Looking for a hands on math curriculum

[Stephenie]

My son is 4 1/2, but advanced and always asking to learn more. He also needs a lot of structure. 

He's really interested in math, but we have not had a math specific program yet. His Moving Beyond the Page has some math in it, but not as much as he needs for his interest level. 

Here are the skills he currently has : counting to 100 plus, number identification, basic addition and subtraction of numbers 10 and under, starting to tell time, money identification, shape identifications, patterns... I am probably missing something but you can get a basic idea of where he is. 

We try to play a lot of games and we use cusinaire rods and other counters. I would like something with the same kind of feel, playful, hands on, but giving him the structure he is asking me for and organisation for me. 

Thanks.

[moominmamma]

Have you looked at Miquon? It's the only one I've found to be truly developmentally appropriate for 4-year-olds who want to "play math." 

Miranda

[Stephenie]

Thanks for the suggestion - I had planned to use Miquon at one point and sort of forgot about it. The reviews are great and you can not beat the price. 

[moominmamma]

A bit of a caveat if you do decide to use Miquon. I did use it very successfully with my kids at age 4. However, I would encourage you to not enter into it with any particular expectation about forward progress at any particular rate. It is conceptually a fairly advanced program. If you work sequentially through it with the workbooks as your guide you'll find that within the first 30 pages or so your child is expected to be combining the use of addition, multiplication and subtraction. 

Instead it's best to get a robust understanding of the "guided discovery approach" and the "math lab activities" as used in a typical Miquon classroom by reading the First-Grade Diary and the Lab Annotations Manual. The heart of the program is not the workbooks, it's the activities and explorations. There's plenty of fodder in there to keep busy a 4-year-old who may not necessarily be ready for, oh, the fractions work in the first workbook, or who is befuddled by subtraction, or who can't yet print numerals legibly. 

So make sure you read the supporting materials (there's also a great Miquon email YahooGroup) and don't fall into the trap of assuming you just implement the Orange book over 6 months and then move on to the Red book.

Cheers!

Miranda