Okay...more math questions...

[Melinda]

Alright, so I have looked into lots and Lots and LOTS of math curricula and my head is spinning.

Here is my situation and here is what I own...given this, what do you suggest?

My 5yo (almost 6yo) boy started Saxon 3 a couple days ago. We have worked on it for 3 days and gone through 15 lessons. He is doing well with it and enjoying it, but after the post I made several days ago, I have been looking into what else is out there.

I have a 4yo girl who has not had much instruction because the 5yo sucks up all of my time. :( I am trying, but my kids are spaced pretty close together, and I am exhausted.

I called Art of Problem Solving today and spoke to the author. I explained our situation and he said to drop everything and only use Singapore through 6B. When we have gone through 6B, start AoPS and he would be ready for it at that point.

I have on my shelves:
-The entire Right Start program through RS E and all manipulatives/CD-ROM of worksheets

-Saxon K-3 and all manipulatives

-Singapore Earlybird US Edition 1A-2B
-Singapore Primary Math US Edition 1A (incl. TM, CWP, and IP)
-Singapore Primary Math US Edition (Textbooks only) 5A-6B

-Math U See Primer, incl. skip counting CD, starter/completer blocks, TM, and workbook

-Family Math

-Math Mastermind sets, K-2

...and many more, but that is all the actual math *curriculum* I have. Anyhow, what would you do?

I would really like to find one thing I can stick with for a while. Would it be too much to do RS and Singapore simultaneously? Would that be enough? I am a bit confused as math has never been something that came naturally to me (hence the extraneous math curricula...haha).

[Ruth in Canada]

At 4 and almost 6, formal instruction should be fairly short. I think we might have done 1 hour max (1/2 learing to read, 1/2 math)--and not all at once stretch. I think you could use anything for math that seemed to work for both you and the student at this point. In our case it was MUS because it was easy to do and had lots of white space for writing. Had I been aware of Singapore when we started, I might have gone with that instead.

Informal instruction can happen all day as you go about the rest of the stuff you need to do during the day. I used to try to try to bring up a particularly fascinating topic while standing in line at the grocery check-out so the kids would stick close to me.

If you are uncertain about your math skills, that might be the place to focus at the moment. Once you are more comfortable, you'll find more opportunities to talk about math with your kids during the rest of life.

[Blessedfamily]

This isn't a big help but...when you put all the pieces of Singapore together it's a perfect match for us. I have no plans to switch until I've gone through the whole program. Math is the only subject I feel that way about.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Cool, so you spoke with Richard? I'm glad to hear he's recommending Singapore these days for kids like your son. It's a fine choice and inexpensive, too! I agree with him that if your ds works through level 6B, he'd be ready for AoPS intro classes.

My dd used Miquon, followed by levels 3B through 6B of Singapore. At that stage, she was more than ready to move into algebra. Singapore is a complete program; there would be no need to add in RS or anything else. You could always give it a try for a level and see how it works. We just read/worked through the lesson book together, then I turned her loose on the workbook or the CWP book. She was able to do those independently. It sounds less time-consuming than what you have now :-)

Kathy

[WendyK]

My vote is for Singapore math. :001_smile:

[Melinda]

Okay, so assuming we go with Singapore...

Do I start him at 1A and fly through it so that he has their way of doing things in place, or do I give him a placement test and start him at that point?

[Blessedfamily]

Yes. I would start him with 1A with the IP and CWP. He may go through it quickly, but he'll "see" math from many different angles (pardon the pun. )

Then you can just go on to 1B.

[WendyK]

Hm. I think you should try the placement test. It seems like the same skills are repeated with each level (just with larger numbers). So if you jumped to 2A after trying the placement, I can't think of what you would miss from 1A that wouldn't be to some extent covered again in 2A.

I would definitely get at least the Intensive practice books.

[Blessedfamily]

Yes, she could certainly test. I just figured since she posted that she already owns the 1A stuff, she could try it out and see if Singapore's approach is different from what he's learned already.

Either way, Happy Math!
I hope Singapore's a good fit for your young man.:001_smile:

[Reya]

I would really like to find one thing I can stick with for a while. Would it be too much to do RS and Singapore simultaneously? Would that be enough? I am a bit confused as math has never been something that came naturally to me (hence the extraneous math curricula...haha).

We do both, plus some enrichment books. DS thinks it's too slow, even super condensed. I don't. :tongue_smilie:

[WendyK]

Yes, she could certainly test. I just figured since she posted that she already owns the 1A stuff, she could try it out and see if Singapore's approach is different from what he's learned already.

Either way, Happy Math!
I hope Singapore's a good fit for your young man.:001_smile: Oh, then by all means. LOL I'd try to get some use out of it too. :001_smile: