Help put my mind at ease with Singapore

[tiffanieh]

As some of you may recall we have been doing Saxon math and decided to switch over to Singapore math. We've jumped right in this week and I'm having a hard time with seeing the richness and fullness of this program. I'm fearful that my kids are going to not get enough out of it due to the lack of continued review, the jumping around with money one week and addition problems the next week, the lack of any memorization, no calendar, no skip counting, etc.

On the otherhand I highly respect Carrie's philosophies and think highly of anything she recommends so I'm trying to wrap my brain around this to become settled with it. My kindergardener is getting ready to start 2b and my 1st grader is finishing up 1a this week.

Has anyone else had these fears over Singapore and worked thru them or am I the only looney bird around with these thoughts???

I'm also not understanding how this prepares them better for mental math than Saxon does. Perhaps because I haven't taught the higher level math yet so I can't see the whole picture yet!

Thank you so much for always being available to everyone to answer these questions!!!




I thank you so much for

[happyhomeschooling]

I had the exact same issues with singapore. We started with the singapore in K and because of the lack of review ect. I felt dd was not getting it. I, like you, so much respect Carrie and her opinions as well, but for our family singapore just did not work, but...Carrie did make the program to be flexible so that we could sutie it to meet the particular needs of our family.

We now do rightstart math and are doing very well with it. My dd latched on to it right away, It just seems to fit her better. That Is one of the things I love so much about this curriculum is that we can adapt it so easily to fit our childrens needs!

[funkmomma71]

I can't help with a comparison of Saxon to Singapore, but I wanted to tell you about my dd's experiences so far with Singapore. She is midway through Earlybird 2b and is having blast doing math and is retaining so much knowledge. I too was concerned with the apparent lack of cohesion, review and drill but have been happily surprised by the results. My daughter has demonstrated on many occasions that her math skills are developing very well, she also seems to be able to apply what she is learning to real-life situations. I'll be the first to say that I don't quite understand the methodology, but the results and my dd's enthusiasm speak for themselves and for the program. If you feel your children need more drill and review, you can always buy more workbooks from Singapore or Math Mammoth and use them as warm-up activities.

Blessings

[momto3girls]

We used Singapore for 1 1/2 years and ended up switching to Abeka. My daughter was just not retaining math with Singapore. I think she needed more review than it provided. I found out after we switched that Singapore has extra practice books.

Singapore is a good program, though. Don't be fooled by its apparent simplicity. If it is working for your kids than I would stick with it. Singapore teaches them to "think math" instead of memorizing formulas.

There are many good math programs. We really are blessed with the opportunity to choose what works best for our families. But sometimes this can be overwhelming and it is so easy to second guess your decisions!

[Carrie]

tiffanieh,

While you can easily use any math program you prefer with HOD, I will pop in here to explain what we see with Singapore math.

A little background first... My oldest son started out strong with problem-solving and was very good at math. He always tested in the 99th percent in math, yet he hated the drill and practice. We used BJU in kindergarten, switched to ABeka in grade 1. Then, we made the move to Calvert in grade 2, to Strayer-Upton in grade 3, Time4Learning in grades 4-5, and Teaching Textbooks in grades 6-7. As you can see, we spent a full year or more with each of these programs, but I was always looking for "THE" perfect fit, with the perfect amount of writing, perfect amount of drill, and perfect amount of teaching for me. My son still does well with math, but somehow came to believe that he was not good at it. I'm sure this was due to my switching so much.

So, with my next son we began in Singapore Math from the beginning. He has always used Singapore and is currently finishing 4A. He also scores in the 99th percentile, yet he continues to feel that he is good at math. He is making so many connections purely based on the way the Singapore math is presented. He is covering many of the same concepts in 4A that my oldest son is currently covering in TT7. I agree that in the early years it is not as apparent where Singapore is heading with their way of explaining things. However, the fruit is in the long-term use. It is readily apparent to me as we continue on through Singapore why they introduce concepts in a different way.

My caution is that you do not move too quickly through the Singapore workbooks, disregaurding the hands-on activities or Textbook. You either need to be doing the hands-on activities within our guides or using the Textbook as you go! This will pay dividends in the long run.

In the early years of Singapore, it's important to do lessons in small bite-sized pieces in order to aid in retention. If kiddos fly through the lessons, nothing will be retained.

While you can easily add drill to Singapore if desired, the program in itself is complete. My third son is almost done with Earlybird K now and on my second trip through Singapore I am noticing much more of the early seeds that are being planted in the Singapore way of thinking. It truly helps kiddos see the "why" behind the "how".

Blessings,
Carrie

[tiffanieh]

Thank you Carrie for your thorough reply!

We actually aren't plowing thru the books, we are only doing one lesson (out of the manual hands on activities) per day. The reason why my kids are "finishing" up some books is that even though they tested higher than that level I went ahead and got the previous level and wanted them to go thru it quickly to just get the "jist" of singapore before we tackled their appropriate level...if that makes any sense!

I just need to learn to trust the program and learn to be patient (and not worry!!!) to see the fruit of it down the road!

[busybee4]

I too had a hard time understanding the "Singapore" way of thinking. I have never been good at math and figured that maybe that was why so I continued with it for my dd for for the first half of the year. I also have such respect and trust in Carrie's choices and many of her choices for the HOD curric. had been ones that I had liked on my own. My daughter loved the math lessons, the quick, simple lessons, the hands on activities that Carrie has thought of(so excellent!!!) however I did see some struggle in her because of the "inconsistent" manner of their approach to the lessons. My child is one that takes a bit longer to catch on to new ideas and concepts so the "jumping around" was too much for her. Although she did catch on to some things quickly and quite well (adding to 10's for example) but for the most part she was too confused and needed a more consistent, traditional type math. I still have the books because I so wanted the curric. to work however we ended up going to a different program in January. I believe that Singapore will work, however I think it fits certian types of learners. My child just wasn't one of them. I may be wrong about this but that is just what I have taken away from our experience with Singapore. I think that if you're children are "getting it" and you are adding drill then rest well. But if they start to struggle then I would think about switching. See, the great thing about homeschooling is that if something doesn't work you can search for a better fit for your child! And the wonderful thing about HOD is that YOU CAN DO THAT AND NOT MESS UP THE CURRICULUM!! Carrie's thought about it all!!