Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Any suggestions for math?

I don't know if it's been suggested already, but my kids had a blast working on Math Kangaroo problems. They are more problem-solving than calculation type problems. There are several grade levels of sample problems to work on:

http://www.mathkangaroo.org/

My kids also like to practice math facts using this gadget:

http://www.flashmaster.com/

Oh, I just wanted to add that this is a great article on how to teach multiplication:

http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/mthstrat.pdf

Your son will see that there really is not that much to memorize!


HTH!

Cathy

The Continental Mathematics League sells books containing an accumulation of their most challenging questions presented to CML participants in the previous years.

My dd's mentor suggested she works on these problems. My dd is really enjoying working on them. They are word problems and some of them are fairly challenging for kids their age.

A sample question for 4th grade is:

"The numbers 10 A 16 B C 25 are in order. The letters A, B and C represent different numbers. The difference between 10 and A, A and 16, 16 and B, B and C, and C and 25 are all the same. find the number C represents."

The sell the booklets for about $20 (provide the answers on the back of the book) I believe they have them from grade 2 and up.

We also loved the John Hopkins CTY math although we only have time for that during summer.

To answer Kriston's question, we haven't tried Aleks. DS did a trial of both Aleks and Larson math several years ago, and he liked Larson better, so we subscribed to that. He did Larson grade 3-6 immediately after finishing EPGY 3/4 and zipped through very quickly.

I have heard many good things about Aleks, and I think it is a solid program.

Wow! Thanks so much for all of the AMAZING suggestions and resource ideas. I feel much better about what we're doing now. I think we may pick and choose from a lot of them, cobbling together a curriculum that's more interesting and yet also that moves him forward.

Thanks SO MUCH! I love this forum!

Hey Kriston - sorry I'm late. I'm not sure if your son is into computer games yet, but if you are interested in helping him learn multiplication tables there is a computer game out there I found through another GT listserv or website called Timex attack. Standard "boy" format video game that requires you to know your math facts. My DS loves it and learned a lot of the lower end tables this way. You can get a basic version for free to try. He's just waiting for us to upgrade to the "full version", which I told him we'd do when we got a new computer (which is actually being set up this week!). He loved it - I never had to ask him to do it. He gets 20 minutes a day on the computer and he would burn up his time on that game.

http://www.bigbrainz.com/index.php

And Kriston - I may be looking for some crises home school advice very soon. Now we are having some school issues that aren't even GT related, and our administration is proving absolutely useless. I'd love to hear more about Aleks. We've been playing with Singapore and like it a lot too, but DS definitely gets bored with stuff quickly too and loves conceptual math.

You're not late, kim. Thanks for your input! Besides, it sounds like you've got a lot going on right now. It's nice that you're even worrying about lil' ol' me!

I'm sorry about the school crisis. Just let me know what I can do to help. You know where to find me!

Hi Kriston.
My son is really NOT into structured math curriculum but LOVES math. So we have always just played lots of games that work on skills - there are lots of games out there like Shut The Box and CountDown that work on facts without working on them, YKWIM? Also computer games are popular at our house for the same reason. We use Zoombini games for logic/reasoning, MathBlaster for facts and Math Missions. We also have some programs and games that work on time, money and fractions. But, my son is computer game type kid MUCH more than a math worksheet kid.

I also joined a yahoo group called "MathingOff" which provides tons of resources for unschooling math. We explore websites that are posted on the groups listserv, lots of cool math related topics that don't feel like learning to my son at all! Maybe some of that type of approach would help to jazz things up for you!

you know the cartoons where a character finds a cave full of gems and gold coins and runs their fingers through it saying "I'm rich, I'm rich!" in a delighted tone of voice?

I'm having that feeling right now, sifting through all these great ideas from you - such dear friends.

Thanks,
Grinity

kimck,

I have to say thank you for this one. I downloaded the free version and my son loves it. I could not tear him away. I think he'll know all his basic multiplication facts by the end of the weekend. And he'll be better at multiplication than he is with addition and subtraction.

Which brings me to my next question - do you know of any great games like timez attack for addition and subtraction - and reading? DS learns best when he doesn't know he's learning. (And he still dislikes reading, even though he's pretty good at it. Says it's hard and boring and he doesn't like having to spell (i.e., decode) words. He needs to skip to fluency.) Any ideas?

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I'm checking them all out.

questions -- have you seen www.funbrain.com? There are different levels, but I can tell you that the first and second grade ones are heavily addition and subtraction based. The math arcade has a board-game set up. Ds loves it and would play all day.