I am really trying to narrow down on a math curriculum choice early so that I can ease my son into the program now, hopefully familiarizing him with the concepts and transitioning him more easily into formal math when he's ready. (2littleboys - you got me thinking about Miquon now! I bought the Cuisenaire rods just to play around with them and see how he likes them.) Basically, my son is not yet school age, but an accelerated learner. If I had to "categorize" him, I'd say he's a pretty even split auditory and visual learner. So I would like for his math curriculum to appeal to those things. I am open to other suggestions as well! My concerns/questions: 1) I have read that Miquon and RightStart are lacking in drill. I am assuming that drill is something that some kids might need and some might not. Is this something that is easy to supplement if needed without purchasing a whole other curriculum? Like online worksheet generators or cheap workbooks? 2) Same as above, except regarding story problems (maybe with MUS, too? I can't remember now). 3) I am not sure how I feel about not having a strong memorization in at least multiplication tables, and I have read that this is also lacking in some of these programs. Is it detrimental to any of these programs and the way they teach to teach them as well? My son does well with memorization with songs/raps (like on YouTube), so I'm sure I won't have a problem finding help with this outside of a curriculum. 4) RightStart - Does the language "one-ten-six" for 16, for example, really matter? I mean could I opt to skip that part of it and still benefit from the program? I think it sounds confusing and my son already knows how to count. I don't see why I couldn't teach place value a different way, but I don't know how important it is to the program. 5) RightStart - I keep reading about kids not being able to "visualize", therefore not liking the program. Is this concept of visualization necessary? 6) MUS - I have read that it can get very boring. How much skipping over things can you do if kids are getting bored? 7) MUS and Miquon - Can you easily add in other manipulatives like RightStart? That is a big reason I like the thought of RightStart, but if I can easily incorporate them in these other programs, that would help my choice! 8) Miquon - How confusing is this to teach? I haven't looked at the books, but many say that they are completely stumped as to how to go about teaching. 9) Miquon - Would it hurt the teaching method if I labeled (removable, like vinyl or stickers) the bars so that he can more easily realize the values of the bars? I just ordered the wood ones that don't have notches in them even. I wondered if I could get him familiarized that way and maybe be able to take off the "training wheels" later. 10) Finally, and most importantly, have any of these programs led your kids to lasting math intelligence that gives them an advantage? I'm sure that's not all ... but my mind is going to explode, so this is what I will leave. =P My husband chuckles at my persistence about researching all of this right now. In a nutshell, I want something that will challenge him without overwhelming him, that appeals to his learning styles, is fun and interactive, and will give him a vast knowledge and understanding. Too tall an order? I hope not! I'm willing to supplement where needed, but really don't like the idea of having to use two or more curriculums! Thanks so much for reading my rants! =]
Don't burn yourself out before he gets to kindergarten! You will change your mind a dozen times before you settle on the curriculum you like. MUS is the only one of the three that I have used. It is a mastery program with review in each lesson. Work books are black and white with 6 worksheets per lesson. I think a "math" kid would get bored with it. It is a great program for kids that don't like math and need the mastery aspect. It does expect memorization of the facts. The manipulatives are specific to the program and help the student "see" math happen. If your son continues to be advanced, I don't think you would be happy with MUS. We used it for several years because I am not a math person and neither are my kids! Are you a math person? Have you looked at Saxon? It spirals and seems more advanced to me. It is a program that would be better to start with instead of jumping in to later. When the time comes, be sure to have him take the placement test and start there. Good luck! You have lots of time to figure it out.
Not having the "notches" in the rods shocked me at first, too, but that's the whole point of their system. It's not supposed to have notches, because the rods are also used to teach fractions, etc. I would definitely not label them, no. Some kids need more repetition, and some don't. I, for one, can't stand Saxon for my kids. I hate it. To me, it's nothing but boring drill-and-kill with scripted lessons that sound like a machine. Some people like it, though. (From a student's standpoint, I love Saxon, because I love doing drill-n-kill myself. LOL) I'll be the first to tell you that we went through just about every math choice out there in the first 2-3 years, because math is so overwhelming and can be taught in so many ways. Just pick something and try it, honestly. No matter what you choose, you can always supplement with something else, change up the lessons to suit you, skip lessons you don't like, or whatever you want. I think Miquon has plenty of practice built in. You have a child who you believe is pretty good at math, so it probably has enough for you also. I didn't use MUS or RS with my kids. I borrowed other people's copies, went through them myself, and decided I didn't like them. I can't remember how much repetition was in them, because that was 4-5 years ago. Memorizing facts is important, but it's not something I stress over with my kids. The more they use facts, the more they'll learn them. Speed drills and flash cards burn them out and make them hate math, so we don't do them. Again... I personally enjoyed this method when I was a student, but my kids hate it. They learn better by simply using facts, naturally memorizing them.
I use MUS and although there are 6 pages per lesson we never do all 6 because it does get a bit boring, plus it doesn't always take 6 lessons per chapter for my kids to grasp the concept. My kids do 1 lesson page, 1 systematic review page and the chapter test from each chapter most of the time. There are lessons where they need to do all 6 pages and that is fine as well. For my older kids if they can pass the chapter test with a 95% or more then I let them move onto the next chapter without doing the chapter work. Of the 3 programs you mentioned I have only used MUS. My kids are not mathy and they need the memorization and repetition. I have actually used a few different math programs and the 2 I really like are MUS and Saxon. In fact once my kids get past Pre-Algebra (so 8th/9th grade) I will switch them from MUS to Saxon. I think that MUS is a great building tool that helps reinforce the basic math concepts, but after a certain point a spiral approach is better, hence moving my kids to Saxon after Pre-Algebra.
Thanks, everyone, for your responses! I went ahead and ordered Miquon, since it is cheap and I can go through it myself ahead of time and see if it's something I am comfortable teaching. Plus, I could feel him out to see if he likes it by trying the counting section with him, since he already knows how to count. Like 2littleboys said, it is probably something you have to just pick and try it out, since it always seems like people either love or hate any program! I just the other night looked at some sample lessons from MEP, and thought it could be a nice (free, yay!) supplement as well. It might give him additional practice where needed, so I may not need to buy anything else, hopefully. I'm planning on adding plenty of manipulatives and games when I can, too. Thanks so much! I think I just needed to get some nagging questions off of my chest. Hopefully this will be a good fit! I probably won't be able to tell for a while, since he is probably only ready for the counting part yet, but I can at least go through it myself so I don't feel so anxious about the unknown! Haha. =]
Also, I received the cuisenaire rods yesterday, and my son was having a blast building with them! I just let him have some free play. He quickly realized that the "2" block was the same size as two "one" blocks. That encouraged me!
