About to finish kindergarten and math problems...

[staceyobu]

We started with Singapore 1a this year for kindergarten. I looked at kindergarten math books and it seemed like it would all be an easy review for DD, so we went with first grade stuff. She breezed through singapore 1a with little help and no problems until we got to the part where they want you to regroup numbers to add (instead of 8+6 you add 10+4). She absolutely did not get it. We did a lot of practice problems and it still didn't sink in.

 

I went and bought a singapore 1 practice book that looked about the same as 1a. Again, she breezed through it until we got to the regrouping. Now, we are stuck.

 

We are stopping school next week and will probably take off until August 1st. Is this a developmental issue because we started 1a too early? Does it just take lots of practice? Do I need some magic way to explain it?

 

I have a strong background in math but have never attempted to teach it. I'm not sure if it's my poor explanation or some other issue. Anyways, now we will be starting first grade about 2/3 of the way through singapore 1a... so if we take it slowly we'll be back to a regular track for math. Do you think when I pick this up next year it will click?

 

We've done CLE LA this year and it has seemed so easy because it contains a lot of review. I've considered trying a light unit or two of CLE to see if it works better. I read so much about math programs and really would like to make singapore work, though. We have also spent a lot of time with cuisenaire rods and done some of the first miquon book.

 

Any advice? I'm wondering if we would have been better off to just do a k program this year. But, what do I do now? Should I look at a k program for next year? I just went and looked at samples of k programs again... and I'm still thinking they look way too easy. Sigh...

[2_girls_mommy]

I am sure it will click after a rest and revisiting it. You are doing good to stop where you are and to give her some breathing room. I had to do that with one of my dds in math in K too. I switched mid way out of a 1st grade curric and switched to some grade level workbooks and some living math storybooks and games for the rest of the year after several weeks of crying over how hard it was.

 

The next year (this current school year) for 1st we picked it back up and she breezes right through it. She just wasn't ready for parts of the curriculum. Now we have taken it slowly, and she will finish it by the end of her 1st year and start 2nd grade in the 2nd grade math. I was a little disappointed. I wanted her to be a year "ahead" so that she will hit Alg. 1 in 8th grade, like her older sis is on track too. But I realized we have years to worry about that. She can work over summers as we get closer, or maybe even skip parts of some years where it is review. Who knows. But I am glad I did what I did. She needed it.

[mnemom]

I am in a similar situation. My dd is finishing k (public school). I sarted Singapore 1a with her in the fall and I felt like there weren't enough practice problems. We switched to Math Mammoth and that worked well. Near the end of MM 1B, the regrouping came in and she just didn't get it. I got some base 10 blocks and we just worked with them a lot (no problems on paper). That seemed to help a bit. But it is still not intuitive for her, so I was thinking the same thing-- that it is a developmental thing that she is just not quite ready for.

 

You might want to try working with some manipulatives with her so she can see the concept. Give her 8 cubes and 6 cubes and say that she needs to add them together. Draw a line of 10 cubes on a flat white board or a piece of paper. Tell her to line up the 8 cubes and then ask how many more she needs to fill in there to get to 10. Then how many are left to add to 10?

 

This was the only thing that somewhat made it "click" with my dd. Hope it helps.

[boscopup]

It's probably developmental. Take a break, move on to the next thing if it doesn't rely on that particular method. Come back to it in a few months and try again. You might also see if MM presents it differently, as sometimes people use that to work through places that they're stuck in Singapore.

 

I would not use a K program next year. This doesn't have to be a show stopper.

[Karen in CO]

I agree it is developmental. My dd did a similar thing and just could not get regrouping, until one day she did. We took time off, switched programs, backed up and so on. I have several IRL friends who had similar problems with their dc.

[Melinda]

I use Singapore with my kids, but my 6 year old was having fits with it so I switched her to Math U See for a while. When she finished the MUS Primer, I tried again and she said Singapore was super easy. I have continued on with Singapore with my oldest, and use Singapore and MUS together with the 6yo. It has worked well for us.