Larica,
The ladies are doing a good job of talking through your options with you, and while you can easily switch to a different math program and use it with HOD if desired, before you jump to doing that I'll share a few things that may be of help to you as you ponder.
First of all, as was wisely shared in this thread, age will make a huge difference in how well Singapore math works for a child. I'm not sure how old your child is, but in Singapore children begin first grade at age 7, so begin 1A at age 7. If your daughter is just 7 now, it is very likely that she should have begun in Singapore Earlybird K last year instead and just now be moving into 1A. Maturity makes a big difference in how well students can think analytically.
Secondly, it's important to remember that much of what is in 1A/1B is new. So, typically in most levels of Singapore math, we would expect that 1/3 of the material is brand new and is only be introduced, 1/3 has been introduced the year before and is now being practiced, and 1/3 is ready to be mastered. This translates to a child mastering 1/3 of the text and just being introduced or practicing the other 2/3 with a huge amount of help and guidance from the parent. Think of it this way, if the child mastered all of what was in the text, they wouldn't need very many years of math, as they would master it all in a few years time!
So with this in mind, an 80% retention at year end over all the material covered is actually doing quite well, especially for your child's age. This is why we don't recommend using the test as a measure at year-end but rather only for placement guidance for coming in to the right level.
Thirdly, another thing to remember is that we expect the child to need manipulatives, count on their fingers, etc. for the K-2 years. It is how they "see" math during that stage of learning. We also expect the parent to sit by the child and guide and direct and help the child to be successful, no matter how much help that takes. You can never give your child too much help in math. We want to avoid giving our child a math phobia, where the child somehow thinks he/she is not good at math and does not like math. The lessons in 1A/1B are very short! So, we would never want them to go on long or for the child to be in tears. If so, it is time to get in there and help and move quickly through the lesson.
I always sit by my kiddos when they do math and help, guide, and direct. They score off the charts on their math standardized tests, so my help is not hurting them.
Fourthly, it's important to note that more drill on the same topics is often not what is needed when a child hits a tough spot in math. Often, what is needed is more maturity, and this comes with age. Let's take an extreme example to illustrate this. Let's say that you are learning to swim, and no matter what you do, you cannot learn to float. So, each day you are repeatedly placed in the pool and given all sorts of different directions and someone stands over you while you struggle each day with floating. At the end of many days, you still can't float, your instructor is upset with you, and now you've developed a real fear of not only floating but of water too. You think you cannot do it! If you'd have waited another year, and come back to the problem, without all of the additional fuss, it's likely you would have learned to float just fine. But now, you actually have a worry about it and a pit in your stomach about ever trying it again!
We do this with math, when we jump in and drill and drill and drill, instead of letting maturity take its natural course. There's so many moms on this board who have shared that their kiddos had a tough spot in math, only to find out the following year that the child got the concept just fine (without doing any other work on it in between). What happened to help the child get it? He/she was just another year older, was now in the second or third exposure of the concept and was actually mastering it right when he/she should be mastering it.
Last, I'll wrap up with my own life lesson with my oldest son. I changed math programs for my oldest son regularly, always looking for the perfect fit. He was a mathy child, but hated doing drill and practice. In switching programs so many times, I actually hampered his mathematical learning and somehow made him feel that he was not good at math. The shocking part is that he is very good at math, in spite of me and my switching, but he doesn't think so!
So with my next kiddos in line, we have done only Singapore. I cannot tell you the difference in their attitude and mine. My next son is in 7th grade next year and is finishing 6A and going into 6B. My third son is finishing 2A and heading into 2B. I've stopped rushing and just steadily follow the plans in the HOD guide each day. I have not added any additional drill, any additional programs, any extra guides, or any extra problems or practice. I am available and helpful with every math session, and I make sure I follow the text so I understand the Singapore way.
If we hit a long lesson, I will split it, but I do not add more practice, but instead keep steadily moving forward. Remember mastery is NOT the goal with EVERY lesson (some lessons are only introductory and some are only practice).
So, before you jump ship, or drill facts all summer long, or add a bunch of other programs (all of which I have done too many times to count with my oldest), I would encourage you to ponder what I've shared above. I wish someone had shared it with me!
It is not uncommon for young kiddos to have problems counting money. More than half of my third grade class (at a very affluent school) struggled with this every year! It is not uncommon for your child to need to use her fingers. We would expect her to use them and would encourage her to get out any needed manipulatives for every lesson too.
It is fine not to have a child master the lesson before moving on. This will happen 2/3 of the time. Just steadily go forward a lesson a day. If your child was placed too high to begin with, I would likely back up to 1B and do it again slowly after summer. I would not cram it in during the summer, but rather take the whole first semester of the next school year to do it, doing it just as planned, so her next year would have her covering 1B/2A.
Then, the following year she would do 2B/3A and so on.
The last thing to note is that some children are just not mathy. This means that they will have struggles in math no matter what program you use. So, the best cure for that is to sit and help and guide and direct and talk through each step. Keep the math sessions clipping along and be incredibly encouraging!
I did it for 11 years in the public school with 100's' and 100's of students who weren't mathy either, and no "certain" program made them more mathematical.
The goal for those students was ultimately to balance a checkbook and keep track of finances and to be able to use math in their day-to-day lives. Just keep in mind that there are varying levels of what is defined as "success" in math, as all children will not be engineers or scientists!
No math program is perfect, and there are likely many good ones, but Singapore is the strongest I've ever seen to transferring math to real life application and in teaching mathematical thinking, and in the end those are the goals that I want may students to have.
This is much longer than I'm sure anyone desired, but It is a question near and dear to my heart after working with so many math students through the years!
Hopefully, something in here will be of help!
Blessings,
Carrie
Thanks so much for any input!
I sometimes think there is nothing out there we haven't tried. Older children end up being the guinea pigs sometimes 