1st grade - Prep for beginning MFW & Singapore next year

[Mom2theteam]

I have a first grader. I am not doing MFW First Grade. My question is...is it important that he have his basic addition and subtraction facts mastered before starting Singapore next year? I am wondering if we just touch on the basics with broad concepts this year or is mastery necessary? I want him to be prepared to start Singapore but not following the MFW 1st manual...I'm not sure where we're at! Thanks

Another question: is it possible to order just the 1st Grade math manual from MFW? Maybe if I just got that and followed it I could ditch the MUS and just go with that????

We are doing Singapore this year. My son started with 1A. He doesn't need facts mastered to start at 1A. That is "taught" in the curriculum. What I mean is, they tell you to have the child memorize them. We are only in unit two and memorizing them already. You could just start with Singapore in 1A. But, depending on what level of Singapore you want to start on, I don't think they need them memorized. Though, I will tell you, MFW 1st math does encourage you to have your student memorize them.

[cbollin]

MFW 1st grade math encourages memory of math facts with addition and subtraction up 18 (9+9).... BUT says some students will not master them and will still work on it in 2nd grade. So it is not important to have perfect mastery prior to 2nd grade.

I don't think there is a way to buy just the first grade math. The Complete Book of Math is not the main program of math in the first grade program. That is the supplementary workbook. Nice one to use. fun pages, etc. lots of good topics. you can buy the first grade manual and have the math program with games, library books, and hands on stuff....but it will have all of first grade stuff. phonics, bible, etc.

You don't "have" to do mfw first grade in order to start Singapore. My oldest switched in the middle of her 5th grade year when she completed MUS Zeta. She started with Singapore 4B.

-crystal

[MFW-Lucy]

Just adding on to what Crystal has said about memorizing facts. In MFW 1st grade exploration with many hand-on games and activities are recommended to learn the concept of the facts before starting drill and memorization. So it will be fine if you child does not have them memorized, but we recommend working with addition (and then subtraction) games or hands-on activities some time each day to develop an understanding of the process. When you think they have a good understand of the process (and often while playing games they will actually learn the facts), then slowly start drilling the lower facts and building up as you go. We recommend keeping a chart so you cover all the facts while exploring the concept.

I have a little funny to share about my sister who is a 3rd grade teacher. She was complaining that some of her students are still working on memorizing the addition/subtraction facts. She said with a laugh that many of her boys though had no problem with adding up multiples of 7. When she asked why that was so easy for them, they said they used it while watching football. So there ya go, real life math! OH MY!

Lucy

[mama4jurgens]

Thanks to everyone! That is helpful. This is my 4th child and I used MUS with my older two (now 21 & 19) and with my 3rd, but #3 was struggling so I switched her to Teaching Textbooks and that is going great. MUS is a great program, but I am finding that it moves a little slow for my boys, who have been more math-advanced. I can tell #4 is gonna be a math whiz so I want to just go straight into Singapore. #2 was a math whiz too and I had him in Singapore and MUS simultaneously to slow him down so he wasn't doing algebra in the 4th grade lol! Anyway he (#4) has the concept of addition down well, (but I would not say he has achieved mastery with addition facts), but MUS does not like you to move on if they haven't mastered facts. I would prefer to just begin subtraction, supplementing with CBofM without mastery but I don't want him to have "holes" going into Singapore. So from these replies, it looks like I can do that...?

[MFW-Lucy]

If he understands the concept of the addition well you can begin to work on memory and drill of these while working on the concept of subtraction. If he shows any kind of frustration with this then you can slow it down and just work on addition facts and then move onto subtraction. You can move into Singapore next year without him having memorized all his addition and subtraction facts. This will be something you keep working on and reviewing for sometime.

CBOM is great, but be careful not to focus on workbook pages that the child may not be ready for yet. MFW 1st is more of a hands-on approach with lots of game type activities to teach concepts and develop understanding, before moving to the more abstract workbook. This book is considered a supplement to the hands-on activities in the First Grade T.M. There are some great hands-on activities in the CBOM too. Using the topic progression in CBoM is great for 1st grade. So while you are working on addition and subtraction a little each day you can also work through the topics in CBoM. If you need to spend some longer time working on addition/subtraction then you can camp out on that for a few weeks too.

Hope that helps.

[mama4jurgens]

Thank you! Yes, that does help!