Best Math Program

[Ggg]

Please give your opinion on a solid math program.  Dd is 4 and is excellent at computing and actually does math play on her own.  We have used the Critical Thinking Mathamatical Reasoning Book, but wondering if she may benefit from a different program.  So what do you feel is the best math program for a child gifted in math.  

 

[Sarah0000]

In my house the "best" math curriculum at age four is Singapore 1 and 2 textbooks only but that's after doing Mep Reception, Miquon Orange, and the beginning parts of Right Start Activities for the Al Abacus at age three. I think it will depend on how you would like to approach math lessons. Do you want her math lessons to remain play based and are you good at making a lesson fun on your own?

[Jackie]

At that age, I did use RightStart Math. It was a decent fit, and very hands-on, but is paced for a typical child and I did a lot of adjusting as we went.

Then, at age 5, we ditched formal math curriculum for most of the year. We read lots of mathy books, watched mathy videos, played a lot of mathy games, and worked on mathy puzzles. Plus, we did lots of logic games and logic puzzles. It was fantastic and fun, and DD made big leaps in her abilities during that year.

[SoCal_Bear]

You might want to look at Kitchen Table Math books. If I remember correctly, we already were doing SM 1 as well. We used SM with the Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems as well as the Fan Math Express Math books. I added in Beast Academy later a level behind. We did lots of other math as well like Zaccaro, Ellison, and Borac. Abacus Math books by SAI Speed Math Academy is something I came across later, but I would have liked to introduce it earlier.

Edited October 29, 2018 by calbear

[SanDiegoMom]

My son used Singapore Intensive Practice for the early years.  He also read a lot of other math books -- Life of Fred, Penrose, Murderous Maths, Number Devil, Why Pi and Go Figure were his favorites. He would have switched to Beast Academy if it had been out in time, but alas. 

[EKS]

For that age, I'd vote for RightStart.

[Sarah0000]

Oh yeah I forgot about LoF. We start that at four years old.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

We enjoyed RightStart at ages 3 & 4, then transitioned to Singapore’s Intensive Practice. As PPs have mentioned, we also incorporate lots of other math books & games just for fun. At that age DS liked the Stuart Murphy books best.

So far this year (age 5) he’s enjoyed Secret Life of Math, Number Stories from Long Ago, From Zero to Ten, & The History of Counting. I’m hoping to pick up Penrose & Number Devil soon, then go through the Sir Cumference series with him next year a series a fun addition to medieval history (he’ll be 6).

Semi-Ot: We own Murderous Maths, but I was planning to save it for when DS can read it independently. Any particularly questionable content for a 5yr old?

[sweet2ndchance]

I'm using Singapore as well for my 5yo who loves all things math. Plus all the extra math activities and books I can find. He loves doing math puzzles with dh.

Ds likes the Mathematical Reasoning books but I think it was more because they are bright and colorful, not so much for the content.

[Xahm]

7 hours ago, Expat_Mama_Shelli said:

Semi-Ot: We own Murderous Maths, but I was planning to save it for when DS can read it independently. Any particularly questionable content for a 5yr old?

There is definitely some potty humor in there. Nothing terribly crass, but it depends on your family culture, I'm sure. In ours, that's the kind of thing I let the kids read on their own and pretend to be mildly shocked by if they bring it up with me. They know out isn't a big deal, but also isn't what I want to hear from them.

 

With my current four, almost five, year old, we're going through MEP 1 and he plays Prodigy. I was surprised, but he tested into third grade there. He's just growing out of being completely writing averse, so I scribe for him at this point. Later, probably when we get halfway through MEP 2, I'll start him on Beast 2. My six year old is currently in MEP 3, Beast 2b, and plays Prodigy covering 4th grade topics, mostly. I also have her play the Medieval Math app sometimes to improve math fact automaticity. 

[SanDiegoMom]

13 hours ago, Expat_Mama_Shelli said:

 

Semi-Ot: We own Murderous Maths, but I was planning to save it for when DS can read it independently. Any particularly questionable content for a 5yr old?

It's violent too, as can be inferences by the title, lol. My son enjoyed them until he didn't - he says now they were too violent even though he ate them up in first and second grade. 

[Ggg]

On 10/28/2018 at 12:21 PM, Sarah0000 said:

 Do you want her math lessons to remain play based and are you good at making a lesson fun on your own?

 

Yes and yes, I feel it is important to increase her natural ability - keeping it fun with her is a must because she is a very serious learner...she tends to get upset if she does not do thing 100 percent correct.  Do you having any ideas how to handle the perfection?  Unfortunately, I did not do the best with the first 2 on that issue.

Thank you,

 

[Ggg]

On 10/29/2018 at 12:53 AM, calbear said:

You might want to look at Kitchen Table Math books. 

 

Thanks for the reminder- Have the kitchen table math and other living math books ...need to go dig in a box, the 11 years between learners and not having a large enough book case is testing my thinking skills ?.

 

 

 

[Sarah0000]

1 hour ago, Ggg said:

 

Yes and yes, I feel it is important to increase her natural ability - keeping it fun with her is a must because she is a very serious learner...she tends to get upset if she does not do thing 100 percent correct.  Do you having any ideas how to handle the perfection?  Unfortunately, I did not do the best with the first 2 on that issue.

Thank you,

 

Then you could use any curriculum And make the lessons play based. I do that with Singapore 1 and 2. I don't know about the perfectionism. 

[Ggg]

Would someone please tell me which edition of Singapore math is recommended-primary, common core, math in focus, deminsions, thinking, USA?  Thank you

 

 

[SoCal_Bear]

Depends on your goal. I can tell you why I use CA standards here on my blog. https://lifeatwarpspeed.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/singapore-math/

[berwif]

I tried Singapore Math and it's really helpful. However, it depends on the students too. some are more at ease with the standard computational processes. 

[SanDiegoMom]

We just used Intensive Practice, which I think is standard but I'm not sure.  

[Ggg]

On 11/5/2018 at 10:32 AM, HeighHo said:

 

What objectives are you intending to teach? Perhaps we could suggest resources? No one program is comprehensive.

 

As far as objectives - needing basics...thinking mental, learning through exploring and living books.  Is there a guide as to what they should learn or do you just allow them to learn?  Would love some resources, thank you

[arliemaria]

Perhaps the Gattegno Textbook.

https://issuu.com/eswi/docs/gattegno-math-textbook-1

Read a section or two then make up some rod play based on the section. Education Unboxed can help too. My son loved Dragonbox apps when he was tiny too.

[strawberryjam]

My favourite for that age is Montessori math. It would not be “open and go” though, there is some learning involved in how to use the material. The material can also be pricey (but then again, so is buying dozens of different math curricula and manipulatives that aren’t a good fit... don’t ask me how I know)

We’ve tried Singapore Math, Math in Focus, CLE math, RedBird by Stanford U math online, Life of Fred, Miquon Math, Math Mammoth, Critical Thinking Math, DK math workbooks...

The “perfect” math sequence that works the best for us is Montessori math in the early years, transitioning to Saxon Math somewhere between grade 2-4. My daughter is in grade 4 and she is thriving with Montessori math. My son is in grade 7 and we had been doing CLE math for a few years before switching to Saxon. CLE is great also and very similar to Saxon but I like the way Saxon is organized better. Also CLE is a bit too advanced for the grade level, I think it has something to do with the fact they are written by a Mennonite community and they try to squish in math in less years to finish earlier. My son went from CLE early grade 5 straight to Saxon about halfway through grade 7 level, so CLE is about 2 years ahead.

Singapore Math was not a good fit for my kid but lots of Gifted kids seem to like that approach. While my son can do math that way, he prefers not to. The sequential method of Saxon is far better, and will take him straight through HS to college. I also appreciate that it’s written to the student so he can do it on his own without my help. Saxon has a proven track record and I feel confident it will prepare my son for the STEM fields he is interested in pursuing in college.

[lewelma]

At age 4, we did a lot of activities, but no workbooks with my older son. We did three main things that were cool:

1) We  took turns making up word problems for each other in kind of an ongoing story way.  "There was a princess, and she had 55 friends coming to a party, she wanted to bake enough pies so each friend could have a slice and a half and then bring one slice home to her family. How many pies did she need to bake".... then his turn, "At the last minute she realized that she did not have enough flour.  Each cake called for 1 1/4 cup and she only had 10 cups, how many was she short?".... My turn, " she went to the store, and was horrified that the flour was $5.50 per bag, so went to another store, and found it for $4.80 per bag, how much did she save?"  Each of these questions, we would solve with mental maths.  The goal was having FUN, do real life math, master mental calculations, and be able to make up the question (which is actually pretty hard for a kid). This was a ongoing game we played where ever we were.

2) We practiced estimating. We would guess at number of birds or cars, etc.  Then count them.  As we got better, we would practice estimating based on a subset and multiply up.  We would each do it differently and then compare our numbers.  Gave them a really good number sense.  And we could do it anywhere. 

3) We did a lot of probability games. Don't really remember the details, but just playing with all the different D&D dice, predicting, experimenting, etc.

I know a lot of gifted math kids get going fast on content, but we did not take this approach.  We had a math rich household, but we only started workbooks at age 6 3/4. I only did it then, because the month before he had invented algebra and I thought I better be a bit more systematic.   But our approach definitely gave my older son the background he needed to do very well. My younger son wanted so badly to be like his big brother, that he was desperate to do workbooks at the same time, so he started at 3 1/2. 🙂