All right. I confess. Math -- not my thing.
I have been told for the last 30 years of my life that I have the right kind of brain for math, that mathematics and music require the same mental muscles, even that advanced music theory is so close to math that I might as well have swapped in grad school. I don't believe a word of it. In fact, without the motivational factor of homeschooling I may have happily lived my life without glancing more closely at mathematics than my computer's calculator function.
All that being said, I do not want my children to share this prejudice.
There are a lot of math curricula out there. I have spent too much of my life reviewing textbooks and trying to figure out which method will best serve my family. The best answer I can come up with, appropriately, comes from a musical: "Then from out of the blue, and without any guide, you know what your decision is -- which is not to decide." (Sondheim -- "Into the Woods")
My daughters struggle with making mathematical concepts "stick." My son tends to get it the first time and usually figures out how to do the next thing without being shown. To accommodate them all, I flit from method to method in a conscientious attempt to help them see math from every angle, without getting bored or frustrated with one method. This is what I have found.
Public school materials, at least the ones used in our California school district, tend to be tedious in the early grades. Necessary, but tedious. My son gets frustrated with the sequential approach and likes to skip to the end of the chapter to find out "how you really do it." My daughter in sixth grade has had a different experience. The pages are so terribly full of information that she either is overwhelmed by it and shuts off or she tries to digest it all at once and cannot. We use these books, and use them regularly, especially since they will have to take the tests that they teach toward at the end of the year, but they aren't anyone's favorite.
Miquon Math is my third grade son's favorite by far. It encourages creative thinking in math and recognition of patterns. It often takes a concept farther than other methods would but since the student is learning how the concept works it happens in a natural way that feels "easy." Miquon transitions into the Key-to series where it continues to work sequentially with patterns to learn fractions, decimals, percents, and algebra. The Key-to series has been excellent for my oldest daughter because there are not very many concepts per page. The clean presentation helps her to remain focused, and the creative thinking appeals to my more math-oriented son.
Singapore Math emphasizes mental math and problem solving. It is worth noting that the grade levels in Singapore Math are not at all comparable with U.S. equivalents. Singapore Math was made available worldwide after students in Singapore were found to be in first place in mathematics in the TIMSS -- Trends in Math and Science Study -- in each of the first four-year cycles. It is very quickly paced and uses different and interesting ways of thinking about and visualizing math problems. All of my kids think it's "fun."
Saxon, Horizons, and Abeka Math are homeschooling standards. They are "spiral-based" programs, unlike Singapore and Miquon which are "mastery based." This means that where Miquon and Singapore might have reviews every so often for groups of concepts, in Saxon, Horizons, and Abeka review forms the majority of each lesson with only one new concept being introduced each time. Being told that these curricula were very user-friendly for homeschool moms that weren't so keen on math, I have given Saxon and Horizons a try -- in complete truth, we were all bored to tears. I do, however, use the Saxon skill review worksheets for drills -- the pace is so much slower than the public school standards that both my 6th and 3rd grader currently use drills from the 7/8 skills book.
Switched on Schoolhouse is a computer based program. The isolation was not appealing to my children, even though they all enjoy using computers. The version we tried out got a little bit bogged down in the steps the student needed to take to do simple things like borrowing which are so easy with pen and paper but required several mouse clicks to do in the program. However, this was in 2007 and more modern versions may be easier to use. It, like the other homeschool standards, is spiral-based and does not focus on mental math or creative problem solving.
Speaking of computer programs... wouldn't it be nice if we could point and click our way to mathematical perfection??? I haven't found a way to do that yet, however, there are some programs that my family has enjoyed and that have proven valuable.
Timez Attack is a multiplication tables drill that looks a lot like a video game. Need I say more?
Rainbow Rock, Vroot and Vroom, and Wiggle Woods are corny names for the CD ROMS that go with Singapore math. My kids loved the first two and I need to invest in the third as soon as possible.
Mathletics was recommended to me recently by another homeschool mom. She says it is fabulous and has watched her daughters' skills improve through its use. I plan to try it out soon, too!
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