sweetpea3829 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 DS7 is finishing his Singapore 2B level early...he'll be done by mid-March. We try to wrap things up by the middle of May so this leaves us with a bit of a gap. I could either start him on 3A right away, but he won't likely finish that before the end of the school year. So then we'd either have to just pick it back up in September, or school it through the summer (we usually review all summer long). My other option is to let him finish it up and just find other things to enrich him from March through the summer. But that's a five month gap and that seems like a long time to delay moving on to the next level. He can definitely handle the next level...and just in looking at the table of contents, some of 3A is stuff he's already able to do (addition and subtraction with four, five, six digits). Any suggestions for gap curriculum? Or thoughts on letting him plow ahead? He just turned 7 and would have been in 1st grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyGirl Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I suppose it depends on how well he is doing. Do you think he needs more review pr a different perspective? You could add in something like Life of Fred or living math books in the interim. But if he's doing really well I'd move him ahead and keep math up (even half time) during the summer months (you could still add in the secondary program and supplements). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Why not let him ahead? You can also add enrichment, alternating days. Are you using the CWP and/or IP books? Have you considered Beast Academy? There's a whole world of fun math books - search the Accelerated Learning board, where there have been a number of threads discussing them. I think summer math is a great plan as well, at least a light schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyGirl Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Beast is wonderful but he'll need to be rock solid on the SM2 concepts to pull it off. If he is though, go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennynd Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 GO FOR THE NEXT LEVEL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Move on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I second PP's ideas of CWP and IP, as well as Life of Fred and Beast Academy. My DS sounds just like yours. He is 7.5 and is halfway through 3B now. We school year round, so I just let him start the next level whenever. I do keep him working alternately in CWP and IP, lagging both by about a year from where he is in the textbooks (right now he is doing IP 2B, and when he finishes that he will start CWP 3 - he finished CWP 2 about 4 months ago and so I've just let him have a break from that for a while). He also has access to Life of Fred, which he reads on his own (he has read them all through the Pre-Algebra book, skipping the last couple of elementary level books since I've not bought them yet). He doesn't understand all the math (esp. in the later volumes), but he loves Fred, and he has commented to me about how when he goes back through Fred books he read a while back, he understands them more and more each time (he just reread the Fractions book recently and got a lot out of it since we have encountered fractions now a couple of times in Singapore (albeit more simple concepts than Fred has)). He also has Beast Academy, which he also enjoys reading, but right now Fred trumps Beast. The other books he enjoys are the Sir Cumference picture book series. He has read those through several times - totally not getting the math at first, but now he asks all kinds of questions and gets a lot out of them. Those books have sparked some wonderful spontaneous geometry and algebra conversations at our dinner table. DS also LOVES Hands On Equations. He does a lesson every couple of weeks, mostly on his own. Oh, and you might also check out logic puzzles. A couple of times I have given him "math breaks" (meaning no Singapore) and instead he has done some Critical Think Press logic books like Balance Benders and Mind Benders. To him those are pure fun! Of course, part of the effect of all these additional curricula is that now our Singapore work goes even *faster*, since there is rarely a truly new concept to him. But that is okay. I just try to keep him challenged and enjoying it, and variety works great for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Ok... He is pretty rock solid on his 2A and 2B (so far) concepts. He just "gets" math, lol. We have been doing IP and CWP all along, as well as the Fan Express Process Skills and Speed Drills. He's flown through most of it with very little difficulty. The one area he struggled with was in Process Skills where they wanted him to represent his problem solving with bar models. He hates using them because, well, he doesn't feel like he needs them! So we butted heads a bit about that. We are also routinely doing logic activities in Lollipop Logic, Primarily Logic, etc. We have Life of Fred, but he hasn't picked it up in a bit, so we could do some more of those. I don't really have any specific reason to NOT forge ahead with one exception. While DS is academically gifted, he is not as motivated as many gifted kiddos are. He really would prefer to spend his summer building with Legos and climbing trees and doing all of those other wonderful things. A math lesson would be an unwelcome interruption to his explorations, lol. I don't really have a problem with that myself...I think those things are excellent. I will definitely look into Beast Academy...we haven't tried that one yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 I second PP's ideas of CWP and IP, as well as Life of Fred and Beast Academy. My DS sounds just like yours. He is 7.5 and is halfway through 3B now. We school year round, so I just let him start the next level whenever. I do keep him working alternately in CWP and IP, lagging both by about a year from where he is in the textbooks (right now he is doing IP 2B, and when he finishes that he will start CWP 3 - he finished CWP 2 about 4 months ago and so I've just let him have a break from that for a while). He also has access to Life of Fred, which he reads on his own (he has read them all through the Pre-Algebra book, skipping the last couple of elementary level books since I've not bought them yet). He doesn't understand all the math (esp. in the later volumes), but he loves Fred, and he has commented to me about how when he goes back through Fred books he read a while back, he understands them more and more each time (he just reread the Fractions book recently and got a lot out of it since we have encountered fractions now a couple of times in Singapore (albeit more simple concepts than Fred has)). He also has Beast Academy, which he also enjoys reading, but right now Fred trumps Beast. The other books he enjoys are the Sir Cumference picture book series. He has read those through several times - totally not getting the math at first, but now he asks all kinds of questions and gets a lot out of them. Those books have sparked some wonderful spontaneous geometry and algebra conversations at our dinner table. DS also LOVES Hands On Equations. He does a lesson every couple of weeks, mostly on his own. Oh, and you might also check out logic puzzles. A couple of times I have given him "math breaks" (meaning no Singapore) and instead he has done some Critical Think Press logic books like Balance Benders and Mind Benders. To him those are pure fun! Of course, part of the effect of all these additional curricula is that now our Singapore work goes even *faster*, since there is rarely a truly new concept to him. But that is okay. I just try to keep him challenged and enjoying it, and variety works great for us. Thanks for the suggestions, we will definitely try some of those. And yes, we have the same issue with our DS, in that his Singapore curriculum tends to fly right by because he's encountered a lot of the concepts previously. For example, when he was introduced to multiplication and division in 1B, we went ahead and memorized skip-counting factors and so now, he's flying through the multiplication and division lessons in 2. Keeping him challenged, without taking away from what he perceives as his real purpose (building Legos, lol) has been a project and a half, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Wait, so Beast Academy starts in 3rd grade? They don't have a 2nd grade option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Wait, so Beast Academy starts in 3rd grade? They don't have a 2nd grade option? Yes. I recall there is to be a 2nd grade series as well but I don't think it is out yet. Also, if at this point your DS really just wants to climb trees and make Lego creations - I'd let him! He is just 7, and he is already working ahead. I'd probably have him do a bit of review once a week (skip count, whatever) and give him *access* to some math books you think might interest him, but not force the issue if he isn't motivated. Even if he takes a break for the whole 4-5 mos, it won't take long for him to be right back where he left off. Plus, he can learn plenty of other valuable things by climbing trees and making things out of Lego :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 If he's doing well with IP and CWP, I see no reason to wait before starting the next level. That's the beauty of homeschooling--being able to individualize our children's education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 My "mathy" DS really liked the Critical Thinking "Math Analogies" series at about that stage. http://www.criticalthinking.com/math-analogies.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I don't really have any specific reason to NOT forge ahead with one exception. While DS is academically gifted, he is not as motivated as many gifted kiddos are. He really would prefer to spend his summer building with Legos and climbing trees and doing all of those other wonderful things. My accelerated kids are ALL this way. That's why I meet them where they're at, but only require time spent per their age-grade level. They aren't doing any more work than the average kid their age. It's just a higher level (so that it IS work). Accelerating does not necessarily equal more academics. Gifted kids are capable of skipping things and doing things faster, and thus they can get ahead in a shorter period of time and have more time to build Legos and climb trees. ;) I think BA would be a great choice! He'd probably enjoy that as a keep-math-fresh-through-the-summer type thing. Start it when you finish Singapore 2B, then use it 2-3 times per week through the summer as your "review". My middle son is doing BA right now, alongside CLE 200. He LOVES BA and asks for it even after he's already done CLE. :D It's his "fun math". I had to teach him subtraction with regrouping before starting (he passed the pre-assessment no problem, but hadn't learned that topic yet, so I taught it real quick via Math Mammoth 2, since we won't hit it for another couple months in CLE). BA 3 expects kids to know how to add and subtract with regrouping before starting. It teaches multiplication in that grade level, so you'll be ahead of the curve there coming from SM 2. BA will eventually have a grade 2, but they don't yet. They're doing 3 through 5 first, then coming back around to 2. Unfortunately, I don't think any of my kids will get to use the grade 2. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I don't think I'd take a math break -- it's going to be much more difficult to get him back into the 'doing schoolwork' mindset when he's had several months off. I'd rather see short, engaging daily lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I am in similar shoes- my about-to-be-7 first grader is in the middle of 2B, and looking at it and 3a, I see absolutely no stumbling blocks ahead. I have been working in the CWP already after each level (finish a book, then do CWP + fact drill + mental math drill). I have been looking at Critical Thinking Company supplemental books, and wondering about, inbstead of doing it INSTEAD of moving on, just switching to SM 3-4x a week and CTC 1-2x a week. I have a fear of going too terribly much faster than we are already going, so I'm going to try to go deeper without adding in random topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 My 7 year old first grader will be done with mm2b around that time too. Before moving into 3a we will be using some MEP. It is lots of fun and a different way to look at maths. She really got a kick out of it last summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g7s22 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I usually let mine jump right into the next level, it doesn't make too much difference to me where we start in the fall. But I try to include some fun review math to break things up a bit. I also like the supplementary singapore mental math and challenging word problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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