What was the *intended* follow up to Miquon?

[mathmarm]

Given that this series was written for a PreK-6th grade school but their math books only go up to 2nd/3rd grade, then what was the intended follow up? Does anyone know?

 

I've been on Miquon Schools websites and see that they now use other materials by various publishers but do NOT actually use the Miquon Math books authored by Lore Rasmussen.

 

Was Miquon always a PreK-6 school? :unsure: and if so, does anyone know what the kids after they completed the Miquon math labs?

[Lori D.]

Don't know the answer to your question, BUT...

 

The Keys To... math series was produced by Lore's son. It is for roughly grades 4-8, and each topic has a set of workbooks that covers the topic from a variety of ways, somewhat Miquon-style. Topics covered: Measurement, Fractions, Decimals, Percents, and then Algebra and Geometry. They make great supplements if a student needs to slow down and spend more time on a subject. Or, they make great "first exposure" workbooks -- I know some people on these boards have first gone through the Algebra or Geometry set of workbooks and THEN gone on and done a regular textbook program.

[Farrar]

I've honestly never figured it out. What's especially frustrating to me is that there's a gap between Miquon and the elementary topic Key to books (or the old original Fred books, though I'm not a fan of those). But it's a narrow gap. It's just, like, taking long division a few steps further to make it feel finished compared to what's covered in the last two Miquon books. Sigh. And the Key to books are really different from Miquon. I mean, the same in some ways (the design, the way the problem sets help support understanding) but mostly very different (way more explicit than Miquon).

 

When ds finished Miquon, Beast wasn't out yet really. We floundered for awhile and did various things - like the Key to books and Hands on Equations and Primary Challenge Math. Nothing was stellar (well, HoE is pretty awesome, but it's hardly a foundational program for upper elementary math) and then we did the Beast books that were out and then he went into pre-algebra. Now that Beast is more complete, I think it makes a huge deal of sense as a sequence. Miquon -> Beast -> choice of Pre-A program. There's technically an extra year of math in there somewhere (Miquon is 1-3, Beast is 3-5 right now) but I think most people agree that Miquon Orange and Red can be a kindy program so there's no issue there.

[Lori D.]

I've honestly never figured it out. What's especially frustrating to me is that there's a gap between Miquon and the elementary topic Key to books (or the old original Fred books, though I'm not a fan of those). But it's a narrow gap. It's just, like, taking long division a few steps further to make it feel finished compared to what's covered in the last two Miquon books. Sigh. And the Key to books are really different from Miquon. I mean, the same in some ways (the design, the way the problem sets help support understanding) but mostly very different (way more explicit than Miquon).

 

When ds finished Miquon, Beast wasn't out yet really. We floundered for awhile and did various things - like the Key to books and Hands on Equations and Primary Challenge Math. Nothing was stellar (well, HoE is pretty awesome, but it's hardly a foundational program for upper elementary math) and then we did the Beast books that were out and then he went into pre-algebra. Now that Beast is more complete, I think it makes a huge deal of sense as a sequence. Miquon -> Beast -> choice of Pre-A program. There's technically an extra year of math in there somewhere (Miquon is 1-3, Beast is 3-5 right now) but I think most people agree that Miquon Orange and Red can be a kindy program so there's no issue there.

 

Yep, that pretty well summarizes the issue. And it is  tough to figure out where to go after Miquon if it was an esp. good fit.

 

DS#1 loved Miquon, but made a smooth transition to the (older) Singapore Primary, and then on to Jacobs Algebra and Geometry. Trying to find a good fit for Algebra 2 and beyond was the only hard spot for him. Beast Academy, Art of Problem Solving, and Life of Fred were not out yet in the grades we needed, so those weren't options for us.

 

DS#2 was the math struggler throughout, but in the early elementary grades did best with Miquon out of all the things we tried. After Miquon we flailed about for awhile, and finally landed on Math-U-See which clicked for him, and stuck with that up through the high school years, with some supplementing with some booklets with matching manipulatives (multi-link cubes, pattern blocks, geoboards), plus Hands-On Equations, Keys To... workbooks, and excerpts from Singapore...

Edited October 5, 2016 by Lori D.

[mom2bee]

My understanding is that the math labs were never meant as a full on, stand alone program, but as a lab component that supplemented whatever the classroom teacher was doing, much like the lab component to a science class.

 

Now, the books are so flexible that they could be used to introduce, reinforce, extend, challenge etc, but the lab sheets themselves weren't meant to be the only math program used. So I guess the expectation is that students would eventually phase out of the manipulative-dependent stage. I would love to know what the "core" math books at the Miquon school were, but the folks at Miquon couldn't tell me--apparently they were rather generic. Miquon teachers are very independent and allowed a lot of freedom of what/how to teach.

[Farrar]

My understanding is that the math labs were never meant as a full on, stand alone program, but as a lab component that supplemented whatever the classroom teacher was doing, much like the lab component to a science class.

 

Now, the books are so flexible that they could be used to introduce, reinforce, extend, challenge etc, but the lab sheets themselves weren't meant to be the only math program used. So I guess the expectation is that students would eventually phase out of the manipulative-dependent stage. I would love to know what the "core" math books at the Miquon school were, but the folks at Miquon couldn't tell me--apparently they were rather generic. Miquon teachers are very independent and allowed a lot of freedom of what/how to teach.

 

If you read the FGD, that's certainly not the impression it gives so that really surprises me. We did use it as a standalone for the most part. One of the key elements though was making our own lab sheets or adding in some practice from more "generic" books. By the end of Miquon, even Miquon itself isn't super dependent on the manipulatives. And there are great activities for the rods for concepts in fractions and multiplication and geometry that aren't covered by the Lab Sheets, so that also seems like a strange expectation to me. Many kids benefit from the rods into upper elementary and some even beyond.