Miquon Math

Miquon Math is a unique, hands-on, lab based, math program designed for students in the first through third grades.

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About Miquon Math

Miquon Math consists of six workbooks containing math “labs”. In the labs, the student explores and discovers math concepts for himself. You can Download a Scope and Sequence here.

Teaching mathematics to young children cannot be merely a situation of verbal dialogue. It must be a doing, discovering, puzzling-out situation in which children are guided to pose questions, as well as to answer them in a variety of ways. These primary-grade materials are the result of one elementary school’s attempt to reshape its primary mathematics program. The materials grew out of daily teaching and were developed by the teacher and her assistant over a period of years. All of the materials have been tried out with six- and seven-year-olds and have been revised and edited with the help of the children.

Miquon Math Website

The Use of Cuisenaire Rods

Cuisenaire rods are essential to completing many of the labs. The rods are a manipulative that can be used to perform mathematical operations and demonstrate concepts such as area and volume. There are rods of different colors to represent each number 1 through 10.

The white rod  is the unit cube and has dimensions of 1 cm X 1 cm X 1cm. The next rod, red, is 2 cm long; the following green rod is 3 cm long, etc.

This picture illustrates how the rods can be used for addition and subtraction. When a student is using them to add, he finds rods to represent each of the addends and puts them in a row. Then he searches for a rod of the correct length for the sum and checks it by laying it beside the addend row.

To subtract he would lay the two rods beside each other. To find the difference he finds the rod that fills the leftover space. For example, on the left side of the photograph there are two white rods placed in a column. To the side of the white rods is a red rod. This physically demonstrates the equations 1+1=2 and 2-1=1. On the right side of the photograph, there are a green and a red rod placed beside a yellow rod. This can represent the equations  3+2=5, 2+3=5, 5-2=3, or 5-3=2.

A sample page from Miquon Orange, the first book, is shown below:

In this lab, the student is to discover all the addition equations that are equal to 4. The rods are placed directly on a diagram of the rods on the page.  The pages in the Miquon workbooks are simple and uncluttered, and there are typically few problems per page. Miquon is a great for both visual and kinesthetic learners.

Why We Use Miquon Math

You might be wondering why I, one of the classical education ladies at The  Curriculum Choice, would choose a program like Miquon.

Isn’t classical education about drill and memorizing facts? I must agree that Miquon does not seem to fit into the classical mold.  However, before I was a homeschool mom, I was an engineer. So I really like math. I think math is fun and I want my kids to see and understand that from a young age. Not only do I want my kids to think math is fun, but I want them to understand math. Having a good understanding of basic arithmetic is crucial in understanding higher maths. The Cuisenaire rods are wonderful for showing mathematical operations in a concrete way. 

Miquon Math is not our main math curriculum because I prefer a primary math curriculum that is more logical and systematic in its presentation.  I recommend Miquon Math as a fun supplemental math program because it helps children to think about math in a different way.

Another Review

Making Math Work with Miquon Math – review by Kortney. “For us, Miquon has been a gentle introduction to the world of mathematics, helping our children to build habits of careful work without creating math anxiety or undue stress”

Purchasing Miquon Math

Miquon Math website you can purchase through their website (which takes you to Rainbow Resource)

At Amazon you can purchase a bundle with all 6 books PLUS all 3 teacher guides

Originally published June 2009, written by Kristen, Well Trained Classical Mom