Singapore users??

[playschool]

I am using Singapore with my ds this year. My main concern is that because it is not a spiral curriculum he will forget the things he learned previously in the course. Is this a valid concern? Do children who use Singapore struggle with this? I bought an extra practice book just for this reason. He has always used a spiral curriculum for math in the past and so this was never a concern before. He is one that is prone to forgetting.

[pjdobro]

I'm not for sure if I'm the best one to answer this since this is just our second year in Singapore math, but I find that the concepts that are covered in the first couple of years are all basic skills that tend to build on one another. For instance, it starts out with single digit numbers, adding and subtracting them, and then does the same thing with double digit numbers. In a later book, three digit numbers are used. With fractions, it starts out with basic fractions and concepts and then later builds on that with more complex ones. With basic math like this, I feel at each stage along the way, one is building on the previous material so even if one isn't practicing a particular type of problem, the concept that the problem was built on is still being practiced. I feel that Singapore is very big into understanding concepts and then being able to apply them to new situations which to me is the essence of good mathematical thinking. If you feel that the practice isn't enough or if a concept needs more refining, there are many good workbooks available to provide more practice. I'm particularly fond of this workbook and series (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Mat ... 795&sr=8-1) because of it's cute, color graphics. So far, my only problem, and it wasn't Singapore's fault, was letting my children have several months off without any practice so jumping back in this fall has been a bit of a challenge. After a couple of weeks of reviewing some of our concepts from the end of last year though, we are jumping back into our Singapore book with full force.

[my3sons]

My main concern is that because it is not a spiral curriculum he will forget the things he learned previously in the course. Is this a valid concern? Do children who use Singapore struggle with this?

We have not found this to be a concern. I've come to like the idea of moving on rather than continually reviewing and subsequently drawing out the day. We just picked up where we left off from last year with both of our dc (one in 1B and one in 3B), and it's gone beautifully. I've also noticed that there is review, it's just not done in a set of sequential problems. For example, my ds doing 3B is on the measurement section. Last week, he had to do single digit times triple digit multiplication, triple digit divided by single digit division, large number addition, and large number subtraction to solve his problems. There was also a review of fractions since we used the "bar method" to visually set up solving the measurement problems. It came right back to him after I helped him with the Textbook examples. So, there really is review, it is just not done in the same style as other curriculums.

One thing I've noticed about spiral math curriculum I had used in the past in ps, there is often a set of like problems devoted to the review, and the dc just seem to rotely get into it rather than really thinking about it. For example, there may be a review of multiplication and 5-10 problems that are all very similar devoted to that exact concept. The child does the first problem and just gets into the routine of then doing all of the rest of the problems without really having to think, "What do I need to do to solve this problem?" I remember dc in ps doing a page with the first 10 problems being multiplication, and the second set of 10 problems being division - many did the whole page as multiplication (even though there was a division sign in each of the second set of problems ) because multiplication was what had been done first, and they assumed they should do it then for the whole page (they would even say this when I asked them about it, acting upset that the book would "trick them like that" and change the problems on them). I much prefer the review in Singapore. Singapore reviews by combining multiple skills into multi-step problems, forcing the dc to really think about what they must do to solve that problem. It's just a different kind of review than we are used to here, but the excellent results of it are why we first brought it to the U.S. anyway. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[deltagal]

I think Julie is right on. I find that Singapore does review regularly and the concepts do build on one another. It really isn't an issue, imho.

However, as someone on this board suggested before that use the Math Challenge books at a level down to provide a steady practice and review of concepts. We do this, as well and this helps them develop a great deal of confidence. You can also use the extra practice books in the same fashion.

With Joy!
Florence

[playschool]

Thank you ladies. That does make me feel better. I do like the thinking behind the math in Singapore. It even causes even me to really think at times as well. It is just difficult to change after using a spiral curriculum for so long. Hearing your responses encourages me to keep going on with it.

[Carrie]

playschool,

The responses in this thread are so helpful! With our own kiddos, we've actually found better retention over time with our kiddos that use Singapore when compared with my older son (who is still very mathy) but did not use Singapore.

My kiddos who use Singapore really think through their problems as they're solving them. My oldest son, in contrast, spends much time trying to remember the correct steps to solve a problem. He bogs down if he can't remember the exact sequence of steps, rather than thinking through how best to solve a particular problem insead.

So be encouraged that Singapore works well and will help your kiddos think mathematically, which is the overall goal of math.

Blessings,
Carrie