Singapore Math & Algebra (Cross post)

[kareng]

I have a 10th grader who is working through Algebra. She has some special needs and we've been going slowly. We are currently using TT. She is doing OK in Algebra but is missing some key concepts about variables, etc. I have just stumbled across Singapore math and was wondering a few things.

 

1) Would Singapore math help her with some of these concepts (she's very visual)?

2) Can you jump into Singapore math in Algebra or would I need to go back a few levels? if so, where would you suggest I start?

 

Any other comments or suggestions would be helpful.  TT has been very good for her in terms of how things are explained and she has gotten most of the concepts thus far.  I am wondering, however, if we've hit a wall of understanding and need to change what we're doing.

[Julie in MN]

Singapore upper levels (not the Primary Math) begin with pre-algebra, and algebra/geometry are mixed in along the way.  I think if your student is already in algebra, that might not be the way to go.

 

Another resource I like for algebra is Math Relief, so I'll just throw that out there.  I brought my middle dd home to school in 10th grade and Math Relief was great for her.  (It was also great for my mathy ds in 8th grade.)  Sample video here http://www.mathrelief.com/

 

By the way, we used TT Geometry for some of that year and I had no complaints.  However, I've heard their algebra is by a different teacher, so I have no knowledge of that in comparison to anything else.

 

Julie

 

[kiana]

If you are looking for visuals I would be more inclined to test MUS than Singapore at this level. You might also try hands-on equations as a supplement.

[Nan in Mass]

I don't know enough about your situation to offer any specific advice, and I am no expert.  I'm posting in case hearing about somebody else's experience happens to be helpful.

 

I'm teaching math this year to one of my extra kids.  (I seem to aquire extra young twenty-somethings from time to time. : ) )  She is starting lower than your tenth grader, so we are working in Primary Math.  I took my own children (one mathy and one not) through Singapore's NEM.  NEM wasn't particularly visually oriented.  It WAS more applied than some of the other programs, which is what I wanted.  With this adult, I am using the Singapore bars to make a visual bridge between arithmetic and algebra.  I plan to use the Dolciani books with her because they will be easy for me to use and they emphasize understanding.  I would not want to use NEM with her, despite how well primary math is working.  I love NEM but I don't think it would be helpful in this situation.  I know nothing about the other Singapore math programs, only PM and NEM.  My adult is loving those bars.  She caught on very quickly and can use them to solve simple algebra problems.  She started labeling things using one letter and was very surprised when I told her those were variables.  I am doing lots of word problems with her, ones in which the variable stand for something concrete, before I state any general rules using variables.  I can tell that that is where a lot of her confusion is coming from.  She has no problem if I give her a bunch of specifics first and then show her a general rule.  She just gets confused if you suddenly throw a general rule at her and then ask her to use it in specific problems.  In other words, she doesn't want to just memorize a procedure and do it.  She (not unnaturally) wants to understand what she is doing.  I think if you have a classroom of 13yo's you can probably get away with teaching them a bunch of algorithms and then connect them later to real life, but my extra balks at having to do that.  She tried that in school and just got confused.  That way just looks like a dead end to her.

 

Nan