Prefer Singapore to Math Mammoth?

[Guest]

Does anyone prefer Singapore to Math Mammoth?  I have been comparing both for my first grader next year.  At the moment I feel like with Singapore's HIG and the Textbook there is more instruction to help the student truly understand how to do certain concepts.  With Math Mammoth I feel like I will be coming up with a lot of explanations to help the student in addition to what Math Mammoth has listed at the beginning of each lesson.

[dragonflyer]

I chose MM both because I did not want to have to juggle multiple books, and because I am confident I can teach and explain math to my kids.

This was a great fit for our family because I have enough firm ideas about HOW I want math to be taught, that I went looking for something without an instructor's manual.

Both are solid programs, but it sounds like you want the extra hand-holding that Singapore provides, so go for the one you will be most comfortable teaching.

[MrSmith]

On balance I feel both are great programs.  I own (and have used) both.  My kid preferred SM for the pretty pictures.  I preferred SM for the IP, CWP, and Process Skills.  Plus I thought the TB was not so cluttered compared to each MM sheet.

[ondreeuh]

I prefer Math in Focus (newest Singapore math series). The textbook is clean and colorful, and the workbook has plenty of space to do work. MM in contrast is very text-heavy and visually dense. I've done MIF 1A-4A so far and my love keeps getting stronger. I do add in some supplements - Math Minutes, 70 Must-Know Word Problems, and multiplication facts practice. We dabble in Beast Academy. MIF is a wonderful core.

[Bluegoat]

Those are the only two I have used for any amount of time, and I prefered MM.  I just found with Singapore that things seemed to be missed more easily, and I felt like it needed supplementary stuff.  Which started to get expensive fast.

[Haiku]

I much preferred MM. The instruction was more clear and there was no juggling of books.

[Peplophoros]

I started with Singapore, got tired of juggling books so switched to MM.  But then missed the instruction and shorter lessons of Singapore and ended up going back!  

 

Bottom line: they are both great programs, but I feel that Singapore is "fuller" in that it has ready-made drills at the back of the HIG, and there are great supplements to try (we do challenging word problems and extra practice book when we hit a wall with a new concept).  Cons: much more expensive, and the juggling of books is a downer when you have a newborn to take care of.  If only someone would make a Singapore worktext!

 

 

 

[Um_2_4]

I struggled through MM for too long because I had bought all the levels. I wish I had quit earlier and moved to Singapore. My twins will benefit from this and they are thriving in Singapore. My math adverse daughter is making progress and understanding math !!!

 

MM was too crowded and visually overloaded my DS. He finished Singapore and asked me, "Mom can't we just do Singapore for Algebra?". Wish they continued on to Alg/Geo/Alg 2. (I know they have the dimensions math and some use that for preAlg I guess. But based on previews, it did not look anything like Singapore standards we had used. It was the layout that made the difference for my kids. They could focus on "getting it" instead of trying to "find it" in the crowd if that makes any sense.)

[greyseal]

OP, your post kind of reads like you already made your choice! Singapore is an excellent math program; you will likely not regret using it. 

 

We've used MM for a while, and both my children do well with it. I chose it over Singapore simply because I'm a slave to efficiency, and MM is very efficient. We also started BA this year, but even that only gets done on the heels of the relevant MM chapter (in other words, not concurrently, so no text-juggling).

 

Neither of my children have ever complained about the visual clutter that MM is so often accused of, and they're both visual learners. My kids skip every other problem, and seem to think they're getting away with something. If they have problems with the work, we just do the other half of the problems on the following day. We do use Process Skills books in the summer months.

 

I think buying and trying a unit of MM is worthwhile if you're the sort of person who likes open-and-go, easy math instruction without a teacher's manual and you're on a budget/looking for an excellent value. The worktexts are incremental, and I don't find that they require much explanation at all. Sure, I explain stuff to my kiddos, but I'm just sort of restating what Maria has written in the text, and pointing out where there may be some misunderstanding. The lack of teacher manual hasn't hindered my children's understanding at all. 

[TheAttachedMama]

Both are great programs.   You can't go wrong either way.   

 

HOWEVER, I prefer Singapore to MM.   We tried MM in first grade and ended up switching to Singapore.   

 

Here are my thoughts...

 

1)   Ease of customizing how much practice is given:    Math Mammoth has a LOT of practice.   A LOT!    So much that my children went from loving math to hating it because of all of the practice required in math mammoth.   To be fair, I probably could have made some changes to fix this problem.   I could have only assigned even numbered problems.   I could have spread the program out for longer than a school year.   However, it is hard to make decisions on how much math practice your child needs every day when you are just starting out homeschooling and in the "thick of things".   Instead, I followed the scheduling instructions and took the number of pages to be completed and divided them by the number of school days (allowing for some review days as well).   In hindsight, It ended up that my children were doing WAY, WAY too much math per day.   (And this is coming from someone who loves math and believes that math needs to be over practiced.)     Singapore is different.   You can very easily customize how much practice your child gets every day.    Most kids will do fine with the straight HIG + TB + WB combination.  (That is where most students should start IMHO.)   If they need more practice, you can get an extra practice book.    If they need specific practice in mental math, you can get the mental math book.   If they need specific practice in word problems, you can get a word problem book.   If they need more of a challenge, you can get the IP book.  The options go on and on.   It is very easy to customize how much math your child does every day.   So they practice it enough without killing their love and enthusiasm.  We now use the standard HIG+TB+WB Singapore approach, and my children are back to loving math again.   This gives us just enough challenge and practice to master topics without killing their enthusiasm.     So this round goes to Singapore! 

 

 

2)  Ease of ordering:   Point one leads me into point two.   With great flexibility comes great confusion when ordering!  Singapore has a learning curve when it comes to ordering.    FIRST, you have to decide which "type of Singapore" book you want.  (Standards vs Common core vs US).  (I personally like standards for the record.)    Then, you have to decide which books you want to buy within that type.   (See point 1)   Math Mammoth is ONE book for the grade.  That is a big pro in my mind.   Fewer books make things less complicated.   So this round goes to Math Mammoth!

 

3)  Price:   This is a no-brainer.   You really can't get a better deal than Math Mammoth when it comes to price and value for your dollar.    If you buy the electronic product, one book could be used to teach a WHOLE family.   This round goes to Math Mammoth!

 

4)   Conceptual Teaching:   A child who uses Math Mammoth OR Singapore is going to have a strong conceptual understanding of math.  I will say that most of the conceptual teaching in math mammoth is done with visual representations of standard math manipulatives on a printed page.  A teacher could look at these visual representations and recreate them for the child using "real" base 10 blocks (or whatever.)     But In Singapore, the HIG actually walks you through how to teach a lesson using real manipulatives before you show them the printed examples in the textbook.  I find that young children do best when they can physically manipulate things to explore math concepts.   However, I personally think that both products are great at teaching the "why" and "how" behind math....so this round is tied.  

 

5)  Visual Layout:   You get what you pay for in this category.   Singapore is a visually appealing book.  The layout is straightforward and uncrowded.    The book is brightly colored and has just enough 'fun' and games to keep young children interested without feeling 'babyish'.   Math Mammoth does not look as professional when it comes to lay out.   It is also not as fun feeling.  This round goes to Singapore. 

 

6)  How does math instruction compare to other programs?    Like I said before, both programs provide a high level of math instruction.  Math Mammoth is very closely aligned to what they are teaching in public schools in the US.  (Except that I feel Math Mammoth does a better job of teaching conceptual understanding than most public school curricula does.)    HOWEVER---Singapore tends to introduce concepts a bit earlier than most schools do in the US.   However,  they always manage to introduce these high-level concepts in a very gentle, age appropriate way.     For example, Singapore introduces multiplication earlier than most public schools.   It introduces long division and fractions earlier.   Things like that.   So a child using Singapore is probably going to test better than a child using most other math curricula.   This round goes to Singapore.  

 

 

SO---That is my summary.   Keep in mind these are only my opinions.   Others may compare things differently.   If you ask 30 different homeschool moms which is the best math curriculum, you will probably get 30 different answers.   :)     Also, keep in mind that various factors will be more or less important to different families.   (Budget, testing concerns, ease of use, etc.)   

[RosieCotton]

I have both MM and SM and like SM better for a few reasons:

 

SM does introduce topics earlier on in the sequence which I've noticed pushes them forward at testing time, provides a great HIG with teaching instruction, and the Intensive Practice books are great. I also love the mental math work SM teaches and the mental math sections in the back of the HIG's is a no brainer for prep time for me. The teaching instruction in the HIG's is worth gold to me.

 

I use MM when we want more practice on a subject area, or to simply change things up a bit and do something different.

My kids really enjoy having different formats to work from, and I think it's a good thing for them to do too.

 

MM is a nice have but sometimes there isn't enough instruction and they get frustrated and say, "Why doesn't this teach me what to do here again Mom? This isn't clear enough."

 

Math gets more than done at my house, and it is nice to have both to go back and forth with.

 

But if I could only have one I would choose SM.

We use Standards here for more challenge.

 

HTH!