What kind of math is your 9 y/o doing?

[Mom4tot]

Dd is using Miquon math. We are currently in the green book. Some days she seems to like it, others she acts as if it is written in Greek.

I think it may be the change from page to page...she thinks it is brand new, and doesn't *appear* to take the time to really think about it.

I thought Miquon looked more fun than Saxon, but maybe she needs more drill work? She is an artistc, creative and intuitive young girl...she is also left- handed. We also use math at the grocery store and while baking (altho we haven't baked much lately). She seems to get stuck on things like borrowing...she still wants to use her 100 number board all the time.

Should I be concerned? Am I just freaking out? She says she wants to be a doctor, so I know she will need some math there.

[moominmamma]

My 9yo lefty is now 10. She did Miquon. There were times when she got bogged down in it for months on end, and then there were times when things just 'clicked' and she burst ahead. Eventually she moved on to Singapore Math and did extremely well with it. I'm not sure if she did so well with it because it's her kind of approach or because completing Miquon had set her up so well with the basic concepts.

My newly 8yo switched from Miquon to Singapore at the Red Book level because he consistently didn't like Miquon. It didn't seem to be a lack of readiness ... it just wasn't his style of presentation. He tends to be able to 'see' number relationships easily, and the Miquon exercises designed to explore such relationships muddled him up. If I patiently walked him through exactly what they were getting at, he'd finally get it and say "well, duh! of course!"

My 5yo is thriving in Miquon. I'd be surprised if she switched to Singapore any time soon.

I think Singapore and Miquon complement each other and dovetail together fairly well. You might consider grabbing the Singapore 2A/2B workbooks and seeing if it helps her. The regrouping algorithm is explored fairly thoroughly there.

The other thing, of course, is to remember that Miquon is not intended to be a rigidly sequential program, and that it's completely fair game to work ahead on the graphing / grid-games / mapping or geometry stuff in the Yellow and Purple books if you're stalled in Green.

You might enjoy reading the section on regrouping in Liping Ma's book "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics". I found it very enlightening, pointing out many of the ways we (i.e. North Americans) fail to teach the construction and deconstruction of units of greater or lesser place value logically and completely. Ma is very much against the use of the term "borrowing", for example. Very cool book, worth tracking down through inter-library loan or via the http://www.singaporemath.com site.

My own kids have always been fairly precocious in academic things. I don't think there's much point in comparing the actual levels other kids are at. If your daughter is happy and seems to be progressing over the long term, all's well. There's no such thing as being 'ahead' or 'behind' yourself! That's the beauty of homeschooling. When your daughter is applying to medical schools, nowhere on the application will it ask "At what age did you learn to subtract with regrouping?" LOL!

Miranda

[littlest birds]

My dd is 9 and had a hard time with math when we did Miquon, and I really liked Miquon because I've always loved math, numbers, puzzles of that kind and did well in math always.

Well, surprise surprise my dd is not a clone of myself. She now considers Saxon to be far superior. She grumbled and struggled, now it's just a step-by-step kind of thing she can understand more easily. She likes some math-related games, especially visually-oriented things. Also very artistic. She'll lay out quilt designs or something but she forgets basic multiplication over and over...

[Monda]

My 9 year old is doing Making Math Meaningful level 3. It is great for him, and a struggle for me. It has a lot of hands on teaching... having them county out toothpicks, beans, basicly visual work of written problems. he has not missed a single problem yet this year and I have not been pushing him. After seeing the visual representation, he just understands how to answer the questions. Perfect for him.

As for my part, I get a little weary of the lessons because I seem to be spending so much time teaching him stuff that he seems to get so quick. We may need to double up and advance a little faster or something I am not sure...but as for him understading, Making Math Meaningful does it.

[Mom4tot]

Thanks everyone It is so nice to be able to come here and "talk" and gain some insight, support and new ideas.

A friend of mine purchased the Singapore Math...and I liked it very much. I forgot that I have a couple of Developmental Math workbooks, maybe Ellie would like those. Miquon is funny because it changes course sometimes and then goes back a dozen pages later. I have to remember she may not approach math the same as I do. I have tried to listen and watch her so I will know if this approach is working.

We were both feeling frustrated this morning. Thank you for the additional book recc's. I will look at the library.

[meowee]

Singapore Math

... is the best program for homeschoolers IMO. I also have the complete curriculum of Switched on Schoolhouse but Singapore is much better.

There's a reason Singapore students grab top honors on almost every competition that compares student groups internationally.

www.singaporemath.com

you can also buy it at

www.rainbowresource.com

[wende]

I'm glad to hear such good reviews of Singapore Math. I've ordered it for my 9 and 6 year olds. I am patiently waiting for them to arrive as we speak

[Marsupialmom]

My son got bogged down with the written form of division. He could do it in his head but not work it out on paper. I had to show him how I learned it before he could understand how they were teaching it.

If it is not working for your child move to another program. I did this with my daughter and I would do it with my son if Miquon wasn't working.

[Openskyheart]

My son liked Miquon for awhile, but it seemed to jump around a lot, and at some points it jumped into quite advanced topics. Some of the Miqon "2nd grade" and "3rd grade" concepts would be considered 4th to 6th grade concepts in most public schools, for example.

My daughter *hated* Miquon and found it very frustrating. They both do Singapore Math now, and like it. My son is playing around with 3B - and he's just turned 10. My dd (8) y.o. is playing with 2A. My son has not, though, learned to multiply and divide to the degree covered in 3A. We just skip around as we find topics of interest, and it all gets covered at some point. My dd, OTOH, likes to go straight through with no skipping. Different styles.

With Singapore remember the numbers on the books do *not* correspond with U.S. grade levels. It's important to get the level that is appropriate for your child, and not worry about the number on the cover of the book. 2A goes into the "regrouping" concept thoroughly (what we were taught to call "Borrowing and Carrying.").

I just got Liping Ma's book, but I haven't read it yet. I did know though, that the term "borrowing" is frowned upon. My children learned that term when they were still in school, though, and I grew up with it - so it keeps popping out of my mouth. They really do understand the concept the Singapore way, though. The word "borrowing" hasn't seemed to have warped their comprehension too much. LOL!


Laura

[Mom4tot]

Thank you again.

The consensus seems to be Singapore appeals to a lot of children. Laura, thank you for your insight into Miquon. There have been days where dd goes to a new page and I am confused (momentarily :LOL) Yesterday she did 2 more pages on multiplication and was happy. I will look at Singapore and think I will begin with the 2A book for Ellie. I am glad I am exploring more options for Ben when he is ready.

[Openskyheart]

A lot of people combine Singapore and Miquon too. On the Singaporemath website there is a correlation between the two.

We used to combine them until my son burned out on Miquon, but we may go back to the yellow and purple when he's ready to learn cross multiplication and division. We'll see. That's what's cool about homeschooling - we can do it our way!

Laura

[NoHiddenFees]

Not much help for a 9yo, as the program only goes through Grade 4 currently (more years are in the works), but I LOVE RightStart Math. DH and myself are both very strong in math, and of all the programs we evaluated, this is the only one that blew us away. It's carefully orchestrated to lay the groundword for more advanced concepts. Mental math is stressed as in Singapore and memorization is done with games rather than drills. Parental involvement is very high in this program though, so timewise it's not for everyone.

[SagMom]

We used Singapore for 4 years. My dd (9) loves it. She works independently and has needed very little help from me. Somehow, she just reads the instructions and "gets" it.

Ds (13) thought it was just "okay." We've switched to Moving With Math--the workbooks look similar to Singapore but there's a teacher's manual with instructions on how to demonstrate and work out concepts with manipulatives.

It all depends on your child's mind. For instance, when explaining improper fractions, using 3/2 as an example, my dd was able to just look at it and immediately say, "That's the same as 1 1/2." My ds, otoh, was getting himself all confused until I brought out the fraction circles for him to mess around with. THEN he realized how simple it was. I've noticed this to be a pattern with both of them. She just reads the explanation and understands the math, he has to SEE it and physically manipulate things before he can do it on paper.