Singapore Math at Home

This Friday, we have the opportunity to gather in the MPR and improve our math teaching skills. If you are still on the fence and unsure if this training is something you need to go to, or wondered what practical applications this math program has, we’re excited to share one of our veteran families’ experience with Singapore Math and how relevant it is to day-to-day life.

Joining us on the blog today is Track B mom, Kary Antoniadis. Kary and Jimi, along with their daughter Antonia, have been with SLOCA for 7 years. 

Let’s discover what she’s recently found out…

I’m not too prideful to admit that if there’s one catchphrase I remember thinking (and saying out loud) to myself in math class throughout school years was, “we’re never going to use this in the real world”.

Boy, was I wrong.

As a homeschooling parent alongside my daughter these last 7 years (Kinder-6th), I’ve “re-learned” math. Instead of learning, memorizing and executing algorithms to obtain answers, I was introduced via Singapore to a whole new way of understanding numbers and solving problems through their “abstract, concrete, pictorial” methods. It’s been wonderful to comprehend complicated word problems numbers and parts of numbers through the creation of model drawing and the use of tactile manipulatives. Even more wonderful to use them in real life.

I’ve got to be honest here…I had the leading edge on my child until 4th grade when more complex word problems sent me off the mathematical cliff back in my grammar school days. But now, to my surprise, I’ve been able to solve them and help my child.         

This summer my husband and I bravely (naively?) took on the task of installing new flooring in the last rooms of the house that had carpeting. This task included prepping the subfloors to an almost perfectly flat surface…in mostly 100+ degree Paso Robles heat. We hit major roadblocks at almost every turn, but I credit Singapore Math and our wonderful teachers at SLOCA for enabling me to assist and understand the endless calculations my husband and I processed to achieve the end result. Here’s a sampling of Singapore applications used while mixing various leveling compounds, grout and thin-set, in addition to cutting tiles and baseboards:

•      Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction of Whole Numbers and Fractions
•      Area
•      Volume
•      Geometry
•      Measurement
•      Decimals

In this month of December, I’m especially thankful to my husband Jimi for dedicating 13 consecutive weeks of labor to this project, but also for the solid curriculum at SLOCA, especially its choice of implementing Singapore math!

Wow! What a project! And way to work as a team!! Thank you, Kary and family, for showing us, in practical terms, how Singapore math has helped you feel equipped (and confident!) as you tackled this project.

To our current families reading this, we hope this has encouraged you to attend this Friday’s math training. You don’t want to miss out! Make sure to sign up today.

If you want to read a testimonial or if you are wondering what new math skills you could learn, we encourage you to read one of our veteran families’ testimonials we posted last week. It will give you a clarity on what is covered during the training for each level.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you on Friday!