After miquon/basic maths stuff-good books?

[Fillyjonk]

My son has pretty well finished all the miquon books and all the basic maths stuff, iykwim. He can add, substract, divide, mutiply, knows his tables, knows how to calculate the area of a shape, and so forth. Basic algebra and probability. There's a bit of stuff left on geometry he has yet to cover but he's getting towards the end of the "basic" maths, iykwim. I haven't listed everything he can do of course, but what I am trying to explain (where i am its late!) is that he has the building blocks of maths sorted.

We do breath stuff already, and lots of mental arithimatic in the car (his choice!)-any resources there would be really helpful though.

What I'm after though is something to introduce the next level in a very fun and non-pressured way (he's 7). Miquon seems to stop quite abruptly. Something he can start working through alone would be ideal. What I don't want is something with lots of words (he can read but is still gaining confidence). We do around 30 minutes of maths a day, so something fitting into that time slot. 

I think, more than anything, he likes maths and I want to keep it that way for him. (my partner is a mathematician, its something we talk about a lot in the family and I think, for him, its part of wanting to be like his dad)

[moominmamma]

Have you looked at Singapore Primary? Depending on how far beyond the Miquon scope his curiosity has carried him, he may be anywhere between about the 3B and 6B levels. My 8yo is doing 6A, and started mixing up Singapore and Miquon about 2.5 years ago, transitioning over completely to Singapore when she finished Miquon. What I love about Singapore is the way in which it has a similar focus on "mathematical thinking" to Miquon, albeit with a more systematic top-down approach. The last three grade levels (4A through 6B) are mostly about applying basic mathematical operations to fractions, decimals, percents and ratios, and two- and three-step pre-algebraic and geometric problem-solving.

My dd really enjoyed Hands-On Equations (algebra for kids at 3rd-6th grade level, using manipulatives), and is loving Ed Zaccarro's "Challenge Math" book. The latter is pretty challenging, being intended for gifted 4th through 8th graders. My 2nd-grader is stretching a bit (in a good way) to use it. It does have a fair bit of reading in it, unfortunately, so it might be a better resource in another couple of years for your guy.

Singapore exercises usually take my kid about 20 minutes, and she can do them herself. Some of the exercises in level 5 and 6 take a little longer, some are shorter. Hands-On Equations is similar. Challenge math isn't set up in daily exercises, being more of an enrichment book, and requires more parent involvement, particularly with a non-fluent reader.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Miranda

[chfriend]

Life of Fred is a blast once they've really gotten the 4 operations

[Fillyjonk]

thank you so much both. (moominmamma-excellent name ;-) )

Had a look at singapore maths, they look pretty good. I'm not totally sure which level to start him at. He is very reluctant to show his working and insists on doing everything in his head, which means that multi-step word problems can get a bit sticky. (he does seem to use correct techniques, and this gets him quite a long way, he just prefers not to write anything down). So I think we'll ease into it a bit, maybe by starting

somewhere where the maths is easy but the presentation is more challenging.

Miranda/ moominmamma, was looking at hands on equations. Do you think we'd need the video with it too, or is the basic package enough? Because we are in the UK, its usually better shipping-wise for us to get stuff from Canada/US all in one go, so if you have any thoughts here that would be really helpful

Will look at life of fred and challenge math too. Its no problem for us to spend time with him doing maths, its just that with 2 other (younger) kids, I need the core of his maths work to be fairly self-sufficient.

Thanks again both !

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Fillyjonk 

Had a look at singapore maths, they look pretty good. I'm not totally sure which level to start him at. He is very reluctant to show his working and insists on doing everything in his head, which means that multi-step word problems can get a bit sticky. 

My dd17 wrote an amazing short story a couple of years ago inspired by the fillyjonk. Won all sorts of awards with it. 

Singapore has good placement tests here: http://www.singaporemath.com . They use a bar-diagram method of non-algebraic problem-solving which gets introduced in level 3A or 3B. If you want to introduce him to the importance of systematically recording his problem-solving steps (which my younger dd doesn't like doing either ... well, none of my kids have come to it naturally, actually) the bar diagram approach is defintely useful in encouraging this. 

We didn't order the video for Hands-On Equations and never missed it. 

Miranda