I apologize if there is a search phrase that would have led me to this info, but I could not find exactly what I want.

I am looking for recommendations for a hardcopy math curriculum. I don't want an online class or DVD. I am looking for a series of texts that introduces concepts in a logical order and provides adequate practice assignments.

I have the Life of Fred books and I think they are great, but they do not provide adequate computational practice by themselves. We did Kumon for a while, but it was the opposite problem - too boring. The kids hated it and while I have no problem requiring them to practice skills, I felt that the Kumon approach was a bit much. I think they can continue to practice the basics while moving on to other concepts.

I also have several of The Art of Problem Solving books, but my kids are not there yet.

I have purchased math workbooks at the bookstore and they are all garbage. SO much nonsense, so little content. It's more work to cull information from them than to create my own curriculum (which I don't have the time or expertise to do).

My kids are going into 3rd and 4th grades. They have both worked through EOG exams two years ahead (and their WIAT II and IOWA scores are consistent with this), but I think they could use some accelerated review of a typical standard curriculum.

My goal is twofold:

They are starting in a new school next year and I don't want the new school to point to some small shortcoming (like not knowing what stem and leaf plot is) and use it as a rationale to deny them appropriate placement. We have already had a gifted program in this school district give us questionable feedback on their abilities so I am concerned about this.

Long term I want to supplement their math education. I struggled to get a graduate degree in math as an older student. I had no idea how little I knew. I had always been told I was "really good" at math. I want my kids to have a better math education than I received.

Dear Jane,

We like MEP math; it's available here: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm You can print off whatever topics you would like to cover, and it's all free. It's a really excellent math programme.

Alternatively, you might try Singapore Math: http://www.singaporemath.com/ They have placement tests at their website, so you can see where you might like to jump in.

Hope that helps!

peace
minnie

Thanks Minnie,

I looked briefly at the first link and it looks really good. But I was hoping to purchase texts. I must be ridiculously old-fashoned, but I like to have a permanent hardcover reference. I like to be able to see what I've done and what's coming next. Obviously I could just print out the pages and put them in a binder, but somehow it's not the same.

I've heard of Singapore math before, but I didn't see a lot of concrete info on the site. I'd like to be able to preview a couple of pages.

When i was a kid we had Holt texts that would intro a small topic and then have 1 - 2 pages of problems that used it. Then a refinement or extension or new topic would follow, and another page or two of problems where it was applied. IOW, the explanation and all the practice needed for mastery in one place. In one book for each grade level. Something about this organization of material is very appealing to me.

Hmm, OK, gotcha...well, here are a couple of other ideas:

Jump Math (www.jumpmath.org) is Canadian; there are two worktexts per year--from the samples, it looks as though there is direct instruction in the workbooks (the teacher books seem to have mostly mental maths exercises and extension activities). I think these were developed originally for remedial classes (so not our target audience at all, but I know that at one point a couple of people on the TAGMAX list were using them several grades ahead).

Galore Park (a British prep-school publisher) has Junior Maths and So You Really Want to Learn Maths--these are softcover, but they look pretty close to what I think you are wanting. One book per year, with instruction and exercises in each chapter. There are pretty good samples on their website: http://www.galorepark.co.uk/ Maybe those will work??

minnie

PS: (In re: MEP, not to flog an expired equine, but one can order hard-copy versions of the practice books, rather than printing them off--I have been tempted to do this, but haven't inquired yet as to postage rates overseas.)

This may be helpful;
http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/booksy.htm

Mathematically Correct
Mathematics Program Reviews
for Grades 2, 5, and 7
Summary of Overall Ratings by Publisher

Thanks for the link to the Prentice Hall books. The site has online chapter and end-of-year tests, which could be useful even for people not using the textbooks.

These are great - thanks all!

And Minnie, I will look at the MEP site again. I only looked briefly so I missed the hard-copy option.

We finished the Singapore series through 6B this year and I can't say enough about them. Many pre-algebra concepts are covered through 6B. We only had/have a little hole filling to be really algebra ready. They've been a great and challenging fit for my math gifted 3rd grader. He just tested at the end of 8th grade in achievement testing (in an open ended test - not a 3rd grade specific test)

The placement tests can give you some ideas about what it looks like. Very few curriculum work well for us, but this has been great. I actually feel it slowed us down through elementary math because of the challenge level. And they are cheap enough that if you order just a text and a workbook and it isn't a fit, it isn't the end of the world. Unlike many other math texts! (I currently have $$$ in math curriculum for next year laying around the house I'm not sure is going to be a fit. I'm just at a loss on what to do next)

My younger kids are also in Singapore Math, as well as other things. I also have the Holt courses mentioned and some of the Lial's books.

I really like Singapore for the younger grades as well, if you click on the book you are looking it and click samples you can look at a few of the pages. The placement tests also give you a good idea. I would suggest the Challenging Word Problems and the Home Instructor's Guides, they really round out the program.

OK, I ordered a book recommended on delbows' link and have bookmarked the prentice hall site that details Dottie's rec. I printed out some material from the site Minnie suggested, and it is good. I need to look further, but the problems are clear and obviously build skills and comprehension.

But given my children's ages and the way it's organized it sounds like Singapore math may be the way to go for us. When they are a little older i can consider online classes.

I had a thought about this - when my kids do worksheets they obviously write ON the worksheet and while I'm not a stickler for showing their work, I do encourage it to a point to avoid mistakes and make it easier to correct mistakes. But if someone is working with a hardcover text will they typically re-write the problem? Is this a positive or a negative? My kids are a little averse to writing so OTOH, I don't want to make math too onerous. OTOH, it might be good practice and also force them to really focus on the problem. As I think about this, I am realizing this is part of my problem with the online and worksheets approach. There's something about the presentation of the answer that seems not right to me.

Anyone have any thoughts?

By chance I was reading an article relating to this just last night:
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/articles.php?page=mistakes
I think best practice when using a textbook is not to write out the question, but just to write a reference to the question (e.g. page number, question number) and then set about answering it. I've heard it argued that writing out the question helps to fix it in the student's head, and perhaps for some it does, but it doesn't seem like a sensible thing to insist on everyone doing, to me.

I think it's important to be able to show your work, if asked - in "real life" mathematics often what matters most is not being able to get an answer, but being able to convince someone else that your answer is correct. However, I also think it's useful to be able to organise one's thoughts in one's head - sometimes people (this was me at one point) get so caught up on needing to show their working that they can't do anything beyond simple arithmetic without pen and paper, and that's limiting, too. Variety is the spice of life.

[quote=ColinsMumI think best practice when using a textbook is not to write out the question, but just to write a reference to the question (e.g. page number, question number) and then set about answering it. I've heard it argued that writing out the question helps to fix it in the student's head, and perhaps for some it does, but it doesn't seem like a sensible thing to insist on everyone doing, to me.
[/quote]

I second this. Asking them to reread the question to make sure they are doing what is asked is a good idea. Asking them to copy the whole question down is not. I remember really, really hating having to write out the whole question as instructed by some teachers in school. It was hard enough to write out the work because it was much faster to do it in my head. I ended up thinking that I must have been a very lazy student compared to most my friends in class. I still remember loving math but hating the math class and the math teacher because of having to write out the question and every single step. So please, don't make your kids hate math by making them write everything out!

I absolutely love Rightstart, but it probably wouldn't be the best program to start at a mid-elementary level because it is so different from other programs. It is a manipulative based program that really focuses on mental math and teaching the foundational elements/logic behind math, instead of just how to solve a problem like many curriculums. We started HSing in January, and my DS5 did Righstart B/half of C along with CalMath 2, which our public schools use. I thought RS was SO much better, and he has so much more fun with it. It's great for PG kids, because she intermixes really neat geometry activities, math games, things like Roman Numerals and drawing, etc. It is very mom-intensive because it is not workbook-based, so we usually tackle it while our toddler is napping, but it's such a nice change from the usual paper routine.

My son hated math when I tried to supplement his 1st semester of kindergarten out of Singapore. By May, Math was his favorite subject (even though his strongest gifts are reading/creative writing), and he just aced every 2nd grade standard on a standardized placement test. I guess that means something is working!