kfeusse Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 My son is a very mental math kind of kid and although Singpore is very mental math oriented...he wants to do the mental math his way, not Singapore's way....is this a sign that we should not be doing Singapore...or just let him get the answers the way he wants....oh, by the way, he is nearly always right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 One of the reasons I love Singapore is that it teaches many different ways to do math. I tell my kids that they need to do it the way Singapore teaches until I know they know how to do it, and then they are allowed to do it anyway they like that works as long as they can explain how they did it. I'm not sure which level you are using, but the later levels do teach more than one way to do most things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girligirlmom Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 My son is a very mental math kind of kid and although Singpore is very mental math oriented...he wants to do the mental math his way, not Singapore's way....is this a sign that we should not be doing Singapore...or just let him get the answers the way he wants....oh, by the way, he is nearly always right. How old is he? I have 3 dc in Singapore Math and I don't always do it the way Singapore suggests. I do though teach my dc both ways (or more if Singapore shows a few ways) so my dc can choose which method makes the most sense to them. I require that they do the Textbook with me using whichever method is being taught just so they can understand it, but later they can choose their own way if they can explain it to me or if the answer is correct. Too many incorrect answers shows me that they are missing some understanding but if they get right answers most of the time they can choose which way makes the most sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RahRah Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 How old is he? I have 3 dc in Singapore Math and I don't always do it the way Singapore suggests. I do though teach my dc both ways (or more if Singapore shows a few ways) so my dc can choose which method makes the most sense to them. I require that they do the Textbook with me using whichever method is being taught just so they can understand it, but later they can choose their own way if they can explain it to me or if the answer is correct. Too many incorrect answers shows me that they are missing some understanding but if they get right answers most of the time they can choose which way makes the most sense. :iagree: That's pretty much how we do it and I also have a very mental math oriented kid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 oh, good...becasue I didn't want to have to chuck yet another math program... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 I think to some extent it depends on how old he is, what level of math he is doing, and how he is doing them mentally. I'd also bear in mind that what is working for him now may or may not continue to work for him as he encounters more complex problems. For example, when trying to do 452x3 mentally, it is a lot easier for most people to do 400x3 + 50x3 + 2x3 than to try to recreate the standard algorithm in our heads. I know that when I was a kid, I tried really hard to do lots of mental math, and I was naturally very good at it. However, no one taught me more efficient ways to do it, so by the time I got to multiplication of multi-digit numbers, I stalled because I tried to recreate the standard algorithm in my head. The same problem can occur with other areas of arithmetic. There are a lot of ways to do mental math, and some of them are much more efficient and easier than others. I think it's valuable to learn an efficient way to do mental math, just like I think it's valuable to learn the standard algorithm for carrying, multiplying, and so on. Over many generations, people have developed efficient, easy ways to do problems, and I think we should allow our kids to benefit from this collected knowledge by teaching them these algorithms and methods. Kids shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 right now we are in 3A and the math problems he is doing in his head are things like 46 + 16...instead of creating number bonds and changing 16 into 10 + 6...adding the 10 to the 46 and then adding in the 6...he just puts one number on top (in his mind)...adds the 6 and the 6 together...making 12, carries the one to the next column, adds the 4, 1 and 1 together to get 6 for a total of 62. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 right now we are in 3A and the math problems he is doing in his head are things like 46 + 16...instead of creating number bonds and changing 16 into 10 + 6...adding the 10 to the 46 and then adding in the 6...he just puts one number on top (in his mind)...adds the 6 and the 6 together...making 12, carries the one to the next column, adds the 4, 1 and 1 together to get 6 for a total of 62. That is completely normal. My son is in 3B and he does it your son's way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 That is completely normal. My son is in 3B and he does it your son's way. ok..then I will let him go...he gets the right answer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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