Singapore Math ???

[Tanya in KS]

I have a daughter who is in Book 5A. She does VERY well with math, occassionally she misses a lesson because she does not read the textbook. She completes her lesson very quickly - 15-20 minutes. I schedule 1 lesson per day, sometimes 2.

 

My husband thinks she should be working on her math longer and that I should set a time limit for math and then that is when the lesson is complete, not when the 1-2 lessons is complete.

 

I would love to hear others thoughts on how they schedule Singapore. Should I supplement it with something else? She has very good retention so I do believe that she needs drilling.

 

Thanks!

[inashoe]

My daughter also whizzes through her lessons in singapore in double quick time, and also with very good retention.

The lessons in Singapore are uneven, usually when it begins with a new concept then the lessons are very short and easy, I then ask her if she could do another, but I don't insist.

I don't feel a need to insist on a minimum time - I allow her to benefit from doing her lessons so quickly. Her brothers, on the other hand, sit and day dream, poke each other in the ribs ... well, they just get less play time.

[usetoschool]

I would rather work on one concept at a time, regardless of the amount of time it takes.

[HSDCY]

We also do 1-2 lessons per day with good retention and end up finishing three books instead of two a year. Ds is on 6A right now, and instead of giving him more lessons to do, I supplement with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems to slow him down and to make him think deeper.

 

We also started to add logic puzzles this school year and he enjoys them. They are not necessarily math related, but analyzing skills are required to do them and I count them as "math".

 

Another route is to add Edward Zaccaro's Challenge Math. We did this last school year, it was a great hit. I'd say it provides some challenges and yet it was FUN to do for a student at Singapore 4-5 level.

 

And finally, you can also do more than 2 lessons a day if your dd is up to it. Some kids are so math hungry they want more (not my ds:tongue_smilie:), and I don't see anything wrong with it.

[nmoira]

 

My husband thinks she should be working on her math longer and that I should set a time limit for math and then that is when the lesson is complete, not when the 1-2 lessons is complete.

It's great that your daughter is picking up concepts so quickly. However, if she rarely gets stumped or makes mistakes, she might not be sufficiently challenged; IMHO this is a far more important than the time spent per day. You could add in the Singapore Intensive Practice and CWP books (we use IP in lieu of the workbook), or the Challenge Math book mentioned in an earlier post. There will be plenty of opportunity for more work when she hits algebra, so I wouldn't worry about extending the lesson time merely as a matter of principle.

[plansrme]

If you are not using them already, definitely consider adding in IP and CWP. They are, to me, what makes Singapore so meaty. The problems are not just more of what is found in the WB and textbook; they are deeper and require more higher-level thinking. My daughter is in Alg. II now, and we still agree that the hardest math she's ever done was Singapore 6B IP.

 

Terri

[EKS]

I would supplement with the Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems books.

[kalanamak]

 

My husband thinks she should be working on her math longer and that I should set a time limit for math and then that is when the lesson is complete, not when the 1-2 lessons is complete.

 

Granted my son is younger, but I think older may be even more important: if I were a child who was concentrating and hacking through my work, I would resent then having more piled on because I'd been "good". Just a thought.

 

Also, didn't it say somewhere here or WTM to try another book for testing to see if the concepts are learned, instead of merely that book's method? I mean instead of extra Sing books.

[chai]

I have a set amount of time for math. DD does 45 minutes of math every day regardless of how quickly she gets through the Singapore lessons. If she completes the Singapore lesson quickly, she can choose to do work in other books like Life of Fred or do some on-line math games. I will also let her skip to another part of the book to do sections that she likes, i.e., symmetry and graphs.

 

Using the Intensive Practice books has slowed dd down by a lot! These are very meaty!

[elegantlion]

We are just finishing 4b and we do 1-2 lessons a day. I don't have a set time limit, I just work through the exercises. We also use the CWP and supplement with LOF on Fridays.

 

I know if I set a time limit he'd take all that time simply to do 2 exercises. He would not push to do more. Some days take 20 minutes, some days take 45 depending on concept. To me that is part of the flexibility of homeschooling you don't HAVE to spend a set amount of time on any one subject.