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kristacecilia
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 7:47am | IP Logged
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My older son is going to be starting a third grade math program soon, but I am at a loss about what program to buy.
For first grade we used Saxon and hated it. It took way too long to do a lesson.
For second grade we used MCP and it was alright, but too workbooky for him.
He is very good at math, which is partly why we have not found a program that works for us yet. He doesn't want to do any practice work, he understands the concepts almost immediately and then wants to move ahead. Even eliminating most of the review in Saxon and limiting the number of problems he has to do with MCP leaves him bored. Instead of completing the work he stares into space and complains about how bored he is- it will regularly take him over an hour to complete 10 or 12 problems, even though he understands the concepts and could do the problems quickly.
Oh, and he is only just turned 6. So there is a maturity issue, too.
Any ideas for other math programs?
Right now I am thinking about going back to Saxon for 5/4 next year, but what do I do in the meantime?
I have looked at Singapore, I have thought about just covering the topics on our own and printing off practice sheets (for him to stare at, probably), but I am open to any ideas.
TIA.
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Krista
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Betsy
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 10:26am | IP Logged
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I can't speak highly enough about Righstart Math. I have one son that is at grade level and one that is a year above grade level. They both are very challenged but not in a exhaustive type way. In the early years there are lots of manipulativses. As they move up they do do more work on their own, but I would never call it workbookish. I think the best thing about this program is that it truly challenges the student to think out side the box and really, truly understand concepts. I have an engineering degree and I find that I have learned things from teaching my kids. I also see the great wisdom in how material is presented and how that will help the child with advanced math down the road.
Let me know if you have specific questions.
Betsy
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AtHomeScience
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 4:46pm | IP Logged
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We use MEP. It's free and it's fabulous, IMHO (though like any program it is not for everyone.)
You can download the pdf files from the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching
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Kris, Mom to 3 rambunctious boys 
At Home Science
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: June 29 2010 at 5:37pm | IP Logged
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Ohh... the MEP stuff looks interesting and I love that it's free! Free makes me happy.
As for RightStart, it sounds VERY interesting. I love that you are an engineer and find it challenging for your kids. I am off to look into the link more.
Thank you both!
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Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Lori
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| Posted: June 30 2010 at 3:00am | IP Logged
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I am in love with Teaching Textbooks, which just came out with their 3rd Grade program. I've loved the older grades, sure I'll love this one, too.
As for extra practice/workbooky stuff, MEP looks very cool...and free makes ME happy, too! 
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12stars
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I have the same thing going on with my daughter as well. I actually came into this forum to ask the same question.
My 10 year old just did TT 4th grade, but I found I had to supplement a lot. There was no real depth of the concepts long term, and it jumps around a lot, my daughter used it more as a game. That is where my hesitation comes in with TT 3.
My 3rd grader is taught a concept and she masters it right away.
We have also used MEP but then switched...
For the past two years my DD used Singapore math and she enjoyed it, but again I felt like it was not enough.
For those that have used Saxon was it teacher intensive, meaning that I have to sit through the whole lesson with her?
Or is it more independent work once she can master it?
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herdingkittens
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| Posted: July 13 2010 at 10:46pm | IP Logged
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Another Singapore user here. We started with MCP in K with my eldest, which she really disliked (me too  ), moved to Saxon, which we loved for 1, but not so much for 2, and then I needed to think about how I was going to teach multiple grades of Math in the future and knew that Saxon took too much time for me to teach everyone and not feel frazzled. Then we moved to Singapore and I love love love it. My kids love love love it. It is easy to teach and lessons are short. I feel like I have more of a command of moving at our own pace with Singapore without having to skip around or feel tied to a script. They are moving at their own pace with it. Math is such a personal thing, though, and it seems like I just needed to try things out until we hit one that worked for us. HTH! Good luck with the search.... for some reason the math search seemed like a daunting one! I'll pray for you! 
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Cay Gibson
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We're using Abeka...as used in MODG.
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Cay Gibson
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: July 20 2010 at 8:03pm | IP Logged
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12stars wrote:
I have the same thing going on with my daughter as well. I actually came into this forum to ask the same question.
My 10 year old just did TT 4th grade, but I found I had to supplement a lot. There was no real depth of the concepts long term, and it jumps around a lot, my daughter used it more as a game. That is where my hesitation comes in with TT 3.
My 3rd grader is taught a concept and she masters it right away.
We have also used MEP but then switched...
For the past two years my DD used Singapore math and she enjoyed it, but again I felt like it was not enough.
For those that have used Saxon was it teacher intensive, meaning that I have to sit through the whole lesson with her?
Or is it more independent work once she can master it?
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When I used Saxon- it was Saxon 1- it was completely teacher intensive. It even has a script written out for you to say. It's just like teaching in a classroom. It takes forever, too... if you do everything you could easily be spending 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day just on math. I have been told that starting with Saxon 5/4 it is independent learning, so that's what I was basing my decision on to switch back later.
In the end I have decided to let him lead the way with math subjects he is interested in. We might use some MEP, but we're mostly going to do stuff from Family Math and the Math is Fun website. Just lots of activities and hands on stuff... he is working out multiplication and division on his own so if I feel like he could use more focus, we might work on memorizing those.
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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lamamaloca
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| Posted: Aug 25 2010 at 5:56pm | IP Logged
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We are using Math Mammoth this year, which I've heard some very good things about and which I think will actually work for us. You can download lots of free samples from the website to see if you like it.
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Becky
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knowloveserve
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TT users here. My son is doing TT3 and it's such a relief to our homeschooling day. A tremendously mom-friendly product when I want to get other things done or work with other kids.
I don't know about the depth of subjects and the like. It goes over a lot of topics.
But we also play math games once a week too, and have real life math as a big part of our life anyway. (see the Living Math website for ideas).
I'm not sure how in depth early mathematics NEEDS to get... the kid gets the concept, and moves on... though it may be an issue for higher learning.
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Kristie 4
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Math U See is a great program. My kids are doing great in Highschool Math after using it. Kids can go quickly or slowly through it so it is great for the math inclined and the math challenged student. It has lots of review, but the way it is set up you can choose how much of that review you want to use. Also, a big plus for the large family, there is only one teaching lesson per week. I would always stagger my troops so I wasn't teaching, or they weren't watching a DVD, more than once a day.
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Kristie in Canada
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: 3rd Grade math
