Is Singapore really a year ahead

[dragons in the flower bed]

of other math curriculum?

 

I've heard that kids in 4A will be doing what is typically fifth grade level work. Have you found this to be the case?

 

I ask because I have my 8yo in 3A after doing 2A & 2B, but it's been nothing but review for him for a year now. I like having a solid, broad base, so I didn't want to skip levels, but the kid is bored. He's doing 5th grade maths on Time4Learning (his choice -- for fun), and was doing 3rd grade math when I put him in 2A last year. I did that because I though 2A was supposed to be equivalent to the beginning of third grade.

 

I had bought Teaching Textbooks 6 for my partner's son, last year. DPS is off to public school this year, and I'm tempted to set the 8yo to work on TT.

 

What do you think? Is it really more advanced than other company's materials?

[Testimony]

I think that the thinking is on a higher level than the American math system, but not in grade level.

 

It is all in the approach. Some math programs use drills and facts. Singapore uses word problems. It is using a different thought process.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Karen in CO]

The math goes in a progression. Singapore doesn't spend the first third to half of the year in review. I would place the child by skills. Second grade cements addition and subtraction. Third grade is multiplication and division with the beginning of fractions. Fourth grade reviews all of the operations, but on decimals and does area and volume.

 

If the kid is bored and you like Singapore, look at what you are doing and the pace. Which books are you using? Are you adding in the IP and CWP books for more challenging problem sets? Are you spending too long to go over the material especially since you started a year behind? If he understands what he is doing, then move him through it faster so he isn't bored.

 

I have a terrible time with math programs because of the levels, repetition of material in traditional textbooks, and scope and sequences not aligning. I tend to find that using the material a grade ahead works well for us, but we go slowly and work through summer. It keeps us a year ahead according to the books, and allows me to speed through the "easy" stuff and park on the more challenging material.

 

Good luck. This has always been one of the more challenging aspects of homeschooling for me.

[Closeacademy]

I have read at the singaporemath yahoo group that 1a is begun in at the age of 7 in Singapore. I have also compared what we are doing to my state standards and my oldest is begining level 3b and at the end of this she will be at a 5th grade level in math compared to what they are doing in the public school.

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

[nmoira]

If the kid is bored and you like Singapore, look at what you are doing and the pace. Which books are you using? Are you adding in the IP and CWP books for more challenging problem sets? Are you spending too long to go over the material especially since you started a year behind? If he understands what he is doing, then move him through it faster so he isn't bored.

:iagree:

DD uses IP in lieu of the workbook and only does the Challenging section in CWP.

 

Edited to add: I'd also let him test out of whole sections. There's no need for him to relearn material.

[SnowWhite]

Rose, have him take the placement test for TT6. If he passes, let him go for it. If not, maybe skip to the section of Singapore 3A where he finds challenge?

[Jenny in Atl]

I have found it to be ahead. Mac is doing Algebra 1 (Foerster's) and it's pretty much review from NEM which she did in 6th. Fi is currently working through 4a. A friend shared some of her GA standard texts with me for 3rd grade. Fi has already done most all of it already. Singapore moves faster than other programs with a lot less review. Works for some and not others.

[materursa]

Has your ds taken the Singapore placement tests? If he scores higher, why not move him up? It seems that the most major thing that you would want to cover in the level 3 books if he tests out of them would be the bar diagrams. I think it's 3a that introduces them.

 

I'm not sure if Singapore is a year ahead of other curriculums or not, but even if it is and your ds needs to move ahead, is there anything wrong with that?

 

Just my 2¢,

Amanda

[emzhengjiu]

In 3A, the student begins working with the bar diagrams used through level 6. It's an important "jump" in thinking the Singapore way. If you haven't already, I recommend giving him the placement tests. The placement test results should help you decide which level is best. Singapore Primary series works very well for my older daughter. Maybe it will for your child as well.

[emzhengjiu]

The placement tests can be found at singaporemath.com.

 

edited to add, there's a forum there as well. The moderator is great about answering questions of all kinds, including correct placement.

 

Judy

[hsmamainva]

I don't have any experience with Singapore, but my 8 year old is using TT Math 5 and loving it. (He used BJU Math prior to this...levels K through 4th)

 

I'm almost wishing I'd gone with Math 6 because Math 5 is almost too easy for him....but I'm hoping that's just because it's the beginning of the book and that means 'built-in review'.

[EKS]

After using Singapore and about 8 million other math curricula, it seems to me that Singapore is about 1/2 year ahead with a twist, in that within the 1/2 year ahead for concepts, the problems are harder.

[angela in ohio]

The grade levels in Singapore don't neatly correspond to our grade levels here. It is recommended that you use them roughly 1/2 year behind to be at the American grade level they would match up to.

[keroro]

I used it for four years and made the transition to Saxon this year. I do think the Singapore math is roughly 1/2 year ahead.

[dragons in the flower bed]

We haven't given the placement tests. I wasn't aware that there were any, actually. I'll look them up.

 

Verdi is enjoying figuring out the bar diagrams in 3 and adores CWP. He doesn't like IP, though.

 

I had let him skip and hop through the seemingly relevant parts of a program before, when he was five, with Developmental Math. It didn't work that well in the long run, so I spent some time helping Verdi relearn concepts without a program of any sort, just winging it. When that grew old, I set him into Singapore. I'm adding other math enrichment -- Time4Learning, LivingMath -- and I'm actually okay with him being bored because I don't want to repeat what happened with Dev. Math. If Sing. is review for him, that's fine. Review in math is good.

 

I was mostly just wondering if I had been hallucinating this rumor of Sing. Math being advanced. I felt I had conflicting information on that. Also, my school district says they didn't get the plan I sent in for the year, and they want it sent in again, so I have yet another chance to tell them what grade Verdi is in. It's a question of second or third, not third or fourth, and I didn't want to pick second if he's really doing fourth grade math.

[dragons in the flower bed]

After using Singapore and about 8 million other math curricula, it seems to me that Singapore is about 1/2 year ahead with a twist, in that within the 1/2 year ahead for concepts, the problems are harder.

 

:D I like that explanation. It fits with my observations.

[chai]

 

I was mostly just wondering if I had been hallucinating this rumor of Sing. Math being advanced. I felt I had conflicting information on that. Also, my school district says they didn't get the plan I sent in for the year, and they want it sent in again, so I have yet another chance to tell them what grade Verdi is in. It's a question of second or third, not third or fourth, and I didn't want to pick second if he's really doing fourth grade math.

 

My experience shows Singapore being ahead of other programs a well. We found Horizons 5 to be a almost all review of Singapore 4A/B.

 

I would keep Verdi at his age-grade for reporting to the school district. It gives you more flexibility in the future to slow down if you wish. When he's older, you can always bump him up a grade if you want him to graduate early.

[Laura Corin]

FWIW Calvin aced the Texas standardised tests a year ahead of the 'grade number' he was studying with Singapore. He has no special talent for maths, so that might be a reasonable guide.

 

Laura

[TraceyS/FL]

He probably will do fine in the TT6, it seems that "most" have that a grade level behind too. I know that DD tested into their Algebra 1 from Saxon 6/5 (and about 1/2 thru it at that).

 

IF you want to spice it up, use the TT6, but i think if you wait to use that (provided you want to get your moneys worth), then you will be using it as review.

 

Gee, did any of that just make sense? LOL!

[abbeyej]

No, I don't. And the research I've done indicates that students in Singapore are *not* older than students here when they begin grades... Their school year begins in January and their cut-off for age is January 1. So a student will turn six some time in the twelve months preceding first grade (just as they do here when there is a late summer or early fall cut-off date).

 

One thing that I like about Singapore is that it's easy to move quickly through sections that come naturally to a child, but there are also great supplements for extra or deeper work at each level.

 

The sequence is a little different than many American programs, so certainly there are times when something is introduced a little ahead of some American programs (or not at all -- there are some topics that simply aren't covered in Singapore). But overall, I find it at most about a half year "ahead". It *does* generally require deeper, more complex problem solving -- and I think that's tremendously valuable.