Let's Talk Math. - Page 4

[LilyGrace]

Math U See has a cd with skip counting songs.

[skaterbabs]

I found it! www.singnlearn.com has tons of music-based things, including a musical math curriculum!

[lisarussell]

Originally Posted by skaterbabs

Does anyone know of a musical prek-grade 1 math program? I've seen the CDs with multiplication/division facts and so forth, but I'm looking for something for my 4 yo who will learn ANYTHING set to music, and is expressing an interest in beginning math. She likes the Math Circus DVD from Leap Frog, but I haven't found anything that goes further for her.

for memorization of multiplication facts, the Math-U-See skip counting CD and Schoolhouse Rock- multiplication rock are great resources.

[lisarussell]

Originally Posted by Charles Baudelaire

<SNIPPED> Though we did get through it, Saxon does not lie when it describes itself as "an incremental program."

Yeah. Like glacier growth incremental. That's why we turned to Miquon -- Miquon emphasizes more hands-on, concrete use of Cuisenaire rods to use in performing the functions, so our DD really got to "see" the difference between 1, 10, 100, and so on.<SNIPPED>
HTH!!!

LOL- I agree 100% and hated Saxon for so many years, questioning the intelligence and judgement and sanity of anyone who recommended it.

We gave up on Saxon in Kindergarten and have just returned. Apparently the Saxon for kids under 3rd grade was designed only because people loved the Saxon 5/4 and up so much they were demanding something for the younger kids. Unfortunately,they're horrible.

We ended up doing Miquon also, and are also using Singapore (I love the way they explain things, and the computer games are fun drills) for our under 4th grade kids.

I just switched my older kids back to Saxon this year, we're using the 6/5 for my eldest and 5/4 for my 5th grader. We had been running our business and doing NO SCHOOL for like 2 yrs, so they're both a little behind. Starting Saxon a little low is giving them confidence and making sure they have their basic skills.

I do have to say that Saxon for the older kids is awesome, I can't speak highly enough for the program. It's worth returning to when the kids are older. I will definitely never ever use them in the lower grades, though.

[Shez]

Prof B Math

What level/age is your child? Did that influence your decision to use this particular program (or not to use another?)

I have first grade b/g twins. We are just finishing up level A which is for PreK-2nd grade.


What sort of learning style does your child have? Are we talking about a mathematically-oriented child? A visual learner? Kinesthetic? (A brief description will help other parents who may have a similar type of child to make this decision.)

My daughter is very verbal, my son kinesthetic and spatial. We started off with Right Start Math (which looked like an incredible program). It worked a treat with my son but was a horror for my daughter. Those games and manipulatives were too much for her. She was becoming very frustrated and hated math. I had to find something that worked for her. My son is a natural math whizz and I believe he could work with any math program.


Describe your math program: does it use a lot of manipulatives? Rely on visual indicators? Is it compatible with other programs? Does it require a great deal of parental preparation/intervention/active guidance? Do you think that the program is suited to home educators, or is there a heavy focus on busy work and classroom managment? What about repetition, is there enough? Too much?

I chose it because it tells a story. It is heavy of verbal cues and doesn't use manipulatives other than fingers. Every little step builds on the previous step and the child is logically led from one concept to another. The steps are so small that the child never feels overwhelmed and learns the concepts really easily. It teaches concepts in context and not as isolated factoids. I love how first graders are easily adding and subtracting 15 digit numbers. When I came to teach place value, a concept that appears to cause much angst, I was pleasantly surprised to discover it took all of 10 minutes and both children understood it perfectly. I didn't have to spend days and weeks teaching about visitors in houses that over flow and move into apartment buildings in an attempt to teach place value. Prof B set things up so that the little steps of understanding the child needs to understand place value were dealt with before we even got to the concept of place value.

Why did you decide to use this particular program? Was it to suit your individual child, or because it was recommended by a book/another homeschooler/a post here?

I was a math major and have read a lot about the poor standard of American math education. I took a lot of time researching all the math options available. I narrowed my options to Singapore math and Right Start Math. Chose Right Start and discovered it was a disaster for my daughter. I then had to start looking all over again. I discovered Prof B on the Livingmath.net email list.

Prof B took nearly an hour on the phone talking me through is program and by the end of it, I was convinced that this was the program for my daughter. I didn't want to use two different programs with my twins so I tried Prof B with my son as well. I was amazed at how well it worked for these two, very different children.

What do you like/dislike about the program?


I like how one disc and one student workbook covers 3 grades. This way you only buy math stuff every few years.

I like how he tells the truth and doesn't use cutsy gimmicks or a zillion manipulatives to teach concepts. The small, incremental steps and the total integration of all concepts makes this program particularly appealing to me.

Will you/would you continue at different levels, or do you think that another program might be better suited to your child as s/he progresses? Why?



I've had a good look at all levels that he currently offers and plan on using this program till we run out of it. Currently that would be after algebra.

[ReadingMama]

Originally Posted by LilyGrace

Math U See has a cd with skip counting songs.

We use Math U See (Level A) and really like it. However, we were not impressed with the skip counting CD. It is difficult to understand because it's several kids singing together. It would be much better if it were a single person singing.

[Quindin]

Singapore Math
What level/age is your child? Did that influence your decision to use this particular program (or not to use another?)

My daughter is 10, my son is 9.
They are both about to start Singapore Math (we use My Pals are Here which is their international version sold in Europe) level 5A
I ordered Singapore Math after reading reviews in 2006. They started on book 2B at the time, and I am so happy we chose this!!


3. What sort of learning style does your child have? Are we talking about a mathematically-oriented child? A visual learner? Kinesthetic? (A brief description will help other parents who may have a similar type of child to make this decision.)

My son is very mathematically-oriented (thus book 5 at age 9...) He loves puzzles and challenging problems in everything in life.
My daughter is very artistic and does not care for puzzles or challenges. she always hated math and could not understand it in school. She has transformed herself in the past 2 years we have used Singapore however. What a miracle!

4. Describe your math program: does it use a lot of manipulatives? Rely on visual indicators? Is it compatible with other programs? Does it require a great deal of parental preparation/intervention/active guidance? Do you think that the program is suited to home educators, or is there a heavy focus on busy work and classroom managment? What about repetition, is there enough? Too much?

They have manipulative exercise suggestions and games at the end of each chapter. I never do them. The explanation themselves suffice for my kids to understand the topic. This program is IDEAL for homeschoolers because it explains the concept step by step.
I do NO preparation beforehand. Also, the exercises always build up becoming more challenging and exciting as the child progresses, so they are not boring.

5. Why did you decide to use this particular program? Was it to suit your individual child, or because it was recommended by a book/another homeschooler/a post here?

I read reviews. It worked perfectly for us

6. What do you like/dislike about the program?
Nothing. Oh wait, the levels don't match up with UK schools, but that's because the National curriculum is beahind by A LOT.


7. Will you/would you continue at different levels, or do you think that another program might be better suited to your child as s/he progresses? Why?

We will continued to use Singapore - no question about it!

[Dar]

Bump!

Dar

[Lillian J]

Life of Fred math books

I just had to add a link here to the thread that's just started up on Life of Fred math books - some interesting input from people who have been seeing positive reactions from children.

Lillian

[purslaine]

1. Life of Fred

2. DD is 10, Ds is 13. The program is supposed to start after multiplication and long division are understood. Grade 5 would be the earliest for most kids. It starts with fractions - and then progreses to decimals, algebra, geometry, trig and calculus. It is mastery in apporoach - when you are on the fraction book - 80% of the math is related to fractions.

3. My children are strong in math - and particularly strong at mental math. They have little patience for busy work or things that move slowly.

4. Life of Fred is a story, with math work relating to the story every couple of pages. There are visual references/indicators. It requires no parental prep or intervention - but you might want to! Fred is funny and you will learn as you go! It is designed for home educators - there is no reference to classroom management, etc. As per repetition - there is very little. Once in a while we will come across a concept that lacks suffecient exploration in the book - but it is easy to make up examples. Life of Fred focuses on the why as much as the how in relation to most things. For example, it explains why we divide fractions by inversing the second fraction and changing the sign to multiplication.

5. We decided it would be fun to try it - many other programs seemed too dry! Moreover, the price cannot be beat!

6. We just straight like it. I would like a few meatier problems.

7. I am fairly sure we will continue on with Fred. I expect we will use other texts/books - I really do not think any one math program is going to suit all our mathematical needs. We might delve into Art of Problem Solving as well as some philosophical texts (10 things all mathematicians should know, number devil, etc) as time goes on.

kathy

[luckylady]

math U see, beta

1. Title your post with the name of the program.

2. What level/age is your child? Did that influence your decision to use this particular program (or not to use another?) BETA she is almost 7

3. What sort of learning style does your child have? Are we talking about a mathematically-oriented child? A visual learner? Kinesthetic? (A brief description will help other parents who may have a similar type of child to make this decision.) DD is very kinesthetic, and she picks things up relly quickly.

4. Describe your math program: does it use a lot of manipulatives? Rely on visual indicators? Is it compatible with other programs? Does it require a great deal of parental preparation/intervention/active guidance? Do you think that the program is suited to home educators, or is there a heavy focus on busy work and classroom managment? What about repetition, is there enough? Too much? There are manipulatives as well as video instruction of each lesson - I have learned so much from this too! LOL.

5. Why did you decide to use this particular program? Was it to suit your individual child, or because it was recommended by a book/another homeschooler/a post here? A friend recommended it.

6. What do you like/dislike about the program? I like everything about it, except there is no number writing practice so I had to add those myself. The workbooks are black and white, which we like so DD doesn't get distracted. She likes things clean and simple and not too much visual noise. Some people may find this a drawback.

7. Will you/would you continue at different levels, or do you think that another program might be better suited to your child as s/he progresses? Why? We will continue all the way through with MUS. Because DD gets it and enjoys it.

[ReadyMom]

RightStart Math

Originally Posted by eilonwy

1. Title your post with the name of the program.

RightStart Math

2. What level/age is your child? Did that influence your decision to use this particular program (or not to use another?)

My kids (the ones using RS, at least) are 7 and 6. We are using level B. I spent a long time researching math curricula and chose RS because I wanted to start them from the beginning with something that gave them a solid base in math as concepts and not just problems to be solved.

3. What sort of learning style does your child have?

My son is a kinesthetic learner and my daughter is a visual and auditory learner. My son learns by doing and wiggling as he does, and my daughter learns by reading/hearing about something.

4. Describe your math program: does it use a lot of manipulatives? Rely on visual indicators? Is it compatible with other programs? Does it require a great deal of parental preparation/intervention/active guidance? Do you think that the program is suited to home educators, or is there a heavy focus on busy work and classroom managment? What about repetition, is there enough? Too much?

The main manipulative is an abacus. There are other things, such as a clock and counting tiles, that are used, but I don't think the program is extremely manipulative-heavy. I think the abacus serves the function of having a plethora of other manipulatives.

I don't know whether it's compatible with other programs as I have never worried about combining programs.

RS requires a great deal of parental involvement, which is one of the main reasons I like it. I teach every lesson, and the kids aren't just sitting at a table doing worksheets.

I think RS is ideal for homeschoolers because the program focuses on the child's understanding of each concept and not just on completing worksheets. There is no busywork. At all.

RS is a spiral program, so I think the amount of repetition is ideal. Also, each lesson starts with a warm-up that goes over previously taught concepts.

5. Why did you decide to use this particular program? Was it to suit your individual child, or because it was recommended by a book/another homeschooler/a post here?

I decided to use RS because I didn't want a program that was focused on completing workbook pages full of math problems. I wanted math to be fun and interesting and to be about understanding concepts.

6. What do you like/dislike about the program?

I like everything about RS. I think math is explained extremely well in a way that challenges my kids but does not overwhelm them. They are never bored. To me, RS teaches math in the way that I had to struggle to figure out on my own after years and years of working with numbers. The way I work with numbers in my mind, which I figured out in spite of, not because of, the way I was taught math is the way that RS teaches math. RS does require prep time and teacher involvement, but to me that is a positive, not a negative.

7. Will you/would you continue at different levels, or do you think that another program might be better suited to your child as s/he progresses? Why?

I will continue with this program because it continues to teach math excellently, my kids love it, and they are learning a lot.

[RAF]

Anyone else have any reviews or ideas to add?

[zeiter]

Anyone using Ray's and liking it?

[LionTigerBear]

Miquon, Saxon 5/6 and up

Bumping this great thread! Thank you, everyone, for the great reviews!

Here are my real quick reviews--

When I was a kid, my mom used Waldorf math with me up until I was about 5 or so, and really thirsting for more-- I am very artistic but I really didn't like Waldorf math. Please, no watercolors and dwarf dolls when what I really want is numbers. I actually found it confusing. We did Miquon next. She used the Teacher guide books so she knew what to say/how to do it with me. I LOVED Miquon math, especially LOVED making the little math workbooks that you cut out and staple together. But then, Miquon ended. What next? Why, Saxon, of course. My mom insisted that I do at least some of the workbook practice items and I just hated Saxon. I used to love math and after Saxon, it just killed any love I had for math for a long, long time. And, FWIW, I got just-average scores on mathematics in the SAT, despite studying for it, and then flunked my only two math courses in college-- all because I was ill-prepared and had hated math for so long. Now, I am back to studying math again on my own terms, and I LOVE math again! Yayyy!!! So anyway, I hate Saxon. Saxon is the worst-- at least for some students. Beware! Just my two cents!

ETA: We also used a couple of other math aids-- the two I remember are the "math-it" game, and the Calculadder worksheets. The Calculadder workbooks are awesome! I loved them so much, I am really looking forward to purchasing them for my kids. Having our little math races every morning was possibly my favorite part of homeschooling in the later grades. The "Math-it" game was useless and torturous, IME.

Based on the fact that my kids seem to be a lot like me, I am going to do Singapore math with them, and see where that takes us.

[Momma Aimee]

culd some one tell me more abotu Developmental Math ??

I looked at teh website:

http://www.mathplace.com/Developmental/approach.asp

but it really doesn't give me any feel for how it is done daily, or what it looks like ...

thanks

Aimee

ps more questions as i study more

[vancouverlori]

bumping up an old but timely thread, as I'm apparently having a math meltdown... ;)