Second choice to MOTL?

I bought MOTL when my DD was in kindergarten (2 years ago) and to be honest, I found it wasn’t much help for the first while.  I’m going to start using it more this year.  To me, the basic idea for preschool/kindergarten/grade one was “Have fun doing whichever of these activities you feel like.  Or don’t, if that works better.  Then, if you feel the need, here is a chart where you can write down what you did.”  It didn’t give me much direction at all.  There were a few interesting ideas that we used, but nothing really earth shattering.  Even though my DD is fairly advanced in math, she hasn’t been ready to do much ‘paper and pencil’ work yet.  I tried to implement the 5-a-days a few times, but it just felt like busy work, and DD really complained about having to write down her work.

All that being said, I do still think that MOTL is a fabulous curriculum and I love the concept of 5-a-days to continually review skills.  Learning new concepts in real life activities before worrying about the algorithms and processes of written math is a great way to learn.  I have no regrets about buying it, and plan to use it starting this year, which is officially grade 2.  I just don’t think that it’s really necessary for the younger crowd.  We just did our own thing.

I agree with Robin.  For preschool/kindergarten, just use math in everyday life, learning the basics concepts of math.  Count everything.  Use words like ‘First, second, third …”  Learn to read and print the numerals and number words.  Start talking about addition and subtraction (you have 3 grapes, I have 2, so together we have 5.)  Learn to use a ruler or tape measure to measure things.  (My kids love measuring how far they can jump off the couch LOL)  Learn to identify and draw shapes (including 3D – cylinder, cone, cube, etc.)  Play store and learn to recognize and count the different coins.  When your DS is ready, play around with counting by 2, 5, 10.  My DS5 loves that!  Introduce clocks and telling time (start with figuring out which hand is which and how to tell the hour.)

Read lots of Living Math books.  My DD7 and DS5 are really enjoying the MathStart series, which our library has.  Then we talk about the concepts and explore them as they are interested.  Check http://www.livingmath.net for more ideas for books.

If you need some guidance as to which skills are appropriate for the early levels, you might want to check out http://www.lessonpathways.com/Pathways/Detail/6380/math  You’ll find most of the skills, as well as various online resources if you need ideas about how to address them.

Oh, and the reason that you can’t just buy one volume, is that they really don’t have a ‘volume 1’.  All the volumes cover all the skills from prek to grade 8, each in a different area. 

Joanne