More About Math -- Why Singapore, and Why Teaching Textbooks?

Shelby asked a detailed question in my comments yesterday, and I decided she needed her own post in order to answer her completely.  If you missed her comment, here's what she had to say:

I'm so excited to hear about this math program through Sonlight. Math has always been my weakness. I am going to try very hard not to let me kids see that. I have heard lots about Singapore math too (though I haven't delved too hard into researching it just yet as we are still pre-k). I'd love to hear what you liked about Singaport (and how you chose this math program in the first place).

 Well, Shelby, let me try and answer you. Why did we choose Singapore to begin with?

Honestly, I didn't do a ton of research. We started out with Saxon K for my oldest when he was my only one in home school; he was 4 or so, and he hated that we'd do something one day, something else the next, a third thing on the third day, and so forth & so on until the 10th or 15th day or so we'd be back to whatever we had done on day one. There was no time to master anything, because you only spent a day on it at a time. We trudged through that first year, enjoyed the many manipulatives that we purchased as part of the program, and shelved it before the next year.

While shopping (we were already Sonlight users) the Sonlight catalog, I read their descriptions of the other maths they carried. It never dawned on me to look anywhere else, so my choices were narrowed down for me just by default.  Singapore, Math-u-See, and Miquon Math were the main options at the time. My husband vetoed Miquon Math and Math-u-See because they were so non-traditional.  That left us with Singapore -- textbooks, workbooks, inexpensive (after spending a small fortune on Saxon, and hating it, that was important to us), and the very program that is used with great renown in....Singapore, of course, where school children often far outscore the US in math and science.  We were sold.

What do we like about it?

Well, we instantly saw that it does just what Saxon doesn't -- it spends a bit of time on a topic, assumes mastery and then moves on to the next topic, which likely builds on the one before.  Plus it periodically schedules reviews of any and every concept learned up to that point.  Which is great.  If you have a child who is relatively good at math, this is perfect.

If you need a bit more review, you need to look for supplements.  Sonlight carries several; we've never used them, though we probably should have. Simple drill sheets have worked for us, though, on the areas where the boys need extra practice.

The problem we are running into with Singapore, though, is the focus on Mental Math vs. Write It Out/Show Your Work style math.  For Mom, who grew up on Show Your Work, to teach Mental Math, we run into some clashes. And some unique problems.  That is why we're switching Caleb; he's in Singapore 3A, and the Level 3 is about the beginning of where the clash of styles started for me with Timmy.  The problems become more complex (as they should), and kids need to start writing some stuff down. Singapore has been such up to this point (level 3) that they haven't needed to write things down before.  Now that they need to, we found ourselves starting at square one with teaching them how to line things up properly, and some major headaches ensued.

I will say this -- Caleb just started Singapore 3A, and he took the 1st half of the Teaching Textbooks 4 Placement Test yesterday; he correctly answered 12 of 15.  A score of 10 of 15 means "ready to go into TT 4" so I'm very pleased. Today he'll do Section 2 of the test, and I fully expect an equally good score.  But see how Singapore is a little advanced? He's only completed Level 2 of Singapore, and is ready for Level 4 of Teaching Textbooks.

Likewise with Timothy; he needs a bit of review on some things, but he will be able to go from Singapore Level 5 straight into either TT 7 or 8 (Pre-Algebra). Either one is a jump. So, I will say -- Singapore prepares them well, and while it doesn't have enough review built in for every kid, there are supplements available for that. Definitely through Level 3 it's wonderful.  Depending on you and your child, Levels 4 and following might also be great. For us, we stuck with it when maybe we shouldn't have, and now we're switching both boys over.

What led me to Teaching Textbooks?

As I said, Sonlight recommends it so highly that they carry nothing else in the print catalog for those higher grade levels. The other thing is that I get impatient when the boys don't grasp a math concept as easily as I think they should.  I've been known to yell at them. I've even brought one son to tears more than once, because I get frustrated trying to teach him math. Teaching Textbooks will take me out of the equation for the most part, is interactive enough that any learning style should be able to use it well (because you have the textbook, the workbook, the CD-rom with visual and audio help, etc.), and well, it will never, ever yell at my boys if they don't get it right away.  And, like I said, with Zach coming up into school, I'll need some time freed up to school him.

I think for Zach we'll follow the same pattern as we're doing now with Caleb -- Singapore for the early years, then switch to Teaching Textbooks after Level 3 or so. We'll see how he does with math, but that's my idea at this point.
So there you have it. I hope I've answered your question and not muddied the waters. If you, Shelby, or anyone else has more questions, please ask. If you want to chat off-board, leave your email in your comment -- I won't publish the comment, but that will allow me to contact you and further discuss things (be it homeschooling, or anything). 

Incidentally, I am not proud of the yelling. No mom should have to choose a math program based on the fact "it won't yell at my kids."  But, I wouldn't be honestly answering the question if I left that out.  I certainly don't yell every day, and I never leave my child in tears -- we take a break, calm down, try a different approach, shelve it for the next day, save it for when Dad gets home, whatever we have to do to not have a tearful rest of the day.  But the thought of having No Tears Math, every day, is a huge draw. For me and my boys. I'm not proud of that, but nor am I afraid to admit it.  Hopefully you don't have to consider that sort of thing, but just in case, I put it out there.