Unsure about Singapore and my DD

[Mumkins]

I'm considering it for a child who'll be 9 in December. We'll be using Bigger. She has auditory and visual processing deficits. I was originally going to use BJU. My concern with Singapore is it isn't 'normal' math, right? So, if she needed to go to school at some point again or if we go with something else for high school, would it be a struggle learning to do it 'our' way? Will it be to hard for her? She's starting to struggle at school with math. She has trouble memorizing her addition facts, subtraction is worse. But she likes to think outside the box, which is why I'm wondering is Singapore might be good. I currently homeschool her one day a week. I had assumed she'd added double digits with carrying at school, so I started trying to work on it at home with her. Turns out she hadn't. But, she just did the question without be telling her what to do. An example would be 57+66. She added 50 plus 60 (110), then 6+7(13) and added the 10 from the 13 to the 110 and 123. A little backwards, but shows she is capable with working with numbers. I've shown her how to carry now and she remembers to put the number over in the tend column, but doesn't usually remember to add it.

[StephanieU]

More and more schools are going to more of a Singapore approach to math. My nephew is in public school in Texas and from what my sister tells me about his math, it is very similar to Singapore. I think Singapore was one of the bases for the Common Core math even. The one thing you would want to check if you do end up having to put your child in ps is where the Primary edition and Standards edition don't match up. You can see this fairly easily on the Scope and Sequence for Singapore. There are a few small areas that the US/Primary edition doesn't cover until later. But, these areas would be easy to cover over the summer if necessary.

[my3sons]

Your dd sounds like she is already showing signs of Singapore mental math reasoning! My sons going through Singapore math all have similar methods of verbally explaining what is going on mentally as they solve problems in their heads. I don't make them tell me all of the time, but honestly sometimes I am just flabbergasted at how they can so quickly come up with the answers while I (who am fairly good at math) am reaching for my pencil and scratch paper. For dc who do not naturally possess this kind of thinking through problems in their heads, Singapore (when taught from its younger years and on up sequentially) helps them develop it. My youngest ds, Emmett, is not naturally math inclined and not naturally led to think through this mentally as your dd did on her own. However, he has been able to - just now - at the close of 1B be able to articulate verbally mental methods such as this. Before, he would randomly shout out answers, clearly guessing. We had many discussions about how in math, numbers really matter! I share this to point out if dd can do this type of reasoning in one math skill, Singapore will help her transfer it to other math skills. As far as heading back into school, all of our dc have to take the same standardized tests as ps students in our state. They have all - even the less mathy ones - done very well! I would give dd the placement test singapore offers at www.singaporemath.com, and start her wherever she places and move through it sequentially, focusing on the methods Singapore teaches. I'd not worry about putting her back in school now, but embrace this year at home to move through Singapore as intended. Then, if you do end up putting dd back in ps, I'd at that point give a crash course on any differences you see in skills covered, though I believe they would be minimal as long as dd works up to her grade level in Singapore as able. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Mumkins]

I think you're right Julie. Thank you.

And thank you too Stephanie, I did read that Singapore and CC had a lot of similarities, which, quite honestly scares me. When people post CC math on FB, I have no idea what is going on, lol. It makes my head hurt. And math was my best subject!

[StephanieU]

And thank you too Stephanie, I did read that Singapore and CC had a lot of similarities, which, quite honestly scares me. When people post CC math on FB, I have no idea what is going on, lol. It makes my head hurt. And math was my best subject!

A lot of what is being posted on FB is actually related to NCTM report and suggestions from years ago - before CC existed. Really, many of the recommendations about critical thinking and understand what you are doing with carrying for example have been recommended since the late 1990s. People have just picked up on the name "Common Core" and are using that to complain about how math is being taught. Unfortunately, they want math to be like they learned, which is showing huge gaps. If you don't know why you do things with numbers, it is very hard to understand why some aspects of Algebra work like they do. And of course some of the "issues" are that the teachers don't have enough training sometimes to word things properly, etc. They came from teh same system you did, and 1 day of training normally isn't enough.

[Nealewill]

I also can't praise the method Singapore uses enough. It is Asian math and yes, many schools are turning to it. I agree with others, Singapore teaches the kids to understand rather than memorize. I am very mathy and totally understand the whats and whys. My oldest dd is not mathy at all. But everyone is extremely impressed with her math ability. I must be honest, with my oldest I used a different Asian based math program which I did love. But this year we finished elementary math with her and I have switched her to Singapore. For one, she is very young and I the word problems and different way of looking at things that Singapore teaches. So she is repeating some of the higher levels for a deeper understanding. My other two kids have switched to Singapore now because it is such a great program and they love it. With Singapore, they just get it. It is so easy to use. And I love that our math lessons never take more than 15-20 minutes. My kids actually love it so much that they always want to start on the next lesson