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Karen T
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| Posted: July 08 2005 at 4:47pm | IP Logged
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I'll be starting my kindergartner this year at home (he went to our parish preschool last year while I adjusted to my first year hs-ing my oldest son, now 12.
I'm not sure what to do about math. I have the Family Math book that has some ideas, and I have lot of manipulatives to play with but I don't know much about what specifically to teach. I know at this age it should be very basic, but other than learning the numbers and counting (he can count to 15 but doesn't recognize the number symbols yet, and he can count at least 10 objects pretty well)
Should I invest in an actual program? I'm not math phobic at all; I loved it, but I just don't remember that far back in my own history and my older son was in public school at that age. That son is smart, but has never liked math and had trouble the last few years, so I'm hoping to keep ds#2's interest up.
Karen T
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alicegunther
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| Posted: July 08 2005 at 5:08pm | IP Logged
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We like Math U See. It provides a solid foundation with excellent manipulatives (but not a million *different* manipulatives), does not require an inordinate amount a prep work for the teacher, and comes with a DVD to assist Mom or Dad in presenting each lesson. The DVD is meant for the teacher, not so much the student, yet that did not prevent my kindergartener from begging to watch "Mathman" (her name for Steve Demme) this year.
That being said, if you are inclined to wait a year before buying a program, I do not think it's a bad idea at all. There are great math books at the library and many activities to keep a young one with an enthusiastic mom learning and stimulated for the entire year.
__________________
Love, Alice
mother of seven!
      
Cottage Blessings
Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
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tovlo4801
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| Posted: July 08 2005 at 8:49pm | IP Logged
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Karen,
I agree that a program is not necessary for this age. If you do decide you would like to go the math program route, you might want to consider Shiller Math.
I was debating earlier this year about getting a math program for my younger son or just getting library books and doing activities from Family Math. I had pretty much settled on doing scattered math activites instead of a laid out program this year, but then we got some unexpected money. I splurged on Shiller Math.
Shiller is a Motessori based program. The 1st package is supposed to cover five years of math for a child 4-8 years old. It includes activity books and all the manipulatives you need to teach the material. They say there is no teacher prep.
I use MUS with my older son and I really like it. For my little one though, I wanted something even more hands-on and active.
Shiller's academics look great, but I really love how fun it looks. They seem to really work at presenting material in different ways (visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic) so that kids are really engaged in what they are learning. I received my package last night and after looking through the materials I'm very excited to get started!
Just offering another option to consider. If you're interested the website is Shiller Math.
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mom3aut1not
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 12:07am | IP Logged
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Karen,
If you really don't want a program, check out Cathy Duffy's list of goals for kindergarten math or Ruth Beechick's booklet.
However, I prefer Rightstart Math -- a program developed by a Catholic, former Montessori teacher who studied math education as it is done not only in this country but in Asia.
http://www.alabacus.com/
In Christ,
Deborah
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Karen T
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 8:52am | IP Logged
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Wow, several different opinions already. I'd thought about MUS, b/c I have the manipulatives for it already. I orig. bought MUS for my 6th grader last year and he hated it. The boys are very different, though, so the younger one may like it, but I haven't really looked at the one for that age yet. I"ll check it out.
I do have Ruth Beechick's booklet; thanks for reminding me of that one.
And, the idea of Montessori-type learning interests me, as I'm planning to use some Mont. ideas in other areas so I'll have to look into those as well.
I haven't read CM's orig. writings, but did she advocate waiting until older for any formal math?
Karen T
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Karen T
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 9:01am | IP Logged
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tovlo4801 wrote:
Karen,
I had pretty much settled on doing scattered math activites instead of a laid out program this year, but then we got some unexpected money. I splurged on Shiller Math.
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Yikes, splurged is right! I know it's for several years, but what if, like MUS for my oldest son, it's just not a good fit for the child? That's a lot of money to be out. I'm sure it's a great program; it looks very interesting but with dh not working right now (finishing his degree) I'm on a bit more of a budget. Thanks, though!
Karen
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tovlo4801
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 9:16am | IP Logged
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Karen T wrote:
| Yikes, splurged is right! |
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I know, I know. That's mostly what kept me from investing before. There also doesn't seem to be an awful lot of people using it to recommend or caution against it yet. I guess I'll be a guinea pig.
I had decided against it so many times, but it just kept coming back to me in my thoughts so when we got the money, I chose to give it a try.
I forgot to mention Ruth Beechik, but that was another resource I was planning to use next year as well. I still think with Beechik, Family Math and library books you can do a very nice math "program" for you child all on your own. In fact, it might just be even better.
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tovlo4801
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 1:09pm | IP Logged
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Karen,
I've been reading Charlotte Mason on-line at Ambleside Online. If you scroll down the page to Volume 1 (which is focused on education of children under 9), and then go to Part V, the third section, #XV, she addresses arithmetic. You might find that interesting.
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Karen T
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 1:41pm | IP Logged
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tovlo4801 wrote:
Karen,
I've been reading Charlotte Mason on-line at Ambleside Online. If you scroll down the page to Volume 1 (which is focused on education of children under 9), and then go to Part V, the third section, #XV, she addresses arithmetic. You might find that interesting. |
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Thanks! I just looked it over, and it is very interesting. I think this is what i'm leaning towards, just doing very informal math this year. I just don't want to skip over areas that might not occur to me. I think reading Ruth Beechick's booklet next, and then looking over Family Math again, will help me.
Karen
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tovlo4801
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| Posted: July 10 2005 at 2:27pm | IP Logged
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Karen,
I just had to send you one more resource. This would be for both of your children. Someone on this forum mentioned this site a while back. Forgive me if you're already familiar with Living Math
My children are almost the same age as yours and my oldest struggles to find math interesting and fun too. I think this Living Math site will help me create that "math rich" environment which is so important to succeeding in math.
I promise I'll let this go now. Your question got me digging and that's always trouble for me.
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Karen T
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| Posted: July 11 2005 at 8:09am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the link. I did have it bookmarked already but had not looked there recently.
Also, I went back and re-read Ruth Beechick's booklet and it really makes a lot of sense, about the 3 steps of learning math, and not trying to push them into the abstract steps too soon. I think we'll just work on lots of counting, sorting, measuring, etc. without written work this year.
Karen
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Jamberry77
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| Posted: July 16 2005 at 12:25pm | IP Logged
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Dear Karen,
I use RightStart Math like Deborah does (www.alabacus.com). Another hs mom showed it to me a few years ago. She said, "My third grader adds two 4-digit numbers in her head and my first grader is adding thousands together on paper." I was impressed as it teaches little tricks like if you have 8 + 7, you can take 2 away from the 7 to make the 8 a 10, then you have 10 + 5. Or you can take 5 from each and have 5+5+3+2, or 10+5. It sounds unneccesary until you start adding tens, then those tricks help a lot. Also, it uses an abacus to encourage kids to visualize in their minds 5's and 10's. Abacus use decreases as the student progresses through the levels. I love the program.
Advantages: very little writing (good for my son who dislikes the act of writing), fairly short lessons (20-30 minutes), manipulatives, scripted lesson plan for Mom or Dad.
Disadvantages: requires a parent to do the lesson (I don't mind it at all but if someone had lots of kids, this would take some time away from other things) and cost is more than some programs (but resale value is high at Cathswap). Also, as of now, the last available level is 4th grade. We plan on switching to something else then (maybe Saxon?).
Our son has just started the second grade book and has learned to add two 2-digit numbers together in his head with just a few moments of thinking. Also, this program includes lots of games -- a whole book, in fact, so in any area you want your child to practice, you have your choice of games. Our son loves this math and I have been well pleased with it, also.
Love,
Kelly Lang in NC
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Karen T
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| Posted: July 16 2005 at 2:43pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Kelly. I'm going to a homeschool expo here in Atlanta in 2 weeks and I think they are one of the vendors, so I plan on looking at it. I'm still thinking I won't do anything formal this year for kindergarten, but it sounds like a good possibility for 1st grade.
Has anyone here used Right Start and MUS at that age, to compare? I used MUS for 6th grade, and my older son didn't like it, but he did learn well with it. Since I have the manipulatives, it would be cost-effective for me but I don't know much about their lower levels.
Karen
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: kindergarten math
