Singapore Math?

[Robin Ruth]

I have finally made decisions on which program to use with my dd who will be 9 and starting 4th grade in the fall. I am still debating on the math. We have only been homeschooling for a little over a month, so everything is new to us. I was able to take a peek at a Singapore book at a used book store near us and I wasn't convinced it would be the right fit. It doesn't matter which math program I look at though, there always seems like there will be some gap in what my daughter knows & what she is expected to know. I realize I still have the rest of this "semester" to catch up with another curriculum's scope & sequence. I have been reading a lot of old threads about Singapore and I would like to give it a shot. I guess I'm afraid that even if she can pass a placement test for a particular module (for lack of a better word), she will still be missing out on the "how" things were taught. Does that make sense to anyone? I think she is more likely to pass the assessment to begin 3A in the fall; 3B would be a stretch. As I said before, she will be starting 4th grade in the fall, do you think starting with 3A would put her too far behind? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!
I thought I remembered reading that Carrie doesn't use the Home Instruction Guide. Is that true of everyone else?

[Tidbits of Learning]

We came home with my odlest in 4th grade. It is a tough year to jump into any math program b/c they all seem to have a different scope and sequence and for some reason all of the math's have a critical 3rd grade year. I regret to say we bounced around. She did not test in at 3a, but 2b with Singapore. We finished 2A and started 3A before I started really second guessing where she was and how far behind she was getting. We bounced from Singapore to Seton to Saxon to Rod and Staff ...there may have even been some Abeka thrown in there somewhere...and round and round until my head was spinning. My poor dd's head was probably about to explode . It seems that critical 3rd grade year with each of these math programs was going to be our demise.
This year we are doing a remedial math program (Jump at Home math) which uses similar methods as Singapore. I am actually using it with all of my dc except my youngest who was able to start from the get go with Singapore. I am going to give everyone a Singapore placement test when we are done. It is a big review while still covering the topics for her grade. Once she finishes her grade level with it, we are going to try to place her in Discovery Mathematics.
If I could go back and not second guess our math choices and how far "behind" she was in Singapore, then I would have stuck it out. I realize now at 9 years old and 4th grade that there is a lot of time to catch up. I also realize if we would have just kept going that she would most likely be finishing Singapore 5B right now and would not be behind for 6th grade at all. So my advice would be to give the placement test and make sure she places in 3A and then just commit to not second guessing yourself.

[amysconfections]

I definately say research your choice and then stay with it. Decide if you are up for the upper level teaching now or do you want a program that has teacher videos. I believe that would be Math U See and saxon. You can also choose to use Teaching Textbooks or Switched on Schoolhouse.

I have found that I can not teach some of the Singapore math without more instruction for me to follow. Just a textbook was not enough by the time I hit 3b. So, I ended up switching my son to teaching textbooks. Didn't work out so great! He didn't like it and I felt like it was inferior to Singapore's instruction level. He finished Singapore 3B, did Teaching Textbooks Math 5 and is now doing Singapore 4A. We are just hitting things that Teaching Textbooks left out. Most of Singapore 4B was covered by TT Math 5. So soon I will start him in Singapore Math 5A. Once I finally purchased the Singapore Home Instructor's Guide it helped me tremendously. I just purchased it for Singapore 4A. Some things I just could not remember how to do to be able to get started teaching it. The HIG helped me. I will not necessarily do all the activities they have but use it as a teaching guide along with the textbook to help me.

I personally took Calculus in high school and Precal with Algebra in College. That's been over 13 years ago though! I can't remember everything. The geometry concepts was really getting to me. My husband is a math whiz and when he can he teaches my oldest now.

So, my advice in a nutshell, research and pick what you want for long term. Get the HIG to use if you pick Singapore to help you understand what to teach.

[Robin Ruth]

Thanks so much for your insight. I will take it into consideration when I make my final decision!

[my3sons]

Great advice here already! I agree that giving the placement test and starting there is good advice, as well as purchasing the Home Instructor's Guides if you begin and feel you'd like more assistance. I'd give it a solid try without them, and see if you feel like you would benefit from them or not, as they are optional. As far as feeling like dd may test into a Singapore level and still have gaps within the level she tests into, I'd not be concerned about that. The testing is precise enough that she won't test into a level she's not ready for. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie