I have long been a fan of the poems for two voices books by Paul Fleischman. This book puts a twist on the idea by covering math topics in poems. It's a really unique and engaging way to memorize a math concept, reciting it as a poem. A poem for two voices is a poem recited by two people where sometimes the same words are said in tandem, sometimes alternately, and sometimes, the speakers speak at the same time saying different things.
Saxon 2 covers the arithmetic topics of addition and subtraction of one and two digit numbers and simple multiplication and division as well as the related topics of patterns, graphing, time, measurement, money, geometry and estimating. Although it uses manipulatives it is not a "manipulatives-based" program.
Three time national fiddle champion Bonnie Rideout put together an enchanting collection of songs and poems for children on this CD. She has set traditional poems and nursery rhymes (such as Bobbie Shafto and Wee Willie Winkie) to traditional Scottish tunes and includes familiar songs such as My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean and Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be.
The best part of the CD are the pieces of original and traditional music set to the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson and an absolutely ingenious adaption of the Yeats poem, The Fiddler from Dooney.
Margot Davidson, married sixteen years to husband Dan, is a homeschooling mother of 5 children, ages 7 to 15. A former public school teacher, she now lives in rural northeast Pennsylvania. She has a Pennsylvania teaching certificate for elementary grades and for secondary home economics and English.
She also owns and operates Hillside Education, a small publishing company that produces language arts materials for homeschoolers. In leisure time, she enjoys baking, reading, sewing, and playing guitar and singing with the children--especially around the campfire.
