<p>arabab,
Singapore Math is now Americanized. My older kid was dealing with Mrs. Lu who was buying lychees and durians at the market while my younger kid had Mrs. Smith who was buying apples. I think older version was more fun but the new version includes American measurement system. If parents spend a little bit of time with elementary school kids doing SM every day it will go a long way towards neutralizing the horrors of US school math education. </p>
<p>Minnymom said:
“I am an elementary math curriculum coach. The pushback is coming from white professional parents who say multiple methods are confusing their kids who have always done well in math. Foreign born parents say that this is the way they were taught.”</p>
<p>I am a foreign born white professional parent and this is not how I was taught. I remember my kid struggling with ten different ways to do long division without becoming proficient with one. Incidentally this particular kid refused to do SM (because she always had an A in math due to grades inflation in our nice suburban school) and being not a tiger parent I let it slide. Later she paid the price during the SAT and still struggling with AP Calculus because her basic math skills are missing.</p>
<p>Oh, lexile levels? You have never heard of them? </p>
<p>Teachers tell students - you are at this lexile level, ie, 800. If you want to read a book, and it’s level is too hard, well, then, no. Choose another one. The higher you go, the “harder” it is. </p>
<p>Only in America can a standard book of fourth grade Califrnia history - and beloved by genertions of children - be considered too difficult for the average fourth grader. It us 1000 lexile. To Kill a Mockingird - 870. </p>
<p>That 1000 lexile book is Island of the Blue Dolphin.</p>
<p>I agree samurai. If I had it to do over again, I would homeschool. It’s actually my only regret. </p>
<p>I’ve told my kids their children are welcome to attend boarding school at my house. I’m not kidding. </p>
<p>Singapore math sounds good! I ended up using kumon for my kids because I thought university of Chicago math was just confusing the issue. It was a good move. </p>
<p>But if my oldest hadn’t had a BFF who was southeast Asian by descent, I don’t know I would have thought if it.</p>
<p>Lexile levels have been around since the 80’s at least and similar schemes at least back to the 60s. Any one remember SRA cards? You progressed through boxes of color coded folders which had reading passages and questions - quite a bit like constant standardized test practice. I loved the orderliness of them, though I also read plenty of real books at more advanced levels.</p>
<p>We did homeschool till high school. If I had it to do over again, at least one child would not attend high school.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing though. A good friend said to me early on that I only cared about my own. I wasn’t helping out the community. She kept hers in public school, volunteered in the school and eventually served on the Board of Education. I continue to think she had an excellent point. So kudos to those of you who didn’t opt out, instead strengthening the system and helping the children of others as well as your own. Since homeschooling isn’t ever going to be an option for all, we are going to continue to need good public schools.</p>
<p>If homeschool is undermining public education, so is the private education system. Is paying for a service via public dollars and not using it really negative. If schools are really dependent on parental help, volunteering, peer teaching, and outside tutoring are they not admitting that they simply are failing in the simple mandate of educating everyone?</p>
<p>We live in a country that is deeply afraid of antitrust and monopolies because we know they ultimately hurt all customers. Yet we believe education should be the same for all. Interesting how we support a monopoly in K12, but grab any chance to attend a private university if we can afford the tuition. The only difference is that one system does not bill you directly and splits the cost over a silent population that has little voice. </p>
<p>We do need and deserve better public schools, but protecting them only makes them worse … as history shows.</p>
<p>"If math curriculum works well for Singapore kids - translate it to English. Period. Don’t re-invent the wheel every 5 years. "
I think the official language in Singapore is English so I’m pretty sure we don’t need to translate their text. I bought many Singapore math books for my kid.</p>
<p>Well at least private schools have the potential for providing models for public schools, while homeschooling, much as I like it as an option, is probably less practical. There certainly were times when I thought it would be easier to homeschool than advocate for my kids in particular or improvements at the school in general. That said, I thought our schools and teachers were pretty good for the most part and a few teachers were really fabulous.</p>
<p>By the way, Common Core math requirements take a lot of cues from Singapore. And Singapore Math is known for being more conceptual/less drill-focused than what we think of as “traditional math”.</p>
<p>"I am a foreign born white professional parent and this is not how I was taught. I remember my kid struggling with ten different ways to do long division without becoming proficient with one. "</p>
<p>Exactly my experience. Luckily, my precious one liked Singapore Math. It was a lifesaver for us. She was doing SM only, not US math. I really like the result.</p>
<p>"state of California would be eliminating its long-standing 8th grade algebra requirements. The reason given was that kids were “not ready” to learn algebra by 8th grade. "</p>
<p>Ooops. Forget Calculus. Forget science. You can’t teach science without Algebra. </p>
<p>Thank you, Common Core. Now kids will start Algebra 1 in HS!</p>
<p>mathmom: homeschooling is much easier and less time consuming than advocating. However, the advocating I felt compelled to do during the high school years still benefits a few current students.</p>
<p>$191 million from Gates. And sponsorship of virtually every group outside of the testmakers involved in the pre-development process. All based on reverse engineering. That’s what happens when you have college dropout software engineers, who never went to public schools, lead education reform efforts.</p>