Singapore Math is a math curriculum and typically refers to the books published for students in grades 1 to 6. The edition of Singapore that this review is addressing is the Primary Mathematics U. S. Edition. There are three different editions of the Primary Mathematics books, and an explanation for the difference between the three can be found here.
In our home, I have used the Singapore Primary Math books, for grades 1 to 5, with all four of my children at some point in their education.
With my oldest, I wasn’t aware of the Singapore Math books until she was in about the second grade. I actually liked the look of these books so much that I went back and redid first grade with her using the Singapore books.
What I regret about my use with the books additionally was that I didn’t fully understand the benefits of Singapore math and abandoned it when my daughter after a couple of years.
With my oldest son, an 8th grader in Algebra 1, I used Horizons Math and Singapore Math until he decided he wanted to stick with the Singapore Math books permanently.
For my middle son, I have used Singapore and Horizons and Spectrum. This year, as a fifth grader, he has chosen to stick with Singapore.
For my youngest son, he too has asked to use the Singapore Math books. He is a 3rd grader.
My younger two chose Singapore at the same time, so there may have been some influence, one upon the other. My oldest son chose Singapore years earlier.
I think that the fact that my children have chosen to use these books says a lot.
As a parent/teacher, I love the way these books teach math. The number sense they teach is excellence. It is the way I think most of us add up discounts in the grocery store. That number sense makes math easier to do in one’s head.
As for the content of Singapore Math, this program does a great job of teaching math and number sense. It is especially strong in the area of word problems. And now that I am working through the word problems for the second time with my middle son, I am even more impressed with the method.
Because the method of teaching math is so different than what most parents and teachers have been taught as students, I suggest that you make yourself comfortable with the program by working through some of the problems before your child has to work them. This is even more important at the fourth and fifth grade levels.
If you are uncomfortable working through the problems on your own, or simply don’t have the time. Khan Academy has a set of youtube videos teaching the method available, for the 3rd grade only. While the videos only cover the 3rd grade, they are an excellent introduction to the Singapore Math method.