A Classical Education, part 4

When it comes to math programs, there are basically two philosophies on how to teach math: mastery and spiral. Basically when using a spiral program each lesson will have several review problems covering previous concepts in addition to problems for the new concept. A mastery program will have only problems relating to the current concept. Most programs also have review exercises every now and then to cover previous concepts. There are good programs on both sides of the aisle that have been successfully used by numeroushomeschoolers so I don't what to say that one or the other is right for every kids. The first choice offered by TWTM is Saxon math, a spiral program. However, I most certainly fall in the camp of preferring a mastery style approach to math and chose to use some of the alternative programs instead.

Why the mastery method?

1. One problem with spiral methods that I found when researching the curriculum is that it made students hate math. Take a bright or even average student and ask him to continually work the same type of problem over and over again day after day and eventually you'll get asked the question, "Why do I have to do this again?" or simplyinformed, "I already know how to do this."
   


2. Math is one of those areas where I believe it is better to cover a few topics more deeply to develop a better understanding than to try to cover a broader range of topics and only get to skim the surface. If the only topics covered in the elementary years are numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and the child is able to master these topics, then he or she will have a strong base to use to move on to higher level math. Topics like measurement, capacity, or even simple geometry like area and volume can be quicklylearned at a later point if necessary.
   


3. Personality also plays a factor. Some children will find a multitude of different types of problems distracting or confusing. Others like my oldest who prefers to focus on one things at a time willfind a spiral program extremely frustrating.
   

Why Singapore?

1. I believe the foundation to doing well with math is understanding the concept. Students who don't
   understand why they are doing what the are doing will struggle with the application of math in real life. Singapore's strength is in teaching math conceptually.
2. I believe every student should be able to complete some math computation mentally. Again Singapore
   does an excellent job of teaching mental math techniques.
3. I believe that the goal of learning a math concept is that the student should be able to apply their knowledge to a new or slightly different situation. Singapore'sIP and CWP provide an excellent opportunity to stretch the student's understanding of a concept toapply it in different ways.

Why combine with Miquon?

1. The biggest weakness in Singapore is that it is up to the teacher to present the lesson in a concrete fashion before moving on tothepictorial format of the book. Miquon excels at hands on discovery, and I find the two complement each other quite well in this regard.
2. Miquon fills in a couple of the topics that Singapore doesn't cover like coordinate graphing, negative numbers, and prime numbers.
   
3. Using the two programs allows the student to learn how to tackle a problem in different ways.
4. Miquon can provide the necessary reinforcement and review that some children need
   and may not get enough of with a mastery style program.

Even using both programs I have found that some concepts simply need more reinforcement. The one additional
workbook that we use is The Big Book of Time and Money. For some reason both of my girls have simply needed additional practice in these two topics to achieve the level of mastery that I believe they need. It's simple, easy, and colorful and gets the job done in minimal time.