Need Math Advice for next year please...

[lmkearns]

I was thinking of starting Bigger Hearts for His Glory this fall my daughter who will be in the 2nd grade. The one thing that is stumping me is Math curriculum. My daughter finished Grade 1 Horizons Math this past school year. Her year-end testing placed her at third grade math at the end of this school year, so I was surprised after doing the placement test at Singapore's website. My daughter placed at the 1B level and some of those questions had her confused. Why is this?

BHFHG suggests Singapore's Primary Math 2A/2B. I am afraid to go straight into Math 2A having never done Singapore Math with her before. I was wondering if I did some additional work with her during the summer, should I do 1A, 1B or both to get her on track to start 2A in the fall?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[3musketeers]

HI Imkearns,

I know some more "mathy" moms will step in here soon. My understanding of Horizons is that it and Abeka have a more advanced scope and sequence for their grade levels. That is probably why you dd did so well on her test. I want to encourage you that if you both like Horizon that you can totally stick with it for next year. We did BJU this past year with Bigger. I simply crossed out the Singapore assignment and wrote in our BJU lesson number for the math box.

On the other hand if you are unhappy with Horizons and like the looks of how Singapore constructs its lessons, then Singapore is an excellent choice. Carrie has included some great hands on activities in her guides that correlate to the lessons.

Singapore's method of understanding math is quite different than Horizons, which is more traditional. Singapore has a different method of teaching concepts. This may be why your child placed in 1b. I think that you would be safe to place her in the level that her placement test recommends. Once she gets used to the new method of teaching she will probably zoom on ahead. At least this is my understanding from others that use Singapore. If she just finished Horizons 1st then the 1b is not that off. It's hard not to focus on the grade number on the book. Each math program teaches in different orders so your daughter is still doing terrific in math. She just hasn't learned the "Singapore" way of doing it.

Hope that helps a little,
Cindy

[Mom2Monkeys]

After my dd finished Horizons 2, and placed very high in math, she placed into Singapore 2A. Honestly, I should have gone on down to 1B! From my personal experience in my home, Horizons has a wide variety of topics, without much depth or conceptual understanding that goes beyond math school work making real life application difficult...where as the conceptual math taught in Singapore (and other asian math progams) math covers fewer topics with conceptual understanding that transfers into real life seamlessly. It's a mile wide/inch deep vs. inch wide/mile deep sort of thing. That's part of why kids will place lower going from Horizons to Singapore, IMHO.

[lmkearns]

Thank you so much for helping to clarify the differences between the curriculums. I am still unsure about rather or not we will stay with Horizons. I want the best, like all of do, but at the same time I don't want to confuse my daughter. I also think that if I am going to change that it is probably better to do it now versus later. I will keep my eyes open for other replies. Thanks, Lisa

[Kathleen]

Lisa,

I guess I don't really look at the levels on the Singapore books as "grade levels". My oldest switched to using Singapore in "3rd grade"...and we began with level 2A. He had done very well in the program we were using for math and scored very high on standardized testing and was also ahead of public school counterparts. Anyway, that was where he placed, and we were VERY glad we made the switch! He learned far more using Singapore 2A and 2B that year than he would have had he stayed with Saxon for 3rd grade. It was more time-conscious which I appreciated (and he did,too ). But, the main difference I noticed was that the work in Singapore required him to THINK and I saw that he was gaining in his understanding of the how and why behind the math. This is what I thought was really important (and not always aided or taught other places). He doesn't just know how to follow a list of steps, but he understands what he's doing. I know that reading through Carrie's reason for reccommending Singapore is what told me it was right for us. Here is the link to that... viewtopic.php?p=431#p431

With all that being said, you don't HAVE to switch to Singapore for math and can happily continue on with what you have. (I think the fact that there are SO many choices, even good choices, out there can make it hard to decide! ) I don't think that at this point you would confuse your daughter at all. I think she'd adjust just fine to the switch - and really enjoy Carrie's hands-on activities! Down the road, I think it would be more confusing to switch... You'll just have to decide what you think is best. I'm enjoying Singapore from the beginning with Allison now, and I can say that I personally prefer this. But, I switched Grant in 3rd grade and it went just fine, too, and we're glad we did it.

Kathleen

[my3sons]

I would do 1B with her for the summer, and start 2A with the hands-on when you begin Bigger Hearts. I think you could probably just do 1B's Textbook and Workbook, but if you want the hands-on math HOD planned for 1B, it's in the Beyond guide and you could get that. I agree that Singapore math is into the "why" as much as the "how" of math. Other math programs I'd taught back in ps that were more like Horizons focused more on the steps of math rather than the mental math and application of it. While some math programs do try to transition to teaching the "why" behind doing things in older grades, I find it easier to just start right off with the "why" and the mental math as Singapore does. It would be easy to switch your dd right now. It is more difficult to switch to Singapore at the upper elementary levels. HTH as you decide what's best for your dd!

In Christ,
Julie