I've been considering doing this for a long time - I'd love to see your finished results! Good luck!

I know not everyone uses the HIG, but the Singapore method is to start with the concrete (introducing a topic using linking cubes, pennies, whatever is appropriate for that lesson) before moving on to the pictorial then to the abstract. The HIG will teach you how to introduce the concept. The textbook provides the pictorial aspect, then the abstract. The workbook is useful to assess whether your student "gets it". We also use the Challenging Word Problems books, but usually start them when we start the B book (so we started CWP 2 when we start book 2B) - it just seems to work well for us. The other great thing about the HIG is the Mental Math in the back of the book. I make copies of those pages and have the boys pick one mental math exercise to do each week. They do the same exercise 3 or 4 days in a row with the stopwatch set... the point being to get at least as many correct in a faster time each day. I think the mental math exercises are one of the reasons SM is a strong program. You can certainly do the SM workbooks without all this, but I think you lose some of the benefits of the program.

I really think it is essential to rely heavily on the HIG... Use the activities before you ever look at the textbook or give him a workbook page to do. My 1st grader is at this same point in 1A, and he is actually "getting it" by using money. I give him 8 pennies, and I have 7. He knows he can trade in the 8 pennies plus 2 of my 7 for a dime, so he has a dime and 5 pennies left. Doing this repeatedly has really helped him get the concept of making 10. Plus he really likes playing with money. We write this down on the dry erase folder as we are working - I would write 8+7, then show under the 7 that 2 and 5 bond to make 7. If you did not spend a lot of time learning all the number bonds, I think it would be valuable to spend a week reviewing those first, using something concrete (like linking cubes or whatever). It seems to me that if the child is really understanding the number bonds, subtraction should not be an issue. I would go back now rather than later if you think there is a chance he didn't really master that number bond idea. Spend as much time as it takes, it will make your life and his so much easier down the road!

:iagree: I was just at a Singapore Math workshop last weekend and this was stated repeatedly. The workbook is there as an assessment. My oldest can do a lot of the workbook and get the right answers quickly - but he is even quicker when he learns the SM methods. Same thing with the Challenging Word Problems book. He can usually come up with the right answer, but he can't explain how he got it. When I go through the worked examples with him and encourage him to use the number bars, he is able to articulate his work and he gets the right answer faster. At the conference, the point was made repeatedly to practice the Singapore method to get the Singapore results: 1. Start with the concrete (using the HIG, do an activity - or a few if your child needs that). Do this before you open the textbook or workbook. 2. Once they "get it", move to the pictorial - this is the point of the textbook. 3. Then, move on to the abstract. This is where your workbook comes in handy. I am by no means a SM expert, but I can tell you that following the method seems to be working in our family - both for the child who gets math very quickly and easily, as well as for the child who really does not. The first will easily go through all three steps in one sessions. The second boy can easily spend a week (or more) on the concrete before it sinks in. But once it is in there, he has it down! :001_smile:

For 1st, my favorites are (and I think they go well together): Singapore Math 1A (be sure to use the HIG for the concrete activities before moving to the pictorial stories in the textbook, then on to the abstract in the workbook) Reading good books aloud - we take turns alternating paragraphs and read aloud for 30 minutes together per day First Language Lessons 1 Writing With Ease 1 All About Spelling 1 Handwriting Without Tears (not sure if you need this with girls, but its great for boys)

Here is mine: http://storiesoftheglories.blogspot.com/2011/10/homeschool-highlights-week-10.html

Our favorite two are Trumpet of the Swan (read by the author) and Come On Seabiscuit! (Jim Weiss). But really my boys love all the classics on audiobook, and they enjoy them well before they are ready to read them.

I have two boys using it right now (one starting Level 2 and one starting Level 3 next week), and I have two boxes. I think you could make it work to have them share, you would just have to come up with a system of knowing who is where with the cards, but I really just wanted to keep it simple and straightforward for myself. If you were to have them share, I think someone posted on a thread last spring with a great idea of how to keep each kid's progress on the cards straight - unfortunately I do not know who that was nor do I remember the idea itself (just remembered thinking it was a good idea, but I already had my two boxes and by the time my third starts, the oldest will be done with his box so I will just recycle it). Hopefully that mom will see your post and direct you to her earlier post! Good luck!

We have both and I wish we had neither... after the novelty wore off, both ended up in pieces and don't get played with much anymore. Various pieces from both sets get used a lot, but the entire pyramid has never been rebuilt nor the castle (which just seemed to fall apart if we so much as walked near it). However, the Roman Arena has been one of the best gifts we have ever received and gets played with all the time, and we've had it for at least 2-3 years. The pirates are also a big hit around here, as is the submarine. I have no idea if any of these are still on the market, but all have gone a long way in our family.

We were dropped in a similar sort of way a couple years ago, only the wife didn't seem to give the husband the message that she was dropping us. He would see my husband around and ask if we could come hang out at their cabin some weekend or come over for pizza, etc. My husband would always say that we'd love, and that his wife should give me a call. Of course she never has... It could be possible that the husband just thinks that you both really were too busy to get together for so many months, but it could be that they have dropped you and he just doesn't know it. In any case, I am sorry, I know it is painful to be dropped. Our kids were young enough that they just sort of got over it without any questions.

For research on Singapore Math, I would take some time over at Cassy Turner's blog. She helps schools implement Singapore in the classroom: http://singaporemathsource.com/curriculum/research/ The Kitchen Table Math blog is helpful too.

We are taking the full week. We are doing 5 weeks of school followed by one week of vacation this school year - we started on August 1 with the idea that we would still get in our 36 weeks by early May... but instead we'll be taking a maternity break in March and probably finishing late-May or early June. I really love those full weeks off!

I'm 15 weeks and felt very similar from about week 8 until recently. I think it was just a lack of energy and crazy hormones. I will probably feel the same after the baby arrives until the hormones balance out again. Our policy is that we make no major decisions during the first trimester or the first 8 weeks post-partum, and if possible, at all during the pregnancy (although that isn't always realistic due to circumstances that require us to act).

I love WWE too! That is really cute work she is doing!

My boys read them aloud to me in 1st grade, and we love them. My almost-9 year old goes back to them very frequently, re-reading them for fun.

My first update ever... brief, but it is a start!

I started RSO last year, but never had the right things around the house and found myself too often saying "Let's just pretend we were doing this experiment, what do you THINK would happen?". We were all really annoyed by this, so I started to look for a program that included everything I would need. I ended up with Nancy Larson Science 1, which I thought might be too easy for my science-addict 2nd grader. It did start off easy, but he and his K brother both loved it. We are doing NL Science 2 this year and we all still love it. It was very manageable for me as it is scripted and includes the materials we will need for the lessons. The down side is that it is pricy, but I don't think I am spending that much more when I consider the trips to the store for supplies that I no longer have to deal with - plus most of it is re-useable so I can use it with my younger kids too. Dividing the cost up by 5 made it seem like a bargain. :) Good luck in your decision!

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, mostly because I have been experiencing morning sickness for the first time ever with baby #5 and we are not doing any of our normal activities at this point. When I was reading some posts on the forums the other night, I was led to a blog written by one of the members here and instantly felt awful about how much she is doing with her one child and how little I am doing with my 4 (especially these past 2 mos). I know I would have so much more energy and we could participate in so many more "extras" that we don't have time/energy for at this stage. However, on the other hand, my boys are best friends with each other and play together every chance they get. They talk to each other while they fall asleep at night. They are excited to have another sibling (well, if it is a boy but they say not as much if it is a girl). :). So I tell myself that we do what we can do and I try to be grateful for our family while being aware of our strengths and our weaknesses.

We have the following binders for the oldest two (the only ones doing academic work): science language arts - divided with tabs: reading (for illustrations/narrations), spelling, writing, grammar history - for illustrations/narrations

I've used the HIG with levels 1 through 3 and found them very helpful. My boy using 1A needs me to do a lot of the extras that are suggested in the HIG - he rarely gets something the first time through. Plus we like the mental math in the back of the book. I also use the CWP, but I don't try to match up topics - we go through it slowly and then finish it over the summer months. We bought both the US and SE for 1A and much prefer the SE.

We are about half way through, we started in the spring and took the summer off. I have him make his own flashcards for each lesson and I think this is helping him retain a lot of the vocab. We love the DVDs!

We read it aloud this past year, the oldest loved it and the second tolerated it and the third didn't pay any attention at all and the fourth was napping. They actually liked it better on audio cd. Have you read The Trumpet of the Swan? That is a favorite around here, as is Mr Popper's Penguins, The Cricket in Times Square, the Little House and the Chronicles of Narnia. Hands down our favorite book last year was Nesbit's The Railway Children.

My understanding is that if I buy the Kindle 3, my child can access the Internet from it and I cannot password protect online access (although I can password protect the device, but then he can't read!). Is this correct? Is it reasonable to be concerned that the child could access inappropriate sites/images?

that I like about the app is that I can set it up so that I never see certain tasks (such as feed the pet - we don't have any pets), and I can add in my own to-do tasks.

and I love it! I used to have the printed version in 2010 and hung it on the fridge, but I really like to not have stuff on my fridge (I hate clutter and fridge stuff feels cluttered to me). I first bought the app for my iPad and then also loaded it to my iPhone. Depending on the day, I use one or the other. However, on Sunday night I sit down and fill in the boy's chore chart with the tasks from the lists for that week. My boys have been doing these chores for a couple of years now and don't seem to mind because it is not the same thing each day or week. Certain chores are assigned to one boy (this summer, my 8y.o. wipes the bathroom sinks each morning and the 6y.o. vacuums the kitchen floor and the 4 y.o. unloads the dishwasher). But the 6 wants to move up to the 8's sinks and the 4 wants the vacuuming, so I will probably switch things up this fall. I like having them do one chore consistently so that they get good at it. I assign them all kinds of the more random tasks - a favorite so far has been cleaning out the trash cans with the hose and washing the kitchen walls. I can't imagine how I would remember to do all these chores without the list! I love it!