Does anyone have a visual learner for whom Singapore Math did NOT work?

[birchbark]

Still trying to decide between SM and Math Mammoth here. DS is super-visual, and much prefers the look of SM (and so do I). I like what I hear about MM, but from the pages I've seen, it just does not look as well illustrated. (The concepts, I mean.)

[Closeacademy]

Singapore Math works for my VSL but I also back it up with review work from Rod and Staff because she has gotten bogged down with some concepts and needed more practice.

 

I also notebook concepts so that she has a reference book that she can use to look things up.

 

Here are some posts on my blog showing some of what we do:

http://closeacademy.blogspot.com/search/label/Math

 

My favorite resources are:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MisterNumbers?feature=chclk#p/u/10/yoac4xzIhSw

He makes pictures for the times tables that make them easy to remember.

 

http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/gnomes_and_gnumbers_a_mathematical_tale/ You will need to scroll down for leson 1. There are only 6 lessons with no plans to make more.

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

[rafiki]

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[Dinsfamily]

My ds is also a very visual learner and Singapore works really well for him. However, I will say that we haven't used the textbooks much. We go through them and answer the questions orally, but I tend to teach him myself with manipulatives and a white board. Math is so intuitive for him that he doesn't want or need much instruction at this point. He spends most of his time with the workbook and CWP.

[birchbark]

:bigear:

[Corraleno]

Still trying to decide between SM and Math Mammoth here. DS is super-visual, and much prefers the look of SM (and so do I). I like what I hear about MM, but from the pages I've seen, it just does not look as well illustrated. (The concepts, I mean.)

If you're basing your impressions of MM from the online samples, I have to say I don't think Maria chooses good samples at all! I actually think that MM illustrates concepts better than Singapore does, especially in the upper levels.

 

My DS is an extreme V/S (thinks in pictures and often struggles to translate the pictures in his head into words), and MM worked wonders for him. The key to teaching VSLs is to explain something in a way that lets them create a picture in their minds, because that's how they store and retrieve information. Often the best way to illustrate a concept is with a picture, but a verbal explanation *that allows the student to imagine the concept visually* can be just as effective.

 

For example, when MM teaches negative numbers (in 5B), the concept is illustrated in multiple ways. It's taught using positive and negative "counters" (red and blue dots with + or — on them), so to add a positive and a negative number, you cross out "pairs" of positive and negative dots and see what's left. She also teaches negative numbers using a number line, and explains adding and subtracting negative numbers in a way VSLs can "see." For example, take 7 minus (-3): you start at 0 and walk 7 steps in the positive direction, then you turn and face towards zero because you're going to subtract. But because the number you're subtracting is itself negative, you take three steps backwards, and end up at 10. Visualizing negative numbers that way helped my son understand integers for the first time. Being told to just remember that "two negatives make a positive" didn't make any sense to him, but when he could picture himself walking on a number line, he totally "got" it.

 

Jackie