Building Math Skills

As homeschooling parents we often wonder if our children are getting the math reinforcement they need. Understanding mathematical concepts can be difficult, and until this is mastered it just feels like meaningless work to them. 

I find that my focus lies in three areas:

1. Understanding math concepts

2. Learning basic facts 

3. Applying math to the daily routine

Understanding math concepts
Our children need to manipulate objects so they can learn the basic math concepts. In addition, they need to know the rules and guidelines for basic math concepts (ie: difference is subtract).

Learning basic facts 

In order to master the basic facts you will have to do a lot of drills (ie: Math in a Minute testing, flashcards) Children should be able to give basic fact answers in less than three seconds. This is often difficult and you will need to revert to counting objects.

Applying math to the daily routine

Find ways to apply math to the real world (ie: cooking, time and distance, grouping)

Here are some great math resources (games for kids and tips for parents):

Family Education- Top 10 Ways to Help Your Kids in Math

Fun Brain

Fun Brain Flashcards 

Big Brainz- Timez Attack

Cool Math 

Shelly just posted this link in a comment:
Fun 4 The Brain

Great Readers for First Grade

A friend asked me to give her a list of Ashley's favorite books to read when she was a First Grader. I thought I would include some of the ones she'd read to her younger brothers too.

Here's the list:
Amelia Bedelia, Peggy Parish
Fancy Nancy, Jane O'connor
Froggy..., Jonathan London
Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox, Erin Dealy
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, Mark Teague
I Love You, Stinky Face, Lisa McCourt
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff
Purplicious, Victoria Kann (also Goldilicious and Pinkalicious)
Ribbon Rescue, Robert Munsch
Stellaluna, Janell Cannon
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

Art Competition

The theme for this year's art competition is "My Dream for the Future".

The children have been working all week on their multi-medium art projects.

Jaden:
When I grow up I want robots that help people.

Ashley:
When I grow up I want to dance on a stage for lots of people.

I just had to share because I thought they were so adorable.

Math-U-See vs. Saxon Math

As most homeschoolers know Math-U-See and Saxon Math are among the top choices in math curriculum. They each bring something unique to the table, as opposed to many math curriculums which are very much the same as they were Fifty years ago.

Saxon Math

Saxon Math is an advanced math program where you are introduced to a new concept every day. The daily work load consists of a few problems related to the new concept and several problems reviewing concepts previously learned.

Pros and Cons

The greatest advantage of Saxon Math is that your child is continually reviewing concepts and thus becomes better at retaining them. This is a huge contrast to your typical math curriculum where they learn a concept for a month, move on and quickly forget what they learned last month.

The only drawback with Saxon Math occurs if your child suffers from any sensory disorder or struggles with math conceptually. In these situations the curriculum is too rigorous and becomes a frustration. (That being said, I taught Saxon for years with little to no problems.)

Math-U-See

The Math-U-See program is a multi-sensory math approach. It is designed to teach math so that it can be applied in every day situations. Math-U-See is a systematic and accumulative approach that builds as your child progresses.

Pros and Cons

The greatest advantage of  Math-U-See is that it's concepts are more easily applied to life and therefore much easier to grasp. The music and manipulatives are great for children who struggle focusing on school and learning math concepts. This curriculum is especially effective with children that have ADHD.

The drawback of Math-U-See is that you need to give placement tests to determine where your child needs to start as it is not broken down into grade levels. This is not a problem if you are going to school long-term, but quite difficult if you just want to homeschool for a year.

I know I am not an expert on these Math curriculums, but I hope that this information has been a little helpful. 

My advice... If you want a conceptual approach that is amazing go with Saxon. If you want a fun approach that leans more towards whole learning go with Math-U-See.