Planning for Our Year One- Math

This post is about our selections for math for year one. I have to start by saying I thought this was going to be one of the easiest subjects to plan, wrong! I have read what Charlotte Mason has written about math and I am still unclear of exactly what she is saying. So, til I become more clear, I have been researching and browsing here and there around the web. I found one math program that sparked my interest- MEP- Mathematics Enhancement Programme. I could even download the lessons and practice books for free. The practice books looked interesting and I thought I could incorporate them into our math goals. Well, I started reading more about MEP. I found out that it is based on a Hungarian Series that are based on a continental model. What is that do you ask? From My understanding, it is a model where whole class interactive teaching is prevalent. Here are some quotes from the MEP site- "puts the teacher as the focus of the learning, places greater emphasis on whole class, interactive teaching with less differentiation and less individual works." Red flags everywhere for me. Whole class? I am all about individual learning, focusing on the child not the teacher. This might be a highly successful with high scoring students, but at what cost? How do you know in a "whole class" environment if everyone understood? I home school so I can foster to my children's individual needs and style of learning. So, needless to say MEP is out.
I did come across Ray's New Primary Arithmetic for Young Learners by Joseph Ray written in 1877. So far what I have read, I am pleased. Also was able to download this book for free too. It is more word problem based. I do like this and will find a way to incorporate this into our math. We purchased Shiller Math last year and are currently using this and have enjoyed it. It is a hands-on, using math manipulative type of math. We are also reading several Living math books. Living math is our favorite.
So, what to do for year one.....For now I think I will use Shiller Math two days a week and use Ray's Math two days a week. One day will be for our math journal and living math books. Each lesson only lasting 20 minutes or less.
I don't know why this was sooo difficult. I am glad I have finally come to what I think is a good conclusion, but it sure did take a lot out of me. I going to take two more Motrin and call it a day.
Many blessings.