Our Math Plans 2009-2010

Here are our plans for math this coming school year...We have used Math-U-See from the beginning and will continue to use this curriculum this year. I love MUS because it is a mastery based curriculum that doesn't jump all over the place. With a mastery program you focus on the concepts until they are pretty much mastered. There is still review and you do go back to the concepts you have learned before, but with a mastery program you aren't jumping all over the place and dealing with tons of different concepts. For example, this year Noah will be working on the Gamma book of MUS. Gamma focuses on multiplication. So Noah will focus on many aspects of multiplication like skip counting, multi-digit multiplication, using money with multiplication, prime numbers, etc. The mastery approach is what is used in many Asian countries and has been very successful there. The spiral approach skips around more and you do "a little of this and a little of that". An example of a math curriculum that uses the spiral approach would be Saxon Math. Personally, for me, I did Saxon math when I was in school and I hated it!!! I never seemed to be able to understand what I was doing because we went from topic to topic. That isn't to say that the spiral approach doesn't work for others. Spiral is really good in the sense that there is a lot of review.

Noah will be in Gamma (multiplication) and then towards the end of the year will move onto Delta (division).

Zach will be in Pre-Algebra.I do add in a few extras with the boys math. Noah and I will do some of the RightStart Math games. RightStart is another math program that is mastery in approach. We don't use the curriculum, but there set of math games works well for us. There are sections of games for numeration, addition, clocks, multiplication, money, subtraction, division, and fractions. Noah and I will focus on the multiplication, money, and division games.Noah will also listen to The Skip Count Kid's Bible Heroes CD. I LOVE these songs that use Bible stories to teach skip counting!We also use Times Tales from Trigger Memory Systems to teach the upper times tables. This a great visual stories to memorize math facts!For Zach, I recently learned about Hands-On Equations. I haven't bought this program, but have heard great things about it. I am fearful of teaching algebra (math is not my strong suit) so this will be a visual and hands-on way of doing that. Check out their website to find out more.This year I may invest in more Muggins Math games. I tend to get the wipe-off boards because of the price. We currently have Knock out and Fudge. We have really enjoyed Knock out. I would love to get Muggins! and Opps! this year.