memorization and singapore?

[Michelle]

Hi there,
I posted a question similar to this one back in the Fall and I was told to just wait it out and it would come, but it really hasn't come. The "it" I'm referring to is memorization of math facts. My dd is finishing up Singapore 1B and still only has a handful of addition facts memorized and no subtraction. My nephew has all of them memorized becaused he learned to memorize them in public school and my dd seems so behind him because she can't spout off the facts like he can. They have both just completed 1st grade.

I'm afraid to even keep going on in Singapore until she does have them memorized. She's still dependent on her fingers or some other manipulative. I took my ds back to Singapore level 2A in fourth grade because I thought it might make him stop counting on his fingers, but now it's my dd doing it.

Even when we get to the reviews I feel like I'm reteaching it all over again. I'm not sure there is enough practice at each lesson because she's forgetting everything by the time the review comes. She gets it (again) after I explain it (again), but I'm disappointed it didn't seem to "stick" the first time around.

What to do? Do I stop here and give her flashcard practice or not?

Thanks for all of your advice (in advance)!

God bless, Michelle

[Emilylou]

I was worried about the same thing. I purchased the HIG for Singapore 1A and 1B. It gives a few more reinforcements to each lesson than in the HOD guide. I am not "mathy" but my DS is so I really haven't used the HIG much. My DS does finish his math books ahead of the HOD guide, so this year I use the HIG to go back and make sure he knew all the stuff by using the other reinforcements.

Hope this makes sense.

[my3sons]

Good morning! I believe the pairing of the hands-on HOD math and the Singapore math workbooks were what helped my dc with fact memorization. I am wondering if you have you done all of the hands-on math plans in HOD along with the Singapore lessons? They are fun to do and easy to teach. I will say that my dc had their addition facts down about in 2A, and subtraction in about 2B. They also had a good grasp of other math concepts, which to me, was worth it as they had a well-rounded understanding of math. Some math curriculums at younger levels focus solely on fact memorization, and rarely teach more difficult skills such as measurement, time, fractions, missing addends, etc. Singapore teaches a balance of all of these skills. I used Ray's for a year and found that focus on fact memorization to be disappointing. When my ds took his standardized test, the only thing he knew were his facts. So, I have really appreciated the balance Singapore has planned. Here's a link explaining why HOD chose it, just so you can see why it is recommended:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=112

Singapore is not a drill and practice program, but that part is easy to add. I think if you feel dd is not making the progress you'd like, first I'd be sure to do all of the hands-on math in HOD with the lessons if you haven't been. Next, I'd either wait until 2A, or add some drill and practice if you'd like to get going on that now. There are many easy ways to add drill to your day, but flashcards seem to be the easiest. Here is a post where I described how we went about doing this as a filler in case something here may be helpful:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6130&p=44954

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[pjdobro]

I just wanted to encourage you to hang in there. My dc just stopped using their fingers to count and had their facts memorized sometime between 2A and 2B. It seemed that the facts came slowly over time just using them over and over. If you feel insecure about it though you could use flashcards over the summer. Also using games is a great way to painlessly memorize facts. We love Sum Swamp here and many of the math card games/activities that are used in the guides are great like "make ten". All board games that use counting and money are good practice too. I think my dc have learned much from just playing monopoly.

I know it's hard not to compare our dc with other children that have had a different approach to a subject, but different educational philosophies have different goals. I don't think the goal in Singapore is to memorize facts, but to understand concepts. Whereas many other programs emphasize memorization of facts and procedures without necessarily understanding the concepts. I liken it to the difference between the look and see reading method versus phonics. In the look and see method they figure if a child can read enough words by sight, they are set to read most anything. They are reading quite a bit early on and seem proficient. Problem is when they come across a word they haven't memorized, they have no clue what the word is or how to figure it out. On the other hand, with a child who is taught phonics, he might not be able to read near as many words at first and might be much slower at what he reads. However, he eventually becomes proficient with his decoding skills and can read quickly just like the the other child. It might take him longer to get to the proficient stage, but in the end when he encounters something new, he has the skills to figure it out. I think that is the goal behind Singapore, to give the child the conceptual knowledge he needs to figure out new problems as he encounters them. He will become proficient and quick in his facts, but it will take more time. If you feel your dd isn't getting the concepts then that is something I would work more on by going back over the hands on activities, but if she has the concepts down, I would try not to worry too much about the facts.

[jessyb26]

Michelle,

I had the same question about my daughter just a couple of months ago about halfway through 1b. We just finished beyond so it sounds like we are at the same place as you. We do all of the hands on activities but it seemed like she was just not getting it. She actually understood multiplication and division better than addition and subtraction. My daughter has an amazing memory so I know she could memorize the facts in a heartbeat but I really want her to know the why behind math.

I asked a lady from our church who has older children and has been using Singapore for a long time. She told me that it took her children longer to remember math facts but once they got it they really understood the reasoning behind addition and subtraction. She suggested letting my dd use the manipulatives for as long as she needed them and that one day the light bulb will go on and she won't need them anymore. She also suggested getting the Intensive practice books from Singapore and working through them.

We did start the extra practice and I relaxed about her not knowing her addition and subtraction facts. I did notice that the few weeks prior to her finishing Beyond she was using the manipulatives less for basic addition and subtraction. I plan on her working through the extra workbooks over the summer so she won't forget any math and can strengthen her math skills. We also play math games such as Sequence numbers.

Hope that helps!
Jessica

[Michelle]

Thanks everyone so much!

I have definately done all of the hands on activities with the guides. We use hands on for EVERYTHING or she wouldn't be able to get through a lesson. She always seemed mathy, but after this year I'm thinking not so much.

I taught my son SM level 2 A/B this year and got scared at seeing what's in store for us next. They are 4 years apart so I'm not sure she'll be up to level 2 when we finish level 1. She's still 6 yo and we're about 2/3's through SM level 1B. We're planning on continuing it through the summer though. Since she wasn't remembering the facts at all I slowed her down to only doing 1 math page a day. She's happy with that, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I do want to add in something extra, but not too boring. Even I dread getting out the flash cards! (sorry Julie! )

Thanks for the help! I just wanted to add in more info.
God bless,
Michelle

[Mom2Monkeys]

Thanks everyone so much!
She's still 6 yo and we're about 2/3's through SM level 1B.

In Singapore, they don't start them in 1A until the child is about 7. So it may just be a maturity thing. You're about a level ahead of Singapore kids! You could take it half pace by doing the lesson one day, and then extra practice or intensive practice the next day (those are on the SM site, I hope it's okay to mention them!). It could be on track with the current lesson or do it a couple weeks or a month behind the current lesson for extra practice and review of previous concepts. In this way, you'd complete just 2A next year, but she'd probably know it quite well! I'd use online games for facts practice, Can Do Kids Facts/Exercise DVD, and if you have a Linux Operating system on your computer (i.e. We don't use "Windows" but "Ubuntu" and there are others as well that will have this), check out the application "TuxMath". AWESOME and FREE!!

[pjdobro]

I agree with the PP, that slowing down sounds like a great idea since she is on the young side for Singapore. It could be that just taking a bit more time could be what you need. If you feel the need for more practice beyond the Singapore workbook, a workbook that I liked for extra practice for my dc when they needed it was the Complete Book of Math. It's not a Singapore book, but I liked it because of the color pictures. It was easy to find some extra practice pages that were similar to the Singapore ones when we needed it. There is of course the extra practice Singapore books as well. Hopefully the slower pace and more practice will be just the ticket. If not and you still feel that Singapore isn't working, you can try another math program. That's the great thing about HOD, you can use whatever math works for you.

[jessyb26]

It just occurred to me that Singapore does have a math game. Maybe you could use it for something different than working through the workbook. My daughter really enjoys it. It is not compatible with Windows 7 though. I know some people have liked the computer game and others have not but my dd has enjoyed it.

[HollyS]

My DD is going into third and still struggles with math facts. We switched to Singapore in the middle of 1st grade (with 1a) and she's now 1/3 way into 2a. We are taking a break with Singapore so we will be able to use the hands-on lessons when we begin HOD (this will be our first year with HOD). This summer we are using Math Mammoth to work on those skills. They have inexpensive supplemental workbooks you can use with any program.

Another thought would be to add the Singapore math CD-roms. I was going to buy one for this year, but I forgot. They look like something my DC would really enjoy. Also, I remember reading that when they finish 6B, they are ready for pre-algebra which isn't taken until around 8th grade.

[my3sons]

Oh, well, definitely don't do the flashcards then! I am so glad to hear you've done the hands-on activities HOD wrote - they are wonderful, aren't they? I just asked that as that can be the reason why dc haven't gotten their facts down, and if they haven't done the activities, it's an easy thing to add. You have some great ideas to try from the other ladies here already!

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Michelle,

We found that for my son doing Singapore that the math facts were not really memorized until sometime toward the end of 2B. He needed awhile to fully understand what he was doing, and I didn't push him to memorize the facts, as I'd spent years forcing kiddos (including my oldest) to memorize their facts long before they were really ready (especially in my public school teaching days).

At the end of 2B, we simply drilled whichever facts my second little guy was consistently needing to skip count to find. This amounted to only a handful of facts. We've found the same to be true in delaying the memorization of facts for multiplication, as my son doing 5A for math has never had to have a forced memorization of the multiplication and division facts on my part.

The actual Singapore program does not require additional components to be added to it, as it works well as written. The extra practice books and Home Instructor's Guides are things that have been written by U.S. based companies to add-on to the Singapore program to make it more supersized friendly (like we like our math to be here in the U.S.) While you can easily add any of these components that you feel your kiddos need, we've enjoyed doing math purely the Singapore way and have found it to produce excellent mathematical reasoning and amazing mental computation ability. It is definitely math the way I never learned it, and I was a straight 'A' math student!

If you are concerned about the math facts, feel free to use flashcards and drill your little sweetie. We had to resort to this with my oldest son, who has never used Singapore. It was not fun, but it did get the job done. It made me desire a different approach for my next child in line though.

One other thing that we did use with our kiddos over lunch off and on was the Skip Count Kids Biblical Heros CD. This teaches kiddos to skip count and has been a skill that is used often in the Singapore program. If you wanted to go that route, rather than full-out drilling, this would be an intermediary step. It's the only additional mathy thing we've done with all of our kiddos, beside what was in the HOD guide.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mommamo]

I love Carrie's ideas!! And I do think it is a bit of a maturity thing. But instead of flash cards, could you do something like play war with numbers 0-9 and each person has to choose two cards and then add them together. The person who has the highest number keeps both cards. You could also do subtraction that way too, but that may just come naturally after she has the addition facts down. And if you keep it light, like it's just a game, she'll get that practice but won't feel like she's on the spot. You might also let her have an abacus available to use. I have found that to be the best math manipulative ever. Please feel free to PM me if you'd like to know which one we use. I completely understand your concerns, but I think that sometimes this is just something kids have to grow into. (This is coming from a mom whose dd is fine with math, but desperately needing to grow into reading! I so need to follow my own advice and relax on that one. )