Recommendations/Advice for elementary math program

Hello everyone
I am just trying to figure out this whole homeschooling thing. I've got a first grader and I'm trying to research math programs for second grade. Up until now we were using MCP and she hated it, because the large pages of drills and lack of pictures demoralized her. I wasn't happy with it, because it didn't seem to give her any strategies for problem solving. She was counting on her abacus, or cheerios, or fingers to complete every problem (no wonder the full pages of drills took forever). We had to pause in our school year because I was confined to bed for a risky pregnancy and a friend loaned us the K12 math book, which is produced by Sadlier-Oxford and called Progress in Mathematics. My daughter has done so much better with it because it is colorful, always using new strategies, and not drilling to the point of misery. But it's really not intended to be used on its own, but along side K12's online lessons. I also checked into Sadlier-Oxford's classroom edition and that seemed too complicated to adapt to homeschooling.

So here's what I think I'm looking for:
for her sake: a colorful math book that presents lots of different strategies for problem solving
for my sake: something really homeschool user-friendly (or even scripted) for a mom who has no memory of learning arithmetic and not much imagination for how to teach it

Thanks,
Beth in Wyoming

Check out Shillermath.com I'm using it with my daughter for 1st grade now. She loves it. It is Montessouir based and is scripted. We've had a lot of fun with it, it comes with a CD that has songs to go along with some of the lessons. the math songs are great even my 4 y.o. is singing them. It is a bit pricey, but you get 3 years out of the manipulatives and workbooks. I believe you can view samples online. They offer downloads to print more worksheets, but we use a dry erase marker over a lamination sheet in the workbook and repeat the lessons as needed. Another great thing is it's just 15-20 minutes a day. They offer a free downloadable test to see what level to start at. If your daughter is counting on her fingers I'd say start at book 1. It is important to progress through the concepts .The beginning will be easy, but that can sometimes foster enthusiasm. Hope this helps. God Bless.

Saxon's Math Program for grades 1-3 is scripted (word-for-word) and has many activities to solve problems.

Singapore isn't scripted, but I have found that just reading through the lesson together is all it takes. I believe there is a teacher's guide for homeschoolers, but I've never used it.

The page design is very nice: simple but attractive line drawings, colour in the text though not in the workbook, no clutter or distractions. The workbook has more than enough space for kids to write, even for my kids whose handwriting was large and shaky, and the pages are solid and erase well.

I also think it is excellent pedagogically (see my post in the Poll on Singapore).

Anne-Marie