SM Standards users -- where to go after 5B

[RosieCotton]

Given 6th grade is a review year in Singapore, I know many of you skip 6A and 6B and do something else.

 

What do you do instead? I'm curious as to how you are handling that grade year once they finish 5A/5B.

 

I had planned to move away from SM at this grade, but not sure where to move to after 5B.

 

I've peeked a little at AoPS Pre-Algebra, just not sure how hard it is or if that would be a good next step.

 

We would take the summer after 5B and review concepts.

 

[RosieCotton]

Oh and yes we want to do some of BA 5 so that would work for some of 6th if we want. :)

[Raifta]

Following as this will be where I am next year.

 

Have considered AOPS, JA and the Keys to... series but I'm curious to see what others have done.

[Ms.Ivy]

This is where I am at, too. My oldest daughter will be done with 5B in a couple of months. From what it looks like on the placement test for AOPS and previous threads on this board, she should be ready for AOPS pre-algebra. So that's our plan! Kinda scary, finishing arithmetic and venturing into the unknown... haha

 

I'm also toying with the idea of combining it with Rightstart G.

[texasmama]

AoPS pre-A was a good next step for both of my boys after SM 5B. (One kid half-heartedly completely most of SM 6 but gained little ground and ended up frustrated.) We used Key to Algebra over the summer to teach negative numbers and to keep the math fresh prior to starting AoPS pre-A, which was not a neat package for us, took a complete calendar year, and involved forays into Dolciani and Zacarro's Real World Algebra.  Chapters 2 and 5 were intense.  However, I have no regrets about using the program, and I am a non-mathy person.  I was glad to have the other programs for cementing the concepts.

[matrips]

My kids are doing 6a and 6b this year. The concepts are not new, but the problems seem deeper or more involved, and this just in the tb and wb; we haven't even opened the Intensive Practice and Challenging Words Problems for 6 yet.. They are not zipping quickly through it like I thought. Going steady, but not 1-2-3 done. On the other hand. They are zipping through an online PreAlgebra course they are also taking. They are 5th grade.

I'm glad we went with 6a/6b.

[RosieCotton]

Any other thoughts from the hive on where to go after SM 5B for 6th grade?

 

[Arcadia]

Older went from SM6B to AoPS prealgebra and just finished precalculus. Younger went from SM5B to AoPS prealgebra and finished intro to algebra and intro to geometry.

SM6A and 6B was completed over summer so older didn't spend a year. BA wasn't published then.

Younger would have benefited from SM6A and 6B but he was bored and wanted to move on to what older was using. He just took longer with prealgebra than older.

[SemiSweet]

We tried AOPS Pre-A after 5B, it was not a good fit for ether of us and caused a lot of frustration. Math Mammoth pre-a has been much better for us.

[IMustBeCrazy]

Also interested in this question.  My daughter did SM 6 last year and the review was more necessary than I anticipated.  Yes, it did go deeper even though it didn't seem to.  I'm concerned that AOPS might be too intense.  She is relatively good at math, but I still hesitate.  My other concern is that with four children (3rd - 7th), I am wanting something that would allow more independence than we have experienced so far in math.  I was a math major in college, and I love it.  I loved going to math competitions when I was younger.  I'm considering AOPS and MUS, and I'm open to other options as well.

[amsunshine]

This is an old thread that was revived, but for those using the standards edition of Singapore Math, 6a and 6b are not review. Maybe in the US Edition it is, but it is not in the CA Standards edition. I wouldn't advise skipping 6 if you are using the standards edition.

[Flowergirl159]

We are about to move onto 6A, then B. We use the US edition. I am thinking that we will go to MUS after Singapore. Still undecided though so listening in :)

[Steven]

We did AoPS Prealgebra after Standards 5B. On the whole I was happy with it, but I wished that I had used direct instruction rather than discovery method when introducing each topic. That would have made it more like the math we did with Singapore. And we probably would have had fewer melt-downs. 

 

I did feel that AoPS had too many problem geared to math competitions that were too puzzle-like and didn't reflect any real world application of math. On the other hand, if one can solve those puzzles, one definitely has a very good grasp of the concepts. 

[swainsonshawk]

Singapore math 6A and 6B was not a review year.  Nonetheless, we moved on to a different math program--to prepare for algebra.  We used Lial's Pre-Algebra.  I had to teach it--I didn't buy a teacher's manual, but I didn't find it too hard. It wasn't puzzle like or game like or even common core like, just a good prep for Algebra.

[Alice]

We did 6A/6B with my oldest. It was mostly review but as others have said it went a lot deeper. We use primarily the Intensive Practice book (US edition) and he did that and started on Alcumus the same year. That was his 5th grade year I didn't feel the need to rush to Algebra. He then did AOPS PreAlgebra in 6th grade which was not difficult for him and then moved on to AOPS Algebra. I felt like being a bit older and having a really good foundation helped with Pre-Alg and with the AOPS method. 

 

It's different for every kid obviously. My son is young for his grade so 5th grade was 9-10 and I felt like he could benefit from really going deeper. He also is a kid who is good in Math but not a Math genius.

 

Interestingly, at that point I would have said he wasn't interested in Math as a career so part of our reasoning was also that he should have a really good foundation in Math that could serve him in other classes (like high school science). I didn't think he was a kid who would be needing to go at a super accelerated rate in Math so although he was ahead we elected to still go somewhat slow. Recently though he has said that Math is his favorite subject, which I think is because he likes AOPS so much. And when we were talking about possible careers casually one day I suggested he should be a lawyer since he likes to argue. I was joking around but his response was that law might be interesting but he didn't think it would have enough Math. That totally surprised me. 

[boscopup]

My oldest did AoPS Prealgebra after Singapore Standards 5B. He spent two years on it (4th and 5th grade). There were a few topics he needed some drill and kill type practice in, particularly exponents. So for that I pulled out Dolciani Prealgebra, which is ridiculously easy after doing AoPS. :) I think I had to pull that out about 3 times early in the book. After that he didn't have any more issues. He then did Jacobs Algebra last year and now is doing AoPS Intro to Algebra (which should take a year or maybe a little less, since he's already taken an algebra course).

 

My next kid is in Singapore 5A right now. I'm undecided about what to do with him next. As far as the math goes, I think he'd be totally fine moving on to AoPS Prealgebra next. My concern is his writing ability. I'm hoping things will get better in that area this school year. He's getting some practice writing on lined paper from a textbook when doing Singapore practice pages, but he totally hates those. :lol: So we'll see. He'll be a little over 10 when he finishes Singapore 5B.

[SereneHome]

Following.

[StephanieZ]

If your child is a strong math student and ready for AoPS Pre-A, then I'd go ahead with Pre-A, and I'd plan to take 2 years to complete it. (It's a big book!)

 

If your child is not super strong yet with the SM material and/or is really young and you want to wait for Pre-A, you can go ahead and do SM 6. You can always let the child go super fast if appropriate. 

 

Another thing I think is super cool to do before (or along side) Pre-A is Patty Paper Geometry. My youngest daughter was very precocious with math, and loved it, but I wasn't inclined for her to move into AoPS Algebra before age 11 or so, and one of the things we did to constructively learn math w/o accelerating further was to do Patty Paper Geometry sometime around when she was doing AoPS Pre-A. 

 

If you're happy to have multiple math things going on at the same time, then I personally advise doing PP Geometry along side either SM6 or AoPS Pre-A. PP Geo is very educational, provides a solid understanding of many geometry concepts, and is also very fun and low key and hands-on. You can do PP Geo one or two days a week for 20-30 min and do the other math on the other days, if desired. Worked great for my youngest. 

[RosieCotton]

Thanks for all the ideas. I love having multiple things going on -- I think it adds depth to math.

 

It's nice to hear what others have done and what options are out there if I want to add things, move more slowly and not feel pressed to complete AOPS Alg in 1 year.