All About Abacus Training

[princezjo]

Hiya,


A kiasu newbie in this forum and i really find the articles so useful that i have decided to make reading kiasuparents top of my priority now since my eldest child will be starting K1 and i was actually clueless on how to prep him now, as well as totally lost over the oncoming Primary School reg.

After reading the articles, i've started to enrol him in several enrichment courses, namely, Berries for Chinese (Two thumbs up!), Kinderart and Christofori Music. Thinking if i should add on abacus training too? Does abacus training really help in building a strong foundation in Mathematics? Would i be overloading my boy with enrichment courses if i add on another abacus?

Seems like CMA is a good place for abacus.... any parents with testimony for it or any better recommendation for a pre-schooler?

Thanks in advance for your advice

[laughingcat]

likewise echooing princezjo......I hope any parents can provide more info as in what are the pros and cons between CMA and 3G.

[jce]

Both my kids are with CMA, however I can’t make any comparisons as I have not tried others. For CMA Toa Payoh the teachers are helpful, friendly and work well with kids. Classes are not too big either.


As to whether it helps in building a good foundation for maths, yes, to a certain extent. It helps them in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, when it comes to mental sums these kids are super fast BUT one must be able to understand how to solve the problem sums before one can answer. This of course boils down to understanding questions which CMA doesn’t cover.

[laughingcat]

jce:

Both my kids are with CMA, however I can't make any comparisons as I have not tried others. For CMA Toa Payoh the teachers are helpful, friendly and work well with kids. Classes are not too big either.


As to whether it helps in building a good foundation for maths, yes, to a certain extent. It helps them in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, when it comes to mental sums these kids are super fast BUT one must be able to understand how to solve the problem sums before one can answer. This of course boils down to understanding questions which CMA doesn't cover.

Hello Jce,

Thank you so much for your input. Is it true that for CMA student, they will promote from using abacus calculation to mental arithmetics?

BTW, how old is your child? If your child in primary school, will your child be confuse between the abacus calculation and primary school maths?

[jce]

My daughter is 7, she started at the age of 6 after we moved to Toa Payoh. So far she doesn’t get confuse with the methods use in school. She is required to write-out workings so I say, check answers using mental calculation.


My son is turning 4 in Jan and I just started him. Didn’t intend to start him off so soon but he wants to join the sis.

CMA teaches mental and abacus concurrently. Abacus starts first then followed by mental as they use "imaginary abacus" to do mental sums.

[Ed1975]

Hi,


Thinking of sending my 5 yr old son to CMA kovan. Anyone got any experience there? Good to send him there? Fees are expansive compared to others but is using 2 hands and according is good for the brain. Any comments? Thanks!

[titank]

I just signed up the abacus course at the CC. See how the progress after 10 sessions before deciding to switch other abacus provider.

[wlindasg]

Hi, I’m a kiasu newbie here.

Have been reading the posts and seen that mostly recommended CMA, 3G Abacus and Apple Plus.
My daughter is 4 yrs old and she has been learning abacus under Smart Brain and is doing fantastically well.
They have franchises all over the world and even help those special needs children.
They are different from CMA, 3G abacus and Apple Plus cos they use one hand only and it is super fast.
Just to share my view only.

[sparkie0209]

hi there,


does any of the schools mentioned sell the abacus to non-students? where can we buy the wooden type of abacus?

thanks.

[huskies]

titank:

I just signed up the abacus course at the CC. See how the progress after 10 sessions before deciding to switch other abacus provider.

Hi titank

I also signed my child up for abacus course at a CC but it is taught in chinese. Trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. :lol: Learn abacus and at the same time have more Chinese language time. He prefers to communicate in English. Hope it doesn't backfire, i.e. can't understand the lesson! Starts in Feb. When does the course start for your child? Will decide whether to join CMA after that. There's a branch near my place.