All About Abacus Training

[gancheongmum]

my gal is in k1 this year, undecisive whether to send her for abacus/mental maths enrichment. i'm concern she might confuse herself when she enters P1 as i understand abacus is not inline with moe teaching? is there any maths enrichment course suitable for her age & is inline with what the school teaches?? pls help :?:

[jedamum]

gancheongmum:

my gal is in k1 this year, undecisive whether to send her for abacus/mental maths enrichment. i'm concern she might confuse herself when she enters P1 as i understand abacus is not inline with moe teaching? is there any maths enrichment course suitable for her age & is inline with what the school teaches?? pls help :?:

academic aside, it is believed that abacus/mental math trains the mind.
if you are looking at more academic based, MPM is pretty popular as it covers critical/logic thinking math; some people like Kumon to build strong foundation although it is also not totally inline with MOE syllabus.
you can read more about it http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=128&start=0.

[gancheongmum]

thks jedamum

just wondering will she be confused with the different methods taught.

[jedamum]

gancheongmum:

thks jedamum

just wondering will she be confused with the different methods taught.

we will always need to track our kid's progress on the enrichment. if the kid show signs of confusion, don't heartpain on the money already spent, to stop the enrichment as deem fit. i stopped my ds1's abacus after 1yr; he is weak in mental sums, so i need to enforce that all workings and checkings need to be carried out for his math school work.

[googaga]

Hi jedamum… agree with u. But may i know y u decide to stop ur ds’ abacus training? i’m in two minds whether to continue or not… reason being the hmwk is tremendous and it’s always a struggle getting him to do his practice.

[jedamum]

googaga:

Hi jedamum.. agree with u. But may i know y u decide to stop ur ds' abacus training? i'm in two minds whether to continue or not.. reason being the hmwk is tremendous and it's always a struggle getting him to do his practice.

just to qualify first, my boy was under a regular abacus training programme, not 2 hands type.
we stopped after his first abacus test cos
1. difficulty in getting him to do the homework based on abacus method (he was doing number bonds method in his mind instead of using the abacus formula)
2. he has problem applying formulas that he does not understand; ie why must -1 then +something when there is nothing to minus from in the first place? will +something first then minus affect the way the teacher is going to continue teaching cos teacher's formula is minus first?
3. even for his first abacus test, can already see that he is using mental number bond methods instead of the abacus method; it may work for small numbers, but as his foundation for abacus formula is weak, he will suffer when they proceed to more advance level.

[Agilemaths]

Hi Mums,

3G aka 3rd Generation. It has same benefits as traditional abacus but uses only 2 sets of formula. I have a blog : http://agilemaths.blogspot.com/ . You are welcome to post enquiry to me.

[skkhor]

//Moderator's note: Topics merged.


Who's know which centre is good for abacus in west area? How's you guy think CC is good? Please advice. Thanks a lot

[schellen]

Try this other thread: http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42


Mods, pls merge. Thx.

[adafew]

My DS1 has been very coorporative when asked to do piles of Abacus homework and he seems to be getting into the ‘interest’ as there are ‘reward’ chops. So he is keen to know if he gets more rewards on his lesson days. He is also starting to use what he learned in Abacus (mental calculation) for his maths assessment.


Personally I think Abacus do helps.