Avocado Baby with Stacy Lewis

So, I know this isn't about birth, but I really have to talk about our greatest success lately with Math. My daughter has had a difficult time getting certain concepts in math; while my middle child is fairly gifted in the math realm.  I have always been on the search for a math program that would appeal to the both of them.

Bubber, my middle child, doing Montessori Math~~The Snake Game

In the beginning of our homes school journey, we used Montessori approaches.  A good friend and I even went so far as to create our own bead chains so we could do the math albums.  We all enjoyed Montessori style math.  My daughter liked the snake game, and my son loved doing the long chains, especially the 1,000 chain.  My youngest son loved building a pyramid with the colored beads.

However, as my daughter grew and her math needs grew, I couldn't seem to grasp other ideas for her.  I moved onto the stamp game which did help her understand carrying, but I just could figure out where to go.

My next search to math included math fact learning with the free download timez attack.  My middle child loves this game and learned all of his multiplication facts up to 12X12.  My daughter, however, didn't enjoy the game.  So the search continued.  www.bigbrainz.com  

I settled on using the Scott Foresman Math program that California uses for her 2nd grade year.  I thought we were doing okay, but we were both bored. Also, she still wasn't getting those basic math facts she needed.  

One night searching through our charter school's vendors, I found City Creek Press.  It is a program that focus solely on using stories to remember and learn the multiplication and addition facts.  We both loved it.  The stories are very nice,  but again, understanding the concept of the facts was greatly lacking for her.   www.citycreek.com

I finally relented to the advice of my good friend to try Right Start Math for this school year.  I was reluctant to again begin a new program and felt I would confuse her.  But I was surprised by the change in this year and am now a believer in Right Start.  www.alabacus.com

The Abacus helps her so much!  For two years, I have been trying to have her understand the 8's and 9's rule for math.  In one lesson, she finally saw what I have been trying to say!  I do feel part could be her mind has grown, but with each new lesson, she gains more confidence and really sees the numbers.  

My children are also loving the games with Right Start.  At this time, their favorite is the corner's game.  Just today, we played matching 15's and had some good times finding different ways to make 15.

By far, I can see the biggest improvement with my youngest child.  He is registered as a kindergardener.  He has learned counting to 10 and understands counting with tally marks by fives.  What I really find amazing in him is he can begin to see adding!  We did a lesson in which he had to combine two sets of tally sticks in quantities of 1-5 in each group.  It was amazing to see he got it after 2 problems!  He joined the two groups and made the five tally sticks just as he should.  Then his last problem 4 and 4.  He was so thrilled and yelled, "Mom, I know it! 4 and 4 is 8!"  He quickly wrote 8 on his paper. 

I know there is still growing room and am very happy with it.  I cannot wait until we get further in the program and see my children grow and love math even more.

Blessings,

Stacy Lewis, B.A. Ed., AAHCC, LE

childbirth educator and lactation educator