Singapore Math

Hi, I have written an article on Singapore Math, and I would love some positive input on Singapore Math added to the site....actually, any input positive or negative would help. My son started Singapore Math before he entered school, and in my opinion, it was one of the reasons he was able to skip a grade. He is not an overly smart child or anything, but I feel that this helped give him the tools to succeed. I am also trying to get our school to implement this math program, so any input would be appreciated. Thank you, in advance.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1716-Tampa-Bay-Education-Examiner

I love Singapore Math Primary Mathmatics!!! I have also used NEM and although I continue to use it, I would not recommend it to most students- it seems to go too fast for most. We use NEM 1 as pre-algebra and the follow with Jacobs Algebra to reinforce. But for the PM, LOVE IT! It does a really good job of getting the students to know why they are doing what they are doing so they are more likely to remember it in the future. A recent thread of the Singapore math Yahoo group reinforced this idea in my mind. Someone wrote asking about how to solve some ratio problems. A very clear, pictoral explanation was given and many people wrote in to say "that makes so much since, why wasn't it taught to me that way? I could have understood ratios better if they had."

I love Singapore. It does an excellent job of forming students to think mathematically, rather than just memorizing and applying formulas or (worse IMHO) memorizing explanations. In my experience, kids who use Singapore do not develop the two big American math fears (word problems and algebra), because they've been doing them both almost from the beginning. The one drawback of Singapore is that it doesn't have enough drill on the math facts, but that is easily remedied.

I also like the NEM series. My two oldest went straight from NEM 4A to pre-calculus. My 3rd is now in NEM 2. However, I can see that NEM might not be suited to a family that was less mathematically inclined than ours.

Anne-Marie