hey fellow mums! has anyone enrolled or tried out mathmonkey?? heard their new branch is opened in Novena and having opening promotion. my nephew just went for their holiday program and can’t stop talking about the games they played! and surprisingly they actually did reasonable amount of work too… hahaha

Hi to all parents,

i see alot of discussion going on and i have read thru with great interest too.
I guess at the end of the day, all of us wants the best for our child.
and my feel is that all kids and different, there is no ONE RIGHT ANSWER, or THE BEST CENTRE, or THE BEST WAY to educate them. we have to analyse our childrens’ ability, confidence, strength, weakness, personality, etc etc, and see which centre can provide them with the best learning environment.

As many of you agree, interest should be the key factor, not exam results.
this goes the same for any other subject/sports.
For example, anyone can get their Grade 8 in piano, but it doens’t mean all of them become world-class musicians. these are the people who have the great interest, build on the knowledge and develop their own method/style of playing music.

Maths should be the same too, school teaches them one way of solving a question. if they can absorb them, then thats good, if not, then our job as parents is to find how best to help them. do u wanna kill the interest for the sake of that grade? i wouldnt…

talking about problem sums, i think everyone’s point is valid, it could be down to English comprehen… or logical reasoning, or whatever it may be, and so depending on why exactly this student is having problem with word problems, the approach should differ accordingly.

This is just my neutral point of view, not taking sides with any method of education, but just cos i feel that everyone here has a valid view, concerns and this is a sharing place

personally, i don’t quite like the MOE way of doing maths, i’d love our children to learn thru activities, play, real life experience, cos word problem is supposed to be like real life problems! if they can relate these problems to themselves, perhaps they could think of the solution better?

Cheers to all loving parents!

Hi all, for potentially interested parents who might be thinking about Math Monkey, maybe during the Sep holidays you may consider to sign them up for mathmonkey’s holiday camp.


I saw their flyer this week and they are focusing on problem sums for P3~ p6.
don’t remember the exact dates but parents may want to check it out as a trial?

Cheers~

Hi M.S,


Yes totally agree with you and glad that we are talking along the same line! i guess all parents like us concerns for our kids maths is neverending…

Math Monkey seems to be doing very well and i see increasing number of students recently. the energy created in class with all the enthusiastic children is great to see and to know that they are learning while enjoying themselves is something that is very fresh to me…

that MATH CAN BE FUN for all kids!

I guess strong kids already enjoy math, and that i was thinking this program would be more for the weaker kids who do not like math…
however, i heard that because mathmonkey classes are based on mathematical ability rather than age, therefore it seems like it is popular with parents who sees potential in their kids, but at the same time do not want their boys/galz to be stressed just becos they are learning something beyond their level!

M.S, maybe you should check mathmonkey out too!

Cheers,
Candy

Hi Mathematically Speaking,


Sorry for the delayed response, been so busy!!

I too agree with you that whichever method a child applies, there are rules to memorize and to that extent, we cannot avoid the fact that practise makes perfect...

moving onto the part of flexibility, i apologise that maybe my explanation wasn't too clear when i made the comparison between abacus and vedic math. maybe i can use one example that i heard from mathmonkey..

typically our kids would memorize upto 12x12.. and in an exam, they would be given a question such as 16 x 5=? which they did not memorize, and would use the vertical method of mulitplying 5x6 and 5 x 10 and adding them...
what vedic math teaches them in terms of flexibility is to realise that we can actually halve the 16 ->8 and double 5->10. and as a result, the question of 16x5 becomes as simple as 8x10 = 80!
to me such a method seems much better than the traditional vertical method, as i feel that the child are trained to have much better sense and understanding of numbers, and by being able to convert complicated sums into easier ones, it removes that fear most students face with the increrasingly complicated questions these days.
and probably when they are that flexible with numbers, i think when they face problem sums, they would have that flexibility to think of the solution from different angles, other than just the single method they learn in school. at least if they get stuck, he should be able to try another method?

not sure if the above helps to clarify what i'm trying to explain...

Mathematically Speaking:

Hi Candy,

I agree with you that scoring A* is not the ultimate goal in life. My apologies if my post has led to that conclusion

On Verdic vs the abacus: the mechanics at how each arrive at the answer may be different but both require the child to memorise mechanical rules to solve the mathematical sum.

Developing mental skills of creativity, flexibility and problem solving requires the application of a procedure (whether abacus or Vedic) to a particular situation. More importantly, the situation must be unfamiliar. A familiar situation is simply drill and practice.

For example, a child at P1 may learn how to add numbers up to 20. A verification of the addition skills is not scoring full marks in a test but having the child solve a 3 X 3 magic square.

What's your take?

Hi Mathematically Speaking,


Thanks for your input and altho i'm not an expert in Math, from what i read and know about vedic math, it seems very different from abacus?
yes abacus u're getting just the answer, whereas vedic math u're actually solving it in your mind?
altho i agree with you totally that MOE is moving away from the raw numerical ability as you have mentioned, i think vedic math trains the flexibility of the mind that u're able to think of how to solve questions in different ways, rather than knowing ONLY the MOE method.. i think this develops general problem solving skills that kids will require in life, and such skills are not attained by getting A* in exams.... i feel that today's kids are not gonna be successful just because they score A, but it is that creativity, flexibility and probem solving skills that are probably more important for them in their life & career.

just my humble opinion.

Cheers!

Mathematically Speaking:

Hi all,

I have practiced the methods used by Verdic. It is an advanced form of mental calculations. It is actually similar to the abacus, just presented in a different way. Vedic Math by itself, like the abacus, does not teach the concept of numbers. It only provides the answers.

If you like your child to possess such mental prowess, by all means go ahead. The ability for complex mental sums is while useful, is not essential.

The drawback of the Vedic method is that the child has to remember the particular situation to apply a particular rule. I am not convinced this results in less mental work then using the normal methods, at the primary level.

PSLE has shifted away from raw mental ability via the introduction of calculators at P5. While good number sense is important, it is no longer the standard for an A*.

Hi Sumo,


i’m not too sure what kind of updates i should provide, but i’d say that my kid is still loving it… funny that hes motivated to do all the centre’s homework but not too enthu when it comes to school work… maybe it’ll take a lil more time for the benefit to "flow" into school work… LOL
and for sure he’s more confident in doing calculations and i do see improvements!

June:

Thanks candy02sweet.


But if it is accordingly to the primary school syllabus eg; number bonds, addition using number bonds. How are they going to introduce that to the kids? Are the lesson conducted in English as I know most of the Abacus classes are conducted in chinese.

Hi June,

the lessons are conducted in English only. i see students of all races there, including angmos too!
well math monkey teaches mental math which is different from Abacus in the sense that abacus is still a form of \"calculator\" and hitting da beads to get the answer whereas mental math here seem to me is really \"solving\" the maths question and more about understanding the relationship etc rather than just quickly getting the answer by plugging the number into the abacus and read the answer off...
i'm not too sure if you can see the difference that i'm trying to highlight.. but to me i think there is a significant difference in them...
mathmonkey also told me that abacus can only do the 4 basic operations while their math can do all the way upto calculus, algebra blah blah...

June:

Hmm wondering how do they teach addition, subtraction?

hihi,
from my understanding they teach the importance of base numbers, such as 10s, 20s, 30s like compliments of 10.. so that they have a strong understanding of number relationship which would build on when bigger numbers come into play. they let students solve addition and subtraction mentally even when there are carry and borrow involved which trains their memory and concentration skills.
I guess there is only that much u can do with addition and subtraction ba...

hi all,


yeah i didn’t know that Math Monkey uses Vedic math that is from India… in anycase, mathmonkey dun have any indian teachers… all chinese… hahaha!!

so math monkey is an american program that is developed using this indian technique but with the american fun-element,
does anyone know about the other vedic math centre? their teachers all indian?