Choosing Your Fall Elementary Math Curriculum

 
It's the beginning of June and it's starting to feel like summer. The weather is warmer, the kids have been swimming a few times, and everyone is enjoying the quieter pace of summer. June is also the month in which many homeschool parents start planning for the upcoming year. The month in which we ask ourselves — what will we change next year, what will our kids want to learn, what do we as parents want them to learn, and of course, what curriculum, books will we use? There are so many questions and so many decisions to be made!
 
Pearson can assist in this decision making process — making the process a little easier — and an overall success as well! Pearson offers homeschool programs that help parents build a rich foundation of learning in their homes.  Thousands of parents like you are using these very popular products, including, "Sing, Spell, Read & Write," "MCP Plaid Phonics," and "MCP Math."
 
MCP Mathematics is a comprehensive, easy-to-teach, easy-to-learn math program. A favorite among homeschoolers nationwide, MCP Mathematics consists of seven levels covering kindergarten through sixth grade - so you can provide each child with the right math instruction at just the right pace.
 
Emphasizing basic math skills and problem-solving strategies and with direct instruction embedded throughout, this affordable curriculum can be used as your primary math program, or as an outstanding supplement to other math programs. Its design encourages active participation and abundant practice to master skills. Each lesson begins with a developed model that teaches algorithms and concepts in a problem-solving situation, and students are required to interact with that model. Chapter tests at the end help assess their understanding.

 
MCP Mathematics (Grades K-6) homeschool bundles feature and promote:

• Models for each lesson to help students learn concepts and skills using real-life examples
• A wealth of practice activities to build retention
• Incorporates active learning into your curriculum
• Boosts confidence through friendly, non-intimidating lessons
• Reinforces math concepts via a developmental sequence that's in sync with the child's natural progress.
• Encourages success through valuable practice and chapter tests

A comprehensive Teacher Guide for each level provides easy-to-follow lesson plans with all the tools to help you guide your child through the curriculum. Additional features include a Skill Review section to reinforce learned concepts, challenging Mental Math problems to stimulate thinking skills, and extra support and enrichment exercises to enhance problem solving.
 
More specifically:
 
MCP Math Kindergarten — Prepare your student for success as you introduce math concepts including numbers through 20, addition, subtraction, time and money.
 
MCP Math Grade 1 — Your first grader connects math to the real world by learning addition and subtraction, place values through 200, how to tell time, how to count money, and early concepts of both geometry and measurement. 
 
MCP Math Grade 2 — Your child encounters numbers in a wide variety of contexts in order to expand overall Math understanding.  This level extends addition and subtraction though 3-digit numbers, builds on geometry, introduces fractions and begins multiplication. 
 
MCP Math Grade 3 — During third grade, you child moves from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division.  Your child applies math to everyday living situations by measuring, using geometry and graphing, and by working with both fractions and decimals.
 
MCP Math Grade 4 — Your child makes the connection between concepts and real-world problem-solving by learning that there are numerous ways to solve a problem and by focusing on the process — not just the solution.  Additional skills taught include geometry, addition and subtraction of fractions, decimals, graphing and probability.
 
MCP Math Grade 5 — Fifth-graders acquire the tools and understanding necessary to succeed in middle school level courses by learning to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with decimals, fractions, and whole numbers.  Your child learns how to use algebraic thinking to solve real-world problems with tables and graphs.  Your student learns basic geometric concepts that extend to ideas of length, mass and volume.

MCP Math Grade 6 — Building on math knowledge, your child hones skills in multiplication and division of fractions and decimals, geometry, area and volume, ratios and percents, graphing and probability.
 
Cathy Duffy (MCP is one of her Top 100 picks) and Homeschoolreviews.com, have very positive and informative reviews of MCP. For instance, one mother writes:

This is a great math program. I like that it's mastery based, but also reviews concepts later. For example, my daughter learned addition in one chapter, than subtraction in the next. A few lessons later, she learned how the two were related. She was in public school for K5 and math did not seem to be her strong point. But after using this, she is really "getting" it. Now I tell her she's a math whiz :)

Really, isn't that what we want for our children when it comes to Math? We want them to "get it"— and if they can "get it" to the point that they become whizzes, so much the better! Future Math, Science, Computer and Finance courses will be so much easier for them. Future career choices will open up (Architecture, Medicine, Engineering, etc). And as parents, we'll see the elevated self-confidence our children exhibit because they "get" Math.
 
It doesn't get any better than that!