Resources Review - Math

I thought that now that Z and I are back to homeschooling on a more regular schedule I would share what resources we are using this "term". (I use the term term very loosely, and mainly to mean a span of months ahead of us.)

I will start with the subject that Z does first thing most mornings, math.

Z first started math when she was 2 1/2 and looked through an older friend's Singapore workbook. She loved it and was soon insisting on doing math every morning after breakfast.

She didn't always love Singapore so much though. One thing I have noticed is that Z enjoys variety and is usually excited by a novel approach to math.

We kept doing Singapore into about halfway through the second grade book. I liked how Singapore taught many different ways to solve a problem.

Then I bought her a Scholastic math book right off the shelf of Barnes and Noble and she really liked that most of the time. I felt it was holding her back though and spent too much time on repetition, but I wasn't sure which of the problems were okay to skip.

I have also supplemented with the great ideas at livingmath.net and Z's favorite, by far, math books are the I Love Math series put out by Time Life. But she is beyond the material in them now and Julie at Livingmath told me that there is nothing else really like them out right now.

This February I was able to get the funds through my charter school to finally give EPGY a try. I have been hearing about how great this program was for years but I didn't really get it. I figured "How great can a math program really be??" But now I see what all the fuss is about. It is a very in-depth program that really does seem to work at your child's level. I am really impressed with what they are teaching Z, who just started the 3rd grade level, and how they are teaching it.

The way we are running EPGY it starts with a Math Race where Z is asked to answer addition and subtraction questions like x - 7 = 19 or 9 + x = 16, and she has to answer them quickly. Doing math quickly is not Z's strong suit at this point so she usually comes in 3rd out of 3. But I am just glad she is doing it and facing an uncomfortable situations without breaking down.

Then she has twenty minutes of lessons. Usually the lesson consists of a lecture, spoken aloud by the voice of an older man with video of the problem, and then some time is spent on this new type of problem. Then it touches on two or three other subjects that were taught previously. So far Z is making between 96% and 100% on these lessons. I am not sure if that means she will be moving through 3rd grade at a quicker than or normal rate.