Are we doing this right? singapore 3 and 4

[Mallory]

My boys are in 4th and 5th grade.

 

The most formal math we did for 1st through 3rd was Miquon. We do lots of other mathy things, but no texts/programs. In 4th they do/did SM 3A and 3B. My 5th grader is on 4A now.

 

So far it has been easy. After two weeks of school, only 8 days, we are on lesson 17 of 3A and lesson 24 of 4A. I don't think they've ever spent more than 30 min a day on math.

 

Am I doing something wrong? I keep feeling like we will get to something tricky but they really are pretty good at all basic operations, even including fractions, multidigit multiplication, and long division as well as have a pretty good grasp on doing rather difficult problems mentally.

 

I can see that if my 4th grader was doing 4A he probably wouldn't be going through it as quickly. But I still think he could do one lesson a day (instead of the 2-4 lessons a day they are doing now).

 

Are we missing something important about the SM way? Is it fine to just race through these books? We aren't doing much from the text book, but they do all the wkbk problems. I do have CWP I could add in, but none of the other supplements.

 

Should we just keep going?

[tarana]

Singapore math makes math look easy. My girls breezed through most of 2A workbook in 2 months. We did the textbook together on a board

Then I got them the IP which was a bit more challenging. I tried CWP in between, but the girls were not getting it. So after completing 2A & 2B we picked up CWP.

[Barb_]

Nope, it sounds like you have everything nailed down. I would suggest getting the Challenging Word Problems to have them practice using the concepts in a variety of situations. They are really tough and IMO, the real benefit to the program. Makes abstract algebra stuff in the teens a breeze.

 

Barb

[Mallory]

Thanks, SM has just been so easy I was wondering if there was something I had missed.

 

I do have the CWP. I was planning on doing them at the end, but maybe a couple a day would work nicely too.

[DebbS]

My daughter finished 5B through 6B and then started NEM all in one year. She didn't spend very much time on it either. Nonetheless, when I see the kinds of problems that she is able to solve, I realize that the curriculum is working well for her.

[texasmama]

We use SM and do the textbook problems, the workbook problems and then the IP. At the beginning of each program, there is a fair amount of review, so this may be the reason why your dc are breezing through so quickly. The only concept that I have felt the need to supplement from SM was fractions, which were introduced in 3B. (We used LOF for this.) Otherwise, SM works very well for my ds's.

[northcoast]

That is great your dc are doing so well in math! It is possible that they are not placed in the right books??????? Sonlight's website has a placement test you can take and it should be free. That being said, my son worked fast on earlier books and at book 4 he had some trouble retaining what he learned and we slowed down a bit and supplemented. Getting the Challenging Word Problems would be a good idea too.

[Cynful]

I'd recommend getting the Intensive Practice books and adding those in. They will really stretch your dc.

[Mallory]

I guess I am now wondering if I should do the intensive practice now, even though they are "behind" a year or if we should just keep going and when they get to the next level then slow down.

 

My oldest uses LOF and I am planning on starting the boys in it eventually, I just keep wavering on when/how to do it! They don't have any problems with Fractions, in fact that is part of the reason ds10 is moving through 4A so quickly. Those fraction pages are easy!