All About Abacus Training

[Agilemaths]

I do not have experience from both CC and CMA. But if you are trying out CC then CMA, what I know is CMA requires student to start from their beginner level, regardless of whether the child has or no experience in abacus/mental arithmetric. If you try CMA then CC, you probably able to discuss with the CC’s instructor to place your girl into level that she is comfortable with. Hope the information helps.

[adafew]

My son is currently with CMA.


Course fee is reasonable in my opinion,
S$250-280/10 lesson - 90mins/lesson - 1x per wk or
S$200-220/10 lesson - 90mins/lesson - 2xper wk

I think the different between CMA and CC is CMA uses 2 hands method while CC is typically 1 hand method. Personally I preference 2 hands as I thought coordination and mind thinking will be more ‘balanced’.

Also, CMA is very structured and they will evaluate each individual kids and promote them to their grade appropriate depending on their learning speed. So it is not regime to time factor for each child, ie. a child who learns faster will go to another grade quicker than his/her peers.

Hope this helps.

[tree nymph]

Hi!


Is there any Adult Abacus Class?

[Pen88n]

tree nymph:

Hi!


Is there any Adult Abacus Class?

What is your reason for attending abacus class - to teach your kid or you really want to be able to do abacus well yourself? If it is to teach your kid, you can learn the basics from the internet. If you want to be able to do abacus well yourself, other than knowing the basics and methods, you need to practise and progress yourself.

I know the basics on how to compute, can guide my kids at the early stage and ensure they are doing the right method. However, I do not practise and so cannot keep up with my kid's progress over some time. They all bypass me. Now they use abacus / mental and I use calculator :lol:

[sunny]

hi

after reading that kids would forget the abacus skills if they don’t practise after a while, i I am thinking whether I should switch my gal from her abacus class to montessori maths to build her maths foundation.

anyone can share your view, please?

[jedamum]

sunny:

hi

after reading that kids would forget the abacus skills if they don't practise after a while, i I am thinking whether I should switch my gal from her abacus class to montessori maths to build her maths foundation.

anyone can share your view, please?

my ds1 went thru both.
i may however still consider getting ds2 into abacus cos it claims to train the brain, but will not go for montessori maths cos i find that what they covered are quite brief - divisions, multiplications up for tens and above, only 2 lesson; my boy long forgotten them; what he had retained were stuff that i went thru with him using assessment books bought from Popular bookshop. given enough monetary resources, i may explore MPM instead. just my opinion cos different montessori schools may offer different math syllabus/curriculum. you can go to your interested branch to take a look at their curriculum. the one that i went to (since closed down) did not have P1 preparation and we went for their broad kindergarten syllabus back then.

[sunny]

jedamum:

my ds1 went thru both.
i may however still consider getting ds2 into abacus cos it claims to train the brain, but will not go for montessori maths cos i find that what they covered are quite brief - divisions, multiplications up for tens and above, only 2 lesson; my boy long forgotten them; what he had retained were stuff that i went thru with him using assessment books bought from Popular bookshop. given enough monetary resources, i may explore MPM instead. just my opinion cos different montessori schools may offer different math syllabus/curriculum. you can go to your interested branch to take a look at their curriculum. the one that i went to (since closed down) did not have P1 preparation and we went for their broad kindergarten syllabus back then.

jedamum, when i talked to the in-charge of montessori, she mentioned that the kids will learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, etc. after the kid can read, she will start teaching things like problem sums. she will also teach 11-99, if the kid can absorb fast, will even learn thousands. from the way she describes, i was so tempted to switch my gal to her enrichment class. :oops:

but seeing that my gal is quite settled down with CMA, i am wondering if i should switch. by switching, probably i would spend lesser time in coaching her to do the homework. the homework is always few pages. *faint*

[jedamum]

sunny:

jedamum, when i talked to the in-charge of montessori, she mentioned that the kids will learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, etc. after the kid can read, she will start teaching things like problem sums. she will also teach 11-99, if the kid can absorb fast, will even learn thousands. from the way she describes, i was so tempted to switch my gal to her enrichment class. :oops:

but seeing that my gal is quite settled down with CMA, i am wondering if i
should switch. by switching, probably i would spend lesser time in coaching her to do the homework. the homework is always few pages. *faint*

sunny,
essentially, montessori math and CMA are two completely different programme. my ds1 was taught division like 2436/3 in his montessori math etc, but now i ask him, he all forgotten already. i (rather my husband) re-taught his fractions concept too, all using assessment books as those he learnt earlier, when not constantly applied/revised, he forgotten about it (how to retain something that is taught for only 2 lessons?). CMA ala abacus focuses on speed calculation and is a different ball game. yes, abacus homework can kill... :stupid: ....we dropped abacus too when the boy can't cope with mental calculation. i would reckon that you are looking at montessori math for purpose of P1 preparation; if you really did not have the time to prepare your kid yourself, then no choice ah cos not many math enrichment in the market - http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=128

[laughingcat]

Hello.....just a thought. :?


Isn't it true no point in focusing too much on abacus since it has no advantage to problem maths questions? In other words, abacus will not be useful for higher maths. Anybody? :?

[jedamum]

laughingcat:

Hello.....just a thought. :?


Isn't it true no point in focusing too much on abacus since it has no advantage to problem maths questions? In other words, abacus will not be useful for higher maths. Anybody? :?

pros and cons of abacus training has been debated over here - http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42&start=0

to me, abacus have no advantage to problem solving if the kid can't read, analyse etc. but it will be of tremendous help in the accuracy and time management dept (mental calculation/checking) if the kid already has the reading and analytical skill to tackle problem sums.
additionally, abacus claims to stimulate left/right (?) brain which supposedly should be beneficial in the long run. enrichment in itself is a bonus, so one has to weigh what are our objectives.
MHO.