A Comprehensive Review from Think Academy

“I want to choose math workbooks for my child to practice at home. My daughter studied Go Math at school, and my best friend recommended Kumon. The neighbors told me their children are using Beast Academy. I heard that the private school textbook is Math in Focus. I also joined a group buying Singapore Math. Which one should I choose?“

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Many parents have encountered this kind of question. With so many math textbooks and workbooks on the market, do you know which is best for your child?

Think Academy is here to help!

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What are the features of the popular math student books and workbooks on the market? How to choose the practice materials for additional exercises?
• How should students in Think Academy choose the best learning materials?

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1. Student Math Books

Go Math

 

The Go Math curriculum aligns every lesson to the Common Core Standards.

Go Math is widely used in public schools in California and throughout the United States. Go Math offers an engaging and interactive approach to covering the Common Core State Standards, and each topic is explained from multiple perspectives.

Pros:

• The content is aligned with the American Common Core, so parents don’t need to worry about missing any knowledge points.
• The sample questions are very detailed and easy to understand, supplemented with rich pictures.

Cons:

• The textbooks are thick with excessive content, which could lead to students’ slow progress.
• Few supporting exercises cannot ensure students apply the knowledge in practice proficiently.

Math in Focus

The Math in Focus curriculum is 0.5 years ahead of Common Core.

Math in Focus is published by Singapore Math. It incorporates the widely-used Singapore approach to math. Math in Focus is being used by Harker, a top private school in the Bay Area.

an example showing the G2 book includes Common Core G3 content

Pros:

• Math in Focus is 0.5 years ahead of Common Core and suitable for students who have the capacity to learn further.
• The practice part includes application problems, and content that helps expand children’s mathematical thinking.

Cons:

• The arithmetic methods taught in the book are inefficient.
• Not enough practice in the book.

Summary:

Most American math books focus on exploration and development. The progress and depth of different textbooks are not consistent. And most of the problem-solving methods are inefficient.

In addition, these textbooks lack supporting exercises to prepare children for Gifted and Talented programs or placement tests.

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2. Workbooks – Math Enhancement

Saxon Math

Saxon Math is a very popular practice workbook used by many students in the Bay Area.

Pros:

• The content is in line with the Common Core.
• The basic knowledge covered in the school is emphasized.
• Students can improve their number sense by practicing and solving the large amount problems in the workbook.

Cons:

• The exercises are relatively basic.
• There is a lack of mathematical thinking expansion.

Kumon

Kumon has been a popular workbook all over the world for decades. I believe many overseas Chinese families are familiar with this workbook.

Pros:

• A large number of problems to solve.
• The knowledge topics are divided into modules with a systematic, targeted approach.
• It helps students locate the weak parts and can easily make significant improvements.

Cons:

• It is suitable for children in lower grades but not able to improve the mathematics skills of higher-grade students.

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3. Workbooks – Math Thinking Expansion

Beast Academy

Beast Academy has been a very popular extracurricular practice workbook in recent years. The knowledge points are explained in the form of cartoon scenes. According to most parents, their children can read and understand on their own.

competition-related content marked in red

Pros:

• It includes both curricular knowledge consolidation and extracurricular thinking expansion.
• The topic structure is not systematic. Parents need to have a certain understanding of Common Core to help their children identify the appropriate level.
• There are not enough supporting exercises for each topic.

Singapore Math

Singapore Math enjoys a very high reputation among the extracurricular math workbooks. According to the picture above, parents in the United States can choose the U.S. edition of Singapore Math for their children to practice.

Pros:

• The content is based on Common Core. The practice materials are graded clearly for students to choose from based on their level.
• It provides systematic training in solving application problems.
• The competition-level problems are highly adaptable and develop children’s logical thinking and problem solving.

Cons:

• There is a mixture of knowledge points.
• The guidance on complex problems is insufficient, and children may not fully understand how to solve similar problems.

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How Do Students Learn at Think Academy?

Class Placement to Maximize Learning Outcomes

Before being placed in the most suitable program, each student at Think Academy will have a 1-on-1 assessment to determine readiness for the coursework of each level.

 

Scientific Learning System

Think Academy takes a progressive and practical teaching approach. Based on the knowledge system in American schools, our programs are well-designed to help children learn knowledge and skills systematically and also expand their logical thinking.

 

Closed Learning Loop

The learning process includes pre-work exercises before class, interactive live lectures during class, personalized feedback and office hour sessions after class, enhancement practices, and periodical learning review. The closed loop of learning can ensure that children can thoroughly learn, understand, and master the knowledge.

 

 

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Tips & Recommendations from Think Academy:

Whether preparing for the Gifted and Talented programs or the placement test, children should learn the curricular knowledge in advance, build a solid foundation and enhance problem-solving skills through practice, practice and practice!

If your child is preparing for math competitions, a solid foundation of school knowledge is critical. In addition, the student should also focus on math thinking expansion and get trained systematically as soon as possible.

The picture above is our recommendations for the Think Academy student. We suggest students choose appropriate materials to consolidate and practice after completing the homework assigned in our class and the extra practice published by the teacher in the class group. And Singapore Math is our recommended workbook.