grantmeawish Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 We switched 6 weeks in from Saxon 3. We moved through Singapore 2a in 3 weeks and started 2b this week. I see us moving fairly quickly through it too. He seems to understand the concepts. I don't do evvery example or problem. Ds would have a meltdown if we did! My concern is we will move too fast and not cement concepts to memory. I do have him do review problems everyday. I assume things will slow down as we get to harder concepts. What are your experiences? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Are you using the Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems books? If not, I would strongly encourage you to add them, as they are the real "meat" of the program for a bright kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Give him the placement/exit tests on the Singapore website. They will tell you quickly if he has them or not. It could be that you started him below his natural level to start with. I would, in your case, at least focus on all of the word problems and the reviews, and be sure you present the lessons in a concrete manner before getting out the textbooks for each lesson. Can he explain the lessons back to you, and articulate how he is accomplishing the mental math? If all that is in place, then let him go at his pace. Some kids are gifted in math, and should not be held back just to satisfy an arbitrary schedule. Some kids write out steps. Others do it mentally/orally. The key is to check the steps; you don't just want correct answers in math-- you want correct logic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 (edited) Give him the placement/exit tests on the Singapore website. They will tell you quickly if he has them or not. It could be that you started him below his natural level to start with. I would, in your case, at least focus on all of the word problems and the reviews, and be sure you present the lessons in a concrete manner before getting out the textbooks for each lesson. Can he explain the lessons back to you, and articulate how he is accomplishing the mental math? If all that is in place, then let him go at his pace. Some kids are gifted in math, and should not be held back just to satisfy an arbitrary schedule. Some kids write out steps. Others do it mentally/orally. The key is to check the steps; you don't just want correct answers in math-- you want correct logic. This. Both my boys did Saxon last year and Link does Singapore this year. When I tested him at the end of the year (placement test for Singapore) he didn't quite pass the 2A test, so we started with that - particularly for the word problems and mental math portions. He's almost done with 2A (though we did all the mental math and everything, and it didn't occur to me until two or three weeks ago to let him skip any pages in the workbook even though it was OBVIOUS he didn't need all that repetition!) Anyway, we're on Week 10 of our school year and I think he'll be done with 2A in the next week, two at the most. It was mostly review for him, which I'm thinking would be the case for yours, too. So far I haven't seen any need for the extra CWP or EP books because it goes over the concepts repeatedly at this stage. Hopefully this means we'll get through at least 3A by the end of the year, putting us not too far 'behind' on our math schedule. :) ETA: Oh, and I forgot to add - the HIG is a waste of money, IMO. I only use it for the mental math (which I think I can actually buy separate for less than half the price of the HIG) and I used it a little when deciding where to put the mental math in our checklist of things to do. Link is past the point of needing the hands-on math stuff at this point - maybe if I had a kid who wasn't I'd see more value in it. But then again, my hands on kid I purposely didn't put in Singapore. Anyway, JMHO. :) Edited September 27, 2012 by PeacefulChaos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 I think when switching from Saxon, the main thing that might affect placement in Singapore is the mental math techniques taught. You could go to EducationUnboxed.com and watch the mental math videos there, play with those concepts, then do the placement test again. My son is accelerated, and we skip things sometimes, or just do a few problems for practice and then move on. I certainly don't make him do every problem if we're doing multiple lessons in a day. If we're going "at pace", he does all the workbook problems, and we do some textbook problems orally (not all of them). Mostly, I teach from the HIG (I find it useful, and my oldest son does NOT use manipulatives), refer to the textbook for a few problems, then assign some workbook work. We do IP or CWP at a separate time. You should slow down once you find "where he really is". When I switched from MM4B to SM4A, we skipped about half the 4A book since it was review of what we'd just done that year. Not a big deal. The only "going too fast" would be if you were pushing beyond what your son is capable of doing. It doesn't sound like that's happening in your case, so it's all good. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peplophoros Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Just had to put my 2 cents in about HIG--we blasted through 1A and 1B last year and now I feel like we should have slowed down. I didn't buy the HIG last year and now I totally regret it. If I had had it, I wouldn't have made a couple of minor mistakes in teaching that I then had to undo. I would also have realized that doing the workbook was not enough practice for my DS. We got the challenging word problems and the extra practice book this year to make sure we are solid this time around. I *love* the HIG. We don't follow every word, but often there are real tips (and reinforcement suggestions) that have been indispensable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 So far I haven't seen any need for the extra CWP or EP books because it goes over the concepts repeatedly at this stage. No, you don't want the EP books with a bright kid. You want the Intensive Practice ones. The EP just have more of the same grade-level problems like the ones in textbook and the workbook. The IP books, however, kick the challenge level up quite a bit. Some of the problems in the 4th grade level remind me of questions on the SAT I took in high school. I don't bother using the regular workbooks with my kids in PM but instead use the IP's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 No, you don't want the EP books with a bright kid. You want the Intensive Practice ones. The EP just have more of the same grade-level problems like the ones in textbook and the workbook. The IP books, however, kick the challenge level up quite a bit. Some of the problems in the 4th grade level remind me of questions on the SAT I took in high school. I don't bother using the regular workbooks with my kids in PM but instead use the IP's. :iagree: We often don't bother to do all of the workbook pages, and sometimes, depending upon the topic, skip it in favor of the IP book. I have a 2E kid (gifted, but also special needs), so sometimes he just needs a little extra repetition, but even with those issues, he has never needed the extra practice books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Are you using the Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems books? If not, I would strongly encourage you to add them, as they are the real "meat" of the program for a bright kid. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantmeawish Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Thank you so much for the advice! This my first year and trying to work this whole thing out. I will try adding the IP and Cwp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 No, you don't want the EP books with a bright kid. You want the Intensive Practice ones. The EP just have more of the same grade-level problems like the ones in textbook and the workbook. The IP books, however, kick the challenge level up quite a bit. Some of the problems in the 4th grade level remind me of questions on the SAT I took in high school. I don't bother using the regular workbooks with my kids in PM but instead use the IP's. Quick question - not trying to hijack :tongue_smilie: - but does the IP go ok with the US edition? I was trying to figure that out but wasn't able to tell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Quick question - not trying to hijack :tongue_smilie: - but does the IP go ok with the US edition? I was trying to figure that out but wasn't able to tell... IP was designed for US edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 IP was designed for US edition. The topics in the IP line up with the U.S. edition so if you're using the Stds. ed. then sometimes there won't be an IP chapter that corresponds with the chapter in the textbook. Or there is, but it's in one of the later IP books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennynd Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Weh use ip with standard with no problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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