Math curriculum help for 6th grader please!

[CHSgirl]

We have been using Singapore/Primary Mathematics, standards edition since we started homeschooling my daughter in 2nd grade. She is now about to be a 6th grader and I'm a little stuck on what to do this year. I would love to hear some input from some of you seasoned homeschool parents!

A little background on my daugher: she is a very advanced reader and her strongest subjects are literature and history. She doesn't love math. Singapore Math has been wonderful, but she does get frustrated sometimes with the problems in the workbook/tests. She is a child who would prefer you give her a formula, and a specific way of solving a math problem, that can be directly applied to a related problem. Some of the Singapore problems require a little creative thinking (which I love, and I think is good for her). I would say she has maintained a strong "B" average this past year. 

The problem is that Primary Mathematics standards edition does NOT have a HIG for year 6. There is a teacher's guide, but from what i understand, is very different than the HIG and not as helpful. I have other children to homeschool, so I really don't want to get myself into a situation where math requires more involvement and planning than I've been used to. I was wondering if I should:

1.) consider using Primary Mathematics U.S. Edition for grade 6 (which comes with a HIG), or

2.) should i start with a pre-algebra/algebra curriculum? And, if so, which one?

Thank you so much for any input and insight!

[Targhee]

Singapore 6 is a year reviewing all things arithmetic covered in the previous years (essentially PreA). The only thing you are missing without a HIG is answers to the problem sets, ergo easy grading. You would be fine using US edition and it’s HIG.

The other option is to do a named PreA text (I wouldn’t jump to Algebra in your situation).  Your student sounds like she would like Saxon, but you’ve got to weigh out whether you want to continue to push the creative problem solving with her.  Here’s a thread discussing other options as well

 

[CHSgirl]

Thank you so much for your reply! I will look through all of the links you sent. So if Singapore 6 is essentially pre-algebra, do you think i would need to choose a pre-algebra curriculum for 7th grade or start with algebra? 

I feel like I’m still on the fence as to whether we should stick with Singapore 6 this year or switch curriculum and start pre-algebra. 

[Syllieann]

The Singapore sequence doesn't really align with U.S. Pre-algebra.  I think you should try the math mammoth placement tests.  The style is similar, but it is more straightt-forward, and she might place directly into the pre-algebra.  The following year could be a traditional algebra course.

[kristin0713]

I had the same dilemma for my upcoming 6th grade DS and opted to go with Singapore Standards 6.  I found a used TM for 6A and I also bought the answer keys.  Standards covers more than US, you can see this by comparing the table of contents in each.  My DS is incredibly mathy and I'm sure is ready for Pre-Algebra but I also think he would benefit from a year of reviewing all operations with fractions and other arithmetic plus the excellent word problems in SM..  I would have chosen Math Mammoth for him, which I have used with my DD and think is an excellent program, but I recently discovered that he has vision issues (now being corrected in therapy).  The page layout of SM with large boxes for the problems is very easy on his eyes and I think one of the reasons he's been successful with it despite the undiagnosed vision issues.  

[kbutton]

I would recommend Math Mammoth. The US edition is going to have fewer topics, and that didn't end up being a great thing for my older son. My younger one is doing Math Mammoth after Singapore 5 (we used US edition), and after a year, I'm really impressed. I think it's much stronger on pre-algebra than US edition 6th grade. 

Singapore does have a Dimensions Math for 6th grade that would be offer a good scope of problems, BUT, I don't know if there is an HIG for you. There is no HIGfor the 7th and 8th grade versions. It's basically just a solutions manual. 

[CHSgirl]

16 hours ago, Syllieann said:

The Singapore sequence doesn't really align with U.S. Pre-algebra.  I think you should try the math mammoth placement tests.  The style is similar, but it is more straightt-forward, and she might place directly into the pre-algebra.  The following year could be a traditional algebra course.

 

Thank you - can I ask why you recommend switching to Math mammoth for a year or two before algebra? I admittedly know nothing about it! 

[CHSgirl]

15 hours ago, kristin0713 said:

I had the same dilemma for my upcoming 6th grade DS and opted to go with Singapore Standards 6.  I found a used TM for 6A and I also bought the answer keys.  Standards covers more than US, you can see this by comparing the table of contents in each.  My DS is incredibly mathy and I'm sure is ready for Pre-Algebra but I also think he would benefit from a year of reviewing all operations with fractions and other arithmetic plus the excellent word problems in SM..  I would have chosen Math Mammoth for him, which I have used with my DD and think is an excellent program, but I recently discovered that he has vision issues (now being corrected in therapy).  The page layout of SM with large boxes for the problems is very easy on his eyes and I think one of the reasons he's been successful with it despite the undiagnosed vision issues.  

 

How did you find the teachers guide for SM standards? I’ve been told that it’s the same info as the HIG but organized differently. I really don’t want to switch to US edition if we don’t have to.

i do like your point about benefitting from a year of review. Can I ask why you would have chosen Math mammoth over SM? 

Mans have you decided which curriculum to use after SM6?

[CHSgirl]

8 hours ago, kbutton said:

I would recommend Math Mammoth. The US edition is going to have fewer topics, and that didn't end up being a great thing for my older son. My younger one is doing Math Mammoth after Singapore 5 (we used US edition), and after a year, I'm really impressed. I think it's much stronger on pre-algebra than US edition 6th grade. 

Singapore does have a Dimensions Math for 6th grade that would be offer a good scope of problems, BUT, I don't know if there is an HIG for you. There is no HIGfor the 7th and 8th grade versions. It's basically just a solutions manual. 

 

Did you give your son a math mammoth placement test before switching? How was the transition and what does he think of MM compared to SM? 

[Syllieann]

33 minutes ago, CHSgirl said:

 

Thank you - can I ask why you recommend switching to Math mammoth for a year or two before algebra? I admittedly know nothing about it! 

Mainly because it is better aligned with the U.S. sequence but is in a similar style to singapore.  In Singapore, iirc, after 6th grade is when the kids all take a huge test that places them into their tracks for the next few years.  Their sixth grade is a primarily a huge review for this test.  But I also think it's a good choice for price and ease of use.  There are free videos to correlate with many of the lessons at the 6th to 7th grade level.

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, CHSgirl said:

 

Did you give your son a math mammoth placement test before switching? How was the transition and what does he think of MM compared to SM? 

No...I bought the topical sequence because we were coming from US edition, and there were topics that he'd never covered due to that. I read up a lot on the website about how the topical sequence aligns with the grade level options, and then I went through the files carefully so that we wouldn't print out a lot that he didn't need. For some of the topics, we printed maybe half the book; for others, he's doing the whole book. It sounds more fiddly than it was--I actually really liked combing through the program to get a good feel for it.

Also, my son was a year ahead in the US Edition of Primary Math, so I was okay with some overlap and review--we could still do a lot of MM review and be ready for algebra by 8th grade. 

Someone else might be able to speak better to transition from Standards edition. My guess is that it will be an easier transition. 

I just asked him, and he says he likes Singapore better, lol, but he doesn''t know why. I will note that he has EATEN UP some of the MM books like Data and Graphs, some of the more early algebra books, etc. Maybe he just hasn't liked the Fractions and Decimals--he readily understands the concepts, but they involve fiddly calculation and lots of different steps for different ways to do things, and he has dyscalculia/working memory issues (for rapid calculation; his math sense is intact). 

[kristin0713]

On 7/30/2019 at 7:22 AM, CHSgirl said:

 

How did you find the teachers guide for SM standards? I’ve been told that it’s the same info as the HIG but organized differently. I really don’t want to switch to US edition if we don’t have to.

i do like your point about benefitting from a year of review. Can I ask why you would have chosen Math mammoth over SM? 

Mans have you decided which curriculum to use after SM6?

 

I found the teacher's guide at a used curriculum sale at a homeschool convention.  I was really not wanting to buy it because it is SO expensive compared to the HIGs but I found it for $10.  You can also just get the answer key which is cheap, but I like having the TM or HIG for explanations and the "why" behind this approach.  I really like MM for this reason.  The explanations are written directly to the student in the text.  She also has videos on her website with explanations.  After SM6, I might put him in AOPS.  Or we might just do a traditional Pre-A program.  I'm not sure.  By 8th grade I'll put him in Algebra 1 but I haven't researched enough to decide.