I’ve scheduled a hard break after week ten – meaning we’re taking all next week off. Hooray. Billy and Katie managed to get all their work done in a timely fashion, but Fritz, ever the foot dragger, had trouble getting his math done. He has six long division problems left for today (I’m sure he’ll drag it out for the next hour). Then he’ll have just one math test to do, and I’ll probably make him do it tomorrow just to get it over with. In all fairness to him, we ran out of time for school on Monday and Tuesday and so he’s had to do 5 lessons in 3 days. It’s a lot of work.
I’ve been using Abeka math from the beginning. I think it’s an excellent program. Last week, a friend told me that her 1st grader (Fairfax County public schools – among the best in the nation) is being moved up to 2nd grade math. The first graders aren’t doing addition yet. Katie, my kindergartner, is about half-way through the very easy Abeka K math, and is doing addition.
Yesterday, another friend whose son, like Fritz, is in the 3rd grade (Fairfax County public schools) asked me what Fritz was doing in math. I showed her that day’s assignment: adding numbers like $56.87 to $42.55, multiplying 23,765 by 6, basic word problems, what time does the clock say, write the Roman numerals from one to twelve, and dividing numbers like 5,421 by 5 (using remainders). Her son isn’t even doing multiplication yet. Not even 2 times 5.
Today’s assignment made me drop my jaw: pre-algebra!
N + 5 = 12 + 6
Solve for N.
I can see that Abeka has been leading up to this moment for years. In 1st grade math, a child has to fill in the blank with the right number for problems like blank + 2 = 5. In 3rd grade, you get N + 5 = 18. Abeka is not having the student subtract 5 from both sides, and I am frustrated that it doesn’t, since that’s how I learned algebra. But for now, I’ll trust the program and see where it heads (and I’ll teach Fritz to subtract 5 from both sides!).
But here we are at the close of business on Friday with most of what we set out to accomplish in 10 weeks done. I look forward to “relaxing” next week – I have 30 yards of ACU pattern fabric due to arrive on Monday.
Reit This Way 
Okay, you’ve almost sold me. A fellow homeschooler in our group recommended abeka. I’m trying to find something to start with my (auditory processing disordered) son, who is 5…and it’s got to be very visual. He knows his alphabet, and we’ve been working on the sounds to each letter, and he can count to 10 and sometimes higher…but now I need a new direction. I just wish I could physically look through their books so I could know for sure. Kwim?
Yes, I know what you mean. I hate buying things I can’t look through first. There website isn’t too helpful, but they do show two pages from Math 1.
On the kindergarten level, I don’t find myself talking a whole lot. Katie often just gets to work and does what seems logical to do…sometimes she’s wrong, but usually she gets it right. For addition, they show dice and she writes the number of dots on each dice and adds it up. In 1st grade, they do word problems, so I have to read them to my son, but most other things are pretty self-explanatory.
Also at the website, you can type in your zip code and see if there is a display near you. Seems that February is the next go round for shows.
Also, do you have Base Ten blocks? I find them very helpful in helping my kids conceptualize big numbers (anything over 19!).
I had great success with Miquon Math for my very hands on learners. It’s cheap, very thourogh, but quite teacher intesive. I used to use it exclusively, but now with less time, I use it as it was originally intended, as lab sheets.
Now I use MCP workbooks and my own teaching meathods to fill out the instruction. I am currently teaching my 4th and 5th children in math, so need a little less structure than I used to.
Blessings!
Ha! At my son’s school (1st grade) he is adding 2 digit numbers – from left to right. “Everyday Math” gives kids alternate ways to solve problems suited to the individual without making sure they master the best, fastest way.
Just be careful with Abeka. They are notoriously antiCatholic (esp. the science and English) – you won’t believe the sentences to be diagrammed in 4th and 5th grade!
Yes, I made the mistake of buying their grammer for 3rd grade with sentences like “I was saved on Thursday, July 4th.”
Adding numbers from left to right, huh? We read a bio on Ben Franklin once that said he couldn’t understand (as a student) why his answer of 611 to the problem 25 plus 46 was wrong. Maybe he really WAS right all along!