What Maths program is everyone using?
I want a program for my 6 yr old and my nearly 11 yr old. I was thinking Math U See but am worried as it is mastery that there is the tendency to forget some things learned as there is no review. I like the idea of manipulatives though.
I don't know where to start with my eldest as she can do some things like multiply and divide but not do long division or long multiplication. With my 6 yr old I am free to start wherever.
What do people recommend?
we've used several different curriculum (math u see being one of them, math mammoth, saxon, and singapore). my daughter is 9 and uses CLE now. this is our second year with it, and it's one we plan to stick with for sure. i really like the way they teach math. it's by a christian publisher, so that might be an issue though. you can see samples at http://www.clp.org - imho it could be used in a secular manner with little alterations.
having said that, my son is using saxon math 1. i wanted something very gentle for him this year though. we will be switching to CLE next year, but i will start him in grade 1 (even though he'll be in grade 2). i feel CLE is a little advanced though, and it will work best with my little guy's personality. i don't feel this is necessary across the board though, just for my son. you can also look at http://www.homeschoolreviews.com - lots of great reviews there listing the pros and cons of many math curricula. good luck.
We use Math Mammoth as our main program. We supplement with the now out of print Noble Knights of Knowledge, and add more word problems with Afterwards: Folk and Fairy Tales with Mathematical Ever-Afters
ETA ~ Math Mammoth only goes through grade 6, so it may not be the program for you since your daughter is already approaching 6th grade.
Singapore Primary (for my 7-year-old), Singapore Secondary (for my 12- and 14-year-olds) and a Canadian school-based pre-calc text for my 17-year-old.
We have also used Miquon (very successfully) for K-2, and Hands-on Equations (again, very succesfully, around the 3rd/4th grade level).
And duds here: Life of Fred (too much fluff). Teaching Textbooks (too repetitious and formulaic). Art of Problem Solving (great program, but too challenging and complex fo independent study by my kids at the age they were ready for high school math i.e. age 10/11).
Miranda
Singapore Primary (for my 7-year-old), Singapore Secondary (for my 12- and 14-year-olds) and a Canadian school-based pre-calc text for my 17-year-old.
We have also used Miquon (very successfully) for K-2, and Hands-on Equations (again, very succesfully, around the 3rd/4th grade level).
And duds here: Life of Fred (too much fluff). Teaching Textbooks (too repetitious and formulaic). Art of Problem Solving (great program, but too challenging and complex fo independent study by my kids at the age they were ready for high school math i.e. age 10/11).
Miranda
Is it the standards edition of SIngapore? Can you use manipulatives with it?
We also use Singapore Primary Math and Horizons Math. Yes, you can add manipulatives to Singapore. We use Cuisenaire Rods and linking math cubes for the most part. Right now, we are using the US Edition and I haven't decided if we will move into Standards Edition when we begin 2a. There is a nice placement test on the Sonlight website for Singapore Math:
http://www.sonlight.com/singapore-placement-tests.html
We used Miquon with the Cussinaire Rods and I liked most of it. But when we got done, I found my DC didn't have their facts down and didn't remember a lot. I thought it didn't matter, because at least they 'understood' it all, so it would come back to them when they needed to figure things out. Unfortunately, it didn't really work that way. Even though we supplemented with some short drill-like work books and the occasional flash cards or whatever, there was just not much retention at all. I was pretty disapointed.
So, I looked at a lot of other choices, and settled on Rod and Staff. Honestly, I love it and wouldn't use anything else. It is simple and to the point. They have drill and review, and my DC (three of them are doing math now) are all really fully mastering things and reviewing them so they don't forget. And they all really enjoy it. Just last night DH told all three of them it was too late to all be sitting there doing math and to go to bed! Honestly, I think my oldest feels a little cheated that he is not farther ahead now like he would be if had just been in R & S the whole time. Yes, there are some Bible references, but honestly I don't think it's enough to be an issue. Of course, you can skip whatever you want to if there is too much practice, etc- but at least the repetition is there if you need/want it. You can view samples at
http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/
I have good friends who use both Teaching Textbooks and Math-U-See. IMHO, they are way more expensive, cause more 'screen time,' and both my friends have specific things they don't like about them, but don't know what else to do at this point since they want to avoid 'teaching' math. =P (I think it's easy to teach, but my oldest is only 11.)
We use EPGY.
Singapore and Art of Problem Solving have been great.
I'd also try MEP math - http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm I've heard it is good, it looks good, and it is free. :-)
I want a program for my 6 yr old and my nearly 11 yr old. I was thinking Math U See but am worried as it is mastery that there is the tendency to forget some things learned as there is no review. I like the idea of manipulatives though.
We use Math U See and every new "chapter" has 3 pages front & back that goes over the new stuff, and then there are 3 review pages that review everything learned so far. Then there are 2 "fun" pages that focus on review, and a test that also tests everything learned so far. As far as I've seen, more than 1/2 of the work done is review in every lesson.
DD11 is using Teaching Textbooks which she loves! This is a kid who used to "hate" math! DD5 is using Saxon K, which I think is right on target!
No, we're Canadian, and have no interest in the California standards. The metric Singaporean 3rd edition suits us just fine. Definitely you can use manipulatives. We never did, except for pennies, dimes and loonies (Canadian dollar coins) but it would be easy to use them wherever.
Miranda
RIghtStart!
We've also used (and/or will continue to use) and enjoyed: Teaching Textbooks, Math in Real Life, Life of Fred, aleks.com, Live Online Math, mathletics.com, and tenmarks,com.
My son is 12.5, currently concurrently using Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra and Right Start Intermediate Geometry (their middle school program) as 'core' math, and MIRL, Life of Fred Pre-Algebra, mathletics, and tenmarks for reinforcement and review. Oh, occasionally math mammoth as well. It sounds like a lot, but we space it out, he's not doing everything every day! He's a type that needs LOTS of reinforcement and taking it from different angles and approaches (ie, not just doing the same kind of worksheet 20 times) before a concept 'sticks' for him. He understands it just fine, completes the lesson in a breeze, then a week later insists I'VE NEVER LEARNED THAT BEFORE! THIS IS TOO HAAAAAAAAAAAARD. So we're streeetching out each 'level' with lots of supplementation. It keeps things varied and interesting for him. I'm careful to choose curriculum that doesn't contradict the other ones we're using... it's a bit of work for me to coordinate it, because concepts will be in different chapters in different resources, but it's working for us.
For his early elementary math, we did basic workbook curricula things like you'd get at Chapters, and we tried Saxon. The workbooks were okay, though pretty fluffy. Saxon, *I* thought was great, but *he* couldn't stand it in the LEAST. After taking some time off formal math, we tried Teaching Textbooks, which he LOVED and got him over his math phobia -- though after he finished the course, he promptly forgot *everything*. Then we went RightStart level E when he was 10.5yo, and that made all the difference in the world.
My daughter is 4, and is up to about lesson 35 in RightStart level A. She's much more easy-going and "mathy", so hopefully it will be much less complicated for her! Using RS from the beginning will help a great deal, I think. :)
I'm sort of in the same boat. I'm trying like crazy to figure out what to do for math. We covered a lot of topics over the past year... but we did them loosely. Our heavy focus has been on reading, since my daughter is still struggling with that. From what we've done, I can see that math is something my daughter might excel at. I just need to figure out how to present it to her properly.
I mean, I can teach the individual concepts myself. I can find worksheets for free online. I just can't seem to get it all to flow together. I feel like I need to be told exactly when & how to explain these things to her. (I'm guessing that's precisely what a curriculum is for. 
)
I've been searching for the right curriculum for us. My daughter has a basic understanding of many of the concepts she should... but she is completely lacking in the "math facts" department. She doesn't automatically know that 4+5=9... she has to figure it out. So I'm not sure if that means we need something with more repetition to drill it into her or what. I'm leaning heavily toward Mammoth Math at this point, mainly because of the cost. I'm a little leery, though, because I'm not sure if I will do well without having a teacher's guide. I mean, that's kind of why I'm floundering now-- I need someone to take the guess-work out of teaching for me!
It has review and its presentation is great. Math U See is one of the best programs out there. You won't go wrong with it. Check out the samples online and you will see there is review every week. Plus, they have an online worksheet maker for free that you can use for review.
Let's see here, I tried Singapore math and it was not a hit here. I did a little over a year of k12 math and my oldest didn't retain squat while my 2nd girl was bored silly. Now my oldest is doing Miquon and my 2nd is doing Horizons, and its better. Miquon isn't a perfect fit for my oldest girl, but its better. She's at least trying and making a little progress. Horizons with my second girl is GREAT. Oh, and I just ordered Math-U-See Primer for my third girl, and I plan on having my oldest girl go through it as well before I move her out of Miquon and into MUS Alpha sometime between spring and fall. I'm tired of messing with the less expensive options, they just aren't getting the job done for my oldest and I have a feeling that my other girls will all do just fine no matter what math program I use so we're switching to MUS now after discussing it and praying about it and looking at all our options and trying other stuff for over a year.
We tend to move around. One kid likes Singapore, one hates it, but likes Saxon. One hates Saxon, likes Singapore, and for a brief period, liked Math U See. However, she lost interest with the continual repetition, and I personally found Math U See too long , boring and repetitive, so won't buy more of it unless one of the kids insists, which I doubt. I also considered it way too pricey to just fill out a fraction of the pages, but I can see that if your child needs a lot of repetition, which mine don't, and don't get bored, it might work. I made the mistake of buying the manipulatives and dvds, and we have never even opened most of it. I'd read great reviews, but it just did nothing for me and I didn't see my kids move on and make much progress with it, as they got turned off and bored.
At different points, computer programs have worked for my kids, especially ds who hates writing. At one point we dropped all math on actual paper with one of my dds and she just repeated an entire grade of math on Time4Learning, which took her a couple of months over the summer. She just needed a break, and she returned to Saxon with enthusiasm.
The one thing that I have found is that if I try to stick to one curriculum, boredom and sometimes negativity creeps in. If I try to listen to the kids and am willing to provide a variety of books, they find what clicks for them at that point. My 4th grader picked up Singapore 6th grade recently and completed the entire algebra section in just over a week. We will probably use Hands on Equations for a while now, plus order Singapore 7th grade and let her just do the algebra section in that, as she's excited by algebra right now. Then who knows what we'll use? It will just depend on what seems to work for her at that point.
So, we have lots of math books, often random selections, and just as I despair with one thing, something else seems to click for that child. With my quirky crew, I couldnt imagine having just one scheme and sticking with it. I think that eventually you have to take a plunge, buy some different materials, and see what works for you. Just buy one level of each type, as you might find that for all the planning that you do, your kids don't agree. ;)
HTH
We're big RightStart fans here. It requires one-on-one time, will not work for you if you need your child to work almost completely independedntly. But the lessons are brief, they maybe take 15 minutes or so, and then usually end in some kind of game. Even the lessons are active and physical. I really like the philosophy that it is based on, it really makes math concepts easy to understand and work with. I can't believe how ar my DD has come with RS this year!!!!
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