approach to MM but different look and feel. The layout of the books was more appealing to them, and the leasons from the HIG made it feel more interactive than MM. Singapore's Challenging Word problems are great!

 

Another excellent resource is Zaccaro's Primary Challenge Math, a non-consumable book full of woes problems at all sorts of levels.

 

When she's older, Beast Academy might be interesting because of the graphic novel/story approach. My eldest has loved this (and she's a Fred fan, too!)

[kateingr]

I personally think Math Mammoth is an excellent curriculum, but my son couldn't stand MM either, because it was difficult for him to conform his way of thinking to the way the problems were presented in the work text. He needed a little more freedom to figure out a problem his own way. Singapore 2a and 2b worked great for him as a bridge to Beast 3a.

[Ellie]

She might be a visual or auditory learner if she doesn't like Miquon or MM, both of which are very kinesthetic.

 

You could check out "Working Arithmetic," R&S's second grade arithmetic. It might seem very simple to you, but R&S's arithmetics have sort of a stealth-math methodology: focus on basic arithmetic the first three years as a solid foundation, and then zoom on with math beginning at fourth. First through third requires the teacher to actually teach (scripted lessons in the excellent teacher manuals) for about 10 minutes, after which the children do the seatwork. From fourth grade on, everything is in the student texts (there are scripted lessons in the teacher manuals, but they don't provide any new knowledge; everything is in the student text).

[WahM]

For my daughter we tried and left MM and Singapore. Even though that's the way I natrually do math in my head, I was never taught that way though, it was just not a program that work for her. We finally found and settled with CLE math. It's great and teaches more than one way to do a problem and doesn't make you do it a certain way which is what I like. The child gets to pick the method that works best for them.