Would love some input on kinder math

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

Good morning!  My DS will be 6 this week and we are just starting kinder.  He is a little ahead in that he can do basic math (+1, +0, can tell time, count by 10s, etc.)  I chose MUS Alpha because Primer would be way too easy.  I chose MUS because his writing was a real struggle...up until recently.  

 

He is now writing much better and has no issues. He has done fine with Alpha but adding +2 is a roadblock and it only gets harder.  I see no reason for him to keep progressing (even slowly) through Alpha because it is just too much and he is only a kinder! I wish I had known, but am using Alpha as a supplement for my daughter to help her math facts, so all is not lost.  

 

Anyway...I will probably pick Alpha back up with him at some point...I don't want to go BACK to primer, but I want to do SOMETHING.  Was thinking of getting Singapore Earlybird or even just Abeka K5 numbers.  Just to have him doing some math stuff.  Anybody have any ideas?  I don't have a ton of money to spend on this, but need some sort of gap filler to use as we also play games together and stuff.

 

I hope this all makes sense!!  Thank for any input or experience you have!!

[Nart]

What do plan on using for first grade?

[HomeAgain]

We are doing MEP.  I like how little writing there is in it, but it does ask that you have on hand a few manipulatives.  Reception Year is very gentle, and even Year 1 looks gentle, but approaches math a little differently than other curricula.  We're on lesson 21 of year 1 and he's only working with 0s, 1s, and 2s for addition/subtraction, but works on more than/less than, patterns, fine motor skills, bigger/smaller (and other opposites), writing the same problem a number of different ways, and skip counting.  It's free, you can do it orally if you need to, although I do find the writing is minimal in the workbooks.

[Slache]

We are doing MEP.  I like how little writing there is in it, but it does ask that you have on hand a few manipulatives.  Reception Year is very gentle, and even Year 1 looks gentle, but approaches math a little differently than other curricula.  We're on lesson 21 of year 1 and he's only working with 0s, 1s, and 2s for addition/subtraction, but works on more than/less than, patterns, fine motor skills, bigger/smaller (and other opposites), writing the same problem a number of different ways, and skip counting.  It's free, you can do it orally if you need to, although I do find the writing is minimal in the workbooks.

Doesn't MEP have all of the manipulatives to print out?

[UCF612]

I didn't follow a curriculum for K math. We just played games, worked on patterning, played with manipulative/ten frames/etc. Pinterest has TONS of things to do. My goal was to learn to enjoy math, gain number sense, and explore before moving into a "real" curriculum.

 

ETA: I did print the scope and sequence of public school K math do I'd have a plan to use (general topics to cover) and because at the time my thought was that he would go to school for 1st grade.

[Rosie_0801]

Doesn't MEP have all of the manipulatives to print out?

 

You need to print worksheets for MEP1. For Reception, you can get away with working off a screen for most.

 

 

CSMP1 would be a good filler. I think it is more gentle than MEP1.

[HomeAgain]

Doesn't MEP have all of the manipulatives to print out?

 

We didn't find all of them - the counters, for example, and we made an Allie The Alligator (and his strip of water) to help with the more than/less than introduction.

 

[Rosie_0801]

We didn't find all of them - the counters, for example, and we made an Allie The Alligator (and his strip of water) to help with the more than/less than introduction.

 

 

:lol: Clearly I haven't found them all either. I don't even know what you are talking about. :lol:

 

The only manipulative (other than c rods and abacus) we've been using are the minicomputers from CSMP.

[RKWAcademy]

I don't use all of Right Start but we really like the AL Abacus.  It really helped my kindergartners to see the numbers.  We used it with Singapore.  We did Singapore Essentials A&B along with MUS Primer (because I had a non-mathy kid but both kids liked it) then 1A for kindergarten.  We just started 1st grade.  My mathy kid is moving on to Singapore 1B.  My non-mathy kid is doing MUS Alpha for awhile.  Then Singapore.  Since 1A, both use the abacus for all math except MUS (we do a lot of other miscellaneous math like card games, flash cards, mental math, play, etc).

[Sk8ermaiden]

We did Earlybird and loved it, but when DD was 4 y.o., and even then the first semester was review that served for confidence building. I really don't know how that would go over with a 6 y.o.

[ByGrace3]

We did Singapore Essentials and loved it. Actually my dd finished it today. :)