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If you don't use a math program popular on WTM forums


mathmarm
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I use Shiller with dd. I wrote some about it here. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/634457-shiller-math-anyone-used-it-reviews-thoughts-tips/

 

It's set up as a series of activities rather than daily lessons. Some of the activities are meant to be repeated many times. She really likes it. The multi sensory spiral is perfect for her. I like that it leads with the conceptual side of things rather than the procedural side.

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I used Rod and Staff through 8th grade. I find R&S math and English and spelling to be in line with the important things mentioned in WTM. I was already using R&S in K and 1st grade when I finally settled on WTM as our S&S for homeschool, but I didn't see the need to switch from R&S to anything different. 

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What do you consider the "Big Ones"?

 

When I first started on WTM CLE was hardly mentioned.  I love it but it is gaining ground and mentioned more often here now so maybe you would not consider it lesser known?

 

Math on the Level I also really like (especially the extensive chart of concepts for k-8th and the system for periodic review)  and it doesn't get mentioned much.

 

CTC math (on-line self-paced) is my favorite on-line supplement because the kids have access to everything from Kindergarten through Calculus.  They are both very asynchronous learners so being able to easily move backwards and forwards through material has been awesome.  Cost is per family, not per student, for a yearly subscription so I am doing lessons too.

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We are using Seton Math right now. It's published by Seton Press (Seton educational media). They make a boxed Catholic curriculum. The math program is workbook based, which I normally am not a fan of, but it's been good for my and 8 year olds, as long as I supplement with multiplication.

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I used CSMP. It uses several non-verbal languages to teach, which is pretty interesting.

My dd liked CSMP in the first grade. We did the minicomputer lessons for a while and then moved on to MEP Year 1. But we did all the integer lessons from CSMP (Yr 1-6) in first grade. She still remembers Eli the elephant and the magic beans. :)

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My oldest used Houghton Mifflin's Math Steps until 5th grade, I think. She also used Math Relief for Algebra II. Neither of those are programs that get mentioned very often. She's a global thinker (whole to parts), and needed to see the big picture first before things make sense to her, so incremental math programs weren't really a good fit. 

 

I'm thinking about using Excel Math for my youngest. He uses Aleks, but really needs a written component.

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Rod and Staff was the best fit for my oldest. He struggled and R&S let him steadily move forward. *I* really enjoy doing the beginning books with my little ones. They're gentle, effective, and thorough. A couple of us were misty when it was time to pass on the "duckie math" TM and felt board pond to a younger family in our homeschool group.

 

DC#3 started with Horizons around 4th grade. It served him very well! He went onto AoPS, Math Olympiad, and such. DC#4 followed in his footsteps. Horizons is a colorful spiral that builds concepts so stealthily they didn't notice. You can tell it was written by someone who enjoys math. It's a strong program. I have no complaints.

 

DC#5 wants to make sure I never think I've arrived and have this homeschool gig figured out. LOL She has an uncanny ability to make something she is very good at a torture to get through. She had a serious love/hate relationship with Horizons that was getting worse and worse. I mixed some Math in Focus into her Horizons and it went better, and eventually she was only using MiF. MiF is a colorful, attractive mastery approach. "Asian" flavored. She only complained about the baby steps. Now she's in one of the "big ones," Singapore, because it has less steps. (She complains loudly about how boring and plain the books are, but her math is progressing well. I expect she'll be in either SM or MiF until she's ready for alg.)

 

DC#6 is using an old, out of print MUS set. Pre-Greek alphabet series. He's been a slow and steady learner, this was on the shelf, it used lots of blocks. Then over Dec/Jan he had a humongous leap in all subjects and he's flying through it. If he'd told me he was going to do this back in December I would have just put him in Horizons. Before the MUS set he'd done duckie math, played with C-Rods and worked through a big part of the first Gattegno math book (all rods based).

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My daughter has an ST Math subscription through our charter school, and sometimes I'll look at what she's playing and wonder something like, "Do I even need to teach subtraction now because she seems to get the concept."

 

My kids do ST Math, too, and it's a delight-- they already understand everything before I begin to explain it.

Well, a delight for me. They don't seem to enjoy it, alas. They want something where there will be applause and cheering and confetti and dressing up avatars and zooming through space.

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My oldest used 2007 Holt math for 6th-algebra. It's basically like doing Thinkwell on your own at a fraction of the cost. I love that is has instructional videos, tons of printable resources, and different types of tests. He is using MUS for geometry, but we will go back to it for Alg. 2.

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Oh maths!  I have used so many programs already and he is only 7.  I think the reason we've used so many things so far is because he is good at Math, enjoys it, and it was actually something concrete we could do and see progress versus reading where he has a specific learning disability: basic reading skills/dyslexia.  That said two of my favorite things we've used were actually vintage math workbooks I've found at either the library for .25 cents and another at Goodwill for .50 cents.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307059715/ Irving Adler workbook.  We used this right before we began our first grade Singapore 1A/1B

 

and a Patrick Suppes (of Key to .... series fame) workbook called Sets and Numbers 2 (Singer Mathematics Program). 

 

Also we have really liked the Gattegno Mathematics Text 1.

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My ds has SLD math, so we use Ronit Bird plus other stuff I have lying around. (RightStart games, Family Math, RS Fractions puzzle, GEMS units, Marilyn Burns books, etc.) I've taught through all the levels now, so I tend to take something really simple and milk it. He has autism, so I need to work on a simple concept lots of ways, in lots of settings, to make sure it's generalizing. Right now we're working on fractions, so we play fractions war every day. It's totally simple, but it was very hard for him at first. Now it's simpler, so I'm introducing estimating, rounding, simplifying fractions, subtracting fractions, etc., all very quietly, all by extending that one simple game. And then we'll take some days and apply the fraction concepts to money, to time, etc.

 

I also use the Daily Math Problem Solving Warm-Ups books from Teacher Created Resources. I notice that kids with math disability tend to have issues applying the concepts to language in problem solving, so I put our written math time (which is exceptionally brief, honestly) into word problems, problem solving, making sure he can take the concepts in his head and connect them with language and actually USE them. I'm utterly disinterested in whether he can work a page of calculations. A calculator can do that. Humans problem solve and create, so that's what I focus on with him.

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and a Patrick Suppes (of Key to .... series fame) workbook called Sets and Numbers 2 (Singer Mathematics Program).

When you are done with the workbook would you be willing to sell me the book?

 

I've been looking for this book in the series and it's exceedingly hard to find consumable workbooks from 60s math programs.

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Math on the Level. We've used it since the beginning, and it works great for us. Math has ended up being our "cuddle on the couch together" subject, and we do it almost entirely on a lap size whiteboard.

 

The review of the 5-a-days, being able to skip around topics and go as fast or slow as we need to- it works so well for us!

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