HOD's way with Singapore math is working!

[montanamom]

My dd7 in Beyond was really struggling with addition and subtraction of greaterenumbers (about unit 20 in Beyond). She was frustrated and I was wondering if we should switch math curriculum's. But with Carrie's suggestion of allowing her to use the manipulatives as much as needed, & not worring about drilling, we continued on. We are now in Unit 26 and have not done any addition/subtraction for about 4 weeks (been doing multiplication, division & now time). Since my dd was struggling with the +/- previously, I was worried that she would have an even harder time when we returned to it later. So today I gave her 10 addition and 10 subtraction problems to 'try'. She only needed manipulatives for the subtraction problems and she only got 1 wrong! Maybe the 'break' helped?!? ...which makes me glad I didn't switch to a program with daily review! Anyway, I just thought that perhaps someone else whose child may be struggling could be encouraged by our experience...just keep at it & hopefully the results will be seen down the road!

Pam

[scampbell2003]

Congrats! MY DD has been struggling with math and we switched this week to Singapore. She tested to start 1B but i just started her in 1A to get her use to the program. So far she is loving it! Hoping it will click for my DD as well

[my3sons]

Pam - this is so encouraging - hooray for your dd! We have found this to be true with Singapore as well. Often something that was once difficult becomes easier all of a sudden with time. I think this is an important message for families using Singapore to hear. Thanks for the encouragement!

In Christ,
Julie

[funkmomma71]

Another cheer for Singapore form our home. My dd struggles somewhat with memorization of the facts, but she knows the HOW and WHY of what she is doing and I have found that to serve her better. If she can't recall a math fact, she knows how to figure it out. The knowing how is way more important than memorizing a bunch of rote figures without any understanding. Trust me, there have been times I wanted to throw in the towel, but I'm glad we have stayed the course.

[psreit]

We are finishing Beyond-Unit 20 today with PM 1B. With the struggles dd has had in math, I've been excited that she seems to be understanding groups of ten and ones to the point where she will sometimes come up with the answer before I finish talking her through the steps. Sometimes she wants to keep counting the ones as tens, but it was so nice doing math yesterday without the frustrations. I share your joy!

[lissiejo]

Thank you so much for your post! I was considering taking a break and just focusing on math families until my girl was more confident in them. She was disappointed because we are finishing unit 22 this week and about to hit multiplication. She's good until we got to what equals 11-19. Maybe I should just keep going and see what happens. Math is the one area I feel so lacking because I was never strong in math. I just don't always know how to explain things, even with the extra activities in the book.

[montanamom]

lissiejo, I say, "yes", keep going with the SM. That's where my dd was having problems, but then the multiplication, division and now time sections have been much easier for her which I think has helped build her confidence back up. With the addition and subtraction it seemed that she would get overwhelmed right away and 'shut down'. But after the easier weeks she is now able to do it well & with ease. As far as explaining things, just keep trying...she'll get it! I was good at math, but I slearned a different way so I still have a hard time explaining the Singapore way of doing it.

[lissiejo]

Thanks for the encouragement! I do a supplemental book called Math Express (Also singapore) that teaches strategies for mental math. Today was the first day she was able to "get" some of those higher numbers! I keep forgetting learning is a process. I guess that sounds silly, but I find myself just expecting her to understand the first time around and that just isn't always reasonable. Thanks again for your thoughts on this! You have really helped me think through what is best for her.