Singapore Math Vs Beast Academy for 3rd grade
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Anonymous
| My rising 2nd grader is halfway throughSingapore Math 2A this summer. She will work through, textbook workbook and Intensive Practice for both 2A and 2 B. I'm looking ahead here. Should she stick with SM through 3-5 or switch to Beast Academy. BA looks amazing online, but she's enjoying SM so I am wondering whether it is worth the change. Also for families who have used both, was there much of a transition between both methods |
Anonymous
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I've recommended Beast Academy in another thread, so I hope this isn't redundant, but we did the same switch at the same time you are considering. Singapore Math was great for fundamentals. It taught number sense and approach to computation in a way I found far superior to what was being taught in school. Learning subtraction as deconstructing groups vs taking away alone was worth all true work we put in! After second grade, though, I wasn't as excited about a solid improvement on the basics, I wanted something that really went beyond.
I'm almost jealous you will have the oppprtuntuy to use their second grade curriculum, and I'd encourage you to look at it when it comes out. Beast Academy adds a whole level of depth that compliments school math rather than just improves upon it. It was a completely different experience than using Singapore math. Except for a few key chapters (like times tables), there was very little repetition. It was more like exploring progressively harder puzzle books. For perimeter and area, for example, you'd start off with your basics of calculating perimeter. Then you'd get a known perimeter and have to figure out missing sides. Then, without any further instruction, you'd get a rectangle with three sides missing and have to figure them out from the perimeter. That could be a day or two of work, but it's not, IME working concepts to mastery, it's expanding concepts. I guess my only caveat, again not knowing the second grade curriculum which isn't out yet, is that I wouldn't switch a kid who wasn't really secure in basic operations. There's no drilling that and they will be frustrated. But, in third grade, there's basically a point where they tell you stop, learn the times tables, and come back they are solid. So maybe they will do something similar in second for adding and subtracting. |
Anonymous
| We use both for homeschooling. My child is on grade level for Singapore and a grade level below for BA (which we use more as a supplement). The problem solving examples in BA is top notch. I'd definitely consider switching to BA 2nd grade when it comes out at end of August to supplement regular school mathematics unless you are homeschooling, in which case, I'd do both. |
Anonymous
| I registered my daughter into BA and my daughter had never done such math.turns out she is fine with it.I also get her to do some SM once in a while |
Anonymous
| Your poor child. |
Anonymous
+1 Is your DC struggling or are you pushing? And if you're pushing, why? Because 2nd grade math isn't "rigorous" enough for you? |
Anonymous
| My rising 1st grader loves BA! We only do the workbooks and guides, but it’s really different from traditional math curricula. I would put it somewhere between math and cognitive skills exercise. |
Anonymous
DP. What a weird question to ask, considering that schools are closed and the distance learning is inadequate in many schools. Since we're all stuck doing distance learning, it's reasonable for people to pick the distance learning platform that works best for their kids. BA is great for distance learning, but it's not at all suitable for kids who are struggling. |
Anonymous
Except that OP posted in 2017, so COVID was probably not the reason for her situation. If someone is homeschooling, I'd suggest using another curriculum (Singapore is great. I also like Math Mammoth) and then using BA as a supplement. If someone is asking about supplementing school, then I'd suggest BA. In my experience teaching your second grader basic third grade math at home, is just going to make third grade more boring. It won't make them move faster or be smarter. Teaching them to use 2nd grade math to solve problems that go deeper and make them think harder, which is what the 2nd grade level BA does, is a great thing for a smart kid who likes math. -- mom who has in the past been a teacher and sent kids to school, but is currently homeschooling. |
Anonymous
But they weren't responding to OP. A PP posted yesterday that she had just signed her child up for Beast Academy. The next two posts from today were "Your poor child" and "+1 Is your DC struggling or are you pushing? And if you're pushing, why? Because 2nd grade math isn't "rigorous" enough for you?" Those are weird responses to using an online curriculum when everyone is stuck homeschooling. Most kids who use BA should use the same grade level that they are in school. Then, BA will give the deeper understanding without racing ahead of the school content. |
Anonymous
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I can’t speak to Singapore Math but we LOVE Beast Academy. We get the books, after seeing it recommended on here.
I used it for my older kid who loved Math and am now using it for my younger kid who doesn’t love Math. My youngest is in 2nd grade. It’s fun and digs deep into concepts. We also supplement with regular Spectrum workbooks and with those two things, feel we have made up for the pathetic Math offered in our Public school system (MCPS). |
Anonymous
Maybe OP’s kid likes math?? My kid loved math and BA was an awesome addition to the boring math they had to do at school. Kept my kid interested and engaged and excited about Math. |
Anonymous
| Beast academy is a good start, but singapore math is advanced and a bit more complicated. |
Anonymous
Which curriculum does she work on? I thought they only started at 2BA.... |
Anonymous
| It may depend on your goal. We used Singapore math workbook to supplement for both DCs but never have them joined any math enrichment class like beast academy or kumon, and they both admitted to aap 1st run at a high ses es. About 4th grade we found Singapore math no longer covered all topics and we either find resource online for a specific math topic when older DC have question do we could explain, or get other math workbook from Amazon ( we don’t use the entire workbook). A lot of kids at older DC’s class use kumon or beast academy, and one kid goes to higher grade classroom for math ( the kid is 2-3 grades above in math). We got a beast academy 5d book to see what the content looks like, it’s in comic book style and we felt it pretty much covered the 6th grade math level. We haven’t decide if we will order more beast academy books, |