We successfully did Singapore math for the last three years. It worked out really well because public school did not do a good job. Then I showed my DD beast academy books and everything changed. She is really into BA now and we don't work on SM anymore. I think success of afterschooling depends on how much time you spent. The less time you work the better. We only spent 20 to 30 minutes max every day. This way it is easy on everyone and you get behind but afterschooling becomes enjoyable. My DD is in 3rd grade now. So, for us Singapore math worked really well. BA is working good so far but it is going very slowly. Be patient when you do afterschooling, Don't try to go too fast or do too many things at the same time. Keep it simple and easy.

Yes, I did do this. The copy shop charged me $6 to cut and combine it into two sets of book. I first had them cut the spine off of the TB and WB and then organize the TB and WB pages into two sets of books(this process is time consuming). One thing is annoying is the page number of TB and WB does not align. Other than that it turned out really well. Definitely worth it. Life is much easier now. I will post some pictures when I have some time.

We did SM with my DD 8. She did good with SM and bar modeling but she never got excited about math. I never thought the problem was that she was not being challenged. Out of curiosity, we started doing beast academy, mostly because I was so sick of using multiple books in SM Anyhow, BA changed her attitude about math. She now wants to do the math and wants to spend more time on math. She says, BA feels more like puzzle than math. BA is all about getting you to think. I think SM is about getting to the answer, but BA is much more than that. Sometime, my DD would tell me that she knows the answer but then she would say why is that work and how does it work. She would ponder on a problem even though she already solved it, I never saw her doing that in SM I would say go for it. You would not know until you try. Please keep in mind, BA is very time consuming and slow at first. Also, don't listen to people who says BA is for "mathy" student. My DD was good at math but I don't think she is "mathy". She seemed to be doing fine with BA

I think it is called "Bridges in mathematics". We don't have any books, occasionally we get a page or two of loose worksheet to complete. It is super easy, for example this week we got a page involving how to double a number. My DD asked me whether she should do the problems, I told her she needs to do it because it is assigned to her. She literally did the whole page in less than 2 minutes. I don't show my attitude towards school math to my DD, but it is a joke. I envy all of you who can do homeschooling. The teachers at DD's school do admit that she is very advanced in math though.

School math is a joke, she occasionally gets a page or two of math homework which takes her 5 minutes. DD complains about the school homework because it is so easy. I tried to talk to the teacher but they told me she is doing so well that they are not concerned....its a long story but I keep hearing that the school will do "differentiated" teaching for her. I have yet to see anything differentiated yet. Honestly, I don't even know what is differentiated teaching means??!! Anyhow, my whole reason for afterschooling is due to lack of challenge at school. We only do math 4 days(M- Th) for 20 minutes. Sometime DD would get so engaged that she wants to do more, then I give her additional 10 minutes. So, it is 30 minutes max. With Beast it is a problem because sometime DD wants to solve the problem before we stop...my response is always "you can do it tomorrow". I am trying to teach her that sometime in math we need to put it down and come back to it later. It took us three months to do BA 3A, so it is a perfect program for year round math. I am glad to hear that some of you are using BA as stand alone. I was going to do two days of SM and two days of BA. But I think I am going to stick to BA for now.

My DD(8) was doing SM Standard Ed. Right when we were done with SM 3A, I introduced BA just to get some variety. It really clicked with my DD, at least for now. BA took our math education to a new level. My DD is engaged and she does not even want my help. She wants to solve all the problems by herself....it has been very slow but I am super happy with what BA has done for her. My question to you all is that how do I reintroduce SM again. My DD already told me she enjoys BA more than SM. My problem is that I also like SM and I kind of like what SM teaches as well. In a perfect world, we would do both SM and Beast. What do you folks think? Should I just do BA and not worry about SM at all? Or should I talk to DD and see if we could do SM as well. How are you folks using BA? Oh, forgot to tell you we are doing math as afterschool. So, time is also limited. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks

I would agree that BA would be a great addition to math. My DD(8 year old) was doing SM, we added BA and it took our math education to a new level. It slowed us down quite a bit but the level of engagement and enjoyment is much higher. Let's just say I don't have to ask her to do math anymore. Just a word of caution, BA initially is rather slow, but eventually you will see how it engages a student with higher level thinking. Couldn't praise BA more...

We finished SM 3A first then started to do BA. BA is very slow going but I can already tell BA approach is very different and it makes my DD think very hard. Many of the starred problems take multiple try outs but I am liking it because it is definitely building math stamina for my DD. I am not sure if and when we will start the SM 3B even though I already have the SM 3B materials. Just remember, BA approach is very different and it could be time consuming but that is why it is such a great program. Sometimes she will finish couple pages of the BA workbook but then will be stuck with one problem for a day or two. I usually let her try different approaches. Math is definitely not about how fast you could solve a problem. BA is a great program but have lots of patience, at least that is our experience.

How long does math takes daily? is EPGY good for afterschooling? Don't want my DD(8 year) to spend hours everyday after school. Thanks

Does anyone cut the spines for Singapore math? I have been thinking about doing this to avoid switching back and forth between TB and WB. Without the spines, I could probably put them in a three ring binder and pull out what I need. Anyone do this?

I had the same problem with my DD 7 (2nd grade). What really worked for us was practicing with the mental math pages in the HIG. If I were to point out one single criticism for Singapore math that would be its lack of practice. It actually works very well for some kids because it is not a "drill and kill" program but my DD needed the extra practice. So, we slowed down and do mental math pages 3 days a week and do actual SM textbook and workbook problem 2 days of the week. It helped a lot. Be patient, don't give up on SM yet. It is a great program as long as you add some drill exercise with it.

Yes, kids do forget. Last summer we had about 3 or 4 weeks off and I was shocked how much my DD forgot. We usually do Singapore but for last summer I did the MM review(mentioned above). We did 2 pages a day, about 15/20 minutes. It worked out really well, except it does get boring somewhat. Surprisingly, my DD picked up pretty fast. I don't know what I will do this summer though. One thing I know for sure, we are not having a 4 weeks gap.

We bought dreambox and it is the worst program ever. My DD7 has been complaining that it is so easy! Somehow, dreambox assessed my DS at a very low level now she is stuck at that level. I sat down with her to see whether it is slow...my goodness some of the problem she was getting are ridiculously boring and easy I called their customer service, no response so I left a voice mail and yet to receive a call back. Finally, I emailed them and they finally emailed me back (three weeks after I emailed them) to tell me that their software will automatically adjust as the student progresses. What a joke. Don't get dreambox.

Ok, I have tried to teach math without white board all this time but more and more I feel like we could improve learning math if we had a white board on the wall. What is your experience with white boards? Do you think it helps with teaching math? Do you have a good white board suggestion. I was looking at amazon and there are so many options...what brand is good one? I would like to keep it below $100 but if I have to spend more, I can probably go $200 max Any suggestions?

I am Interested in this as well. My DD is in second grade and I was going to start her on this next year with level 1.

This is what we are doing with DD (7 year old): FLL 2 WWE 2 Singapore 2A/2B And a lot free reading, I mean a lot of books. DD loves to read, so we allow her to read as much as she wants. I am thinking of adding a spelling program next year, don't know which one yet. May be AAS??!!

My DD (7yrs) is going to be in 2nd grade this fall. We do SM and she is in SM Primary 2A now. Overall, she is definitely above average in math. However, throughout last year, in her report card we had pretty bad score for patterns. She did very well in other areas of the math, but for patterns, she did poorly. I agree with school assessment, she is very weak in pattern recognition Is this something I need to be concerned? Is there a curriculum we can follow that will help her with the math patterns? Any other suggestions?

My DD is also going to be in 2nd grade this fall. We used FLL1(based on the suggestions from WTM forum folks) in first grade and almost done with it. In a few weeks we will be starting FLL2. We saw a tremendous improvement with using FLL1. DD loves the FLL1 and already uses some of the punctuation marks correctly. Surprisingly, FLL1 helped my DD with reading as well. She is a natural reader and got into the GT program for LA. We will formally start Grammar in 3rd grade. Most likely use MCT because I really like it. I will be following the response to this thread because I am in the same boat as OP

Math Mammoth has a great review product by grade. Many folks in this forum say math mammoth is very close to Singapore. If you do 2 or 3 pages a day you could easily finish this within 30 days ...this will not only work as a review but will also pinpoint where your kiddo needs to work on. It is download product so you could start working on it right away... I think it is only about $4/$5 so even if it does not work you're not out of much money.. Here is the link: http://www.mathmammoth.com/review_workbooks/grade_1.php

OP thanks for your posting . At times, when I read the WTM forum, I feel the same way but realized that I could never give the same level of education a homeschooler can give. As afterschooler, our time is always going to be limited, so I ask for the best practices from the forum folks. As you all know there are a lot of knowledgeable folks in this forum. So, key is to prioritize and use the limited time we have as best as possible. With my DD 7, we only do LA and math and we allow a lot of free reading at night. I would love to add few more things but there is not enough time in a day. We might add grammar or writing as we progress next year or year after(if time permits). So given the limited time, ask yourself what are the most important things you want your kiddo to learn and do those the best way possible.

Both Epson and Brother are very good brand (I have had good luck with them). I currently have a Brother Multi function B/W laser printer..it has been working great for last 4 years. For the last two years, I have been using generic(OEM) laser toner instead of Brother toner(amazon sells the generic for $15 vs. Brother brand toner is $35) and have had no problem. If color is important then you may have to buy inkjet because color laser is very pricey! Oh, do not buy HP. I have had terrible experience with them

My DD 7 was like that when she was young. We never tried any formal phonics program but she always resisted reading herself. So, we did read a lot to her, specially books that are fun with lots of pictures. We read every night to her. While reading the book to her once in a while I would pick a few easy words for her to read. My suggestions would be what Ellie said above, take a break but continue to read fun books to your DS. After a few months, see how he reacts. By the way, it worked for us, My DD 7 loves reading now. We get about 20 books a week from the Library each week and she reads them all by the end of the week. She gets to pick her own books from the library. I still read to her every night for about 20 minutes.

You mean the regular blue series right? not the light blue series correct? thanks for your input.

My DD 7 is doing SM 2A. It is going surprisingly fast. It has been only 2 months of summer and she is almost done with SM 2A. I am assuming by the end of August she will be done with SM 2A. We only use the text and workbook. Although I am happy that she is progressing fast but I also do not want her to go too far too fast. I am thinking of adding some extra practice. I know a lot of you suggest Math Mammoth with the SM. My question is MM curriculum level looks a little lighter than SM. How do you all use the MM along with SM? Do you use the same level? SM 2A with MM grade 2? Or do you use MM as a review materials? Any other suggestions?

Very light here as well. My DD (7 Yr) old does mostly review(MM review package) and some spelling and writing(about 30 - 60 minutes). We do go to the library every week and get about 20/25 books. She gets to pick any book she wants. She reads a lot. Late summer, we will slowly start SM 2A and FLL2 and WWE2. I wanted her to enjoy the summer a bit before we go full swing. I still don't know what/whether we are going to do about spelling...AAS maybe?