Hhhhhmmm…
A fantastic supplement to loads of math and science, not to mention a lot of fun. These ‘toys’ come with a manual as well. I originally purchased a small set for chemistry demonstrations, but they are definitely an inclusive maths/geometry set…I then realized they could be used at home with Alex, with quite a bit of help. She will continue to use these for years, gradually gleaning more and more from them!
Primarily geometry, but you could use them for a lot more…
We bought Creator 1–you can download the free manual from their site to get more of an idea.
Mandab,
Yes, she is taking Suzuki violin and we both enjoy it a lot! She has had 13 lessons so far (30 minutes each lesson) and she has 5 more pieces to learn before finishing Book 1. We practice everyday for 40-45 minutes, except on Sundays. As you probably already know, the Suzuki method emphasizes ear training and does not teach note reading in the early stages, so I find it a good complement to Soft Mozart which teaches her to read music fluently. Suzuki also has a strong emphasis on performance right from the beginning so Ella has been able to give a recital and perform in a public concert already. I found that Ella has an excellent auditory memory and also unusually good hand-eye-brain coordination, so it usually takes her only 1 sitting to learn an entire piece, then the rest of the week’s practice is devoted to only fine-tuning her technique (tonalization, bowing, etc.) So she is progressing thru Book 1 more rapidly than usual.
With regard to handwriting, I wasn’t doing it formally until recently because she has been able to figure out how to write her name and most of the letters with just a little guidance here and there since she was 2.5, and she is getting a lot of practice writing her numbers with Soroban. But, she loves to write letters and stories and it bothered her a lot that she couldn’t make her letters “as pretty as the ones in the books” (Did I mention that she has quite a perfectionistic streak?) So she literally begs me everyday to do the HWT workbooks that I had ordered some time back but never got around to using regularly.
We have tried a couple of art programs before without much success, but now we really like the Atelier Art curriculum http://www.homeschoolart.com/, and have been using it regularly. I also like Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-With-Children-Creative-Beginners/dp/0874778271/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Wow, Kerileanne! I bought something like this for Ella from Learning Resources ages ago, but a cheaper version and much much more limited in the number of structures you can build. She loved it but has outgrown it. I was considering getting her a couple more sets to extend her play, but now, I think I will just get zometool! Now, my problem is which set to get? The chem major in me wants the Molecules set, but I am sure she would love the geometry ones, and she would go crazy for the bubbles! Can you make geometric bubbles with Creator 1 too?
Aangeles-
Glad you liked the look of them! We first came across them at a conference for the profoundly gifted in California that we took a nephew to. They really are a phenomenal investment, as there are just so many possibilities!
Yes, you can do some bubble work with creator 1 (we recently did a close-packed crystal demo, but it was a stretch!)
From what I have read of Ella (and Cammie, if you are reading this Nadia0801 :yes: ) I would not buy anything smaller than Creator 3 as she will progress quickly!) The Geometry set would be my recommendation, and you can always add extra parts!
@ Kerileanne99 Zometool = AWESOME thanks for the link.
I was also going to say try MEP (Maths Enhancement Program) as it is free and problem based - you may need to pick out the harder problems if she is going very fast.
We cannot yet get Beast Academy here, but have heard a lot of good things about it - at her age you can always try something and back away if it doesn’t work or is too much. Your problem seems to be that she is flying through everything too fast to keep up with her 
Thanks aangles for answering all my questions
I think I will teach her flute using the Suzuki method. I think both of us could handle that…plus she won’t get fed up with it before she actually learns to play a tune! That’s why I like soft Mozart. They don’t spend 2-3 years doing boring bits before they get to play something recognizable. Very important for motivation. When Ella was first learning Suzuki did she struggle with the weight/ holding of the violin? A flute is heavy, we can’t buy a small one but I do have a bent head so she can reach the keys. She will probably only last 5-10 mins tops in the beginning!
So if Ella is a perfectionist then I would suggest you definately stick with the handwriting practice AND add cursive as fast as you can. My oldest is a perfectionist and her cursive is slowing her down ALOT as she tries to make it all perfect. Her handwriting is really very neat, but apparently not good enough for her! Just get that one out of the way early 
MEP would be good for Ella ( if you haven’t already looked at it) as a supplement but my kids just zoom through the whole book in one sitting. So it won’t last you long. But it does make them think and analyze so it’s worth doing. Plus you can revisit the same questions a few months later. Also it’s a whole lot of printing :wacko: Which is why I prefer IXL for my kiddos. More practice and no printing. IXl probably won’t be great for Ella though, unless she loves doing work on the computer.
Oh that art program looks great! I am going to send them an email full of questions I am sooo fussy with this subject, so many programs are just not teaching anything much at all!
Aangeles-
A little bit offtopic, but you mentioned Atelier Art. Could you please tell a bit more about it? I also tried different video lessons but found them either too simple or too difficult (i.e assuming that parents have art (drawing) background). Would be interesting to hear about this program.
For math there are some fantastic books:
Fibonacci: http://www.amazon.com/Blockhead-Life-Fibonacci-Joseph-DAgnese/dp/0805063056/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341866808&sr=1-3&keywords=fibonacci
Pythagoras: http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Angle-Pythagoras-Adventure/dp/1570911509/ref=pd_sim_b_4
A beautifully illustrated book by Demi : One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale http://www.amazon.com/One-Grain-Rice-Mathematical-Folktale/dp/059093998X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341867252&sr=1-1&keywords=demi+math#_
Also for older kids -or very advanced little ones- there is a fantastic book called “The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure”. It is very funny as well. http://www.amazon.com/Number-Devil-Mathematical-Adventure/dp/0805062998/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341867148&sr=1-1&keywords=devil+number
Hinata,
I just finished looking at your recommendations on amazon. They look FANTASTIC!!! You don’t know this, but another of Ella’s passions (apart from math) is stories about historical characters. I think her interest comes from my reading stories from Chinese history and historical characters to her since she was little. She has read almost all the Usborne Young Reading books on Alexander the Great, Tutankhamun, Leonardo da Vinci, etc. and still loves to read and re-read all her picture books about the great composers, artists, and explorers. So I think the books about Fibonacci and Pythagoras will be just perfect for her!
We actually have One Grain of Rice by Demi and she loves it. I have also collected Demi’s other books about religious and historical figures which we read when I was teaching her about the major religions in the world. She especially liked the ones about Buddha, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa.
Thank you so much for recommending the other books! I can’t wait for them to arrive and see the expression on her face! lol
P.S.
This one popped up on my Amazon “Customers Bought This Too” list after I ordered Fibonaccci: http://www.amazon.com/Mathematicians-Are-People-Too-Stories/dp/0866515097/ref=pd_cp_b_3. There are two volumes. I think Ella will like them too. If they are still too advanced for her, she will eventually grow into them.
@aangeles & @ manda,
I get to these threads so late in the game…aargh.
My 2 cents on math and this is from having a gifted 16 year old that I have homeschooled.
Saxon - you will find that Saxon is an excellent producer of students who pass standardized exams. If you have a child who is thinking - this program is going to be torture starting about math 6/5. Maybe it won’t if the child is 4, but if you want a child who can think about math and understands numbers and how to solve problems that they’ve never encountered skip Saxon. Plus the repetitive drill drives many kids nuts. Saxon was a huge source of consternation in our family. My son took Algebra 1 starting the end of 5th grade and beginning of 6th. He got an 97 in the class. We had to retake it with AoPS because he really didn’t understand Algebra at all.
I would recommend Khan Academy - it’s online and free. If you don’t want to use Khan, then I’d think about moving her on in Jones and also checking out Art of Problem Solving. AoPS website http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/. When we switched my son promised to love me forever (he forgot about that the next day , but there was a promise). They are very good and helping you plus they have just put out a new elementary curriculum. This is not like other curriculum. What I think Dr. Jones material lacks in application, AoPS does not. They deal with only gifted math students. I love their stuff. You need to go on the site to understand what I am talking about.
I will also mention my other choice of MEP http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm for much the same reason. It is one thing for a child to be able to manipulate numbers and plug them into an equation to solve it but it is another set of skills entirely to be able to take unfamiliar problems and apply current knowledge to solve those problems. The charge often leveled against child prodigies is that they are simply great poll-parrots. It need not be so, it just means we are so enamored with their ability to add long strings of numbers, play complex musical pieces, read at a 6th grade level in kindergarten that we forget to teach them other skill sets. Statistically, the most gifted not the most successful. We just need to be aware of the pitfalls. MEP is very much about thinking through a problem.
So, I level my charge against Saxon and vote for any of the others. Depending on your current goals. BTW- this does not mean I don’t like JG. I love it and we use it. As a child gets along there needs to be more.
BTW - I just realized that Beast Academy is AoPS…so ya’ll have my approval and huge approval on that one. I love their stuff.
I absolutely agree with sonya. I have use saxon 5/4 and 6/5 with my two oldest daughters, and they both Hate saxon. They will pass their math test ,but wouldnt know how to apply what they learn in real life situations.
I would recommend professor b
http://www.profb.com/Home.aspx
I don’t disagree with your comments on Saxon at all! Yes it’s rote, drill and practice. But it does a good solid job of it. I don’t use it as an only program. It doesn’t encourage enough higher order thinking. It would indeed be torture for a truely gifted child! ( making a note of the difference between gifted and well taught here)
My daughter who uses Saxon loves practicing skills until they are perfect. She loves being able to do speed math. She is also systematic and a program that constantly made her think would drive her nuts. HOWEVER there are many questions in saxon that do make her think through problems. Because there isnt enough of them we do use MEP along side it and IXL for all the bits in the Australian corriculum Saxon doesn’t cover. The problem with MEP is there isn’t enough of it! My kids zoom through pages and pages at a time. Yes they make her think but if I keep giving her the next level up she will soon be either out of work to do or it will be beyond her in no time. I give her word problems as we go about daily life too. The reason I like Saxon is that kids in school don’t get enough actual time “doing sums” they couldnt come out with solid math ability given the small amount they do in class.
It certainly isn’t an ONLY program solution, but it does get results. ( DO only programs exist? lol )
I suspect Ella will enjoy zipping through saxon as she enjoys textbook work. I wouldn’t recommend it for her age now and wouldn’t give it to very many kids below age 6. just suggesting that she grab the free Resourse while it’s available for a later option.
Don’t know enough about Jones to compare, but perhaps Dr Jones might consider adding an extra practice book to each level? Would that solve the problem?
Jones suffers from the same problem that Saxon has. However, Jones is not set up the same way that Saxon is set up. So a child isn’t spending years covering bits and bits of the same material and repeating it ad nasuem. My comments on Saxon only apply to the higher levels. Their early elementary stuff is great. But I suspect that Ella is past that. Jones covers arithmetic quickly. It covers all the bases and does so thoroughly and completely in about 3-4 years. So if started in kindergarten your child would be finishing algebra 1 by 3rd or 4th grade depending on how fast you use it. Ella would get there sooner than that. So by the time Jones would get annoying to a child they are finished with it. In Jones, the blessing of it is that while it is all rote memorization, it moves in steps. So after you master a step you move on. Each step is built on the previous one. There is also memory training, which the kids like. About the time your child needs a thinking program they are ready for a thinking program. Dr. Jones is aware of the limitations of his program and is working on adding more material to what he already has. However, as it is, I think it serves it’s purpose well.
Saxon was designed to get failing American children to pass standardized tests. It wasn’t designed to make math students. It does that very well. However, when you get into the higher levels it takes so long to teach anything that your child won’t have time for other curriculum. But, if you don’t have a child who wants to understand why they are doing what they are doing…in others words, is not a math student, Saxon is probably a great fit. They will get high scores on college entrance exams. It is going to be around 6/5 that problems begin. We kept using it through Algebra 1 because I thought the problem was my child. It’s not just my child with the problem. I did mention this in my comments that I’m not sure how any of this applies to children who are 4. Perhaps Saxon is perfect - but your expectation, if using Saxon, should not be a child who understands math. But a child who can solve given math problems well. And maybe, for our kids who are taught early, this is what will work. I’m pretty sure Ella can handle it. All of this is uncharted territory for us - maybe my criticism of Saxon only applies to kids who are around 8-10.
Our plan with our little guy is to complete Jones by the end of kindergarten or First grade. Use some MEP in there for beginning logic and train him on the abacus for addition and subtraction. Then start AoPS & Khan Academy. AoPS (makers of Beast Academy) is all thinking.You are correct about MEP and Singapore - both have same issue - they do not drill the basic skills. But that is easy to fix on your own.
And you are right that there isn’t just “one” math program or any program. But I do think knowing your goals, your child and the pitfalls of each program ahead of time helps you know which ones to pick.
Manda,
BTW - I always appreciate your advice. You have a way of picking through the problem and finding the issue. Still with Soft Mozart - a little bit everyday. That has really changed how I approach what we do.
Thank you for the very helpful review of those math programs manda and sonya_post!
I just found a great site that has mini math instructional videos. It’s a sister-site of AoPs and has around 24 videos that covers math topics from pre-algebra to statistics! It’s perfect for visual learners such as my 3-yo who’s beginning algebra (she loves symbolism and finds it quite interesting that x and y can represent number values).
Here’s the site:
Here’s another link with much more topics:
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Videos/index.php?type=prealgebra
aangeles, have you ordered Beast Academy? How long did it take to arrive in Phil?
Sonya,
Are you saying MEP and Singapore Math are in the same league, i.e., that Singapore emphasizes logic skills as much as MEP? I thought Singapore was more in the league of Saxon.
Singapore and Saxon are nothing alike. Not really.
John Saxon (I am not familiar with their recent material - I do know they introduced some “new math”) intended to provide a program to get American students to pass standardized exams. Everyone must know by now that Americans are severely mathematically challenged. As Manda mentioned, Saxon is a drill the skills program, just like Jones Geniuses, however, unlike Jones Geniuses it uses a spiral approach so there is constant drill throughout the year. In the early years Saxon uses some wonderful ways to teach things like money, borrowing and other skills. It is manipulative intensive and a fairly good program. Jones Geniuses most of what Saxon does only quicker plus some stuff you aren’t going to get anywhere else. While Saxon spirals in JG you don’t move on till mastery. When your child hits Saxon 5/4 (which will be quickly for some of our children) Saxon merely teaches a child how to solve particular problems. It does not teach why they are doing it or why it matters or how to apply what they are learning. You an do the same thing in JG in less than 1/2 the time. However, as Manda mentioned, we are dealing with very young children - none of these programs were written for little kids, so maybe this is exactly what the kids need until they are ready to tackle more logic at the age of 5-8. I don’t know as mine is not even 2 yet. My oldest is 16, gifted and far above his peers in school but my little guy has him beat hands down.
Singapore Math, which is obviously based on the Singapore model, and MEP, which is based on the Hungarian model, are very similar. Both programs teach the how’s and why’s of math. I do know that the Singapore model was considered when writing MEP. Both programs get children comfortable manipulating numbers. They require children to take what they know and solve problems they haven’t come across. However, there really isn’t a point in doing either program unless you use the teacher’s material as well. Most of what a child learns is in the manuals. That makes them VERY parent intensive. I can see where some of our children will find much of the material in the early years boring. We have done a lot of the MEP reception year stuff (kindergarten in the US) with my 1 year old. So if you are starting with an older child perhaps 4 or so, you will run into a problem that aangeles and manda have with their children - zipping through lots of material. But again, you really need to do the teaching material not just the workbooks. For the record I think MEP is a better program than Singapore but there is a boat load of printing to deal with. However, you cannot beat Singapore for the word problems. Children love them. Neither of these programs are going to teach your children mastery of the basic math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) it is up to you to supplement that if you think it is important. Which I do.
If you are considering what to do with your children, I’d pick up a Singapore workbook, compare it to MEP - they even have a similiar “feel” to them. See that you think. Saxon shouldn’t be ruled out in the early years, but if you have a child like Ella, I might pick something else.