I don't know what you should do, but having a 7 year old homeschooled boy doing prealgebra this year, I can tell you what I've decided to do, in part, because of this article called
The Calculus Trap.
First of all, we've chosen Math-U-See as our basic math program. I really like how it teaches. I like the sequence. I like the emphasis on place value. I like that it teaches why math works and not just how to do it. Concepts are usually taught at very small increments and I find myself doing extra explaining only to find out that what I explained is taught a few lessons down the road. The book was teaching the understanding component and I added in the shortcuts prematurely. That's ok; it works for my son.
However, Math-U-See is lacking on quality/difficult word problems and problem solving. So, I'm supplementing with
Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle School. The problems in this book are definitely challenging; thankfully, they all come with answers and complete solutions.
I'm also adding logic to our curriculum in the form of Perplexors. Rainbow Resource Center carries these. They have grid, Venn, and math ones. These help with critical thinking skills.
Finally, we'll be doing Math-U-See's algebra book after prealgebra. Once we are done with that, we'll go through algebra again using [url=http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Books/AoPS_B_Item.php?item_id=200]book. It has a problem solving emphasis and is for "outstanding math students" in grades 6-10. They recommended taking a regular algebra course first because my son is so young.
After that, we'll probably do Math-U-See in the first half of the year and the corresponding Art of Problem solving in the second half of the year. That's far enough ahead that it isn't set in stone.
Have fun!
Oh, I taught my son binary just for fun. From there, he figured out how to convert between decimal and any other base on his own. So, that could be a fun side lesson.
