Next Step for Math - BA3 or Singapore 3?

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

DS has just wrapped up Singapore 2B (w/ Intensive Practice).

My original plan was to complete Singapore 3, then begin BA3. However, Singapore 3 will assume mastery of multiplication facts through 5 (expanding to all facts in 3A) & he does not have them memorized.  He understands multiplication & division conceptually, but saw no reason to learn them by rote because he can skip-count. *sigh*

He is beginning to get frustrated by how slow skip-counting & repeated addition / subtraction are for multi-step problems, so I think we are working toward the inevitable conclusion that memorization is worth his effort, but as of now he does not have them down & I really don’t feel comfortable moving on in Singapore until he does.

While flipping through BA I happened to see that they address the “skip counting vs memorization” argument. I feel the topic is covered well & would appeal to DS’ logic in a way that isn’t mom saying “I told ya so.” ?  That said, I’m nervous about trying BA too soon & potentially spoiling a good resource because he wasn’t ready for it. 

I could simply stop & insist he memorize the facts before we move on... but I’d really prefer to avoid that approach. He loves mathematics; I don’t want to screw that up! 

What say you, AL Hive? 

[Cake and Pi]

He wouldn't need any multiplication for Beast 3A, and he could flex his skip-counting muscles. BA may cure the frustration/boredom he's feeling toward math with the logic-type questions and puzzles. And you're right, come 3B he'll have the Little Monsters telling him it's time to memorize the multiplication facts for you. Though, if I'm being honest, that was my least favorite chapter in all of BA specifically because they insisted that the child just memorize the multiplication table. Learning/teaching multiplication is where I felt RS really shined.

I don't see a problem with trying BA out. If it turns out he isn't ready, just back off and do something else for a while or take BA extra super slow. I delayed giving my DS#3 BA for a while because I feared he wouldn't be ready, but then he got 3A out all on his own at 5y8m and surprised me by doing the whole book in a month. It just goes to show how unpredictable these kids can be. Sometimes it's hard to know what they're capable of until you just hand it all over and let them go.

[Cake and Pi]

Oh, and I'll add that if he finds the first chapter in BA 3A too difficult, you can safely move on to the second and third chapters before looping back to the first. My kids all thought that first chapter was the easiest (and the most fun!) but they seem to be the exception. Most seem to say that first chapter is the hardest of the whole level 3 set. Maybe it's a visual-spatial vs. auditory-sequential thinker split? I don't know, but I thought I'd mention it in case your kiddo falls with the majority so you don't give up on BA possibly unnecessarily.

[Sarah0000]

Will your kiddo just sit and do math on his own? I admit that I mostly let my DS, age six, do that with BA after I'd made sure he understands conceptually what's happening. Then he can do whatever and I don't have to worry about burn out or whether it's too hard for him. The nice thing about BA is its easy to skip a chapter and loop back to it later. Also, every chapter starts out fairly easy for several pages so he could do the first bits of each chapter then loop back around and do the rest. Typically my son will do all the geometry and area types problems first and anything that's a puzzle. Then I go through and assign the stuff he skipped which are the more straight forward arithmetic type of problems.

Do you already have Singapore 3? IIRC, Singapore 3 has some work in arithmetic with measurements such as volume. I don't *think* BA does much with that until the end of year 3 or beginning of year 4 (sorry can't remember). I did find it helpful to do that part of Singapore 3 because BA pretty much jumped straight into conversions. My kid could do it but I wasn't sure he understood why in a real life sense. Also, as an aside, if you find your son needs more hands on practice to develop a real-life sense of the units of measurement then look into MM Measurement 1. 

All that to say no it's not necessary to do Singapore 3 and no he does not need the multiplication facts fully memorized before starting BA. DS is currently working in BA4b and still derives his multiplication most of the time.

[Jackie]

Overall, I think I stressed needlessly about math. (I still sometimes do, even though I know it’s not needed and not helpful.) It will be fine. Try BA out if you think it will appeal. Put it on a shelf if you were wrong.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

6 hours ago, Cake and Pi said:

Sometimes it's hard to know what they're capable of until you just hand it all over and let them go.

This is becoming more & more true. At first everything with him was fairly typical in progression, just early & fast-paced. As he gets older, despite my attempts to proactively build up fine motor skills & such, his abilities are getting more “uneven”. 

[Pegs]

11 minutes ago, Expat_Mama_Shelli said:

This is becoming more & more true. At first everything with him was fairly typical in progression, just early & fast-paced. As he gets older, despite my attempts to proactively build up fine motor skills & such, his abilities are getting more “uneven”. 

This seems to be true of my kid too.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

4 hours ago, Sarah0000 said:

Will your kiddo just sit and do math on his own? I admit that I mostly let my DS, age six, do that with BA after I'd made sure he understands conceptually what's happening.

Do you already have Singapore 3? IIRC, Singapore 3 has some work in arithmetic with measurements such as volume. 

He does not yet work independently - at best, he can work at my elbow. He’s very active & has a short attention span. 

We do have all of Singapore & BA through 5th grade. We’ve been doing work through that with area / capacity / volume & the books do continue to expand on  that in each “B” book.