Suggestions for Math Curriculum Please?

[Reader Zoo]

We will be new TOG users this coming school year and are extrememly excited!!! This is our 2nd year of homeschooling and are still learning as we go :-) I have an 8-year old son and also 2-year old twin boys.

As I'm looking forward/planning, I am stuck on what to choose for our Math curriculum. We used Horizons last year, which my son did well at, but he did not enjoy or like the curriculum. This year we've used Bob Jones Grade 3 Math, which again he's done well with, but does not enjoy. He is definitely a more hands-on and auditory learner. I like the idea of the worksheets, but sometimes they are overkill for him. Any suggestions on good curriculum that he might actually enjoy?

[iwka]

Teaching Textbooks.

[CovenantMom]

Hi,

I have used many math curricula over the past 16 years, but I just found one that has me really excited. It is called Life of Fred.

I have not ordered it yet - I just heard about it yesterday on another forum - but my three that are still at home are begging to start it as soon as possible. The samples on-line have them all excited and the books are very inexpensive. And they are a hoot! My husband actually wants to go back and do geometry again after looking at the samples.

It can be found here: http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html

It doesn't start until about 5th grade level (picks up with fractions) and continues through a second year of calculus. The student must be competent at addition, subtraction, multiplication and long division. My favorite textbooks for teaching those basic operations are the Ray's Arithmetic series books - also very inexpensive.

Hope this helps,
Sharon

[Renaissance Mom]

For hands on look at:

Math U See (http://mathusee.com/)

Right Start Mathematics (http://www.alabacus.com/)

Blessings,
Monica

[Reader Zoo]

Thank you all for your replies! While I had heard of some of these, there were a couple I've never seen before. I'm especially intrigued by Teaching Textbooks. I like the idea of the online lessons with the fun little characters ... I think he'd have fun with that. I really appreciate everyone's input!

Blessings,
Kat

[Erika]

Because of a few discussions like this, I looked into Teaching Textbooks.

Very impressive.

If I had fewer kids and more time, I might like something else, but I am VERY impressed with the 1)teaching 2)record keeping 3)immediate availability of correct solution. We've been using Saxon, which was fine, especially with the discs you can buy to teach and demonstrate correct solutions, but with TT it's all streamlined and facilitates the child getting the most from their math time, I believe.

I've got one child using Math 6 and soon to switch everyone over.

Thanks for the tip!

[Pat]

I use Singapore Math and really love it. My 12 yo 6th grader recently took the AMC8 (http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e4-amc08/amc8.shtml) and scored higher than the average 8th grader who took the test. Since he's not really a math oriented child, I credit Singapore.

[Diane Herman of Gloucester]

We LOVE Math-U-See! We have been using it for 4 years, Primer through Epsilon. The videos teach the lesson. We watch them together & I check to see if they understand. It allows them to then work independently. There are extra worksheets & drills available on-line. Check it out.
www.mathusee.com (http://www.mathusee.com)