[email protected]

In a message dated 3/8/2000 9:43:33 PM Pacific Standard Time,
fxfireob@... writes:

<< so we were looking into getting
cuisenaire rods & miquon math and would be interested in the opinions of

other and where the best place to buy it >>

My kids didnt like it at all.... it moved far too quickly for them and they
felt insulted by the "babyness" of the rods. Of course that was in the days
before I started unschooling so maybe they were feeling coherced. At any
rate... we have given them away and moved on to cd rom games for math. Of
course my kids are very sensitive being treated like babies. I took them to a
Children's summer library class a couple of years ago and they wanted to
leave in the middle because the Librarian was speaking and reading in
babyese<g> Not ever having been exposed to the twaddle of preschool, they
both took it as a personal affront:)
Teri

The Mowery Family

>>rene' told me he couldn't understand science (chemistry is his present
fascination) until he learned math so we were looking into getting
cuisenaire rods & miquon math and would be interested in the opinions of

other and where the best place to buy it. we are not interested in
drill type sources.<<<


Last summer we were visiting my mother-in-law up (in midland, mi - home of
dow chemical) and a retired chemist was selling a how bunch of stuff - I
could shoot myself for not buying it then, but did not have the car space.
I would try garage sales for traditional chemistry stuff.

For the others, what about normal kitchen measuring tools. Little baby
medicine droppers and the like. Sorry, haven't finished 1st cup of java and
my wits are not all together.

karen mowery

FUN (Billy & Nancy)

> -----Original Message-----
> My kids didnt like it at all.... it moved far too quickly for
> them and they
> felt insulted by the "babyness" of the rods.

I thought that was an interesting comment. Makes it sound like they thought
it was too hard but too babyish at the same time.

A lot of people are surprised that in the very first Miquon book you get
into things like multiplication and division of fractions. Traditional math
programs don't get into this type of stuff until much later, but using the
rods makes it seem like common sense.

I second the opinion that the "Labsheet Annotations" is important to have,
although the "Notes to Teachers" is not as important. Using the Labsheet
Annotations not only gives you explanations of answers and other activities,
but it also has a chart that explains the code letters and numbers on the
work book pages. These codes enable you to use the system in very different
ways. You can take a standard approach and just go page by page through the
books. If your child suddenly develops a fascination with fractions, you may
decide that you want to pursue that. The codes will tell you how to skip
through the books so you can find just the sections on fractions, going from
the introductory concepts to more advanced concepts. This means you can
either go through the books page by page to focus on the level of the
materials, or you can decide to focus on concepts (adding, length, area,
volume, factoring, squaring etc)

There are several things I like about the program. One of the first things
is the idea of using colors for the different levels instead of ranking them
by grade or age. This frustrates some people because they want to know what
“grade level” their child is at, but I think kids should work at their own
level and not have to endure negative pressure because the book says it’s
for kids younger than them. If grandma asks what level math you’re doing and
the response is “I finished orange and am just starting red,” there’s no
judgmental information there. Colors are neutral unlike grade levels or
numbers. (By the way, I think there can be just as much negative pressure if
everyone is complimenting the child for being ahead of their grade level).

Another thing I like is the variety of approaches used. There is good use of
manipulatives and presentation of problems in a variety of ways. There are
also different strategies given for solving problems. For example, one
section on the addition of a string of numbers shows 8+1+2+9+3= ? The
solution is not to just get the totals, but to do it by drawing lines to
connect the numbers that add to 10 and then adding them (8+2, 1+9, 3+7).
Kids too often memorize multiplication tables and learn how to get correct
answers but don’t really understand what they are doing. Math is usually
taught as if there is only one right answer and only one right way to get
it. But that is not true. At a recent support group meeting, most people
said that 3x9=27, and they just knew it from memorizing the multiplication
tables. I was one of two people that said they rounded the 9 up to 10 and
thought of the problem as 30-3.

I also like that the program is fairly inexpensive. If you find it doesn’t
work for your child, you don’t feel the urge to force them to use it to get
your money’s worth. If it works very well and your child wants to move more
rapidly, you don’t have to feel like holding them back because the next book
is so expensive. Although the program is designed for grades 1 through 3,
many people use it for 1 through 6 as you are basically at a pre-algebra
level when you complete the program.

Bottom line is that I think most programs teach you to “do” math, while this
one puts more emphasis on understanding it on several levels. You see
different strategies for solving problems, you do hands on activities that
are fun, and you apply what you learn to different situations. Rote
memorization may be good for tests where there is a time limit and you have
to answer quickly, but understanding concepts will help you solve more
problems in the long run (especially later in life after you forget all
those equations that you so diligently memorized for a test).

If you made it this far and are interested in more information or a place
where you can get the entire set of Miquon books for under $50, go to the
following web page:

http://www.FUN-Books.com/mathematics.htm#Miquon

Sorry to get so long winded!

Billy
Family Unschoolers Network
www.unschooling.org
www.FUN-Books.com

[email protected]

In a message dated 3/9/2000 5:52:28 AM Pacific Standard Time,
FUNLists@... writes:

<< > My kids didnt like it at all.... it moved far too quickly for
> them and they
> felt insulted by the "babyness" of the rods.

I thought that was an interesting comment. Makes it sound like they thought
it was too hard but too babyish at the same time. >>

LOL that's what I thought...... but they didn't like the math and I thought
it was because it moved to quickly for them. They didn't understand the
concept before it moved onto another. They hated the rods for the reasons I
stated above. Just stating what happened with Miquon Math at my home.
Teri
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teri Brown
Suite101 Unschooling Editor
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/unschooling
Assistant Editor For Voices,
The Journal of the National Home Education Network www.nhen.org
Columnist For The Link: A Homeschooling Newspaper
Homeschooling - Christian Unschooling - Natural learning
http://www.inspirit.com.au/unschooling/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

D Klement

susan wrote:
>
> From: susan <fxfireob@...>
>
> hi,
>
> rene' told me he couldn't understand science (chemistry is his present
> fascination) until he learned math so we were looking into getting
> cuisenaire rods & miquon math and would be interested in the opinions of
>
> other and where the best place to buy it. we are not interested in
> drill type sources.
We LOVE the Miquon/Cuisinaire rods.
The trick is to make sure you get the teachers Lab Sheets Annotations
book and the Notes to Teachers...it is essential.
They state right in the *teacher books* that the children are to learn
at their own pace with absolutely no pushing. A suggested pace is two
worksheets a day. Some of these sheets can be done in two minutes each
others are way more involved. It is worth working through the K/gr 1
book even ifyour child is say in gr 2. It gives them a chance to get
used to how the rods work. Later in the more involved books they are
used to explain fractions etc.
I like the series because they introduce complicated subjects in their
most simplistic form so when the kids hit something like geometry or
algebra in later years they are familiar with the concepts and aren't
panicked by them.

Example...even in the lowest grade books they introduce the concepts of
*sets* and algebra; A=2, B=3, C=5 so given that key at the top of the
page the kids are asked to find out what A+B= or C+A= then A+B+C=?.
They intoduce negetive numbers in an extremely easy to understand
fashion....my oldest was in gr 8 in PS went through her brother's books
casualy and had a look and went "DUH! now I get it".

They emphasize not pushing and the Lab Sheet Annotation books suggest
other activities to reinforce conepts that a child is having difficulty
getting. They even suggest skipping over sections that aren't being
understood and going back to them at a later date and letting those who
are understanding a concept well, skip ahead to those relative sections
in the following books.
All the sheets are consumable and are tear outs. If your child is really
getting to understand a concept well you can go to those related pages
through out all the books, tear them out and make up a booklet for them
in just that concept.
What passes for drill work in these books is innocuous.

Buzz....who wishes the Miquon went past the gr 3/4 range.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Klement Family "Education is what survives when
Darryl, Debbie, what has been learned has been
Kathleen, Nathan & forgotten"
Samantha B.F. Skinner in "New Scientist".
e-mail- klement@...
Canadian homeschool page: http:\\www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/
Ont. Federation of Teaching Parents: http:\\www.flora.org/oftp/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~