Need advice *1st Grade Math*

[Handsomesmomma]

Hello Mommas

What have you all done with first grade math?

We are in our fourth week of school and there are three pages of math problems to do every day (4 days per week) and to me it seems SO heavy and boring!!!
I know that learning addition is not fun, per se, but I don't want my ds to lose interest either. We've been using manips and that has helped.
There are about 60+ problems a day to do and it seems like too many for first grade.
I would love to hear what you have all had success with

[mangopassion]

We LOVE LOVE Singapore Math!

[AnnR33]

Eek-3 pages/60 problems? What program are you doing? That does seem like a bit much for that age level.

You have a few options-
-you can skip some of the problems on each page-some people do every other problem.
-you can have her do some on paper and pick a few to do orally to see if she "gets it" and if so-skip the rest.
-change to something with fewer problems

You don't want her to get burned out with needless repetition.

[ankh]

Yikes! That sounds like a lot, why not do a bit each day, say 15 or 30?

[moominmamma]

Wow, find a new program. Way too much.

Learning addition is fun, actually. Or it can be, if you do it the right way for your child. Games, manipulatives, more games, more manipulatives. IMO it should have little to nothing to do with pencil & paper, unless your child happens to enjoy that stuff.

In addition to semi-structured play with cards and dice (especially ten-side dice), cuisenaire rods, base-set manipulatives, money and an abacus, we like Singapore Primary Math and Miquon Math. For my kids math curriculum work has always been fun -- and they're very unschooly kids, normally aren't terribly fussy for bookwork and curriculum.

Miranda

[Ruthla]

If you don't want to rush out and purchase a new curriculum, then you can adapt the one you have.

It's nice that there ARE extra problems if your child needs or wants extra practice, but you don't need to make your child do ALL of them! Just select a handful of problems from the list, enough to make sure your child understands the concept being taught, and then move on (to the next math chapter or onto another subject or free time, however you want to structure your days.)

For a 1st grader, I'm not even sure I'd use the workbooks at all. Why not practice with math manipulatives instead, or after doing a handful of written problems? Anything can be used as math manipulatives- chocolate chips, buttons, blocks, etc.

[Lillian J]

What are you hoping for her to learn by this time next year? Just something to think about - not looking for you to answer here. There's not much that even schools expect a child that age to know, and what little it is can be learned very quickly and easily without having to sit and do pages of practice. You might make a short list of things you hope to cover (I say "short list" just because that's what you'll find it to be), keeping in mind that you have a year to get through it, although there's really no reason to be on a timetable - and then find some simple and fun ways. Here's a thread that has good ideas: math games and manipulatives

I have no respect for any curriculum company that produces a program requiring a child that age to do all those problems on paper, or even a fraction of them - they should know better. Here's a nice and very inexpensive little program that's respectful of and really caring about children's love of math: Patterns. There are sample games on their web page - scroll down to see them there.

Also take a look through my page of annotated math page links: Go Figure! - lots of fun things there.

- Lillian

[MyCalling]

My DS used Singapore last year and loved it. BUT, this year we are using Math on the Level and have spent almost 3 weeks reviewing how much he retained from last year and there are many concepts he did awesome with last year but cannot show any understanding of them...he was just really good at going through the motions to get through the pages of practice problems last year. More problems do not equal understanding or remembering what was taught. The whole goal of those 60 problems you have your DC trudging through isn't achieved much of the time.

Now I am completely sold on MotL's way of focusing on concept understand without pages of practice. Once something is truly understood, there is no need for short-term repetitive problems since they don't solidify it into long term memory anyway. MotL's review is only 5 problems a day of different concepts put into a review cycle long-term without overwhelming the child. New concepts are learned one-on-one with you through games, manipulatives, or problems where you take the child step-by-step through them only until it's understood. This is much more effective.

[Peppermint]

We use Math Mammoth and really like it .

[Ruthla]

Oh, another thing that popped out at me when rereading this thread:

I know that learning addition is not fun, per se,

Who says learning addition can't be fun? It's learning the relationships between numbers- play around with a pile of beads and count them up; re-arrange them and see that they're still the same number of beads no matter how you group them or line them up; visually see that 10 take away 6 is 4 and that same group means that 10 take away 4 is six or line them up and see that it's also 5 plus 5. Or do subtraction with chocolate chips and count the pile after each time you eat a chip. Then it IS fun to see the numbers written down in arithmatic format once you've mastered the concepts and want to write it all down in new ways.

With higher digit numbers, kids really need to spend time counting up all those little items, and see how long it takes, to fully understand the reasons for "math shorthand" and higher math techniques (such as the rules for adding 2 and 3 digit numbers) instead of just counting everything all the time. Mulitplication is learned in similar ways; it gets tiring counting all those items, but without actually spending the time counting it's nearly impossible to grasp that concept.

My kids all learned math this "fun way" long before first grade; both of my daughters found that 1st grade math (in public school at the time) was a boring review.

[CortLong]

We have been using Saxon 1 (almost finished with it) and it isn't a good fit for my daughter. I am currently wanting to buy Singapore. I think it will work better with her learning style.

[MamaChel]

We like the Saxon 1 but we don't actually do ALL the work. I have 3 littles, and that just doesn't fly. He likes the practice but for the concepts we do other things. Usually it involves playing with food.

I hope you can find something that is more compatable with your DD's learning style.

[LauraN]

We use math-u-see for first. DS is having a blast learning addition! It uses manipulatives, and simple word problems, which we play with throughout the day. We do one or two worksheets a day, but altogether that comes out to maybe 10 problems.

And sometimes, when we're feeling un-worksheetlike, we just do the problems orally for about five minutes and move on.

[Leersia]

I am not using any worksheets on a daily or even weekly basis. I loosely use RightStart Math, which works well for my kids, and is very much not based on worksheets, but more on games and manipulatives. One of my twins would dutifully work through anything I put in front of him, but the other will not tolerate me making anything into a chore for him. So our math lesson went something like this today. He studied the Lego catalog for about an hour, and then asked me to go over all the prices. Everything was something like: $39.99, so we talked about the dollars and cents, and I pulled out the abacus to reinforce some of the numbers with visuals. Then, at the grocery store today, they saw this format everywhere and were excitedly shouting out the prices, to the amusement of the other customers. This is what I love about homeschooling!!!

My sons also REALLY love the math literature book series: Math Start by Stuart Murphy. They ask to read and reread them when we borrow them from the library, and he has lots of activity suggestions in the back.

Sue

[elizawill]

we use rod & staff math grade 1. it is very schooly and textbook, which is my daughter's preference for math (NO idea why). but even that book doesn't have 60 problems - that's crazy!!!! our math takes about 5-10 minutes a day & is 2 pages - that's it. i'd scale it down a lot or change curriculum.

[Needle in the Hay]

Originally Posted by Leersia

My sons also REALLY love the math literature book series: Math Start by Stuart Murphy. They ask to read and reread them when we borrow them from the library, and he has lots of activity suggestions in the back.

My son loves these books too. We can't get them at the library where we live (very few books in English there) but it's been worth buying them.

OP, if you haven't already seen this thread it's worth a look.

[falcon]

Ds did Saxon 1 last year, and I think there are enough worksheets in that program for 2 kids (at least!) We never did the worksheets of math facts or flashcards, instead playing games like Sum Swamp, Count Down, games with 10 or 20 sided dice, etc. for facts. Also, each lesson includes 2 worksheets (actually the front and back of one worksheet) that has the same sort of problems on each side. There is no law saying that you need to have your child do both sides of the sheet! Since ds usually doesn't need much review on a topic, very often we'd skip the meeting (we do calendar work separately), do the lesson covering the new topic with the manipulatives, and he'd do the one or two problems on the worksheets relating to the new concept learned. The whole thing took only 15-20 minutes tops. Every 10th lesson there is a little test, so I could make sure he was getting everything (I don't do grades), and we never had any problems.

We also had a lot of fun with various math books from the library. His favorites were those in the "I Love Math" series (with titles such as Look Both Ways: City Math), but he also really likes the Math Start books, and the books by Greg Tang. Math is our favorite subject here, it doesn't have to be dry and boring! :

[pinky]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Here's a nice and very inexpensive little program that's respectful of and really caring about children's love of math: Patterns.
- Lillian

We love this!
(she quotes me on her website, too)

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by MyCalling

My DS used Singapore last year and loved it. BUT, this year we are using Math on the Level and have spent almost 3 weeks reviewing how much he retained from last year and there are many concepts he did awesome with last year but cannot show any understanding of them...he was just really good at going through the motions to get through the pages of practice problems last year.

Sadly we've just discovered the same thing about our son & singapore Which sucks because I liked the program lol. We're doing a swapsie over to MUS starting as soon as it arrives.

I'd definitely say the sheer AMOUNT the pp mentioned was a bit much.. my 6yo would never make it through half of that.. heck even the two- sparse pages of singapore was intimidating to him!

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by pinky

We love this!
(she quotes me on her website, too)

How nice to finally see someone else here who's found and enjoyed that program!*

*Patterns in Arithmetic

Lillian