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Do you have a long-term math plan, and if so...


StaceyinLA
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how are you planning out the first few years with that in mind?

 

Say you wanted to start TT in 2nd grade (with the 3rd grade program) and follow it through HS (I know it may not be everyone's favorite, but I'm thinking ease of use for a busy, non-mathy mom, and starting it a year or two ahead of level would make it a bit better of a program overall), what would you do in your first couple years to prep for that?

 

Also, if you DO have an idea of your long-term math plan, what is it?

 

 

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We've never used TT, so I can't be any help there. :(

 

Our long term plan is to use AOPS and prepare for a mostly no-calculator math.  In the early years it looks very gentle: lots of math exploration, lots of hands on, lots of questions and problem solving.  Anno, MEP, c-rods, MUS blocks, geoboards, Montessori tools, hands on logic puzzles (eventually morphing to paper ones like sudoku).  Math can take up to 2 hours a day with just play.  That'll pave the way to TOPS, Beast Academy, Hands On Equations, and Patty Paper Geometry, possibly adding in Sir Cumference with mom-made activities to go with. ;) 

Finally, math will be more of an extension of science, with the two of them playing off of each other during lessons.

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That sounds really awesome and I know that idea would work early on, but I know down the road dd would be concerned she couldn't teach upper levels. I think she is hoping for something straightforward that offers support (the video teaching format is appealing to her) down the road.

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We are using MEP/MM, heading for Beast Academy, perhaps AOPS.

 

You know, in high school, there are a lot of options for outsourcing math, and even in middle school the options are increasing, plus by then a lot of math is "written to the student". All this is to say I would encourage her not to start off with a mindset limited by what may or may not be an issue down the road. Plus, a lot of us learn or improve our math skills by teaching our kids, she may too!

 

If this is not her oldest child I could see taking the more practical, git 'er done approach.

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I want to use School Arithmetics, a vintage text similar to Strayer Upton, but it doesn't begin until 2nd grade. I intend to play around with math until then. We like Education Unboxed, and have done MEP Reception. I really don't care what we do as long as he's happy. We'll probably use Miquon, but it's a rather odd program if you're interested in Teaching Textbooks. After School Arithmetics we'll switch to an Algebra, Geometry yadayadayada program that will be decided on later.

 

So play > vintage elementary > HS friendly higher math

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It varies child by child: 

 

For oldest dd, my math plan is CLE and then Saxon for high school math if she can get there. At this point, because of her special needs, I'd be very happy if she was able to complete Algebra 1.

 

For second dd, we're already doing Miquon and MEP with much success. I plan on finishing Miquon with her and continuing MEP until Beast Academy (although maybe concurrently?). Then AOPS for high school. I may slow her down with some other resources for more depth somewhere along the way too. This is all subject to how she does with the these programs and I am perfectly willing to change plans if necessary, but this is my ideal plan and all signs show that she will likely be just fine with it.

 

Third dd is too early to tell, although signs are that she will follow in the footsteps of second dd. Right now I am trying to figure out how to start her out in a few months. With her older sisters, I started with Singapore Essentials A&B with Miquon, but I'm sick of Essentials, so I'm not sure I want to do that this time. I might be more informal and just do Miquon, we'll see. 

 

As last dd isn't even born yet, I have no current plans for her future math education. :)

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Right now for preK we are doing Miquon Orange and Red, Singapore 1a and 1b, and some RS activities and games, and living books. I intend to continue that through basic arithmetic and completing Miquon, probably finishing up around first/second grade. I don't really know after that, but probably Beast Academy. They should be done with Level 2 by then. And something more structured with it, and I want some kind of science/engineering/math combo approach but I haven't looked into that yet. I haven't thought about middle or high school yet.

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We've never used TT, so I can't be any help there. :(

 

Our long term plan is to use AOPS and prepare for a mostly no-calculator math.  In the early years it looks very gentle: lots of math exploration, lots of hands on, lots of questions and problem solving.  Anno, MEP, c-rods, MUS blocks, geoboards, Montessori tools, hands on logic puzzles (eventually morphing to paper ones like sudoku).  Math can take up to 2 hours a day with just play.  That'll pave the way to TOPS, Beast Academy, Hands On Equations, and Patty Paper Geometry, possibly adding in Sir Cumference with mom-made activities to go with. ;) 

 

Finally, math will be more of an extension of science, with the two of them playing off of each other during lessons.

Love your plan!  I wish I could be that creative with math.

 

We're just doing boring old MM....  :) but it's working.  

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I'm not sure I could stick to a long term plan! :) I just have no idea how the kiddos will respond to any given thing. We did lots of playing for my oldest. Didn't even really do real "math play" - he wanted to build tornados with c-rods instead of do any real math with them. :P My 2nd is the same way, so we'll see how the next two respond! So then I started doing Singapore 1a with my oldest when he was 5.5, and he finished it and 1b before he even turned 6 and started on 2a right away. I have this general idea that we'll do Singapore by itself until he's reading well enough to add in Beast Academy, and then he'll do both of those at his own pace (whatever that is). Eventually, we'll go to AOPS, but my real "long term plan" is to have enough "extra" time in HS for him to explore math that's not usually taught in HS but is super fun and cool (number theory, graph theory, tilings, combinatorics, etc.) and to realize that math is so much more than computations and formulas. Personally, I'd rather have him take number theory than trig, coding theory of calculus, etc. I feel like these other areas are "truer" to what math really is at its heart, and I think that he can pick other stuff up if he has the heart for it, but too often, we kill people's love of math by doing just the boring stuff. :)

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My oldest is in mm3 and I am thinking we will go through mm pre-algebra, then aops or foerster, or something that hasn't been written yet. Dd did right start a and is going to start mm this year. I could see her going into beast academy because she is very visually oriented and has a high threshold for frustration, plus I won't be chasing a nonverbal toddler at that point, God-willing.

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That sounds really awesome and I know that idea would work early on, but I know down the road dd would be concerned she couldn't teach upper levels. I think she is hoping for something straightforward that offers support (the video teaching format is appealing to her) down the road.

 

I actually wouldn't worry about picking a curriculum for first grade based on what you plan to do in high school.

 

If she wants to switch to TT, most beginning arithmetic curricula will be fine. But almost all curricula are pretty equivalent after completion of arithmetic, and then at high school level the courses are much more standardized (with a few exceptions). At worst, if you are going up a large jump in difficulty (we are talking like moving from MUS to Foerster), you may want to repeat a level to ensure foundation is solid. 

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I think DS is someone who could do well with AoPS, but he might also find it tedious and annoying, in which case we'd probably use more standard Australian high school texts above level, with a side of problem solving and/or extra topics.

 

We're doing lots of maths play in these early years. Every now and then I throw a MM worksheet or two at him, or put a cool problem on the board for us to puzzle through, but mostly we just play games.

 

I don't know anything about TT, but I guess I'd look at their placement test/s and make a plan to address the pre - requisite concepts in time to start where and when I intended. I would hazard a guess that this might mean fluency with addition and subtraction, good sense of base 10 place value, and maybe some currency, measurement, very basic polygon geometry? I'd just teach this stuff however worked best for the child and myself.

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Love your plan!  I wish I could be that creative with math.

 

We're just doing boring old MM....   :) but it's working.  

 

Something that works is infinitely better than something that does not work. ;)

 

I'm quite lucky this time around - I've had 10 years experience teaching math to bouncy children and went through quite a bit of trial and error during that time.  It made me really love the exploration side of math. LOL

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I actually wouldn't worry about picking a curriculum for first grade based on what you plan to do in high school.

 

If she wants to switch to TT, most beginning arithmetic curricula will be fine. But almost all curricula are pretty equivalent after completion of arithmetic, and then at high school level the courses are much more standardized (with a few exceptions). At worst, if you are going up a large jump in difficulty (we are talking like moving from MUS to Foerster), you may want to repeat a level to ensure foundation is solid. 

 

Well, TT now has math down to 3rd grade, which she would start with dgs in 2nd grade. I think the idea of the math being explained just makes her feel more comfortable, and why not start it and stick with it (I think - heck I KNOW - the biggest disservice I did to my kids was change math programs too often). She knows TT is something she will be able to use for the long term. Even if it isn't as challenging as some, if she uses it ahead of schedule, the kids could always do something after they completed it early. With the experiences I had with my 4, I think they'd be better off doing a program that she knows she'll be able to stick with than trying to go from program to program and place them in proper levels.

 

So all that rambling just to clarify why I was curious as to what someone might do the first couple of years if they knew they'd get into TT at 2nd grade.

 

Editing to add that she is looking at Singapore to use with him starting now (he's 4 and doing pre-k) and then maybe switching to TT. I know she is doing some hands-on stuff as well with rods and stuff. He is definitely into counting and numbers, so she doesn't want to kill that; she just isn't over confident with the idea of math for the long run.

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K-2nd: Miquon, supplemented with CLE's flashcard systems (addition, subtraction, multiplication) and I do look through What Your ___ Grader Needs to Know, to cover the few things Miquon doesn't cover).

 

3rd-5th: CLE with Zaccarro word problem books

 

6th+: AOPS

 

 

Above is my math plan for Builder Boy (DS6)

DD14 didn't start homeschooling until 4th grade, so her plan has been scattered until recently and is entirely different. 

DS3 is a lot like DS6, so the same plan as above may apply to him as well.

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I've no idea how far Miss Dyscalculia (who also has very little logical thinking) can go with maths, so I'm doing my best to make her flexible with what she can manage.

 

We use CSMP as our spine. It's free online, it's quirky, she wouldn't be learning any maths without it and it's even scripted so I know where I'm supposed to be going with this stuff that looks nothing like what I did in school.

 

We also use MEP (another free online program that is also scripted, at least the K and 1 levels are, I haven't looked ahead.) Dd can only do this when she's getting the hang of the concept. It provides some extra challenge and is something to do when she hits a wall in CSMP.

 

We use various other supplements like Miquon, Education Unboxed, mathsy picture books, dominoes, maths games etc. We're also learning finance and she's doing a maths journalling project with her Uncle- graphing rainfall and wheat prices.

 

She's not developing any maths-phobia, so I'm considering all this a win at present!

 

I'm not particularly mathsy either, but I'm having a go to see if I can be. It's kind of interesting.

 

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I have a plan although I am sure it will change as I figure out what my twins do best with. We are doing MEP reception followed by right start and most likely going into beast academy as a suppliment and MM and primary. Finally AoPS. I also like the look of jousting armadillos. We will see where we really end up. In actuality this is a list of curriculums *I* like. That doesn't mean anything when it comes to how my kids will learn best or what will help them grow. I really wanted AAS, MIF and Saxon to work but it just didn't and the sooner I realized that the quicker we were able to move onto something that did work.

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Long term plan is AOPS, possibly using life of fred a year ahead to introduce concepts.

 

Right now, that looks like not using a specific curriculum! The plan is to have a math hour, and do math for that time rather than finishing a specific lesson. I intend to pull from Mathematical Reasoning, Life of fred, Beast Academy, a number of supplemental books, math games and toys, etc. 

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Well, my main goal was to encourage my daughter to be mathy if she had the capability. From that goal, I found RightStart Math. In order to have all the toys around, I bought the whole setup for Level A around DD's second birthday. We played with the manipulatives. I looked at the first many lessons and incorporated that into our play. When she had the first several lessons down pat, I looked at the next several lessons and incorporated them. Eventually, we worked our way entirely through Level A this way and I bought B.

 

We also included math living books in our library bin. The MathStart series was an especially good fit at preschool age.

 

DD is now in RightStart C. She has examined the Beast Academy samples and fallen in love, so we will move on to those after RS C. I bought BA3 and she has taken the first guide to bed with her nightly to read as her bedtime book ever since it arrived.

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When my kids were in PreK, no, I didn't have a long-term plan :-). For a 4 year-old, I would play games that involve counting, bake together, play with manipulatives, play with pattern blocks, and so on. Maybe do Singapore A & B if she really wants to use a program, but keep it light and fun. I'd do the same in K. For first grade, she could again use Singapore, something like Miquon, Horizons--really just about anything. If she's set on using TT, I'd email the company and ask if they have prerequisites or suggestions. I think Shiller looks interesting, but pricey if you are only going to use it through 1st grade.

 

It can be hard to find what will work well when you are starting out. We tried a few programs before we found what worked here. We ended up with Horizons, which we used through level 6, and then we switched to Math-U-See for Pre-Algebra. I didn't know until partway through level 6 though, what we would do next. I agree that it's hard to make a decision at this age about high school, no matter how great it looks! (I did create a plan for other subjects through high school when my kids were young, and I can tell you that vast changes were made to that plan! You just can't know this far ahead!) But, she can know that she'd like to do something for a few years and maybe switch to TT in 2nd grade, and then see how it goes. 

 

Have fun--4 is a great age :-).

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Right now we are using MEP R, MathStart Books & introducing concepts w/ manipulatives. In spring we will begin Rightstart.

 

We'll start Beast Academy when they release the 2nd grade curriculum (slated for 2017)... DS should be on level C or D in RightStart by then. We may do both together, we may not. Beyond elementary I have no idea - it depends on how quickly he moves!

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My pre-K'er is #4, with older siblings who have each been successful in math with a variety of things. My long term plan is to meet her learning style and ability with an appropriate curriculum/teaching method for her.

 

My oldest did RSA, Miquon Orange, and SM 1A in K, three years wasted in public school math, then back tracked a bit to SM 3, 4, 5 in two years, followed by AOPS preA and Algebra. When we started I didn't know anything about AOPS, so I can't say it was part of a long term plan. When dd got caught up and the advanced using SM I could tell she did well with problem solving (AOPS has been fabulous). In K it was less evident.

 

DS had public K, then RS B and C, then Beast Academy 3 and 4 (that definitely wasn't planned because it wasn't written when he was in 1st). He also participated in a Math Circle. He's started SM 5, but it isn't the best fit for him, so I am assessing other options.

 

Middle DD I knew this much: start with something visual (she's highly visual), so we did pre-Miquon work, SM Earlybird K, and elements of RSA. Then in 1st she did SM 1 and lots of Education Unboxed. 2nd was more SM and Education Unboxed , until starting BA 3. We'll see where she goes.

 

Sorry for droning on, but I guess my point is that you can make long term plans, but be willing to change them. The curriculum is only a tool, and you never know what will work best for your student.

 

Having given that caveat, I think mathematical play is best in the early years. And when they're reading to sit for lessons RS B is awesome! But maybe CLE will be aw some for your student, or MM, or something yet to be published. Best Wishes!

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