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Math in Focus :: Singapore approach


shukriyya
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We are using it. I tried using SM Standards edition in first grade with dd, but I couldn't even figure out how to teach (yes I had the HIG), so we moved to Horizons for first grade.

 

But I decided I wanted for dd to learn more of the Asian/mental math, so I ordered Math Mammoth. It just caused tears and feeling overwhelmed.

 

Someone on the board here mentioned Math in Focus, so I looked at the samples. It looked like SM, but more incremental. Just looking at the samples from the student book even I understood how to teach it!

 

We only use the student textbook and the workbooks because buying the whole set with the TM is WAY too expensive for us. But I've found the instructions in the student textbook to be very easy to teach from and dd is doing great with the program.

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I'm wondering if anyone has used/is using this. It looks like it's not from the SM folks but rather uses their approach. I'm curious to know how it compares to SM Standard's Edition.

 

Primary Mathematics, the program most people mean when they say "Singapore Math," is based on an older series that was developed by the Singapore Ministry of Education and adapted for the American market. This includes the PM Standards Edition.

 

Around the year 2000 the Ministry of Education got out of the textbook writing business and opened the market to private textbook publishers. Several competing math programs were published in accordance with the new syllabus standards. One of these is My Pals Are Here! Math-in-Focus is the American adaptation of My Pals Are Here! The Singapore Publisher Marshall Cavendish has teamed up with American textbook publishing powerhouse Houghton Mifflin with the aim of cracking the public school market.

 

Both programs use the Singapore Math Model. I can't really compare them as my exposure to M-i-F is limited to a small number of sample pages online.

 

Bill

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I'm interested in this too, but I get confused when you go look to order- looks a little spendy- just curious if you don't mind sharing, where would order it from? (Just hoping it's cheaper than where I found it! ;) )

 

I order from RR, but I only buy the textbook and workbook.

 

Each workbook is about $10 each. You need both a and b for the year, so that's $20.

 

Each student textbook (called student book on RR's website) is $30 each. You need both a and b for the year, so that's $60. These are very nice, hardback, full color books!

 

A total of $80 for math for the year.

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Both programs use the Singapore Math Model. I can't really compare them as my exposure to M-i-F is limited to a small number of sample pages online.

 

You can actually look through the entire contents of each book online if you register (free).

 

I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, as I'm happy with Singapore Standards, but I did look through it some. It looked fine. I didn't really see an equivalent to IP. The other stuff seemed roughly equivalent.

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You can actually look through the entire contents of each book online if you register (free).

 

I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, as I'm happy with Singapore Standards, but I did look through it some. It looked fine. I didn't really see an equivalent to IP. The other stuff seemed roughly equivalent.

 

I still use CWP and IP from Singapore along with MIF for that reason :001_smile:

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You can actually look through the entire contents of each book online if you register (free).

 

I ran into a snag trying register. It has been a long time since I tried, but isn't one supposed to have a "school" to register? Maybe the "Spy Car Academy" would work :lol:

 

I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, as I'm happy with Singapore Standards, but I did look through it some. It looked fine. I didn't really see an equivalent to IP. The other stuff seemed roughly equivalent.

 

Well, technically we don't have a Standards Edition IP either ;)

 

By reputation My Pals Are Here! (Math-in-Focus) was written to reach "average" math students (not an unworthy goal of a program aimed at classroom use) and—like the core Primary Mathematics program—might require more challenging supplementation with more math adept students.

 

So far PM Standards Edition has been a nice fit here and I haven't felt any need for a different Singapore program, but Beast Academy may be very disruptive to my long term plans :tongue_smilie:

 

Bill

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We have used both MiF* and Singapore Primary Math Std. Ed. (SM) While they aren't that different, I would not recommend MiF for homeschools. MiF was twice the price of SM, and the SM Home Instructor Guides (HIGs) are easier to use and more concise than the MiF TM. SM also seems to allow greater flexibility in the problem-solving process than MiF did.

 

*Full disclosure: We only used MiF for one full semester (3A.)

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I have both MiF and PM Standards for grades K, 2 and 3 because I couldn't decide. I was able to get MiF relatively inexpensively by watching Amazon for deals. All told, I think I spent $200 bucks for MiF for all three years and that includes the big books, workbooks, extra practice, enrichment, assessments and TMs. Do you need all that crap? No. But I wanted to be able to review and compare them as they were intended.

 

Bottom line? There are things to love about both.

 

The standards version has a lot more frequent cumulative reviews. This is good for my DD. It does not have as many challenging problems or word problems as MiF so you do have to supplement with IP or CWP. The HiG's are easy to use too. I especially like the simplicity of the presentation and the less-intimidating size of the books. Cleaner pages makes for less clutter in the brain.

 

MiF, on the other hand, has a lot of the IP and CWP built into the workbook (without the overkill). There's an enrichment booklet that you can add on but it's skinny and cheap (really...like 3 bucks on Amazon) not really necessary IMHO. The extra practice book is exactly that with problems that mimic the workbook. If you were to just do the text and workbook for MiF, I think it would be more in depth than PM standards because there's more variety in the types of problems, more problems to cover, explicit work on math vocab, and a higher level of difficulty with "put on your thinking cap" questions for each chapter. Opportunities to differentiate are built-in. It does lack more frequent cumulative reviews and I find that to be a major weakness. Kids can go way too long before reviewing old material. The chapters don't line up exactly between PM standards and MiF either but all the same grade 2 content is there. MiF also has a chapter dedicated to bar modeling in grade 2 that was a really, really painless way to introduce the concept. Loved that!! The TMs are geared more toward formal classroom presentations/schedules than I need so I don't really use them at all. I am also not fond of th textbooks. I think they're bulky, cluttered, and unneccessarily prescriptive in terms of how kids solve problems.

 

That said....what I've found myself doing of late (because I like the MiF workbooks and how they help bridge the gap between what DD sees in school, Everyday Math, and what we do at home) is having DD do the PM standards text/workbook pages, including reviews, and sprinkle in selected packets from the MiF workbook for more challenge. It seems to be working really well for us.

Edited by Sneezyone
clarify??
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I order from RR, but I only buy the textbook and workbook.

 

Each workbook is about $10 each. You need both a and b for the year, so that's $20.

 

Each student textbook (called student book on RR's website) is $30 each. You need both a and b for the year, so that's $60. These are very nice, hardback, full color books!

 

A total of $80 for math for the year.

 

Thanks for this- that is cheaper than through the company!!:)

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We are using it this year. We recently finished 1B and are now in 2A. My dd and I really like it. I got the teachers manuals, but I honestly only cracked the first one open when we first started. They really aren't needed at the lower levels. I bought our sets at Rainbow Resource. My dd really wants to use TT3 for next year....but I might end up getting 2B and 3A (just textbooks and workbooks) to use along with TT.

 

I ran into a snag trying register. It has been a long time since I tried, but isn't one supposed to have a "school" to register? Maybe the "Spy Car Academy" would work :lol:

 

 

Bill, did you get registered ok? If I remember right, it was pretty easy. I don't remember if we had to put in a school or not....I probably just put "homeschool" in if we needed to. The virtual sampling site is so great because you can see every single page.

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:bigear:

 

Hm, interesting. I was eying it until I saw the price. Bill, you mentioned it possibly being related to My Pals are Here. I used 2 years of that with my first and liked it better than the US edition. Unfortunately I can only now order it direct from Singapore (and shipping is ridiculous). This might be something to consider.

 

I do wish I could see the books though.

 

My understanding is MiF is My Pals are Here! in an "Americanized" format. How extensive the changes are I do not know.

 

Bill

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Bill, did you get registered ok? If I remember right, it was pretty easy. I don't remember if we had to put in a school or not....I probably just put "homeschool" in if we needed to. The virtual sampling site is so great because you can see every single page.

 

They've changed the registration to make it "home school friendly" I see. Good move!

 

I started to register and it crashed.

 

Bill

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They've changed the registration to make it "home school friendly" I see. Good move!

 

I started to register and it crashed.

 

Bill

 

Oh bummer! I hope you'll be able to get it to work. Then you can compare the pages to My Pals and Singapore and whatever.... :001_smile:

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:bigear:

 

Hm, interesting. I was eying it until I saw the price. Bill, you mentioned it possibly being related to My Pals are Here. I used 2 years of that with my first and liked it better than the US edition. Unfortunately I can only now order it direct from Singapore (and shipping is ridiculous). This might be something to consider.

 

I do wish I could see the books though.

 

 

The consensus is that you don't need the TM, which takes the cost down to $80 a year for the program using the student textbook and workbook.

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I use it now alongside rightstart for my 5yo We finished the K books last year and are about halfway through 1 and rightstart B we have been taking our time really exploring as well as throwing in some more hands on montessori activities as well. I have to say I love MIF and will definitely continue it after we finish righstart as our primary math. We also bought the assessment book but we use them as more of a review instead of as tests. It's been working perfectly for us this way. It still uses the number bonds and the linking cube things like PM does but it is more appealing to my kiddo at least ( we did try both PM and standards ed first before going to MIF) and if he gets hung up on anything we slow don and I trow in MM into the mix for another asian perspective and more review on the topic. This has been working fantastically for us.

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After seeing the samples I think I can do it without the TM.

 

Now I'm psyched!!

 

What grade(s) are you looking at? I know for sure 1st and 2nd you don't need the TM's. And, they seem to be written for a classroom anyway. It might take me just a few seconds longer to check the answers in the workbook. The hardcover text book explains everything (it's not like the teaching is in the TM). I'm sure you'd do just fine with the textbook and workbook. There are a bunch of extra workbooks (assessments, enrichments, extra practice), but you don't need those either.

Math in Focus at Rainbow.

Would any of you using it think it to be more comprehensive than MM, grade for grade?

 

I have MM, but haven't even used it (I changed my mind after buying it). So, I can't really compare comprehensively. But....I can say that MIF textbook is much more visually appealing (although the workbook is b&w, but still cute). Hopefully someone else can answer for you better.

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