Saxon, Horizon, Math-U-See, Singapore.  Why is it that we CMers do not teach our children math? We read chapters and endless posts on literature, grammar, history, foreign language, nature studies.  What was the last great discussion about teaching math?  Great math literature is extensive, so much so I would suggest that it is more plentiful for the younger years than any other subject.  Just look at Livingmath.net to see.  You could easily make a math lapbook or notebook or narration.  We do not curl up with great books, we do not combine kids, we don't skip ahead much.  We leave it to the textbooks to teach our children math.

After reading Math: Facing an American Phobia by Marilyn Burns, I can see that our education system has turned a large segment of our population into math phobics.  We are not taught to understand math, only how to do math (a problem exacerbated by standardized testing.)  It goes beyond just learning math in context; when we fail to understand the whys we are unable to teach math to others.

I have been using Math-U-See, and my children have mastered it quite well.  I realized, however, that we spent 30 weeks on Alpha, and all ds#2 really learned was how to add and subtract without regrouping.  In Beta, he is learning to regroup.  Yes, they use manipulatives and focus on place value and do word problems.  But now that I have seen someone teach it, I realize that it really is not that hard at all.  Ds#1 has completed Gamma.  He knows multiplication and division well, but he does not have good mental math skills.  Mental math requires an understanding of underlying number patterns.

While I am considering the idea of teaching math the way I do science (good books and good experiments) I have decided to give the Math Enhancement Programme a try.  Anybody using AO knows about this free curriculum.  I have used it for one week and it is quite obvious that this book focuses on concept comprehension and mental math skills.  I have actually started ds#1 and ds#2 at the same level to try it out over the summer.

One of the "drawbacks" of the program is that it involves a lot of parent preparation and participation.  There's not that much preparation as much as participation.  I sit and teach my children math just like I do with science; we even use the chalk board, LOL! Just consider, how can you practice mental math from a book?  If you work through part of it, you either have to keep struggling or look at the answer because no one is there to give you a little help through a rough part.  This is where a teacher really is key.

So far my kids really like it because each lesson has such variety in it.  You build many skills in a lesson instead of drilling one skill.  For my very fidgety kids, this is a good approach (after figuring our what they could do with themselves while waiting for the other to finish, but that's another struggle.)  I could see, though, if you had a large family and had to spend the time individually with each child you would spend the day teaching math.  Older children could easily be the teacher for younger children, though.  I may try bumping up ds#1 and teach both at the same time.  It may take longer than each individually yet less time than consecutively.

I still may just put aside all math curricula until my sons reach 5th or 6th grade.  At the top of this post is a picture of my kids getting inspired by a book called Math Adventures: Firefighters to the Rescue by Wendy Clemson.  Living books and dry erase boards go far in primary math education.  Isn't that so very "Charlotte Mason?"