A little while ago I was searching for a way to improve or add to our maths program. In my research I discovered Miquon. Now if you haven’t heard of this program, I am not surprised, I hadn’t either. Bear with me as I share what I know:
Miquon only covers grade 1 – 3 maths, though it may be used for upper primary
Miquon is discovery based – which means that higher thinking is developed in the mind of the child (as apposed to being told how to work the problem
Miquon works wonderfully as a supplement to another math program
Miquon works great alongside Singapore Maths
Miquon is fun! It is designed to be used with Cuisenaire Rods
Miquon is inexpensive
There are two books for each of the three grades. Each is a different colour. So Orange and Red are for first grade, Blue and Green are for second grade, and Yellow and Purple are both for third grade. You will need the Lab Sheet Annotations as these give you, the parent, instructions on how to use the pages in the student books. Some pages are easy to decide what needs to be done, just by looking at them, but not all are like that. Each page in the student books have a code in the bottom corner, referencing where you need to turn in the Lab Sheets to find the directions.
In the past, if one of my girls has finished a Singapore math book and I feel like she isn’t quite ready to move onto the next one, I will have her work on Miquon for a few weeks or even a few months, as her sole math program for that time. Or if they get to a difficult concept in their Singapore that they are having trouble being able to comprehend, I will pull out Miquon for a few weeks, then try again to see if they are ready to tackle the previous difficult concept. I have found this system to work really well. Its a great way to slow down a child who is speeding ahead in their maths if you think they are not quite ready for the next topics.
At the moment, I have each of my girls spend ten minutes a day on Miquon. Sometimes this is one page, sometimes more. This is in addition to their main math program.
Another great thing with Miquon, is that you can pick and choose a concept you would like to work on with your child. Say for instance, that you child needs help with fractions, you will find that you can choose the fraction pages from several of the books and just have your child work through those. You don’t have to follow the book in sequential order.
Other families use Miquon as the sole maths program until the finish the six books, then around grade 3/4 they move onto another maths program. Oh and these books are available quite cheaply as downloads through CurrClick.
We have loved using this as a supplement! This most definitely will not work for every family, I am just sharing how it works for us. Please ask any questions and I will do my best to help you 🙂
