Can We Discuss this Japanese Math Series?

[mom2bee]

I really like the looks of this Japanese Math Series (not just cause its on sale either! :lol:) and am considering investing about $300 dollars to get the entire series plus a few extras but first I'd like to pick the hive mind a little.

 

I am a fan of almost all Asian math curriculums that I've heard of/seen and am always impressed by the mathematical abilities of my Asian classmates and friends. I have wanted to get an Asian math curriculum for a while but only knew of one that was in English (Singapore PM).

 

What I like about this Shoseki Math is that it is visually appealing. Its highly logical from what I can tell from the samples, it includes Geometry from the first grade and they build each arithmetic algorithm up logically so that students can see where its coming from.

 

I feel that I can teach this curriculum, where as I always have my doubts about Singapore Math (my ability to teach it, that is.)

 

However, there is no teachers manual (though I don't think I'd need to buy one for anything below 7th grade math anyway...).

 

Feedback?

 

Has anyone got experience with this program?

Edited January 27, 2012 by mom2bee
Whoops!! Forgot the link

[beaners]

I thought this sounded familiar so I searched through google. (I never get good results with the search on this site.) I've never used it but it looks like there has been discussion on it before. I hope this helps! :001_smile:

 

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63631

[mommymilkies]

I have all the books through 6, including the workbooks. I would say that you have to have some knowledge of Asian math before using them. I would read Knowing and Teaching Mathematics, the Japanese Math pdf files (I will try to link later), and any of the Singapore Math materials. They are similar, but not the same. I will say that Japanese Math is more advanced, by far, than American, and in some areas more advanced than Singapore, IMHO. I am using this as a supplement for 4 children right now. I will also suggest you flesh out the assignments with extra practice from Singapore or timed tests, etc. for drill. If you think Singapore Math is too hard, this may not be the program for you.

Edited January 27, 2012 by mommymilkies

[Amie]

:bigear:

[Tidbits of Learning]

:lurk5::bigear:

[stripe]

Besides my famous (ha ha) thread, here are the others tagged with Japanese math

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/tags.php?tag=japanese+math

 

(I really wanted to like it, but I switched to MEP.)

[Spy Car]

I have been "pinged" for a comment on Japanese math.

 

I really have a limited perspective. We used the 1st Level of Tokyo Shoseki and the associated workbooks as one supplement of a math mix that included Miquon, MEP, Singapore and RS elements. Tokyo Shoseki was only an add on.

 

I liked the Level One books, and did grab ideas from them. The Textbooks are extremely colorful (glossy) in the way that Japanese products can be (can you say Hello Kitty?). The Workbooks are colorful too, but in the more subdued fashion of Singapore Math.

 

There is very little text in Level One. The lessons are taught through pictorial means and they do a good job illustrating the concepts. For a parent that has a good grasp of whole-parts (or Asian-style math), or is using other resources like Liping Ma or using Singapore the books might be enough to teach with. For a parent that is not well versed in whole-parts math I wonder if they would be sufficient if used alone. Were this my only recourse or math program I doubt I would have felt adequately supported.

 

It was mentioned in another post that Tokyo Shoseki introduces Geomentry early and I believe that continues as the series progresses. I really liked this aspect.

 

In many other ways the Japanese materials resemble Singapore Math. The advantage with Singapore is more content, more supplementary books, and more parent-teacher support (including HIGs and forum support). The Japanese offering are just not as fully fleshed out for American home education.

 

I still like the Tokyo Shoseki materials (to the limited extent we used them) but one can't use everything and it got cut from our long-term mix strictly do to lack of time.

 

I would not try to dissuade anyone from trying it, especially if very colorful books with strong pictorial examples (but minimal text and teacher support) are appealing.

 

It is the best I can do.

 

Bill

[stripe]

Ray did use them, and several of the threads have comments from him. I think Jean in Newcastle used them in Japanese.

 

I used the textbook for 1A but, well, I didn' t feel my child was getting a very deep understanding of math. They are used in Japan with extensive teacher prep. i completely did not have that. I found it very hard to give sufficiently deep instruction on elem math. I find MEP way easier, and it's worked well for my kids. However, I still have very fond feelings for this series.

 

Tad Watanabe has a nice website on Japanese math. I recommend it for anyone interested. He works with the state of Georgia.

http://science.kennesaw.edu/~twatanab/

[Spy Car]

Ray did use them, and several of the threads have comments from him. I think Jean in Newcastle used them in Japanese.

 

I used the textbook for 1A but, well, I didn' t feel my child was getting a very deep understanding of math. They are used in Japan with extensive teacher prep. i completely did not have that. I found it very hard to give sufficiently deep instruction on elem math. I find MEP way easier, and it's worked well for my kids. However, I still have very fond feelings for this series.

 

Tad Watanabe has a nice website on Japanese math. I recommend it for anyone interested. He works with the state of Georgia.

http://science.kennesaw.edu/~twatanab/

 

I think, and I'm sure you'd agree, that it is the extensive teacher prep that makes the use of these materials so successful in Japan, rather than the intrinsic value of the Textbooks and Workbooks alone.

 

The student books only bring a limited amount of information to parent-teachers in and of themselves. This is what limits there usefulness in a home education environment for people not well versed in this type of math. It would not have been enough for me without all the other resources I was using, and still wasn't as important a supplement as the other options we had.

 

Bill