So am I. I need something with Australian content to teach money concepts only but I a wondering if this would get my little monkey going in maths. She is going through resistant stge a the moment. Even if it is just for practice is for practice as Mandab says.
I recently purchased some software for math, and was absolutely SHOCkED at the possibilities for teaching very young children abstract mathematical concepts! This program will demonstrate virtually anything! I am now using for my 2.5 year old in conduction with various math programs… But AWESOME for a ‘peek’ at advanced concepts, beginning (and advanced!) algebra…all the way to calculus…truly a ‘grow with me’ software…can think of several tots in this forum that would LOVE this…
http://www.livemath.com/
Oh!
Nadia0801 and Aangeles! And anybody else interested in teaching toddlers to think critically about concept…Super fun supplement at ALL levels:
http://www.criticalthinking.com/all-abilities/core_curriculum.html
I don’t think there is any danger of that happening anytime soon, Sonya! She just told me while we were doing school this morning, “I love homeschool! Because I can hug and kiss my teacher anytime, as much as I want to!” lol
Linzy, Kimba, Korrale4kq,
Thanks for all the links!
I also noticed while looking through the homeschool buyers coop site that zometool.com is offering the Zome Geometry bundle for 47% off!
https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/zometool-geometry-bundle/?c=1
I will be ordering it sooner than I expected! lol
We have some of their books and they are quite good, but I haven’t made it a regular part of our curriculum because I think she is already spending too much time doing workbooks. Off the top of my head, we have singapore math, mep, soroban, handwriting, chinese, spanish, french, etc. She loves it, but I am trying to balance all that with more free play, creative thinking, physical activities, and hands-on experiments. I may add them in later when she’s older.
How about you? I wonder how much time other kids her age spend on workbooks.
Hhhhmmmm. Not quite sure how to quantify actual workbook time! Alex is 2.6 years old and her math and language FAR exceed her writing skills! We ‘do’ a lot of workbooks, but have to be creative! I think of it more as I follow the lesson/idea in a workbook and teach it to her. For example: I recently bought stamps so that she could ‘stamp’ the answers to addition/subtraction problems on a worksheet, like the timed JJ worksheets. She LOVES the RS curriculum, but struggles with the writing part…so I let her use stamps there as well, but make the numbers writing part of a separate lesson…
We don’t really ‘sit’ down yet for a lesson, but incorporate her math on the fly…I know some would disagree, but her understanding of multiplication came from repeated addition ideas., I.e., ‘doubling’ and then ‘tripling’, etc.
We use:
JJ, RS, MEP, Singapore, LofF Apples, ZomeTool, MathStart books, Brian Cleary books, critical Thinking, And our newest: LiveMath software! Also watch MathTacular DVDs as Alex really finds them hilarious, and have a lot of Math apps…seems like a lot, but we really just tend to incorporate and play them into our regular daily activities…even Friday Night family board games are math in nature: sum swamp, go Fish, Chutes and Ladders, we use an abacus to figure out anything she doesn’t know the answer to already.
Would love to hear any other suggestions to stimulate her…
I over did he workbooks unfortunely. She hatesthem now so I am finding ways to ply more games with her. I bought IQ fun park and she really enjoys that and I think with my tax return I will get right start math because of all the games it has in it. I ould be open to any suggestions on how to spice things up for Miss S.
I lost the other toddler 2 year old math threads, but most of the same things are being discussed so I thought I would add it here.
A week ago I decided to pay the $9.95 for a month of IXL. And we love it! James is only 2.5 and he also doesn’t have the writing skills, but using the iPad to do math makes him independent and accomplished. He likes being proud of himself. Workbooks are often hit and miss with him also. But I figure there is time to introduce more as he gets older.
I am not using IXL as a teaching tool, or a curriculum per se. I am using it as a way to assess where James is. In 1 week has has mastered 35% of the pre-k standards. I am confident he will be able to do a lot of the K standards also. What the program has been able to demonstrate what areas we need to work on. For example, comparing light and heavy hadn’t even crossed my mind. And I have certainly not introduced solid shapes much at all. So right now we have dropped all systematic math programs. James does a little IXL. I think he has only done 1hr and 4 minutes in a week. So not much time at all. Then I work with him doing little activities to help him with any areas he struggles with. James can subtitize up to 5 sometimes 6. And he can regroup up to 10 to subtitize 5 and ? to get an answer. However he can not count objects up to 10, And I know it is something we need to focus on. IXL Is giving him a little practice. However I am doing a lot more object counting throughout the day. I even told him if he can count all him hotwheel cars I will start buying him more and he can have as many as he is able to count. That was a huge incentive for him.
So this is my advice, try IXL or a similar program for a few months. Get a good idea of Ella’s strength and weaknesses, fill in any blanks that she does not have mastered, and then move on with the appropriate math programs.
Hi Korrale,
Thanks for the tip on IXL. I’m very grateful for that. And below are the toddler math threads, we can’t afford to lose them! So please post as much as you want on them.Thank you to everyone posting on these threads, I have learnt a lot from you all and math has really picked up in our home. Here are the threads:
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What are you doing with your 2 year olds for math - http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/what-are-you-doing-with-your-2-year-olds-for-math/msg86987/?topicseen
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Math curriculum for toddlers - http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/math-curriculum-for-toddlers/msg86268/?topicseen
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Pick just one program to teach toddler math - http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/pick-just-1-program-to-teach-toddler-math/msg86460/?topicseen
Thank you very much for those links!
Isn’t homeschool buyers co-op great! I always check there before I buy things becasue they have such good deals.
Korrale, glad your son is enjoying IXL! Does he read? If they do it on a computer rather than the iPad it will read out the questions for grades under year 1. I put my oldest on the iPad and xmy younger 2 on the computer, even though they both can read they enjoy the extra support for words like perpendicular and such. ( no Jaykob has no chance with perpendicular! lol )
So had you noticed that IXL questions get harder the more you get right? It usually shows 3 different representations of how to do a problem. So for maximum learning and mastery be sure to stick to a problem type until the ribbon pops up on the right.
I quite like the little counter that says " natalya has completed 33% of the grade 3 corriculum" sent to my email 
I loved you final sentence , use something like IXL to discover the weaknesses and work on those. That’s exactly what most of the parents here will need to consider at some point.
Manda,
We are loving it. I keep gettin emails each night saying cute things like James is working hard at his math. He has mastered such and such. I forward them to my husband. But it isn’t like I don’t know what he is doing.
I actually read the question to him. I foun that the speaker thing just loads too slowly. I can just read it quicker. I let him select or type the answer. I often press the submit button. I have found he is sloppy when using the iPad with IXL and he accidentally presses other links or the submit button without selecting an answer. If he accidentally hits the submit it takes longer and longer for him to earn his medal at the end, and he gets impatient. Here a medal means I will give him a chockie chippie :).
So far the questions are so simple that they don’t really have the flexibility to get harder. But I certainly see how it will work with higher grades.
I don’t plan to keep using IXL month by month. Once he passes preK, or maybe even K I will cancel the subscription until I think he is ready to do more. I just like being able to use it as a tool to help me know where he is.
Thank you Mandabplus3 and Korrale for this interesting conversation you’re having. Through the conversation, you’ve answered my questions about using IXL with prewriting kids. And Korrale, I’ll copy your idea of reading aloud the question to the child, clicking the submit button for him, etc. Cos before this time I’ve been wondering ‘How will he click those buttons?’ And your idea not to use IXL month by month is also quite smart. I presume you intend to use it to ensure the child masters the required content for each grade level, then you back off for a bit for more non-IXL math lessons, and then go back to re-subscribe. Very bright idea. I may copy your idea there too. Thank you so much to both of you.
I’m having a feeling that using IXL will be more cost-effective than buying loads of math curricula. I’m having the feeling that with IXL, the child will get to master everything he/she should master at each grade level, yet the parent will not spend too much money getting several math curricula. (I need the most cost-effective stuff out there). What do you think?
Nee,
I certainly agree for the early grades. PK and K, maybe even as far as 1st grade IXL will work in place of a curriculum. Most of the stuff is easily introduced via informal learning and play. I use toys to demonstrate concepts to work on. For example I have duplos (big Legos) that I use to make tall and short towers to reinforce those concept. Our towers fall down and are considered long.
Top, middle and bottom needs work on so I play a game where I instruct James to put books or toys on the corresponding shelves of his 3 shelf bookcase.
I think by the time your child is ready for 1st+ grade math you will have a good idea of their learning style and ability and be better informed to choose a math curriculum that will focus on teaching. This will be more for your benefit I think.
I have read that when it comes to math that you are best to choose a math curriculum for your spine. And then to supplement when necessary. It is best to stick with this spine rather than jump around.
I believe the spine could be something as involved as Right Start Math. (which we still play with) or as cheap and as simple as using spectrum math work books. I use the Spectrum work books for tutoring and I do like them. They are only $10 a grade.
I would then supplement with lots of fun games, some critical thinking text book, and IXL to monitor progress and for practice.
I actually think you could easily use IXL as a core curriculum up until the point where your child passes your own ability to teach the concepts. Realistically I am good for a few more years my oldest is working on mastering grade 3 and looking at grade 4 concepts she hasn’t seen before. Since she is working above grade level ( she is in grade 3 at school) there is no pressure on her but the reinforcement has meant that her test scores are quite a bit higher than her peers as she has a) done more problems b) mastered those skills c) completed each skill in a variety of ways d) had me nearby to answer any misunderstandings e) covered things at home that were only briefly covered, if at all, at school that are tested in national tests.
Use IXL not just for practice but as a check list of concepts to introduce and teach. When you find something you don’t know how to teach, just type in a wrong answer and look at the explanation. ( we had to do that for roman numerals, I couldn’t remember what 50 was 
)
Also as to the budget…I also pay by the month but I really should buy a yearly access. It’s quite a bit cheaper, and I have 3 kids…I only need one access for all three kids provided they are not using the same grade level, in order to keep track of what they are practicing. ( you can get summaries by grade level)
But in saying all that…I still like right start too much to give it up completely
Mandab and Korrale,
Thank you so much for the explanations. I am very grateful.
Aangeles-
A bit of a return to your original post…
Have you seen the Challenge Math programs/books? They are used fairly often with advanced students, especially the homeschool set. They have a book that starts at 1st grade US, but the set for slightly older kids (all their books, in fact!) offer three levels of ideas and questions. They are designed with a series of challenges in mind, guaranteed to provide a range of difficulty.
THE BEST BIT: they are sort of anti-workbook style for kids that need more thought- provoking, real- world style math approaches…even if you find some are too difficult at the moment, they are designed well enough that with her level of understanding you could easily adapt them.
Hi Aangeles
I’m so sorry- this hasnt much to do with your original post but I’m learning more about Singapore Maths and would love your suggestion.
There’s a website called SG box which offers a whole package for over 100 dollars
http://www.sgbox.com/k1math.html
Do you know if that’s interesting in term of content?
Or should I buy directly from singapore maths? I’m just lost and don’t know which book to pick for pre K- K level.
You advised the Essential, would that be enough?
Many thanks !!