Math suggestion??

Wow, Faith! I am NOT a Saxon lover, and we tried using the Saxon 2, but that was several years ago before I was comfortable with winging it in math! Not that I’m really comfortable still with that! LOL!!! My biggest concern with the Saxon is to not feel like you have to do everything all the time. I personally strongly dislike anything that tells me I have to be on day 104 and I’ve only been able to get to day 76!!! If you can let that not bother you, adapting it and maybe even breaking up the lessons, you maybe could take a swing at it.

Believe it or not, I taught my oldest two dds when they were about your dd’s age with some neat books from a store–can’t remember if it was Wal-Mart or where right now. They had sticker pages in the middle, and my dd’s loved to be able to choose a sticker and put on a page that was done and checked! Staples might have them, too. I wouldn’t build my whole curriculum around them, and you’ll want to include lots of real-life math for her, but it could be a low cost solution for now while you either check out what’s out there or save funds for what you know you already want.

Incidentally, my oldest dd told me a few years back that cooking and sewing taught her more about fractions–doing the bookwork *after* the hands-on life skills made it all click–and she was about 16-17 when she finished a workbook on fractions!!! Went through it pretty quickly and fairly easily! We were using Developmental Math at the time, but that gets pricey when you’re buying the work”books” (for lack of a better term) for each child. We switched to Mastering Mathematics which I like because it’s straightforward and simple. It’s not colorful, but it’s reasonably priced, too! You can purchase the whole set which is considered 1st through 6th grade (and some middle school concepts, too) for around $130, which includes the 6 workbooks, the parent guide and cardstock manipulatives and games. You could realistically teach it just from the student book–the Parent Guide has some hints and helps and scope and sequence, etc., and the answers (for most of it you could use a calculator!) Her premise is to teach addition all the way through–adding up to 6 place numbers at the end of the book! Then you go through subtraction the same way (while reviewing Addition). Some of the “extras” like clock, money, shapes etc. are in the Parent’s Guide. But you can teach that around the house! She does give alternate routings if you live in a state that requires testing as obviously the tests assume you’re doing it their way! Since we don’t have to test I follow her original plan, and I finally have some dds that don’t hate math!!! (Well, most of the time! LOL!!)

I realize that’s a big investment, but if you want to check it out, here’s the link:

http://www.masterypublications.com/index.htm

Otherwise, I’d go with the little workbooks. I almost think it was related to the Golden Books somehow–maybe I can look in their boxes and see if I can find them. Who knows if they still make them?! Of course you could just buy stickers to use! Or if you decide to go with the Saxon, just don’t let it consume you!!! Remember, it is YOUR tool! Did you ever see a hammer pick up a construction worker and use him to beat the nails in?! Me either! 🙂 My dh is a contractor, and although he uses nail guns most of the time, I’ve yet to see any of his tools get the best of him! 😉

Have a good weekend!

Trisch

Faith, I was going to edit and add a few thoughts last night (or early this morning!) but for some reason couldn’t access the site right then.

With my last 3 dds, I used money to teach “borrowing and carrying” (or whatever they call it now!). It made the most sense and was familiar to them. Really, a lot of hands on stuff is great! Do you have Ruth Beechik’s 3R series? Her math recommendations is all I used when my little girls were 5-7 years old. And the whole set of those are around $12! You’d have enough hands on and basic skills to teach for quite awhile! I think her grade recommendations, unless they’ve been updated, might be a bit off if testing is necessary. But still, there’s definitely enough there to keep you busy awhile! 🙂

Perhaps if you feel you need the curriculum (i.e. Saxon), you could loosely follow it but add in these more hands on activities.

About the only two things that I remember liking about the Saxon that the girls enjoyed was taking the temperature and recording it daily, and then I remember my 3rd dd who was about 4 learned to count by two’s before the two dds I was teaching!!! I just felt it was cumbersome to try to keep up with everything. That’s why I said if you can tweak it and not feel pushed by it, it could work, since you have it for free.

But I have to say that I loved doing Beechik’s style in the lower elementary years. I have found out, by accident really, that they can learn the “bookwork” much quicker when they have had plenty of real-life experiences (as in my dd who felt she understood fractions better after cooking/sewing).

So, for now, you could empty the change jar!

God bless!

Trisch

I met Joan Cotter, the author of RIGHTSTART MATH, and asked her about which curriculum to use after hers. She recommended http://www.videotext.com. Check out the website for more info. If the link doesn’t work from this site, retype it and press enter.

Dana S.