Math curriculum for middle school

For math this year, I have four children working through some of the Key to ___________ series. The blank can be filled in with fractions or decimals or percents or algebra. Y. is working on decimals and K., G., and L. are working on fractions. It's pretty much what I do for middle school math. Usually everyone had covered basic arithmetic by this point but they aren't quite ready for algebra. Fractions, decimals, and percents always seem to get short shrift in text books, yet they are concepts which I find children are still fuzzy about. (Okay, maybe I'm projecting here. I was certainly fuzzy about them when I hit algebra.) It has always seems well worth our time to spend these two years really shoring up understanding about how these concepts work. 

There are several things I love about these series of books. First, they're inexpensive. They are little booklets printed on newsprint. There is nothing fancy about them, but there is nothing intimidating about them, either. Along those same lines, they are broken up into sets or four or six, depending on the topic. It doesn't take long to finish one of the booklets, making the student feel as if they are making progress. It also doesn't feel overwhelming because they cannot look ahead and see how much is left. Next, they are consumable. For children who aren't terribly thrilled about writing, this makes answer the questions a little bit easier. Finally, and most importantly, they do a terrific job of explaining the concepts, really starting at the beginning and taking it step by step. There are answer keys available if you want your student to check their own work. (Or if you don't want to actually have to do the math to check the work, you can use them.) 

This all occurred to me because I suddenly realized this morning that three people were going to be ready for the next booklet very soon and I should do something about that. I think I caught it in time so that there is no lag. I'm also certain no one would be terribly upset if they had to wait a couple of days for the new set.

Truly, this is all we do for middle school math. Working through these booklets gives plenty of practice in all other areas of arithmetic because it is needed to work with the fractions, decimals, and percents. Then towards the end of eighth grade, I have them begin the Key to Algebra book because it is a good pre-algebra introduction. Effective, easy, and cheap, what more could you want?

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