Math: Another Look

Ok, we are really going through the reviewing and rethinking process here. As you know, dh is not a fan of curriculum hopping and neither am I but he did give me the ok to change our sons from Rod and Staff Math to Math U See Math a few weeks ago but I have been back and forth over the entire decision since then. I am a very indecisive person. I've been that way every since I can remember trying to choose between a Happy Meal and a Big Mac. Anyway, it's been a hindrance at times but most of the time, it has been a blessing because it allows me to rethink situations and look at them from a different perspective which is what I have done with our math dilemma. I love the look of MUS..hands-on manipulatives, DVD that eases the teaching of concepts, teaches the WHY, not too pricey, etc. but why didn't I order? My concern is that it is skill based and not the standard math scope and sequence. I know, I know... that's bad public school way of thinking. Hey, I'm weaning here so just be patient with me. :)) Well, my THING is that I always consider the "WHAT IFS". My "what if" in this case was "What if for some reason, I had to place my dc in ps? Will they be ahead or behind the norm?" "Will the transition be difficult?" Well, you know the answer. They will be behind although they would have GRASPED some of the covered concepts better than their ps counterparts. We have no plans of placing our children in ps EVER but I have always tried to stay rooted or grounded in reality and sometimes life happens or things which are beyond our control so I have been pondering over this issue.

Last night, dh and I had a very interesting conversation on this topic and he had really shed some light from another perspective on the matter. I realized that I loved the skill based mastery of MUS and the manipulative use but leary of the scope and sequence. As for R & S, I really loved the different concepts covered in R & S but didn't care for the sequence. It is supposedly mastery based but there is a constant review of previous topics included also. I have added only a few manipulatives to R & S. The teacher's manual is very open and go just the way that I like it. Dh posed several questions, "Who says that you have to follow the curriculum's scope and sequence?" "Why don't you do it like you want or what's best for the kids? After all, you homeschool!" Why haven't I tried to do this? It has been basically the result of FEAR. You know, False Evidence Appearing Real. I have been afraid of trying and failing so I wanted someone to do all of the work for me. Well, this had really left an imprint on my heart and I researched some things. I really love Living Math but didn't know how to start this in our homeschool. I have always believed that any math could be turned into living math so it was now time to practice what I believed and had preached to others. Right? I had read some wonderful ideas and Math Teaching Tips.

I don't want to implement ps math at home. I don't like the idea of throwing different concepts at a child each year then repeating those same concepts in following years without focusing on mastery. I want to concentrate on a concept til it has been mastered and move onto the next according to the pace of my child. Now that I know the Scope and Sequence that our math should include and the Mathematical Benchmarks for each level, I want to create a math that is more suitable for my dc. We have tweaked different things over the years but I have never imagined tweaking or creating my own math. So, we have come up with a plan.

• Stick with Rod and Staff Math and use it as our spine. Our literature based history programs have a spine, why can't our math? Dh made a great point on this.
  

• Change the scope and sequence of the topics in the way that is best suitable for our dc.

• Allow mastery of each concept and allow our dc to set the pace. For example, while learning about division, we will start with short division of numbers then move onto long division, division of decimals, division with fractions, etc. until we have mastered everything there is to learn about division across the board. We will sort of place a "MUS" way of thinking into our own program but master different topics throughout the year instead of focusing upon one topic the entire year. Our focus or scope will be:

addition and subtraction
place value
roman numerals
time
multiplication
division
factoring and prime numbers
fractions
decimals
money
measurements
percent, ratio and proportion
geometry
probability

• Add more hands-on manipulatives to our math. We will add more manipulatives to our program as well as Family Math for weekly math lab.

• Add living math such as real life situations and library books to reinforce what we are learning. I had been doing this here and there already. I love taking our children to the grocery store. Our last grocery store trip was a great learning experience. I found some deals on sale such as 3 items for $4.00. I asked my sons, if I can buy 3 of these items for $4.00, how much would 1 item cost? An instant word problem! There is also a Living Math yahoo group that is really helpful although I have been a lurker for a while more than a poster.

• I will teach my 5th grade twins and my 4th grader as a group so I will be incorporating two grade levels thus pulling concepts from my 4th grade and 5th grade Rod and Staff books. I want to cover two grade levels at a time each year so my scope will cover multiplication from 4th grade and later move into 5th grade multiplication. Then we will begin 4th grade division which would eventually cover 5th grade division by the end of the year. I'm not focusing on completing all of this in a year. If it takes a year and a half to complete, that's fine. I'm allowing my dc to set the pace.

I think an added bonus is cost. Rod and Staff is really affordable but this could be created with any math program or library books. Am I afraid? YES! But excited at the same. Dh is so proud of me and really believes that I can do this. I really need that support! I think anyone could do this with a math program if they are having difficulty finding something that "fits" or not afraid to tackle ....(gulp) MATH but hopefully, I can add more info after we get things implemented around here. Well, things won't get done if I'm hanging around here so I'm off to complete some planning.

Update: Things are going ok. No complaints as yet but it's the beginning phase so time will tell. I have been looking around a bit for next year. Yes, I loooove looking. :D. I really hate to switch curriculum but if I had a choice, it looks as if it will be Math On The Level or MUS in the upcoming year if our current plan doesn't work. Perhaps there will be more on that later. We'll see. I'm not giving up just yet. To Infinity and beyoooooooooond!