Practical Math

I just want to update you on our math progress. It has been a long road, but I must say I absolutely love Practical Arithmetics! We are still using Math on the Level drills to learn our math facts, and I am using Math on the Level's concepts chart list to track our progress, and to come up with some fun ways to teach a concept, but overall, I could be totally happy using just the Strayor Upton book. The first book is designed for 3rd and 4th grades. It is a great pick up and go book. Our procedure is simple - I put the book and a dry erase board into the little princess' workbox along with a "work with mom" notice. When she is ready, she comes to me and we sit down and work through a page or two together. Most of the work is oral, with a few problems we work out on the dry erase board. Occasionally there is a list of 15-20 problems for her to write out - those are done in a small composition notebook then turned in to me.
The crocodile hunter is also working through this book. I decided not to jump into book two with him because I felt like he does not have his facts down well enough, and there are plenty of concepts in book one that he has not learned. I started him in the middle of the book, and we follow the same procedure - we work together for a few minutes, then he does any exercises as needed. It is a relief to have something so simple and so thorough. This book, combined with the 9's Down math drills have become our daily math routine for the older ones. A no nonsense approach without too much repetition - just what this home school needed!