math through the years

Curriculum

Apr 2

Written By Sarah

As we start to wrap up our school year, I am once again thinking a lot about math instruction. And guess what? We are making changes again. Personally, I do not recommend swapping math programs a lot. For more on my thoughts on math curriculum overall, check out my math page here. But alas, here we are. I’m going to share my thought process over the years as I have selected math programs, then doubted them, then spiraled down the curriculum rabbit hole, and am now once again, changing things up. I share all of this hoping that others can learn from our experiences and hopefully not go through the same process we did. So here we go!

Preschool: math through play (shapes, colors, counting)

Pre-K: Hmm, maybe I should do something more formal. I see folks doing “real” math. Then I would feel like I could check the boxes off, we’re doing “real” school like the kids’ friends are over in traditional preschool. —> Dimensions Pre-K.

Fast forward a month or two and we have basically dropped it because it’s not a good use of time and my 4-year-old doesn’t want to sit and do pencil and paper workbooks. Sold curriculum

Kindergarten: Ok, now we should do school. This is real school age. Let’s try a different Singapore approach, Early Bird Kindergarten Math. Mostly stuck this out, but didn’t do any deep dives and did more play-based learning. Then Covid hit, things were really wonky, and kindergarten turned into 2 years. We switched over to Oak Meadow Kindergarten and did some Waldorfy math, then added in MWC Kindergarten. Nothing felt like a good fit for a kid with asynchronous skills. My oldest has incredible visual-spatial skills and an engineering brain. I really struggled to find something that would both move through the appropriate skills systematically and be engaging and make math purposeful and fun.

First Grade: Ok, we’ve gotten ourselves straightened out grade-wise. We’re diving into 1st grade. Back to Dimensions 1A. We finished Dimensions 1A, but it was like pulling teeth. We both liked the visual appeal, but there were many components and worksheets. Cue my rabbit hole in the Facebook Group, Member Community: Singapore Math Homeschool Families (highly recommend). We switched over to the new Primary 2022 Mathematics with Primary 1B. This was a much better fit for us compared to Dimensions. I have deep-dive reviews on these over on YouTube. I finally felt like we were in a good place for math. But oh, look, Beast Academy — I think my oldest would really enjoy this. Grabbed the Level 1 workbooks A-D and told him we would start with the workbooks and move into the online platform once we did Level 1.

Pre-K Kid 2: You know, I think she would actually enjoy doing some “real” school with her brother. Dimensions Pre-K wasn’t so bad, right?

Fast forward: I dropped that so quickly. Between the 1st grader and infant, I did not need to add on anything extra.

2nd Grade: Alright, we’ve got a solid plan: Primary 2022 2nd grade and Beast 1 for fun, let’s do this! This was a good combination, for the most part. But it led to a lot of math and a lot of deep thinking, maybe overkill on the deep thinking. Primary and Beast are both deep-thinking programs, so maybe I should limit that somehow.

Wrap up Primary 2022 2A, flip through 2B, and realize it’s all review/ “fluffy” math like shapes and data. Start thinking about 3rd grade math. Hmm, 3rd grade math is a lot of math facts (multiplication and division). How did my oldest learn his addition and subtraction facts? Through games and Beast mental math. Would continuing Primary 2022 be the best option for him if the goal will be multiplication/division facts? Or is there another option that would be more game-based. Oh wait, MWC 3rd Grade! Let’s try out MWC 2nd grade for the rest of the year and see how he likes it alongside Beast.

Fast forward: MWC 2 with Beast 1 has been a really good fit for us. My son loves the games in MWC, finds the warm-up exercises and memory exercises fun, and grumbles about the review workbook page — which means it’s actually good for him because he’s having to really reach back and recall information (read Make it Stick on why this is important).

Kindergarten, Kid 2: Let’s start Primary 2022 from the beginning. It’s a solid program.

Fast forward: She does will with the program, enjoys the workbook pages. Ok, this is going well.

Fast forward again: But how will she handle learning addition and subtraction facts in 1st grade? She already asks for a “winning and losing” game every. single. day. If she loves games, maybe we should reconsider MWC 1 for first grade.

Fast forward again: C2 sees C1 playing lots of math games from MWC 2 and wants a fun math book. So I pull out MWC K and it’s a MUCH better fit. She loves the warm-up games, the number practice in the workbook is really beneficial for her. She is having fun and learning. FINE, we will change plans.

2023-2024 School Year Plans:

3rd Grade (C1):