Math

Math-U-See is a fairly new Math program, designed especially for homeschoolers, which runs from Kindergarten all the way through high school. The author is a former high school Math teacher who has attempted to balance a solid conceptual understanding of math with enough practice to let it "sink in." The program consists of a student text (workbook format), a teacher's manual, and optional practice sheets, special Math-U-See blocks and a teacher training DVD. I am very impressed with this program. The author does a fine job of allowing the students to become well aquainted with using numbers. I found math concepts very easy to explain to my daughter with the use of the very clever manipulatives (which might be thought of as a cross between "Base-ten Blocks" and Cuisinaire Rods). I was particularly impressed with how clearly place value is taught and how thoughtfully the child is prepared for future lessons (e.g. early on in addition, the child starts doing simple "solve for the unknown" problems in preparation for subtraction). Other skills learned include telling time, measurement and a heavy emphasis on skip counting (in preparation for future multiplication and factoring). My only complaint is that some of the material is contained only in the teacher's manual (I can imagine that this might have been done intentionally to force the parent to follow along in the teacher's manual rather than letting the child work entirely on their own. The author demonstrates how each concept works on the DVD so that the parent may more confidently teach the concept to the child.

Over the years we haven't always used Math-U-See as our primary Math text, but we have always found the DVDs and blocks useful no matter what we were using.

Problems at this level center around practice in the topics usually introduced at the 1st grade level. In the 5 questions for each day, concepts of numbers, computation, application, and mixed problems are covered. Sample questions chosen at random include the following: Write the number 203. What comes next: 50, 100, 150, ___ ? What month comes after March? A square has ___ sides. Jenny is six months old. Nicki is ten months old. Which one is almost one year old?

This Math supplement provides 10 questions (which should take approximately 7 to 10 minutes) each day which are read aloud by the parent/teacher and computed mentally by the student who writes only the answer on paper. The questions should be helpful in introducing students to the language and vocabulary used on standardized tests, gaining confidence and practice in mental computation and allows the parent/teacher to quickly (and regularly) evaluate the student's progress (this might be especially useful for students who do much of their Math work independently). We also found that these problems make a good opportunity for working on following directions.

This second grade book begins with 15 review lessons of five problems each. The students then begin sets of the normal 10 problems which cover material such as writing numbers in standard or expanded form, determining the next number in a pattern, values of greater than or less than, and determining whether a number is even or odd. Later problems in this volume involve simple computation (addition and subtraction), money and time problems, days of the week, months of the year, simple fractions and place value. The answer is included in parentheses after each problem. Also included in the book are an extensive glossary and ideas for implementing a incentive/reward system (probably more appropriate for the classroom than a homeschool situation).

We've used this book for several months and I've found it to be a helpful supplement for my second grade daughter. Because of it's simplicity, it would also make a good choice for those who homeschool "part-time" (i.e.supplement their child's education at home).

Sample problems (selected from throughout the book) include: Write the number 214 in expanded form. What comes next 33, 36, 39, _ ? What digit is in the ones place in the number 34? Write the number that has five hundreds, six tens and three ones. Decrease the tens place by one in the number 58. Is the number eight even or odd? Is the number 47 about 50 or about 40? Which is more: 301 or 311? Draw a circle. Shade one half of it. Which is less: two tens or three tens? Which is more: three dimes or one quarter?

Miquon Math is a series of 6 math workbooks designed to be used in 1st through 3rd grade. They are named by color and not by grade level, so that an older child can use them without feeling they are "remedial". The workbooks are designed to be used with Cuisenaire Rods. I have had the books for a couple of years but have only started using them this year as a supplement for my 3rd and 4th graders. I hesitated using them before because they have an unusual format -- the pages don't necessarily have to be done in order, and are grouped by topic rather than in sequential chapters. Multiplication is introduced along with addition in first grade, and advanced concepts such as squared numbers and pre-algebra are introduced through use of concrete manipulatives. However, my 3rd grader now says she "loves this kind of math" and both the children have shown a better grasp of what numbers mean since they have started using the books. We've discovered that when the manipulatives come out and are used to illustrate concepts, the "littlies" want to join in. My 5yo was watching carefully as my 8yo tried to figure out the square of 4, and suddenly announced "It's 16!" He was so proud of himself!
I have ordered the Orange Book (the first one in the series) to start with my almost 6 year old. After completing the Miquon Series, a child can go straight into Saxon Math 54 or 65.