What math curriculum do you prefer?

Question

I am trying to choose a math curriculum for my child who will be in 4th grade next year. We have done just about everything. This year is Abeka, which I will stick with for everything but Math for next year. I have found their Math program to be highly unsatisfactory this year. Having said that, I realize that my child doesn't care for Math, so it will never be her favorite, I just need to find a different format for her. Anyone have any suggestions for something they've used? I'm willing to consider different avenues, such as a computer based Math program. Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

I too was looking into math curriculums for next year.
We used Switched on Schoolhouse this year as a total curriculum, and my son has enjoyed it. I didn't like that it left me out of the loop a bit. I am all for some independant learning, but he was doing this mostly on his own. I thought the curriculum was great except for history, which I think from looking at later years was mostly about the grades topics, not an overall complaint about the curriculum.

For next year I had decided to go classical and started getting ready. I got all my history and science and some of the literature, but when it came time to math I was stumped. I asked the other homeschool moms, read reviews, and just saw so many pros and cons and choices it started to fry my brain. After going back and forth on Saxon and a few others I just decided to stick with SOS. Ty enjoyed the computer work and it taught him in a way that he understood it and by the end of 3rd grade he would have been prepared for Saxon 4/5.

So next year I am going to use it for math and bible, and use a classical approach for literature, history, and science. The thing I enjoyed about SOS is that you can decide how many problems your child has to do and which can be skipped. We reached a point with my son where the idea had been mastered so I would only make him do 5 out of 30 just to keep it fresh and do all the problems that covered something new. Ty hates doing something over and over once he knows how, he gets bored.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 2

I might without doubt advise saxon. It is generally probably the most praised of all math techniques within the homeschooling neighborhood. It has consistent round reports of found out constituents as an alternative than simply overlaying a brand new ability in every mission. Most stages have a hundred and fifty courses of 25 disorders every. A new ability is announced and practiced for approximately 15 of the ones disorders. The different disorders in every lesson assessment prior fabric in a round style. Saxon is not a "whistle and bells" form application, simply simple math with nice assessment on a every day foundation. I had 4kids who homeschooled Pre K to university. We used countless Math techniques throughout all the ones years. Saxon is the great for easily instructing math. It's now not extremely coloured, musically sing-songy, or playful. But it teaches fundamental capabilities and better math larger than another application. And consider me, we attempted among the ones available on the market throughout the final 18yrs. Saxon is the great, uninteresting however very amazing.

Answer 3

My son and I liked Singapore Math too when we used it for my son. The only problem we had with it was that it used a spiral approach (rather than mastery) and when we would come back to the topic again, he would have forgotten it, and I would have to do a lot of reteaching, and I felt like it was taking too long to get through the program and I felt frustrated. My son is a special-needs learner with memory problems so a bright child good at math probably wouldn't have that problem and it would be a great program for them. It is a very visual program and the workbooks are fun.

I found an inexpensive program that teaches with the mastery approach where we don't have the reteaching problem, they teach every concept from the beginning to mastery, called "Developmental Math". from Level 1 to Level 20 which includes Algebra 2 and Geometry. It starts from pictures and goes to word problems. It's about $20 each level and you go through 2 levels each year. I had figured if this program did not work out for us, I would wind up going to Math-U-See which is also supposed to be wonderful, but a bit expensive, because of the manipulatives. I have heard a lot of rave reviews of that program and that was going to be a final program I was going to try out but since Developmental was a lot cheaper I tried that first. You can see sample shots of the pages at Developmental Math at www.cbd.com but it is a secular program: here is a sample shot of one book: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=460114&event=1016DM|1192562|1016#curr, and I have bought my books at Rainbow Resource (which is where I buy most of my curriculum).

They have a sample placement test you can take also at:http://www.mathplace.com/mpass/download.asp

Answer 4

Since math is not your child's favorite, maybe something engaging will help.
Is your child a hands on learner? visual?
Try Math U See. Everyone I know that has used it loves it. It incorporates DVD tutorials with workbooks and manipulatives.
Man, simply can't go wrong there! I've watched some of the lessons and gone through the work books and they are solid.
highly recommended.

Answer 5

I actually don't use a set curriculum. We have a few workbooks the kids have chosen and some word problem solving stuff I received from my SIL, but I tend to just make up my own worksheets or find stuff online.

However, if you want to look at a set program, maybe look into the different reviews here:
http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/math/math-index.htm

It looks like Horizons, Moving With Math, Singapore, Math-U-See and MCP math are the favourites at that site. You'll have to search online for reviews of these, though, because her reviews for these are in her book and she won't put them online.

Answer 6

It's hard to know what will work for someone else, but we are happy with Singapore Math. You can find descriptions and sample pages for the elementary levels here (click on the images of the book covers for details):

http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_US_Ed_s/39.htm

Answer 7

Go to K12 for a large assortment of subjects. They are very reasonably priced and the lessons are self-paced lessons. They also conduct an assessment test to see what grade level of classes should be taught

Answer 8

We use Modern Curriculum Press and really like it. I know Saxon is really good, but it really drills you out the wazoo on the basics. Which is good, but...if they already have a hold of the concept they need to go on. That's why I like MCP.Good Luck!

Answer 9

We tried Saxon and it was good but very time consuming. If you're good about reviewing arithmetic facts, I'd recommend Singapore. I love it. But try some others out too so you'll know what's right for your family.

Answer 10

Hands-on manipulatives to teach the skills. Life skills to apply the lessons and home-made games to drill to mastery.