And now, math chat. (Cross-posted on MDC)
So, we're about a month into it and I'm just not digging Miquon Math. I feel like she's not learning anything, and she doesn't seem particularly "Rah! Rah!" about it either. Not that she needs to be, but it would be nice if one of us sort of liked it.
OK, what I like:
- the playfulness
- the fact that it goes whole to part
- the fact that it teaches all 4 operations together
- the fact that it uses manipulatives
- it seems to fit in somewhat with Waldorf philosophy
- the cost
- it isn't just memorization and drill, but teaches mathematical thinking
What I don't like:
- lack of practice/drill--this may be why it feels like she isn't learning anything
- it takes a huge amount of time, and I just don't have it, with a baby and a preschooler and a third grader who might be coming home. I don't have endless amounts of time to watch her free-play with materials and then handcraft lessons for her
- the Cuisenaire rods annoy the snot out of me
- so do the workbooks
- the first grade diary and lab annotations just aren't all that helpful to me, and they seem to end come January. The directions are all very nebulous, and I don't deal well with nebulosity.
In our brief foray into k12, we used Sadlier. I'm looking for something sort of like that, I guess. Something where I can teach a brief lesson and she can then work on her own with me nearby. I wish there was a stand-alone Waldorf math curriculum. I'm so conflicted.
That said, I did feel like we did something today. We played the yellow rod game, where Katie Grace had to find various ways to make 5:
Then, I diverted from Miquon and did a Waldorf thing. She wrote down different ways to make 5 in her main lesson book. I also showed her how her body makes five-head, arms, and legs:
So, I don't know what to do with math. I don't want to quit something before I really give it a chance, but I don't want to dig in my heels and be stubborn about sticking with something that doesn't seem to be working.
Also on the math front, we finished our qualities of numbers unit through ten:
3 comments:
Doesn't Path of Discovery cover math? I am not looking forward to dealing with math myself, one because I hate it and two, for all the reasons you mentioned above. She sure i sa cutie, though!
I actually think you helped me figure out what we need in our Math program. We used the rods before but it didn't click for my oldest.
We've been using Math U See for a couple of years and we love it.
But, the pages are black and white. I really want to add some color, but not just some tacky math pages.
So, I think I'm going to try and do some kind of lesson page each week. I'm not really experienced with Waldorf, I'm just trying to integrate into what we do now. I've been told how we teach/learn is really similar to Waldorf. So, I've started to research into more as they get older.
I would love to hear more about how you do Math.
I wanted to say I'm going to link to this post a bit later this week when I do my weekly rambling post =) It really inspired me! Thanks for sharing...
btw I found this site when I asked on The Well Trained Mind boards if anyone integrates Waldorf with Classical homeschooling. It was either suggested there or I found it through another page...lol.
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