MATH CURRICULUM WORKBOOKS | MUST HAVE!! | Key To 

Thank you Rikki! I'm happy to share the things we love and even the things that don't work so well. Thank you for taking the time to comment :) -Hana

Complete agree with you. I like my math programs to be simple and direct to help a student obtain ease and mastery in that subject area. So I'm with you 100%!! -Hana

I looked into as well for another reason. I had received six Miquon workbooks and looked into them briefly to see if we could use them. It didn't work for us, and considering how the workbooks are set up for the Key To series, the Miquon workbooks seem really different and don't follow the same style. I think Kumon books might work, but I haven't been super pleased with what I've seen so far, but in all fairness, I haven't looked at a lot of them. I do like the mini worksheets students used to get in Kumon centers. Those seem to really teach proficiency. I don't know what they offer these days in the center.

Thanks for sharing about the Miquon math. Will be looking into it

OH!! I totally didn't realize that it was Lore Rasmussen's son who did Key Curriculum! That's so interesting, thanks for commenting. We are from Philly originally and are very familiar with the wonderful Miquon school.

That's so good to hear!

I thought you might appreciate that detail ;) At least the big math workbooks can still be recycled, but little things like the size of the workbook and feel of the paper are things I notice. Roadschooling? Fun!! I'm sure you'll share more details in time. -Hana

I'm impressed! I love it when parents take an active role in education (whether homeschool or not) and plan ahead. Since these have been around for a long time, I anticipate they'll be around for some time :) -Hana

I wish we only learned the metric system in school. It would make things so much easier! Personally it took me a long time to understand measurement and conversion within the English system. Even now I second guess myself or forget which is bigger a quart or a pint! The metric system is so much easier to understand, and easier for kids to grasp. Sadly, my kids are only more confused from learning two systems. I need some practical applications for them. For instance we have a yard stick and a 12" ruler, but have a meter stick (which granted is nearly the same as a yardstick) and other tools in the metric system will give my kids a better understanding overall. By the way, I can't get youtube to approve your last comment you made on the pirate unit study. You shared a link to a jaunty tune, and it's being held up in my 'spam folder'. I listened to it, and we really enjoyed it.

Oh my gosh, what a fun guy!! You're such a great resource for other resources :) Thank you!

Yes! Exactly what it could be used for. I get hand me down teaching textbook workbooks, and I use those for review ;) -Hana

Yes!! Makes it easier for kids I think.

Oh, I see your answer below. Going on my "Future" list!

I wish they did!!

@@ProjectHappyHome Miquon Math is written by this authors mom and was the original series. It is for 1st to 3rd grade (2 workbooks per year). I loved it.

Oh good! I really like this series for its simplicity and focus. I hope it works out for your daughter.

My 14 year old is working through these and it's just the perfect pace for an algebra newbie. I like that the questions are simple, straightforward and not to rigorous. By itself it won't qualify as high school algebra, but it could supplement another curriculum. For our son, we have him officially enrolled in pre-algebra for credit, but he continues with this program at the same time. -Hana

What other curriculum do you use to make a full credit?

Hello! I can make a video on sample mental math question. I do have them written down in my lesson plans, but recently I found a book that takes the work out of mental math problems. It's call The Little Book Of Number Chains by Gareth Moore and it's superb! www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Number-Chains/dp/1843178729 -Hana

Pepper and Pine Thank you so much. Your videos are filled with such great information that's not offered from many other youtubers and always come across in a kind and encouraging way! Thanks for all your work.

I would start these sets after basic arithmetic is mastered. Then you could start with measurements, but skip that pages on proportions. Or start with Fractions first. I mostly start with measurement first and do the whole series in it first before moving on to another subject area.

Wow, congrats on going back to work. That's great your mom is helping out. If you continue homeschooling with the help of your mom, I would suggest revisiting the basics before moving on, unless you feel he's really ready or will be able to review while engaging in new learning. Here's what I notice with my kids in particular. It always benefited them to spend a lot of time doing the basics: multiplication, addition, subtraction and division at a basic level either mental or written. You could probably start Key To Fractions next year, but go at a slow pace to see how he does with it, and at the same time continue to do some basic arithmetic. I would personally skip review in measurement, time, graphing, statistics and word problems. If your child doesn't have any learning difficulties or delays, it's my opinion that even if you start late with math, a lot comes together around 6th-8th grade. I would talk math to him, like 'do you want half an apple?' or "can you get me twice as many plates" things like that. I noticed that my third son could do advanced math mentally, but had a hard time translating that in the written form. I delayed teaching him the written form for long subtraction until this year and when I did he had come up with his own system of subtracting which is different than the American system. There are actually nine different ways to subtract multi-digit numbers and he had intuitively discovered another system. The point is, children are brilliant, we sometimes don't see it because of our current educational paradigm. Imagine trying to add and multiple in base 6 rather than base 10. It would be so hard! Little off topic obviously, but the point is, if your son thinks he's behind, he may not think he's good at it and in the long run that's not a good place to be. If it's easy, he'll enjoy it and be more self motivated. I only have one child who only recently became concerned with whether he was grade level or not. Most of my kids were not aware of it. -Hana

Hi Dawn! Math is a tricky subject because there's such a love/hate relationship with it. These books work well starting about 4th grade. They don't have them for the basic operations, but I wish they did.

I will tell you that I love the key to series as a teacher. They are dry, but they are simple without being babyish. They are a good supplement

I feel these books are really complete, but I think most use it to complement a curriculum. Because I tend to work on subject areas a couple years behind traditional schedules, my kids usually get the material quickly and don't need very much else. But yes, the Live-Education curriculum recommends these to complement their curriculum which I use loosely when it comes to math.

do you know if I could get them as an e-book?

Dina Khattab I’m not sure about the Key To Curriculum series. But Live Education doesn’t offer a digital version of their product.

I know of Math U See, but have not used it personally. I do like the way waldorf teaches math with the exception of teaching multiplication with addition in first grade. At least that's how we did it in school when I attended. I remember being utterly confused and just wrote what the teacher wrote. What I like better than Waldorf math is no math curriculum. I can say this to you freely (and anyone reading this, lol!), because of anyone, I think you might be the most receptive or at least understand what I'm going to say. Kids naturally learn math and numbers without a curriculum. They may not know the language of math (numbers and operation signs), but they understand quantity, addition, subtraction, division, fractions and much more without ever being taught. If you wait, when you do finally formally teach it, it's so easy for the child to comprehend because he spent his life LIVING math. Math is all around us and if we remember to use it and share it, it will develop naturally. Like asking if your child wants half an apple or more grapes or two pancakes or five more carrots, these 'math' questions lay the foundation for math later on. When I finally introduce math, it's orally, then finally after that it's super simple arithmetic questions. I keep it very simple and I aim for ease and mastery in the four operations. -Hana

You're welcome Ranin! By the way, I love your name :) -Hana

Pepper and Pine awww..you're too kind. Thank you.

marigold moon I’d recommend simple and repetitive work balanced with mental math in the form of skip counting, multiplication facts and movement math. Maybe Kumon workbooks might work. Or you can make your own. Mastery of the multiplication facts can be tedious. Add some games to lighten the lessons.

Thanks, Hana!

I'll check for you. Inshallah I can get back to you soon.

The youngest I ever did this was 4th grade, but 5th grade seems to be a better fit for my kids. Last year I gave my then 9 year old 4th grader the measurement books, and he could do them easily until he got to the conversion part and since he didn't know fractions, he couldn't continue. This year, he's doing the fractions, and is doing fantastic with them. This is his first time doing 'math' with fractions. He's familiar with them since we've done a lot with living math, but this was the first time he learned the terminology and the method for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions, and he's grasped it well so far. -Hana

Oh I forgot to say it took about 4 years to complete the whole series.

Good question, and I'm not sure. I use the fractions around 4th or 5th grade. And Algebra around 8th grade. Geometry during 6th or 7th grade.

Pepper and Pine okay thank you for replying. I am going to be homeschooling my 11yr old son for the first time I have removed him from public school for a couple of reasons. so I'm doing alot of research into all kinds of things.. I never expected there to be so many kinds to choose from!

Hey Anna, I misread your original comment and thought which grades these materials were recommended for from the publishers/manufacturers perspective. I'm not sure what the traditional grades for each subject area and since the measurement math series (key to measurement) involves some fractions at some point, it might not be recommended as the first set to go through. We have done measurement first in 4th grade followed by fractions, decimals and percents. That takes us to 5th or 6th grade. I'll follow it with geometry and finally algebra.

Hi Naile, for 6th grade we are finishing up the fractions. decimals and percents series and starting on Geometry if we have time, otherwise, we'll save geometry for 7th and 8th grade and algebra for 8th and 9th grade.

Pepper and Pine Do you continue with KTMath or do you do something else? My daughter is going into six grade and she pretty much dislikes her “Go Math” curriculum. I was considering Key to Math alone for the upcoming year.

As it is, no, the geometry and algebra workbooks are not high school level and don't meet high school 'rigor'. Though all the info in covered in algebra, you'll have to add to the program to hit the standards that are missing and increase the workload so that it's high school level. The geometry books are definitely not close to high school level.

Have you found a High School Math curriculum that has a similar flow? Could you please share what you plan on using or have used in the past? I started using this curriculum for my Middle School child last year and we absolutely love it. I'm just thinking ahead about what we will use to continue on when we complete the set. Thank you!

Oh that's a good question Michelle. I always completed one topic area first, like all of fractions before moving on to decimals. It might work to do all of level 1 then level 2, but I think for the fractions, decimals and percents series, it's best to focus on one topic area first.

Thank you so much. I have ordered the sets for measurement, fractions, decimals, and percents. Looking forward to using these with my boys.

oh sorry I just got to the end after watching it for the 2nd time and heard you say recommended for gr 3/4. Is there a program you would recommend for early math? I have a gr. 1, 3, and 6.

I think there's a curriculum (like textbooks) that might accompany this set, but I haven't seen it in years. I use this almost as a stand alone curriculum, but it also makes a great supplement. Though the measurement math is easier than the fractions, eventually in the measurement workbooks, proportions come up and if you don't know fractions, you won't be able to do those sections. You could start at around 4th grade with Key To Fractions or Measurement, but if you start with Measurement, and your child doesn't know fractions, then skip over those sections of Measurement. That's what I did with my son. Otherwise, the order I would go is Fractions, Decimals and Percents in about one year, then Geometry, and finish with Algebra. Measurement is sort of on the side. -Hana

We do basic arithmetic until about 4th or 5th grade. Nothing confusing. Just very straight forward addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I tend to go later versus earlier for all subjects, so while my children know how to mentally do math, they may not know how to carry numbers when adding two digit numbers before 4th grade. However, at 4th or 5th grade all those things come together because they have lived math for 10 years. So learning the written operations is a very fast transition. I use hand-me-down workbooks as worksheets, choosing the pages that have basic math.

ok perfect..thanks for your help. We are also incorporating several of the math books you suggested - sir circumference, mesmerizing math etc. My kids love those! They are also enjoying the famous mathematicians story books. We try to do some watercolor painting to go with each of those :). You've inspired me to add watercolor painting to our school work -- the kids find it more fun & enjoyable!

@@PepperandPine thanks for this Hannah really helpful. I just bought these for my 10 year old who is in Uk year 5, so far so good. Was stuck on what to use for my 8 year old son but will stick to your method of basic arithmetic the move on to these. Jzk x

mi_casa no, there are so many geometry books in the series it usually takes us a year doing 4-6 pages a day. The fractions series could be done in a season if you did a few pages a day.

Pepper and Pine thank you! My daughter will be needing to do a geometry program next summer. Trying to figure out which would be best for her.

To the best of my knowledge there isn't a placement test. I wish they made simple arithmetic books for younger students, but these start around 4th grade in my opinion.

what do you recommend a fourth grader to begin with?

Thee Muslimah key to fractions, then decimals and then percents.

Yes they do!

I don't know, but seeing as I haven't seen a revised edition, my best guess would be no, though it may be. I'd contact the publisher.

They were written before Common Core standards were written.

1st to 3rd = MIQUION Math 4th = Key to Fractions. and Key to Decimals and Key to Percents (key to Percents was super quick as is geometry) 5th = Measurement and Metric Measurement and start Key to Geometry 6th = Finish Key to Geometry and Key to Algebra (I did not personally do Key to Algebra which is a great book but it is actually a pre-algebra curriculum) 7th you could depending on comfort try Saxon Algebra or go down to Saxon Pre-Algebra ( Saxon Algebra is 4 lessons and 5th day is a test) you can teach yourself or if you need more help I know some used Dive CD sets

@@KS-cl8br Thank you for this Breakdown!