[elfinbaby]

We are classical homeschoolers and I'll be adding my 5 yr. old dd to our homeschooling endeavor next fall. I checked out my WTM book for a little advice and didn't find too much. No problem. I'll just throw a little something together - K's not a big deal anyway.

She's been in preschool for a couple of years and she's a bright child. We'll be focusing on reading, good handwriting skills, and simple math. Anything else is extra to me and she'll be attending Classical Conversations with her brother so I'm set except for math. I've been looking over Saxon and Singapore and I am totally not impressed. I'm not a pushy parent but their comparing big and small, counting to 5, etc. Maybe it's just me but if you have had any conversations with your child during toddlerhood, I'm betting they can count to 5 and tell the difference between sizes.

So, what are ya'll using? She's 5, 6 in Nov. so I don't want to forge ahead and stress her out but the K programs look boooooring and way too simple. I'm going to check out the first grade levels. Maybe I could stretch them out?

 

[hottmama]

We found a couple good K workbooks at the bookstore-- my 3yo is doing kindy work and picked out DK "Math Made Easy" (http://www.amazon.com/Math-Made-Easy.../dp/0789457202). It's definitely a step above, longer, and more comprehensive than some of the too easy kindergarten books. We also like the Master Skills books but I find they run a bit easy and you might want the 1st grade.
My older son turned 6 in January and is doing 1st grade math so I think that might be where you should put your 6yo in the fall if she can already do addition, subtraction, etc. In some states (including mine) she would be a first grader next year anyway.
I'd love to try a big math curriculum like Math U See but the workbooks seem like enough for my kids and they catch on pretty quickly without all the manipulatives.

 

[Mongoose]

We do use Singapore, and love it, but I agree with your statement about where it starts with big/little etc. Which edition/level were you looking at? I have found the older edition to be very easy and not worth it. The new standards edition has more substance, but the book A in the Early Bird level is still easy. Book B covers addition, subtraction, telling time, counting to 100, calendars, money, and sequencing. I would consider Book A pre/preK and book B K level. You dont have to start with A if that is too easy.

If you just dont like singapore for more reasons than the level that you looked at being to easy....you can disregard this post

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[4Blessings]

I wasn't planning on doing any structured math with my 5 year old this year (just turned six) but he wanted to sit in on older brother's math lessons. DS #1 is seven (2nd grade) and we are using Saxon 3. The kindergartner does the lessons along with us. I would def. think that Saxon K or 1 would be too simple for most

When DS #1 was in the second half of K and through 1st grade we used Math for Your First- and Second-Grader: All You Need to Know to Be Your Child's Best Teacher by Steve Slavin. We checked it out from the library before purchasing it. It doesn't have worksheets so it did take some prep but it was inexpensive and easy to use.

 

[emilys_mom1]

We tried Singapore and that didn't work out for us. We are using Math U See for my first grader and will use it for my K next year as well.

 

[scheelimama]

We're enjoying Math-U-See. I agree about Saxon looking too simple for K. I looked it over and was also totally unimpressed. I'm also not a big fan of the spiral approach with math and Saxon utilizes it.

 

[theretohere]

Another Singapore vote. We started at the beginning of Earlybird- even though it was easy. It gave DD1 a lot of confidence and was a very gentle introduction to the whole idea of a math program, if that makes sense.
Now we're working on Miquon and Singapore together.