4 yo placed into Singapore 1A

[Halcyon]

Hi
My 4 yo placed into Singapore 1A. I would appreciate recs on how to approach this--would you recommend simply letting him work at his own pace, as much or as little as he would like, each day? Thank you.

[zaichiki]

Hi
My 4 yo placed into Singapore 1A. I would appreciate recs on how to approach this--would you recommend simply letting him work at his own pace, as much or as little as he would like, each day? Thank you.

Yep! :)

[Halcyon]

Thanks. Right now, he often writes some of his numbers backwards, and I'm trying to help him with that. Do youo think we should focus just on that , or let him move forward?

[amsunshine]

Writing numbers backwards is completely normal for a 4 yo. Work with him on it, but I wouldn't worry too much about it at this age.

[Jen3boys]

Writing numbers backwards is completely normal for a 4 yo. Work with him on it, but I wouldn't worry too much about it at this age.

:iagree:

[Halcyon]

thanks. my older son never wrote letters backwards, so i am inexperienced with it.

[EKS]

Thanks. Right now, he often writes some of his numbers backwards, and I'm trying to help him with that. Do youo think we should focus just on that , or let him move forward?

I'd separate number writing from dong math. So have him practice writing numbers but when you do math, write for him until writing numbers is easy. Gradually hand him the pencil as he seems ready.

[Truscifi]

I'd separate number writing from dong math. So have him practice writing numbers but when you do math, write for him until writing numbers is easy. Gradually hand him the pencil as he seems ready.

:iagree:This is what we did. Ds6 still writes 3s backward occasionally, but he writes all his problems himself now.

[Jen in PA]

I'd separate number writing from dong math. So have him practice writing numbers but when you do math, write for him until writing numbers is easy. Gradually hand him the pencil as he seems ready.

:iagree:

[StephanieZ]

Hi
My 4 yo placed into Singapore 1A. I would appreciate recs on how to approach this--would you recommend simply letting him work at his own pace, as much or as little as he would like, each day? Thank you.

All my kids started 1A by the time they turned 5 or so. I never even used any formal math prior to 1st grade level for my oldest. (The younger ones wanted to "do school" at young ages b/c they saw the olders doing it. . . So, for them, I got the Early Bird books at age 3/4 until I felt like they were ready for PM1. . . around the time they turned 5. . .)

No worries. It went perfectly smoothly.

Just remember that the child is 4 and let him/her go slowly if they want to. Personally, I don't require any schooling (except instrument practice) before K age. So, my 4 yos did school "by invitation" only. So, if I were in your shoes, I might go ahead and get 1A (and Miquon Orange) and get it started. . . but each day I'd let the child decide if they wanted to do it and how much to do. . .(And, realizing you might need to back up/review if at some point the child decided not to do math for more than a couple weeks.)

I didn't rush it with my kids. . . But, I didn't hold them back much either. I had them do Miquon alongside Singapore, so there was plenty of "math" to do to keep them satisfied. . . w/o advancing terribly rapidly at age 4/5. If I remember right, my dc tended to finish 1B around the time they turned 6 . . . so maybe doing 1A & 1B over a year or so while they were preK - K age and then moving along at whatever pace after that. . . If I hadn't had Miquon in there to mix things up, or if I'd been more controlling about their early schooling. . . I am sure they'd have gone through SM even faster. As it was, they go through very rapidly and the older 2 completed 6B by age 10. . . and my 7yo is going even faster.

I haven't found any way to "slow them down" much, so I just make sure they are really mastering things before moving on. For us, that means using Miquon alongside, and throwing in an Intensive Practices book or two every now and again, especially if the child is stumbling on the Reviews at all. . . or if I am feeling the need to slow their approach to Algebra, lol.

Anyhow, starting early and advancing relatively rapidly hasn't caused any problems for us. Just take your time, and start drilling (fun drill!) math facts soon, as that can be a sticking point.

HTH

[StephanieZ]

Thanks. Right now, he often writes some of his numbers backwards, and I'm trying to help him with that. Do youo think we should focus just on that , or let him move forward?

I wouldn't worry about that at all.

I often acted as "secretary" for my young kids in math and/or you can purchase a set of number rubber stamps and let him use those when appropriate. (My kids loved the stamps for their Explode the Code workbooks at that age.)

[MissKNG]

:lurk5: (I'm hoping to get my big girl to about 4.5 years old before starting 1a! She can't write either! LOL!)

[MissKNG]

I didn't rush it with my kids. . . But, I didn't hold them back much either.


:iagree: This is why we are moving to a Horizons K/R&S 1 combo before SM 1a. I'm trying to slow her down without stopping any of the fun math (Horizons is much more advanced than the SM EB we completed last month!!). Plus I'm hoping her writing skills catch up. Actually I ordered SM 1a/1b and it's scheduled to arrive today!!!

Good luck floridamama, let me know how 1a goes for you guys!!

[Laura Corin]

I used 1A for the whole of our K year - I added in lots of other activities and took it slowly. It went really well.

Laura

[Halcyon]

:iagree: This is why we are moving to a Horizons K/R&S 1 combo before SM 1a. I'm trying to slow her down without stopping any of the fun math (Horizons is much more advanced than the SM EB we completed last month!!). Plus I'm hoping her writing skills catch up. Actually I ordered SM 1a/1b and it's scheduled to arrive today!!!

Good luck floridamama, let me know how 1a goes for you guys!!


thanks for the support (and thanks for friending me!!) So you find Singapore Early Bird to be EASIER than Horizons K? DS is whipping through Horizons K (both the phonics and math books) that I ordered late last year. Wouldd you stick with Horizons over Singapore? Let me know what you think of Singapore 1A when it comes today--wondering if it's easier or harder than Horizons 1...

Thanks!

[dmmetler]

What I did with my DD at that age was to let her tell me what she wanted to write, and wrote for her in highlighter, then let her trace the numbers. And, like many others, we did school "on demand". It's only been since she turned 5 and really bloomed on writing that she's started doing more for herself.

[MissKNG]

thanks for the support (and thanks for friending me!!) So you find Singapore Early Bird to be EASIER than Horizons K? DS is whipping through Horizons K (both the phonics and math books) that I ordered late last year. Wouldd you stick with Horizons over Singapore? Let me know what you think of Singapore 1A when it comes today--wondering if it's easier or harder than Horizons 1...

Thanks!

Book A in EB was pretty much a dud. I made it last a month by supplementing with Critical Thinking Company Level A. Book B still had nothing new in it and I managed to drag it out too. I think towards the middle to end of Horizons K (book 2) is more like beginning 1st grade math. This is why I decided to go with the HM K before SM 1a - I thought it would be a nice transition to 1st grade math for my young student. I am going to supplement my SM 1a with either Horizons or A beka math. Leaning towards A beka right now (I have the 1st grade book cause I wanted to see it). My big girl can't write much which is one reason why I want to prolong full fledged 1st grade math.:tongue_smilie:

ETA: check my blog....I ramble a lot about math on it!!

[Dinsfamily]

thanks for the support (and thanks for friending me!!) So you find Singapore Early Bird to be EASIER than Horizons K? DS is whipping through Horizons K (both the phonics and math books) that I ordered late last year. Wouldd you stick with Horizons over Singapore? Let me know what you think of Singapore 1A when it comes today--wondering if it's easier or harder than Horizons 1...

Thanks!

EB is VERY different than PM. We didn't like EB at all (attempted when ds was 3 and it was a joke for him) and LOVE PM. We're finishing up 1B and are halfway through Horizons 1 right now. I'm not sure which one is harder since the programs are so different. Singapore really relies on mental math while Horizons teaches the algorithms and has a lot of practice. My ds is working with bigger numbers in Horizons 1, but the concepts are more advanced in SM 1B.

Here's an example:
Problem from Lesson 66 (out of 70) in SM 1B: Subtraction with regrouping.

96-80-7=
96-87=
My ds was first supposed take 80 away from 96 leaving 16. Then take 7 away from 16.

Problem from Lesson 157 (out of 160) in Horizons 1: Basic subtraction.
689
-324

My ds understand the place value of each number, but really only needs basic math facts to find the answer. It's a bigger number, but easier concept.

This is one of the reasons I'm using both programs. My ds is getting a lot of math fact practice with Horizons (no need to drill for us), but the conceptual understanding is coming from Singapore PM. Plus it slows him down a bit :) If I had to pick one of them, I'd use Singapore PM.

[MissKNG]

thanks for the support (and thanks for friending me!!) So you find Singapore Early Bird to be EASIER than Horizons K? DS is whipping through Horizons K (both the phonics and math books) that I ordered late last year. Wouldd you stick with Horizons over Singapore? Let me know what you think of Singapore 1A when it comes today--wondering if it's easier or harder than Horizons 1...

Thanks!

Well, I was a bit surprised at how "easy" 1a seemed to be. 1b is a lot more difficult from what I've heard. But after seeing 1a, I have changed our math plan. Instead of working through both books of Horizons K then starting SM 1a, we are going to work through the 1st book of HM K (with the R&S 1) then start SM 1a with HM Book 2 (dropping R&S at this point).

Even though EB is a lot different than 1a, it did give my big girl and intro to number bonds, so that won't be completely new to her.

My plan is to use Singapore as our core and either Horizons or A beka as our supplement.