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Posted (edited)

My only beef with Singapore math over the many years I have used it is what seems like a lack of review.  While I knew and experienced that I forgot It here with my last kid and don't know if I have ever figured out the best way to fix it.  

My youngest is finishing up 5B at the end of 4th grade, and while he picks up the concepts well he doesn't really remember them very well over time.  Give me ideas on how I should go forward.  Should I spend the summer in 5B intensive practice? Should I go ahead a start 6A since it is mostly review and do the 5B intensive practice each a couple of days a week? Are there other books beside the intensive practice that would be better?  Im afraid the intensive practice would be too...well.. intensive , he just needs to keep using the skills.  I don't need to drill him to death. I just don't know how to get the right balance of practice and review that isn't too much for him to handle (he has trouble focusing so gotta keep it shorter)

(We usually do math 2-3 days a week in summer and he will move to BJU fundementals after 6B)

 

Thanks

Dudley

Edited by Dudley
  • Like 2
Posted

For review, We do either an IP (intensive practice) or a CWP (challenging word problems) book half a year behind, but concurrent with the main Singapore curriculum. For example, if our main curriculum is Singapore 5A, we will also do a few problems every day from IP 4B or CWP4 (CWP doesn’t have A and B). We don’t do every single problem in the IP books - I pick out selected problems to focus on the topics or skills that could use review. The review isn’t supposed to take more than 5-15 min or so.

Posted
6 hours ago, WTM said:

For review, We do either an IP (intensive practice) or a CWP (challenging word problems) book half a year behind, 

This.  We use the challenging word problems - though they are indeed challenging, and require a bit of willingness to sit with a problem and think about how to approach it.  You could use another curriculum or some free printable worksheets in the same way.  Just run the review pages you choose 1-6 months behind your normal work and ask your kiddo to do a couple of problems each day or a page of them once a week.

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Posted
11 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

This.  We use the challenging word problems - though they are indeed challenging, and require a bit of willingness to sit with a problem and think about how to approach it. 

Which, to be fair, is a REALLY useful skill and ought to be inculcated as early as possible. 

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Posted
4 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Which, to be fair, is a REALLY useful skill and ought to be inculcated as early as possible. 

Yes, agreed, and that's why we use them - but if the kid wasn't quite solid in the concept to begin with, the CWPs are likely to cause frustration and might do more harm than good.  Many of them actually take the concepts a little deeper than the workbook.  That's why I've suggested "1-6 months behind" rather than a flat semester: I find a short delay often helps concepts to sink in better, even while we move on to something new.

@WTM's suggestion of the intensive practice books would let a kid who was mostly down with the concept but maybe not quite solid keep bedding it down.  IMO the challenging word problems are at their best where a kid thoroughly understood the material presented in the book but might need to interact with it a few more times to move it from short to long term memory.  The "applied" nature of the questions and the struggle factor help to do that.

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Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, caffeineandbooks said:

Yes, agreed, and that's why we use them - but if the kid wasn't quite solid in the concept to begin with, the CWPs are likely to cause frustration and might do more harm than good.  Many of them actually take the concepts a little deeper than the workbook.  That's why I've suggested "1-6 months behind" rather than a flat semester: I find a short delay often helps concepts to sink in better, even while we move on to something new.

@WTM's suggestion of the intensive practice books would let a kid who was mostly down with the concept but maybe not quite solid keep bedding it down.  IMO the challenging word problems are at their best where a kid thoroughly understood the material presented in the book but might need to interact with it a few more times to move it from short to long term memory.  The "applied" nature of the questions and the struggle factor help to do that.

Yeah, I absolutely agree -- I think it's best to practice problem solving at a conceptual level BEHIND what you're currently absorbing. As you say, it reinforces it and increases the depth. 

... and that's why we're not BA users, despite the cute puzzles and the fact that my older girl is about as mathematically gifted as possible. 

Edited by Not_a_Number
  • Like 2
Posted

The IP book also has some word problems that are on par with the CWP. For each section in the IP, it starts with pure drill (we oftne skip those), then very basic word problems, then some challenging word problems. Do you get a little of everything!

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