guidance please - math selection, gr k/1

[skaterbabs]

After researching the different math options for math I'm no closer than I was before to chosing one that fits my teaching style (or lack thereof) and my daughter's (6 next Oct) learning style. :glare:

 

Given the following, which programs would the "experts" (those of you who've BTDT) recommend?

 

 

~I prefer scripted (or at least VERY well-explained) guides for explaining the math. I'm a little math-phobic and learned long ago that just because I can *do* the math doesn't mean I can explain it to someone else. If it's explained such that a 4 yo can understand how and why, then I'm good to go. I like consumables because right now we don't have a printer or copier available.

 

~ DD loves stories and games, but thinks workbooks are fun too. As long as it's even relatively visually interesting I honestly don't think she'll care.

 

~ DD is also very much the perfectionist and tends to get frustrated if she doesn't understand things right away. She's very persistant in that she won't stop when she's past the point at which frustration has made it that she simply cannot process instruction.

 

~ She likes to move quickly through the material, so variety may or may not be a good thing for her.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I am in the same situation right now. I am looking for a math program for my twin boys that will be in K and daughter that will be in 1st. I have narrowed it down to McRuffy, CLE or Singapore. I am VERY much not a math person and never had any upper level math. :001_huh: Singapore scares me to death after reading the mixed reviews. :confused: I am wanting to go with Heart of Dakota and that is what they recommend. Anyway, I'll be anxious to see what advice you get. I REALLY want scripted too.

[jozi]

I have just ordered Math U See for my ds who will be 6 in the fall. If you go to their website, you can order a DVD for free that explains the program, or you can download it to watch it right away. I love that it is very visual, but you also have the workbook that she would like. He also focuses on story problems as well, since that is actually how we will integrate math into our daily lives in the future. Hope that helps a little!

[jozi]

Oh, I forgot to say that each teaching manual comes with a DVD that you use weekly. You can either watch it to learn yourself and then teach them, or you can watch it with them. I love that it's not just trying to read the "script" but he actually goes over it in person with you!

[skaterbabs]

I have the sample DVD for MUS, and I like that part of it, I'm just not sure the work texts are "pretty" enough for DD. I think I'm just suffering from a serious case of "don't wanna spend the money in case it's fails" and unfortunately there's just no way to actually get my hands on any of these things locally.

[Samiam]

BJU Math is just what you asked for.

 

The TM is completely scripted, so you can do it word for word, or just use the parts you need.

 

Each year of math has a "theme". For K5 is a Farm Theme. So they learn about Farmer Brown's farm and alot of the info is counting animals, etc.

 

Lots of hands on stuff, and then a worksheet daily. Colorful, with farm themes, just "pretty" worksheets.

 

I love it, although I am not a big fan of the BJU doctrine in general, the thing is, alot of the lessons do not mention religion at all. The ones that do, it is only a small portion of the lesson, so you can take it or leave it.

 

I never would have looked at BJU until I kept getting people telling me how much they loved it....and now so do I. AND most of all, my son does too.

hth

[jozi]

I know how you feel. I was able to find the manipulatives and the teaching manuals on the forums for SO much cheaper. I actually had the benefit of seeing a friend's (she's using it for her kindergardener this year and loves it) blocks and workbook. It's certainly not pretty with cute pictures and things like that, but it is awesome! I love how it even introduces place value and negative at such a young age. I was shocked that they could comprehend that, but it seems to be working marvelously for her. One thing I'm thinking is that since I got them used, I can sell them for about what I paid for it if it doesn't work for us. I'm thinking of copying the pages of the workbooks, anyway, so I could use it for my dd the following year. Another thing I am doing to supplement MFW this year with my ds (5) is to use the book More Than Counting. I love the activities they have for the children to do. A lot of it is things you have around or can easily get. My son doesn't even know he's learning and I think that's the best way!!!

[SnowWhite]

I agree, BJU Math sounds like a great fit for you and your student. The super part about it also is that for Jr. High and high school you can always go to the DVDs if you need teaching assistance.

 

This is our first year with BJU Math and we have loved it. I was always scared it would be too teacher intensive or didn't want to spend a bit more for the program, but it has been well worth it and NOT all that teacher intensive. We love BJU.

[skaterbabs]

Thanks for the suggestions! I hadn't really thought about BJU. Does anyone have a link for a good place to order it? Do they have a placement test available? DD is past the "count how many animals there are in the pen" stage, and seems to fall kind of between K and 1st in all the workbooks I've seen elsewhere.

[momtotkbb]

Having used Abeka for one dc, Horizon, Singapore and CLE for another - we made the switch to BJU this year. It was one of those curriculums that I didn't want to consider --but we are really enjoying it. I'm using the K, 4th and Alg. I programs. If you go to the http://www.bjupress.com site you can click on textbooks and then select the grade level you are interested in and the subject. If you then click on the student worktext it will give you the option to view inside --you can see the TOC and the first chapter.

 

We are almost through the K program for math ---it has covered number recognition and writing to 100; telling time; calendar; measurement; add/sub to 10; patterns; geometry; fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4). I decided not to use the Teacher Guide for K ---but the 4th and Alg I Teacher guides give lots of ideas for using manipulatives, reviews, drill, etc.

[Lovedtodeath]

After researching the different math options for math I'm no closer than I was before to chosing one that fits my teaching style (or lack thereof) and my daughter's (6 next Oct) learning style. :glare:

 

Given the following, which programs would the "experts" (those of you who've BTDT) recommend?

 

 

~I prefer scripted (or at least VERY well-explained) guides for explaining the math. I'm a little math-phobic and learned long ago that just because I can *do* the math doesn't mean I can explain it to someone else. If it's explained such that a 4 yo can understand how and why, then I'm good to go. I like consumables because right now we don't have a printer or copier available.

 

~ DD loves stories and games, but thinks workbooks are fun too. As long as it's even relatively visually interesting I honestly don't think she'll care.

 

~ DD is also very much the perfectionist and tends to get frustrated if she doesn't understand things right away. She's very persistant in that she won't stop when she's past the point at which frustration has made it that she simply cannot process instruction.

 

~ She likes to move quickly through the material, so variety may or may not be a good thing for her.

 

This sounds just like us! I tried Horizons K and then MUS Alpha. We just completed our first lesson in Abeka (and I read over half of the manual) and it seems to be a perfect fit so far. I haven't used any other programs though. ;) Oh, we did get the Rightstart games. The ALabacus is wonderful!

 

I probably would have gotten BJU, but we used Abeka PreK materials and loved them, and we had Abeka Arithmetic 2 student books given to us.

 

I wanted to add that a lot of kids take a long time to get through MUS alpha and in the mean time a year and a half (or even 2) of school can go by with only one digit addition and subtraction. No money. No measurements. No fractions. Can you say B O R I N G ? Then, if you go by state standards they are way behind. (I am just talking about Alpha.)

Edited March 21, 2009 by Lovedtodeath

[skaterbabs]

Kindergarten

SCOPE & SEQUENCE

 

Numeration

• Identify 0–100

• Writing 0–100

Number Theory

• Ordinals: fi rst–sixth; fi rst, next,

last; before, after, between; patterns;

place value: tens/ones

Counting

• Count to 150 by 1s

• Count to 100 by 10s

• Count to 50 by 5s; count on

Addition

• Sums to 10; equation; vertical

form; money; oral word problems

Subtraction

• Diff erences to 10; equation;

vertical form; money; oral word

problems; take-away; comparison

Algebra Readiness

• Equation

Fractions

• Equal parts; halves; thirds;

fourths; halves of a set of objects

Geometry

• Flat shapes: circle, square,

triangle, rectangle; symmetry;

same shape

• Solid fi gures: ball-shape (sphere),

can-shape (cylinder), box-shape

(rectangular solid, cube), coneshape

(cone)

• Spatial relationships: top, middle,

bottom; left, right; over, under;

inside, outside; on, off ; front, back

• Patterns

Estimation

• Numbers of objects

• Length: centimeter

• Weight: weighs more, weighs less

• Capacity: holds more, holds less

Measurement

• Size: larger, smaller

• Length, height; longer, shorter;

non-standard units; inch;

centimeter

• Weight: weighs more, weighs

less; pound

• Capacity: holds more, holds less;

cup, quart, gallon, liter

• Temperature: hot, cold

• Measuring Tools: ruler, scale,

thermometer, cup

• Time: to hour

• Calendar: days, weeks, months,

year

• Money: penny, nickel, dime,

quarter

Problem Solving

• Oral word problems; graphs;

probability

Statistics and Graphs

• Pictograph; bar graph; tallies

Calculators

• Digital numbers; make numbers;

count up, count back; addition;

 

 

subtraction

 

 

Well, looking at the above, there are only a handful of things she doesn't already know. We don't do calculators at this age at all. Otherwise, it's just these:

 

Place value

Addition/Subtraction: money; oral word problems

Algebra readiness

Fractions: third and fourths

Estimation: in general, she refuses to estimate

Measurement: length in centimeters/inches/feet and weight in pounds. She knows longer/shorter, lighter/heavier.; capacity in cup/quart/gallon/liter; measuring tools

Word problems: Oral word problems; graphs;probability

 

Are these covered in sufficient depth in 1st grade to make skipping K feasible?

[Lovedtodeath]

Yes.

[skaterbabs]

Thanks, Carmen. :)

[Tree House Academy]

We used Horizons. Hated it. We used Calvert K. Hated it. We used Singapore Stds. Earlybird B - LOVED it. Now using Singapore 1A, and the love continues. Singapore is one of the rare curricula that works for BOTH of my kids. :)

[skaterbabs]

Thanks, ladies!

[Lovedtodeath]

You do know that Mr. Demme recommends moving on if your child has trouble memorizing the facts right? Yes, they assume in Beta that your child has memorized the fact and most kids can with a little daily flash card work but if they haven't', you just move on and keep drilling. It is really really important to memorize the facts but the idea is not to spend 2 years in Alpha.

 

MUS does cover, time and shapes and measurement btw, just not all of it in Alpha.

 

It looks to me that when kids are finished with Beta they have covered many different things and are no longer behind according to standardized sequences.

 

No I did not know that Dr. Demme says to move on. I got the impression that it was quite the opposite. That is what I was trying to do anyway, but I wanted a program that told me what to do. How to get the math facts down.

 

I am very happy with Abeka. They spell it all out. Each day you start with a timed drill, and this is only one minute of repetitive facts. Then you have the child do the front of the worksheet which is mostly review. Then you teach the lesson (which is all spelled out, including what to write on the whiteboard and what to say) and work the back of the worksheet with your child because it is new concepts. Later in the day (not immediately after the rest of math) you go over flashcards and/or play games to solidify the facts. (How does BJU do this, ladies?)

 

With MUS, I was trying to move on, use Addition Made Easy and other activities for the facts, and I had someone tell me that "memorizing" the facts is not what I want my child to do, but I want my math program to expose them to the facts so often that they automatically memorize them. I don't feel like MUS does that, and if I do that with MUS, we are talking boring city. I felt like I needed more direction at that point as to what I should do.

 

I thought that maybe it was my teaching technique, and that if I knew how to make MUS go smoothly, without stressing DD out, then it would have worked for us, but by the time I figured out how to change my approach she hated it and was so relieved that we were switching. And she was bored to tears the whole time no matter what, she said it was a baby program and she was ready to do more than that, but then she couldn't pass the tests. :001_huh: Sorry, this has nothing to do with the OP. I guess I just wanted to explain to you why MUS didn't work for us. I really wanted it to, because it made more sense to me than other programs.

[Karen in CO]

I agree, BJU Math sounds like a great fit for you and your student. The super part about it also is that for Jr. High and high school you can always go to the DVDs if you need teaching assistance.

 

 

 

Have you looked at the BJU samples? I really love way they teach and the great hand-holding they do. The new teacher's guides come with a cd to print-off extra worksheets for whatever you need. They have resource books with nice little card-stick, perforated manipulative including pattern cards, flash cards, number lines, shapes, little clocks and stuff like that. It is all there for with a script if you need it and a guide to what the child should be memorizing. - I'd start with just the student text and the manipulative and then add the teacher's manual if you feel you need more guidance. The beginning of each chapter in the student text has a "Note to Parents" about what is being taught in the chapter, what facts need to be memorized and some advice concering things to do at home.

 

 

I'm using the K right now with my 4yo for the days when she wants seat-work like her sister. I have used the 2nd grade, and I am using the 3rd grade to teach US measurments since we do Singapore - gotta learn how many cups are in a gallon because liters are easy to teach.

 

I think BJUs give a great, solid math education and can work for many learning and teaching styles and it doesn't cost a fortune either.

Edited March 21, 2009 by Karen in CO

[Loupelou]

I would like to also suggest RightStart Math, it is well scripted, no extra dvd's to watch, it has some practice worksheets in level A and then more as they move along. It's also manipulative based, my kids love the card games and the abacus. I have not used MUS yet, although I am switching some of my older kids to that. I have used Saxon, Singapore, and Horizons and so far this seems like a pretty good fit for us.

[Mama2two]

I love Singapore math. Great guides, great "hands on" suggestions if you want them. Moves fast, but you can buy an extra workbook if extra practice is needed. Very visually pleasing.

[skaterbabs]

Thanks, everyone! It looks like it will be either BJU or Right Start, depending on which one DH thinks we can afford. :p

[Aurelia]

Just another vote for Right Start. My daughter was on her way to hating math (we had been through 3 or 4 programs before we tried it) and finally we found something that works with her learning style (hands on) and she actually understands the concepts. It's super-easy to teach, too. :001_smile:

 

We looked at MUS, but neither of us liked the videos much and I wasn't too wild about the blocks. I'm SO glad we found RS!

[skaterbabs]

DH decided that it makes as much sense as anything to purchase the big RS set that covers the elementary levels. According to their selector thing she'll start in level B, so it looks like we'll get our money's worth - especially since I think DS #2 will be in level E and can use it too.