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Singapore Questions
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:44 am
by kimsclan
Hi Ladies. I'm having such a hard time finalizing a math program for dd10 and ds6. I remember reading a thread (I believe on this board) about Singapore math and that there were a few things that were not covered in Singapore's scope and sequence that the U.S. does cover. One such thing I believe was negative numbers and just a couple other things. Does anyone know what those things are? And if you are familiar with the program how do you cover those items to make sure that dc are prepared for Algebra? I know that it has been said that when dc complete 6B that they are ready for algebra? Can someone enlighten me on this subject? Is Singapore adequate as written to prepare for Algebra or do I need to supplement and what do I supplement with?
Thanks everyone,
Kim
Re: Singapore Questions
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:03 pm
by Carrie
Kim,
We're actually finding suprisingly that as we dig deeper and deeper that Singapore does a good job of preparing kiddos to think mathematically for Algebra. We had concern over the 6A/6B not using 'x' and 'y' and instead using a bar model for solving algebraic problems, but are finding that both methods teach kiddos to think algebraically.
In the past two years my oldest son had done Teaching Textbooks in grades 6-7. For this year, we are planning on having him to some brushing up on a few areas before entering into an Algebra I program like VideoText. We are looking at having him do this particular program linked here:
http://www.mathessentials.com/index.html (only in the portions that he needs). If it goes well, we may recommend that as a transition or a brush up for kiddos coming out of Singapore who may need a bit more Pre-Algebra work before heading into a more formal Algebra program.
The Math Essentials books have been around for years now and are well-respected, however they have just recently added a DVD component (which we need to preview) and have added a Pre-Algebra program.
My oldest son was too far along in math to transition well to Singapore when they finally came out with their U.S. version of the math program. But my other boys are benifitting from doing Singapore from the beginning.
Blessings,
Carrie