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Rote memorization doesn't really teach anyone anything. Plus its just a few months' of activity maximum. You going to carry on "teaching" that for how many years? All you need is a book of tables, a "teacher" for that is entirely optional.
My son, now 9, can do mental arithmetic very quickly with fairly complex and large numbers already because of the concepts he learned. I've got a PhD and a JD and there is no way I was at his level of understanding of math when I was 9. It comes down to how our state implemented common core.
The only disaster is the facile notions and misunderstandings associated with it. No doubt it will be dismantled, I'm happy my son got to leap ahead because of it though.
You gave Common core way too much credits. Your son can leap ahead is likely because his natural math ability. Common core math is a weak standard when compared to Asian. The bar is much lower in America. In China, kids start learning geometry in 7th grade. By high school graduation, they have done over 100 proof problems. How many math proofs have US students done?
My children are in kindergarten, 4th, and 6th, in public schools in North Carolina. They've learned mental math strategies at school, that we support at home. I've been quite impressed with the method of instruction thus far. My kids are much more nimble in their calculations than I was at their age. In fact, I've incorporated some of the strategies myself, and have improved my own ability to mentally calculate simple multi-digit addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems. NC is a Common Core state (for now) although I'm not sure if it's CCSS to credit here, or the curriculum, or the teachers. They use Everyday Math.
I heard that "Everyday Math" is the worst math curriculum ever while Singapore math is a popular one. The math education reform seems never stop and the bar keeps getting lower. In China, they start teaching geometry and formal mathematical proofs at 7th grade. In US, it is common that a student graduates from high school without doing a single proof. Common core is another reform process, it won't improve kids math.
My children are in kindergarten, 4th, and 6th, in public schools in North Carolina. They've learned mental math strategies at school, that we support at home. I've been quite impressed with the method of instruction thus far. My kids are much more nimble in their calculations than I was at their age. In fact, I've incorporated some of the strategies myself, and have improved my own ability to mentally calculate simple multi-digit addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems. NC is a Common Core state (for now) although I'm not sure if it's CCSS to credit here, or the curriculum, or the teachers. They use Everyday Math.
I'm also in North Carolina and I actually don't have a problem with CC math. My son enjoys math and it's one of his strong subjects. I can do math in my head (and it's not a strong subject for me) but he can do it in a way I cannot. I like how they are teaching the kids because it gives them different ways to figure it out without relying solely on memorization. I don't think CC will stick around and I do have a problem with the way that it was thrust up on the teachers. The kids that had been learning one way and then CC is the new way have the most problems because it's so different from the way that they started out learning. CC Math is the only way my son has ever learned. I do give him tips and tricks if he would get stuck from the way that I learned it.
My daughter is learning Mandarin so she is learning how to do math in Mandarin as well (obviously the answers are the same but the numbers/characters are different).
Common Core math is not what people seem to think it is. The common core math uses more reasoning and less rote learning. The math standards emphasize a deeper focus on fewer topics, a response to research that found U.S. math curricula to be “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Common-core math seeks to build a coherent sequence of topics and concepts across grades, and aims not only for procedural skill and fluency, but also mastery in applying math skills and in understanding math concepts.
Here are some examples of the difference in the old standards vs common core in terms of specific problems.
My daughter is learning Mandarin so she is learning how to do math in Mandarin as well (obviously the answers are the same but the numbers/characters are different).
Great. Some day, she can come here (I am currently in China) and get a taste of "Chinese math". Chinese high school graduates are truly college ready.
Common Core math is not what people seem to think it is. The common core math uses more reasoning and less rote learning. The math standards emphasize a deeper focus on fewer topics, a response to research that found U.S. math curricula to be “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Common-core math seeks to build a coherent sequence of topics and concepts across grades, and aims not only for procedural skill and fluency, but also mastery in applying math skills and in understanding math concepts.
Here are some examples of the difference in the old standards vs common core in terms of specific problems.
While I agree, my daughter spent an entire chapter on how to add, which you state as fewer topics, she was learning a new way to add every day. I don't think she was given enough opportunity to practice her skills at school. I had to reteach them at home. No problem, I will do that for her.
I heard that "Everyday Math" is the worst math curriculum ever while Singapore math is a popular one. The math education reform seems never stop and the bar keeps getting lower. In China, they start teaching geometry and formal mathematical proofs at 7th grade. In US, it is common that a student graduates from high school without doing a single proof. Common core is another reform process, it won't improve kids math.
My daughter uses Everyday Math at school and Singapore math at home with me. So I am very familiar with both. They are both "Common Core", which just dictates what topics and techniques they cover. Everyday Math teaches almost the exact same topics and techniques as Singapore math. So they don't differ on the "what", they differ on the "how". Everyday Math is slower than Singapore math. It starts a good year behind. What Everyday Math does in second grade, Singapore does in first. The gap gets larger as time goes on - kids who finish Singapore math level 6 (6th grade) are ready for Algebra the next year (7th grade). Whereas Everyday Math prepares kids for Algebra in the 9th grade.
Everyday Math is VERY heavy with the spiral. EM will introduce a topic for one day at the beginning of the chapter, and then spend every day for the rest of the chapter going back and reviewing 4 previous topics. And when I say 4 previous topics, I mean you get ONE PROBLEM each. So the kids are literally doing 4 problems a day, each on a different topic. And the topic that they were introduced to this chapter, they will do one problem about it next month, another problem about it the month after that, and so on and so on. They try to reduce the amount of work necessary by spacing out the review. The idea being the more often you review it, the less you have to practice it in the first place. Which does work for... oh... I'd guess maybe half of the students? The ones with the best memories. And the rest of the students are just screwed because they don't get enough practice, and they never solidify the topics. (The better teachers add some extra practice though).
Singapore math treats the same topics Everyday Math does. But they introduce a topic, and then spend 3 weeks practicing that topic, and only that topic. Many many problems, but not all the same type of problems. Each page looks at the same topic in a slightly different way. So at the end of 3 weeks you have really mastered that topic. Then it spends the last week reviewing all the previous topics. So you still get the review. This works extremely well. The only issue is that it is a LOT of work, for both the child (doing lots of problems) and the teacher (grading lots of problems). This method works well with the OTHER half of the students, the ones who have to do things 100 times before it sinks in. So, of course you run into the issue where the first half of the kids are bored. The way Singapore math deals with this problem is that they have 2 other workbooks that the accelerated kids use instead of the regular workbook. These 2 other workbooks (Challenging Word Problems and Intensive Practice) provide really challenging treatments of the same topics, that stretches the accelerated kids.
The problem with this is that public schools have a very hard time giving the "slow kids" one workbook, while giving the "fast kids" another. People get a bit touchy about that here in the states, especially in elementary school. Which is why it's more heavily used with homeschooling parents, where the parents can decide for themselves which workbooks their child needs, or even get both and do some from each. It's very very easy to tailor to a specific kid if you are a parent only dealing with your own kids.
I have found that the best way to do this as a parent is to do Singapore math at home with my child in the evenings. Then, about a year later, my child gets to start reviewing the topic, one problem every month, at school. This is actually ideal. They master the topic first, and then they get the added benefit of the spiral review a year later. My kids LOVE math. Not because they are exceptionally good at it, but because at school they are always very confident because they know the math already, and they are not bored because they are constantly learning new math at home. It does take a good 30-45 minutes of my day (I have 2 kids, with 1 it's less) to sit down with them and do the math with them. But it's worth it. So worth it.
If I did not have time to do this, I would send my kids to Kumon. I know a lot of moms who do this. They also do lots of problems, like Singapore math. It works too.
While I agree, my daughter spent an entire chapter on how to add, which you state as fewer topics, she was learning a new way to add every day. I don't think she was given enough opportunity to practice her skills at school. I had to reteach them at home. No problem, I will do that for her.
If I were you, I'd find out which exact book they are using at school. I just looked at the Go Math website, and for each grade they have a "Practice Book", a "Reteach Workbook", and an "Enrichment Workbook". If they are using the Practice Book at school, then I would buy the reteach workbook and the enrichment workbook for home (they are only $8 each, plus taxes etc). Then I'd have a really good idea how to go about supplementing at home to go along with what she is doing in school.
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