Please give math advice!

[blessedmommyof4]

I am searching for opinions concerning math for my upcoming fourth grade son. We used Abeka in his K and 1st grade years which is spiral and math seemed to be very easy for him. Then, we switched to Singapore for his 2nd and 3rd grade years. I loved using Singapore math. However, I feel that it did not have enough practice with the facts for him. I should have been supplementing with daily drills. My son did well in his second grade year, but he began to hate math his third grade year. I could not understand why because he always seemed to completely understand the concepts. He scored very well on the math portion of the Iowa Achievement Test. I began to think that possibly his frustration stemmed from not knowing his facts well enough. So, this year we repeated third grade math, but we used Rod and Staff. It drills the facts more than any other program I have seen, and this has been my goal for this year. He is doing much better, but I still think he needs more practice with getting facts down cold.

Can anyone recommend how I can help him learn his facts? Also, any ideas concerning math for him would be appreciated. I love Singapore, but am not sure if it has enough drill for him. I have also considered Math Mammoth, but it does not seem like it has enough review. I have looked at Saxon 54 as well. It looks good to me, but I am afraid he will hate copying the problems.

Any insight would be so helpful!

[lissiejo]

Check out Math Rider - http://mathrider.com/

My girls have been using this for 3 weeks and literally beg to do their math facts! They even ask if they can play this after school is over. It customizes itself depending on how each child does, shows you their progress, and tracks which facts need the most practice. You can also set it for different ranges for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I can't say enough good things about it. You can try it for free as well. I know this sounds like an advertisement, but I promise I'm not getting anything from it It's honestly just that good!

[Snorris2]

First, I would suggest trying not to curriculum hop with math at all possible. Have you tried the IP or CWP books from Singapore? The intensive practice book would probably be perfect for this purpose. I know I plan on using at least that once we get there. I would definitely check out the website above as well.

[mom23]

I guess I think if Singapore was working for you, it may be a good idea to just stick with it, but add in some fact practice if you feel you need to. Here is a free website that I ran across yesterday: https://www.xtramath.org/. I haven't used it much yet, but am anxious to try it. If you have a tablet of some kind, there are probably some fun apps or games you could put on there. I think if you like Singapore and he was learning from it and doing well in math that you could just continue to run it and throw in some games of some sort to work on math facts. Play some card games or do fun things that would not seem like more school time to be dreaded.

(Keep in mind here that I don't personally use Singapore, so I may not be the best advertisement for it. ) Singapore doesn't really approach math with the memorizing of facts; it's okay if they need to count things or use manipulatives because the goal is more understanding the concept. For those who love Singapore and stick with it, it sounds like their children do eventually pick up on knowing facts. We switched from it because my children didn't understand math; my older child could complete an assignment when it was in front of her, but when we came around to reviews we had to reteach everything because she didn't remember any of it. Then, after we had done multiplication for several months, she completely forgot how to add and subtract. It was frustrating for both of us. My younger son never got it in the first place. We were just beginning in 1A, but he didn't get addition at all, so to spend day after day on it getting harder and harder was very difficult. They both do better with a spiral approach. That said, I will say that I wish Singapore would have worked out for us-I really like the way they presented things and taught them how to think mathematically; the emphasis on story problems and mental math is something I haven't been able to find anywhere else.

Are you sure his frustration was stemming from not knowing facts? I know my children have really struggled with poor attitudes regarding math, and while I have had to make adjustments so that they understood math and were able to learn it, I have also had to approach things from a parenting perspective-working for an attitude adjustment. (Their attitude wasn't only showing up in math, but that was definitely the worst part of it.) I still don't have it completely eradicated, but am working with not allowing them to complain about it. They may never love math as their favorite subject, but they do need to make their best effort with it and learn it. I know when my heart is filled with all the reasons why I hate something I'm really not trying my best at it.