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When you can't manage Singapore's word problems anymore,where do you go?


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I am about ready to jump ship with Singapore. We have used it all the way thru and now are in 5A. Some of the word problems are just too much! We can manage to figure most all of them out, but today there was one even after I read the answer in the HIG, I just told him to skip!

 

My ds is 6th grade, but only in 5A of PM. Is there a program anyone would recommend? I thought about LoF fractions or decimals, but am not sure if we're ready for that yet.

 

Anyone jumped ship on PM this late in the game?

 

Thanks!

Kim

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My kids did LOF Fractions with no problem after 4B, but we're not going to do decimals/percents till after 5A/B, as percents don't get introduced till 5B in Singapore. In fact, we're just finishing up percents in 5B now.

 

Are you drawing all the diagrams for the word problems? I have to say I've had kind of an epiphany with those - at some point in teaching this to my kids I figured out how to draw them, and now we're breezing through the word problems (meaning even if they still get hung up on some, now I've figured out how to explain them to them). Those very complex-seeming problems become fairly straightforward once you've drawn the diagrams. (I admit we're not using CWP, so I can't speak to those :tongue_smilie:). And if it is CWP hanging you up, I think the program does stand alone without it.

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If it just a few of the problems he is having trouble with, I would stick with it. He already understands how the program works and how they teach. A new curriculum will have a new way of teaching and explaining and different programs teach things at different times so you may have missed something they taught earlier. If it is to hard, just slow down a little or ask for help. There is no reason not to skip the really hard ones if he generally understands the process and type of problem. It kind of depends on what your math goals are for him, also. Is he going to college? Is he going to need advanced math or just a basic understanding of math?

 

There are solutions out there. I would finish since you have been using it for so long and it has worked so far. Hope it is just that you were having a frustrating day and things will smooth out. :)

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Nancy, that makes me feel better! I actually went online to try to see samples of 5B, 6A, and 6B to see how much worse it was going to get!:tongue_smilie:

 

I just wonder if he's really learning how to do the word problems. It seems I have to offer so many "hints" I just don't think he's getting it. That's why now, I'm really trying to work the program right, using all the practices and reviews in the textbook that we didn't always do before. That's where all the hardest problems seem to becoming from. At least with the ones in the wkbk, the explanations in the HIG make sense!

 

I will check out the forums, hadn't thought of that.

 

Thanks for the help and encouragement!

Kim

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We are using CWP 5 next year. I ordered an extra book for me. I was working some of them last night, I had to redo two of them. :glare:

 

I think the word problems are excellent and so much more applicable to how we use math in real life. IMO they are worth pushing through the struggles.

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