Any Miquon purist out there?

[hadera]

From my brief time here it seems that the majority of those who use Miquon use it for younger children and not all the way to 3rd grade? And if they do use it all the way through it is used with another curriculum. I could be completely wrong about this so please set me straight. If you are/were using what did you do next?  If you didn't it stick out, why not? The recent threads made me curious...  :lurk5:

Edited January 26, 2016 by hadera

[Farrar]

I used it all the way through as the primary curriculum for one of my ds. We did use other things, but they were clearly supplemental. Miquon was the heart of what we did for math.

 

We moved into the Beast Academy levels that were available at the time. Then we floundered around and cobbled together some stuff - I used some chapters from NCERT, some of the Key to series, and a few other things before moving him into the Arbor School series, which is basically where he is now.

[FO4UR]

One of my kids switched to CLE with Singapore CWP as a supplement.  Another uses Singapore straight up.  Another uses mostly Khan Academy.

 

One of my kids truly thrives with the discovery approach.  I milked Miquon for it was worth with him.

 

Another one of mine feels off-kilter with the discovery approach.  I switched her after about a year of Miquon.

 

And the third is an even mix.  He really just wants to get math done and get on with legos and minecraft.

 

 

 

[Lori D.]

We used all of Miquon. But not always as our main math program.

 

For DS#1, it was his "spine" math program when we started homeschooling him in grade 2; he got through all of the first 3 workbooks and most of the the 4th workbook. For grade 3, we switched him to Singapore Primary (3A/B) as his "spine" math, and Miquon moved to "supplement", getting plugged in here and there in 3rd-4th grades, to finish off the Green, Yellow and Purple workbooks. Once he had completed all of Miquon, he continued on with Singapore Primary, with some other resources thrown in there, and doing "skim reviews" of Saxon math for several years. He then went on to Singapore's New Elementary Math 1, and Jacobs Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

 

We started homeschooling DS#2 in grade 1. He has mild LDs in math, and so we went more slowly with him. Miquon was his spine in grades 1-2, and was a supplement to finish the last 3 workbooks. He did a lot of Green and some Yellow in grade 3, finished Green and Yellow and did some Purple in grade 4, and finished the bit of Purple that was left in grade 5. We tried a lot of things in grades 3 and 4, finally found Math-U-See was a good fit for him in 5th grade and we continued with that through high school. and once Miquon as a supplement was finished, for supplement through grade 8 we used Singapore 4A/B, 5A/B and 6A/B, plus some of the Keys To… math workbooks (which are by the son of the Miquon author, and in a similar style, but are gr. 4-8 math topics).

 

The reason we switched Miquon from spine to supplement for the last 2-3 workbooks (Green, Yellow, Purple) is that many of the topics are more advanced (factoring, squaring, length/area/volume, graphing equations) and they were a fit better for DSs when they were a bit older (grade 4). And some of the topics were more supplemental (series and progressions, grid and arrow activities, mapping, clock arithmetic, sets ) rather than foundational (add, subtract, multiple, divide, fractions), and worked better as a fun supplement to plug in every so often as a break from the foundational math concepts. And, there aren't as many pages on those "supplemental" topics, so you don't spend long on them.

 

But again, we did do all of Miquon. And even when Miquon was the spine, we used other things as supplement. I'm a big believer in doing more than one math program (or use of various resources for supplement) to see math from more than one perspective. :)

 

A friend also used all of Miquon; her DS was advanced in Math and plowed through all 6 workbooks by the end of 2nd grade.

 

I don't think there is any one "right" or "wrong" way of using Miquon whether you use just some of it, most of it, or all of it. But that's true of any math program. It's a journey of discovery finding what works best for each individual student, and that can change over time as the student changes. BEST of luck in finding what Math works best for each of YOUR students, and in seeing how Miquon fits into the puzzle for your family. :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Lori D.

[73349]

We did all the books. But my kid was ready to start before first grade, and finished mid-2nd. If you do a lot of school days, you'll find that a Miquon book does not take half a year.

 

DS did...

orange    K      Sept. - Dec.

red           K     Jan. - March

Then I let him do some Singapore to finish the school year and through the summer.

blue         1st   Sept.-Nov. and again some Singapore.

green      1st   March-June

yellow      summer between 1st and 2nd

purple      2nd   Sept.-Nov.

 

We've typically done over 200 school days a year, so if I wanted him to do math every day, I had to fill in with some other things.

 

 

 

[Raifta]

I used all of Miquon for DD in grades 1-3 and DS is now starting the 5th book.  However, as some previous posters have mentioned, had that been the only thing we did, we would have been done all 6 books really fast.  

 

So, to stretch things out, we also use SM for DD and MM for DS.  Essentially I considered both of the programs they were doing to be a main math program, one was not considered for important than the other.  It also allowed us to review and elaborate on areas that had been previously covered more frequently than had we just been doing one program.

[Raifta]

I used all of Miquon for DD in grades 1-3 and DS is now starting the 5th book.  However, as some previous posters have mentioned, had that been the only thing we did, we would have been done all 6 books really fast.  

 

So, to stretch things out, we also use SM for DD and MM for DS.  Essentially I considered both of the programs they were doing to be a main math program, one was not considered for important than the other.  It also allowed us to review and elaborate on areas that had been previously covered more frequently than had we just been doing one program.

[pehp]

I think by that definition I have been a purist until this year.  We started Miquon in first grade.  In second I wondered if we needed a different approach and tried R&S for a little while (along WITH the Miquon).  A month or two of that was enough to show me that Miquon was enough for us.  

 

This year, just the past month or so, I'm starting to add in a little Singapore, more for familiarity with that program as I look to the future, not b/c I need to supplement Miquon or replace it.  I just know it will end, and we'll need something else, so I'm experimenting w/ Singapore.

 

One thing we do is a little Calculadders (just a sheet of math drill) a couple days a week. I keep this very low-key and sometimes I skip it entirely. 

 

Unlike previous posters, I have not sailed through the program.  We definitely take our sweet time.  We may do only HALF a page on some days.  Some days I skip it (homeschooling heresy there, but that's what it is).  My son is not super-inclined to math, and needs a lot of gentle encouragement, and I've found that going slowly and making sure he totally grasps the concepts is more helpful for us.  I do think some children could move at a faster pace.  Just not my son! 

 

My daughter just turned 5 and I've already bought ALL her Miquon books so we will certainly be doing it again with her.  

[El...]

We went through all the Miquon books, but supplemented with Singapore from time to time because I felt Dd needed more practice with the basic facts, and also because I wanted to move to Singapore after Miquon and didn't want it's style to be a huge surprise.  In addition, as mentioned above, Miquon didn't take three whole years, and at one point I wanted to slow Dd down. 

 

We now use Singapore Standards plus BA.

[klaw]

I love Miquon, and have used it for all three of my children, though differently.  My daughter was in school until grade 3, but came home hating math and not really understanding most of the operations.  So we started with the orange book and worked our way through all of the books (with the exception of the last one, I think!) in that year so that she could gain a better understanding of math.  She transitioned very nicely into grade 3 MM (which meets the grade 4 standards for our province) the next year; the only gap I saw was that she had no experience with word problems so we had to work on those a bit.  My son we pulled out of school midway through grade 1, and he jumped into miquon and did the first 4 books over the next year and a half, and he switched to BA at the start of grade 3 with no problems.  My youngest in in grade 1 now.  We started the red book last year and took our time with it, and he's most of the way through the orange book this year.  I'm actually taking it very slowly as I feel like the work he's doing right now is pretty challenging for him, and I don't feel like first grade is the time to push learning multiplication :).

 

If I were to supplement miquon, I would add some word problems to the mix, and some work on multiplication tables.  But I love the simplicity of the program, the lovely clean pages, and the way that kids really play with math.  It worked well for my hands on math learner (she used the rods) and my visual spacial guy who didn't like using them.  It's pretty quick...math often takes only 10 minutes, but my kids seem to learn all they need to know in that time.  I wish it went another grade or two!

[BooksandBoys]

We intend to use all of Miquon (he's on Yellow now), but because we school 225ish days a year and my oldest loves math, I also use Singapore and a few other supplements. I love Miquon.

[Spy Car]

I believe that the Miquon author, Lore Rasmussen, was far less interested in what pages one used (her's, or anyone else's), as opposed to promoting a way of learning and understanding.

 

If a "purist" means only using Miquon materials, then goodness "no," not a "purist."

 

But has Miquon as a way of learning infused all further study? Without question!

 

We're now doing AoPS, and think of it as advanced Miquon. Still even break out the C Rods on occasion. The mix of discovery, critical thinking, creative problem solving, and the explicit teaching/learning of mathematical laws with an understanding of how they fit in problem solving plays on.

 

So in that regard, I'd say "purist."

 

Bill

Edited January 26, 2016 by Spy Car

[MeaganS]

I'm not done with Miquon yet, but dd2 is in the blue book right now and isn't slowing down. If she had a choice, it would be the first thing she'd do every day. I have every intention of finishing the series with her and then moving to Beast Academy. She is also doing MEP in its entirety (although about half a grade-level behind Miquon) and I think they work great together. I also have a few word problem books we pull out from time to time. If I had to only choose one, though, it would be Miquon and if I ever feel like I need to scale back, that's what I scale back to. I consider it her primary math program.

For my non-dyscalculic kids, this is my ideal for elementary.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Meagan S

[Hilltopmom]

It's one of those programs I've always wanted to try & plan to with my youngest kids!- but we've got a few years still, lol.

[AEC]

We used it as the initial math curiculum for both kids. They went through all 6 books.  There were bits of other things we did along the way (games, the colorful linking elephants, etc), but probably 85% of math activities were Miquon.  There was no BeastAcademy at the time, so once they were done my kids switched to Singapore (starting @ 3A).  As I recall, that was around the middle of 2nd grade.

[hadera]

Thank you for all the replies! I enjoy learning about the different ways families use curriculum. I did not expect to use Miquon, but here we are! My son is enjoying the fact that he can just do the work for the most part, without being 'taught'. It has given us a break from MEP which I love but he did not. He needed some space from me and to figure things out on his own. I don't know if we will complete all the books...We are in transition from school to home. We shall see what he needs. My biggest goal right now is for him to have a more positive experience with math. I do believe Miquon is helping in that respect.

[ChocolateMomster]

We use a combination of MEP and Miquon...or I shouldn't say combination, because that sounds as if we're skipping pages here and there. We use all, of both curricula. After Miquon they move on to just MEP, or if they fancy Beast Academy alongside MEP.

[TheReader]

I'm nearing the end of Miquon with my youngest, who is our first to use it. My older boys did Singapore all the way through, loved it, switched to Teaching Textbooks &/or assorted other things for higher maths (oldest has done TT, MUS, on-line public school math, and now Saxon Advanced Math for his senior year). My youngest, though, learns *very* differently than the older boys, didn't do so well with Singapore, LOVES and is thriving with Miquon, and I have no idea where we'll go once we're done. 

 

He has used Miquon as his only math curriculum for the past 2.5 years, and with breaks (and an international move then a local move, during which time math didn't get done always) he is finishing the Green book now. (he's almost 11, many learning delays, and so "4th grade").