CLE 1st Grade Math in Kindergarten?

[Shraddha]

Has anyone used CLE's 1st grade math in Kindergarten? My daughter will be done CLE Kindergarten 2 this summer, before beginning K. I'm hesitant to start 1st grade math since I know it starts simple but ramps up quickly (my older daughter uses CLE as well). What have others done to either slow it down or bridge the gap? Thanks.

[Clarita]

Not with CLE but for my children I move them on to "1st grade" math. I just don't have them always go a lesson a day. I just pace them according to their stamina (behavior) and timing. This means sometimes they are spending more than one day on what the curriculum might have scheduled as one day worth of work. The other thing you can do to adjust the 1st grade math for a younger child is to require less writing for them. I will scribe for them on the math practice and/or let them use number tiles/magnets/cards to answer or work out problems.

Another thing that I do is I may spend some time doing the Math Facts that Stick series. This is especially if they understand the concepts but I feel like they can use a little extra practice getting their math computations faster. 

 

[BusyMom5]

Is she ready to learn math facts?  Saxon math 1 might be a good fit, but it might be too much memorization.   I used it after Primary Mathematics K with my just-turned 6 and she has done just fine and will continue to Saxon 2 in the fall.  

[SilverMoon]

I haven't used CLE but I did have K age kids using 1st grade books like Horizon and Singapore. 

I'd just follow the kid's lead. I'll assume you're actively participating in daily lessons, so you'll see if they're overwhelmed or bored and can adjust on the fly. It's okay to stop in the middle of a lesson or just start the next one. When they seem spent just put it up for the day. 🙂 Give open access to all the manipulatives they need and encourage using them. Focus on a deep comprehension of concepts and keep extra practice light and fun. Memorization is something that will come with time and repetition and not something I'd focus on at this age. 

One of my early math kids had wicked mental math skills and preferred writing out harder problems on a small whiteboard. I did most of the writing in his math book at least through Singapore level 2 and a fair chunk of 3. He's dysgraphic but we didn't know it at the time. I just continually modified to fit his needs as we went along. He was able to move as fast as his math skills allowed and his writing struggles didn't hold him back. 

[Servant4Christ]

I used CLE math grade 1 for my oldest during kindergarten and  we and stayed a grade ahead of his age in every CLE subject available. This worked fine until we got to grade 4 work at grade 3 age. The jump in written output and the speed at which the topics progressed was overwhelming for him. We ended up switching to a mastery curriculum and dropping backwards by half a year to give him more time to memorize math facts and build up his stamina in physical writing.

[Momof4sweetkids]

On 5/21/2024 at 10:45 PM, Clarita said:

Not with CLE but for my children I move them on to "1st grade" math. I just don't have them always go a lesson a day. I just pace them according to their stamina (behavior) and timing. This means sometimes they are spending more than one day on what the curriculum might have scheduled as one day worth of work. The other thing you can do to adjust the 1st grade math for a younger child is to require less writing for them. I will scribe for them on the math practice and/or let them use number tiles/magnets/cards to answer or work out problems.

Another thing that I do is I may spend some time doing the Math Facts that Stick series. This is especially if they understand the concepts but I feel like they can use a little extra practice getting their math computations faster. 

 

This is pretty much exactly what we've done using Math Mammoth. My 6.5 yo is halfway through second grade and doing fine.

[Shraddha]

Thanks for this fantastic advice, everyone!

@BusyMom5 asked if she was ready to learn math facts, and this is a great question and I honestly wasn't sure. She's had no problem with the Rod and Staff preschool books or what we've done from CLE K, and she writes her numbers well, but I've never tried to see whether she could possibly be ready for more. I started to feel her out the past day and I think that she is not quite ready. She wasn't able to understand some simple "kitchen math" and wasn't able to tell me what number comes before and between other single digit numbers (without looking at a number chart), though she can count fairly high. I prefer her feeling confident, not frustrated, so I think I may need to put off CLE 1 even though that's the next step they have to offer.

She likes and asks for workbooks, so we will do something. I'm going to take a look at MCP Math K because I know they take a slower approach. There's also the simple K math workbooks like DK and others I can get on Amazon if I don't like the look of the MCP. Whatever we choose needs to be fairly "open and go" since I work part-time outside the home and the grandmoms aren't going to be able to juggle teacher guides and tons of manipulatives. When I see she's ready for math facts, we can go back to CLE. I think she can handle the first or second lightunit, but after that, she may start to get frustrated. Thanks again!

[Servant4Christ]

If you are already using R&S ABC books, you might consider R&S first grade math. It's gentle and starts at the very beginning (the number zero) and works slowly to familiarize them with the numbers before, after, and between. It is workbook format and very straightforward even with the teacher guide. Because R&S is old school and taught similar to how my own grandparents were taught, I think grandmoms would be fine with it. There aren't a lot of required manipulatives and most can be accomplished other ways in a homeschool environment. You can speed up or slow down the work easily. Memoria Press actually uses and stretches out Rod & Staff grade 1 curriculum over kinder and first grade.

Edited May 23 by Servant4Christ

[ScoutTN]

Another option is to go sideways, as some have already suggested, and do a K curriculum by another publisher, building that foundation stronger without moving ahead.

Kindergarten Math with Confidence or Singapore Earlybird are good choices. 

[Shraddha]

@Servant4Christ I've thought about the R&S route, such as doing the first workbook and then switching to CLE. I feel bad because I had it and gave it away. My older daughter was fairly miserable with R&S once she got to 2nd. We were using all MP at the time...maybe it was R&S in combination with the Memoria Math Challenge that was too much, or just her preference for the spiral method. Thankfully it's inexpensive enough that I can always buy it again. I think it's a great suggestion and maybe I would have just done that if I hadn't gotten rid of it when I was cleaning out. I remember assigning the R&S practice sheets as "homework" with the grandmoms and they had no trouble with it.

@ScoutTN I like the idea of using another publisher in the meantime. It's hard to find something that will transition well since CLE assumes the child has had absolutely no math. I'll consider (re)purchasing R&S 1, and will look into Math with Confidence and Singapore while I also consider MCP K. I think I remember Math with Confidence involving a bit too many "moving parts" to delegate to the grandmoms while I'm at work. They would rather make sure a worksheet is completed than do manipulatives and games. But I'll double check.

[EKS]

I found RightStart B to be good for that age with my accelerated Ker.

[Servant4Christ]

1 hour ago, Shraddha said:

@Servant4Christ I've thought about the R&S route, such as doing the first workbook and then switching to CLE. I feel bad because I had it and gave it away. My older daughter was fairly miserable with R&S once she got to 2nd. We were using all MP at the time...maybe it was R&S in combination with the Memoria Math Challenge that was too much, or just her preference for the spiral method. Thankfully it's inexpensive enough that I can always buy it again. I think it's a great suggestion and maybe I would have just done that if I hadn't gotten rid of it when I was cleaning out. I remember assigning the R&S practice sheets as "homework" with the grandmoms and they had no trouble with it.

@ScoutTN I like the idea of using another publisher in the meantime. It's hard to find something that will transition well since CLE assumes the child has had absolutely no math. I'll consider (re)purchasing R&S 1, and will look into Math with Confidence and Singapore while I also consider MCP K. I think I remember Math with Confidence involving a bit too many "moving parts" to delegate to the grandmoms while I'm at work. They would rather make sure a worksheet is completed than do manipulatives and games. But I'll double check.

I don't use actually use Memoria Press, although I did buy their arithmetic flashcards instead of R&S because they are 4x6 instead of crazy big classroom sized. The additional flashcards included in R&S first grade flashcards (but not in Memoria Press') can easily be done on the fly with a dry erase board. As written by R&S, each math lesson is a literal 2 page spread in the workbook. Oral drill/presentation of concepts is in the TM. I have the newer edition which is 2 workbooks and 1 hardcover TM.

Edited May 23 by Servant4Christ

[Clarita]

24 minutes ago, Shraddha said:

I think I remember Math with Confidence involving a bit too many "moving parts" to delegate to the grandmoms while I'm at work. They would rather make sure a worksheet is completed than do manipulatives and games. But I'll double check.

Singapore Earlybird can be just the workbook. I mean it gives suggestions in the workbook for manipulatives and stuff but many just use it like a workbook. Although Singapore in level 1 and above teaches in a "different" way grandmom should be able to figure out kindergarten level and kindergarten isn't that different from the "traditional" way.

[BusyMom5]

The new Primary Mathematics K would be a good choice.  You could add games when you are home, but the grandma's could do the workbook pages easily.  It has a lot of tracing the numbers, counting, putting things in order, more or less,  longer or shorter.  I didn't get the teacher guide, just the workbooks.   

The R&S would also be a good choice.  Easy, gentle.   

We also did K MWC, but I wasn't a fan- not enough writing.  The workbook would be easy for the grandma's, though!  

Sometimes kids change a lot very quickly.  You could start with a workbook and change it up at Christmas if they need more content.  I usually do a lot of playing at this stage- like calendar, adding with stickers,  telling adding or subtracting stories with little toys.  I don't do a lot of bookwork until they are ready to write.  

[Penderwink]

We did MWC K my son’s pre-K year, and it went well conceptually but you could see that he needed to figure it out for each question, and the sudden introduction of counting by twos at the end confused him. Moving on to first grade didn’t feel right.

This year (K) we did Singapore Primary Mathematics K (A+B) which worked well - learning to write numbers, focus on breaking numbers into parts, they have "Mastery and Beyond" practice books so you can adjust the level. Things got smoother, he just knows some math facts now. We finished up a few months ago and decided not to proceed to first grade yet - partly to get more fluency with addition/subtraction within 10 first, and partly because we’re still working on the reading curriculum, and he has  a rather limited maximum time for formal learning.

We’ve been playing lots of games (e.g. Clumsy Thief Jr, 10 on the Spot, Counting Mountain, Volcano Pop), reading some mathy picture books (The House with 100 Stories, Eggs and Legs (counting by twos) and the similar counting by fives and tens books, Symmetry in Nature), and playing the Funexpected Math App. And it’s coming together and I see the progression - and he’s enjoying it,

[MiddleCourt]

9 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Another option is to go sideways, as some have already suggested, and do a K curriculum by another publisher, building that foundation stronger without moving ahead.

Kindergarten Math with Confidence or Singapore Earlybird are good choices. 

Yes- I was going to suggest MWC for the year and then reevaluate. It’s fun, and pretty easy to implement. You can definitely tweak the games to make it easier to implement. It’s been awhile since we’re finishing MWC 2, but I don’t recall there being games every day.

Edited May 23 by MiddleCourt

[Amoret]

Just another option to throw out there -- My DD *loved* Miquon Math Labs  when she was that age. It is fun, hands-on, and substantive. We found it to be a great supplement to the more traditional program we were using at the time.

[Shraddha]

Thanks, this is all great advice. We're so blessed that there are many good options! I'm going to make sure I look at them and pray about them. I really appreciate everything you've shared.

[ktgrok]

Years ago I did with one kid. When the lessons ramped up we split them into two days. 

[AnneGG]

We love CLE math! I wish I would given it a chance long before I did. (If only I could turn back time!)

My youngest two children aren’t school aged yet, but when they are I will probably do Saxon Math K and then move them over to CLE Math 100. I really loved Saxon K (I know many do not) but it was fun and chill. My son learned so much, even though some days we just played with the manipulatives. There is almost no writing, which would be a nice step into cle since they start from the beginning. I bought it for like $10 used on eBay. 
 

Although, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with starting 100 now. You could split the lessons into two days and just do 101-105 for kindy. 

Edited June 1 by AnneGG

[Shraddha]

5 hours ago, AnneGG said:

We love CLE math! I wish I would given it a chance long before I did. (If only I could turn back time!)

My youngest two children aren’t school aged yet, but when they are I will probably do Saxon Math K and then move them over to CLE Math 100. I really loved Saxon K (I know many do not) but it was fun and chill. My son learned so much, even though some days we just played with the manipulatives. There is almost no writing, which would be a nice step into cle since they start from the beginning. I bought it for like $10 used on eBay. 
 

Although, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with starting 100 now. You could split the lessons into two days and just do 101-105 for kindy. 

I really like this suggestion and I looked at the Saxon K. I think it would be a great way to lead up to CLE 1. The only issue is that I work part-time and this type of curriculum would be hard to delegate to family members who are not going to be teaching, just overseeing to make sure the assigned work is completed. I understand there's no writing and it's heavy on use of the teacher guide / meeting book. I need to be able to say, "Do math pg. 15-16" and not much else.

This is actually a big part of why I love CLE so much; it's written to the student and I can easily just assign a lesson and make sure I do the teaching of new material when I'm home.

I found a simple no-frills curriculum that moves slowly and doesn't introduce math facts until towards the end of K (MCP) and I plan to also add in the Numbers Books 1 and 2 from Memoria Press, since I have them sitting around from my older child. They're a good introduction to numbers to 100 (numbers 1-15 are covered in Book 1), patterns, more/less than, numbers lines, dot to dots, etc. Hoping to take it easy for K and get her comfortable for 1st grade CLE, and focus more heavily upon our reading program.

Glad to connect with another CLE mom!

[AnneGG]

16 hours ago, Shraddha said:

 

I found a simple no-frills curriculum that moves slowly and doesn't introduce math facts until towards the end of K (MCP)

I remember looking at this! Yes, it does look sweet & gentle. I think the K level had stories too, right? I should put MCP K on a list so I remember to check it out again. 😆

I completely understand about Saxon K. It is scripted but I wouldn’t want to leave that for a “sub” either. 

Do you use other subjects from CLE? We are trying several subjects from them next year. My 8th grader is super excited about the Horticulture course and Small Engine Repair elective.  
 

Edited June 2 by AnneGG

[Shraddha]

@AnneGG Yes, the MCP K has stories (though I can't say yet if they're any good). I looked at so many options and they were all either too advanced to the point where it would be silly to do CLE 1 afterward which starts with learning how to write the number 1, or too heavy on manipulatives, or seemed like they jumped into math facts with little explanation. MCP K is not perfect but I think it will work as a segue into CLE 1. There are also additional activities in the teacher guide for those with special needs or who need more explanation, as well as those who want some additional enrichment.

We also use CLE Language Arts and love it. It's very strong with grammar. I like not having to juggle different curricula for grammar, spelling, penmanship and writing. The writing is light and many people supplement it, but it's perfect for us because I want a strong foundation in grammar before doing more writing, and we do writing in other subjects. I'm debating adding CLE Reading in 4th grade once it switches to 5 LightUnits, but haven't decided yet. 

I love the electives they offer; the ones your 8th grader will be doing sound very interesting. We'll be doing Art with a Purpose next year for both kids.

Edited June 2 by Shraddha