Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Math Programs

Maybe this is to be found elsewhere, but could someone please make a list of the math programs, what they address, how much they are, benefits, etc? I know there are Singapore, Zaccaro, Right Start, Everyday, Aleks, EPGY and some others. I'm having a hard time comparing them. I'd like to use them for supplementaion and asking the school to use something but I don't know where to start. I know everyone has their opinions, but if we could at least have a list for comparison sake, that would be helpful. Knowing this group, once we have a list, everyone will chime in Perhaps Dottie??? Or Kriston???? or anyone ...

Squirt - this would be a very time consuming endeavour.
Just do some searching around this site and you will find plenty ...

I'd be happy to answer specific questions about specific curricula that I know about, but I haven't used most of them, so I can't answer all your questions.

And I second Dottie's motion for you to go easy on yourself about the curriculum. Have you read the "Least worst option" article on Hoagies? It helped me to relax. I think I mentioned it to you before, but if not, try this: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/least-worst.htm

Mostly I'd recommend poking around the math providers' websites. Some have free trials (Aleks) or sample pages online (Singapore) for you to check out. Once you have narrowed your search to a couple of contenders, buy one book/one month of both curricula and try them both out. Then stick with the one that your child seems to work best with.

Dottie's right, too, about the way to start narrowing the search. Start by thinking about whether you want a primary math curriculum or supplement, and then decide if you want your child to go online or use a workbook. To me, that's the simplest way to cut the number of possibilties fast. From there, it's just personal choice and what works for your child, as well as cost.

If you haven't committed great amounts of money to a math curriculum, then you can always dump it if it stops working and try something else. We loved Singapore for 6 months or so, but it hasn't been working for us lately, so we're shifting gears. No more Singapore for us for now, but we're starting to do some higher level geometry than 6yos usually get. (I just found a book I liked at the library for that. No workbook. Just me and a textbook that looks good.) I didn't invest in the full Singapore curriculum, so the switch is no big deal.

If the geometry doesn't fly well, we'll try something else. <shrug> It's not a big deal. He's learning all the time anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

And BTW, math is NOT my subject. But at this age, there's just no need to worry too much about it. As long as you teach some math and you respond if the choice doesn't seem to work for your child, there's really no "wrong" choice.

It's not as hard as you're making it, squirt. I promise!

Singapore Math (SM) and Rightstart (RS) are very similar in methodology. However the scope and sequences are different. SM is more pick up and go, jump ahead, jump back, easy to compact and to accelerate. RS on the other hand is very difficult to compact or accelerate. I love RS. I've done levels A and B w/ my boys. I love how topics are interweaved and it helps the kids to make the leaps on their own to the next level. But that is what makes it difficult to compact. The warm-ups are setting up DC for some concept 10 lessons down the road so if you just skip to that lesson, you miss the preparation. For ex: in the geometry lessons you finish up by making equilateral triangles and folding them into thirds and fourths. Then you fold them into thirds and then the same one into fourths and vice versa. I thought "hhm this is laying the ground work for LCD and adding unlike fractions in the next level." RS is more of a committment than SM. I felt like I couldn't teach SM the way it's meant to be taught since I didn't learn math that way. Now that I've taught RS, I could teach SM easily. I love SM Challenging WOrd Problems (CWP) which is a good supplement to any math program. I also like Zaccaro's books - those are supplements and not stand alone curricula.

You can view sample pages of RS at www.alabacus.com. If the price scares you, you can buy it used very often as well as buy gently used copies from RS (ones that were out at convention so have ONE page with a crease lol).

hth

I do not recommend EPGY math (at least algebra up) as a supplement. Honors Algebra 1 was a real course and since it's expensive (paid by 3-month intervals) it behooves you to finish in a timely manner. It would be very good to replace math at school that is not challenging enough.

That said, we did it as a supplement, but were in a "race" to get it done before next payment due. I think it would have been more pleasant if DS didn't have school math AND afterschool math. But he learned a LOT.

Every child/parent like something else. Try to find something your child likes and the school will agree with. They may only go for the district approved curriculum, whatever that is.

Singapore Math is a full math curriculum. If you decide to go that way the workbooks are good enough and make sure that you get the Challenging Word Problems. You can check the placement tests to see which one to use. Your child may need help from a teacher on you.

I personally love Singapore Math, it reminds of the way I was taught math. We plan on using next year for hs. Right now we use it more for a reference and I have DS5 take a placement test every couple of months.

Zaccaro's book is not a curriculum, but a nice challenging math book. It covers different topics and has 4 levels of problems for each. I plan on using it together with Singapore math.

EPGY is an online program. It's quite expensive, but it's well liked and written for gt kids. The child can access it both from home and school. The child has his own tutor, whom he can e-mail questions and ask for help.

Aleks is an online program as well. It's much cheaper and you can take a placement test and try it for free. Again you can access it from anywhere. I think it starts at 3rd grade.