Singapore Math

[ChicoryChick]

Does anyone just use the HI Guide and Textbooks for Singapore Math (without the workbooks), using a notebook for their answers? I am thinking about doing that this coming year, especially with the older elementary school age. If you do, do you feel there are enough problems between the HI & Textbook?

 

Thanks

[Closeacademy]

No. The HIG just has a schedule and teaching ideas. There are mental math problems in the back but these are more like drill sheets.

 

The text has some problems but it is mostly instructional. You need some sort of workbook--the regular one, intensive practice or extra practice.

 

I also use Rod and Staff for more review and practice.:001_smile:

[Dana]

I don't think that there's enough practice even with the textbook and workbook. For some topics, it's fine, but for others (basic arithmetic) you'll likely want to do a lot of supplementation (drill).

[EKS]

My son is advanced in math and every so often I find that I need to compact the Singapore curriculum to meet his needs. I do this by doing multiple lessons in the textbook per day rather than doing a single lesson using both the textbook and workbook. He went through 3A this way and is now doing it again in 4B.

 

If he were a more typical math student, I would definitely have him do the workbook along with the textbook all the time, and most of the time this is what we do. I always buy the workbook because the default here is to use it.

 

I hope that makes some sense.

[siloam]

Does anyone just use the HI Guide and Textbooks for Singapore Math (without the workbooks), using a notebook for their answers? I am thinking about doing that this coming year, especially with the older elementary school age. If you do, do you feel there are enough problems between the HI & Textbook?

 

Thanks

Not even close to enough here, but my kids are not mathy.

 

We do the workbooks, IP and CWP and yes I buy the textboos and HIG. I do skip the practice problems in the textbooks, but not anywhere else.

 

Heather

[nmoira]

 

You need some sort of workbook--the regular one, intensive practice or extra practice.

:iagree: If the OP's kids are bright she could consider using the IP books instead of the workbook. They assume mastery of the material (though there is a short revision section), and go far beyond what's in the workbooks. They are structured differently than the workbook -- you have to work through an entire topic in the text before starting the IP for that topic.

[ChicoryChick]

Thanks for all your replies! :D

 

My oldest son is very bright and LOVES math! I only have to teach it to him once and he takes off running (with maybe a reminder or two from time to time). This boy thinks MATH and has since he was 3! His younger brother so far has done very well with math too. Their sister on the other hand is not mathy, but how much of it is smarts and how much of it is being a perfectionist I am still trying to figure out. ;)

 

We have used Singapore this past year and would like to continue, but when you add the cost of (1X price of HI manual for 4A and up which I haven't used yet), Textbooks for 3A & up and Workbooks for each child, it gets kind of pricey and thought if the HI had extra problems that it might be enough with just the HI & Textbooks.

 

Thanks again. :D

Edited May 3, 2010 by kayinpa

[Dmmetler]

There are a lot of printable practice materials for SM here. It may be that you can get by with the textbook/HIG for most topics, and print extras if you need them.

 

http://www.1800-teacher.com/

[danybug]

We have basically just used the textbook and the tests for all of our Singapore work. We use the standards edition, so I don't think the tests are available in the U.S. edition.

 

When we started my ds just breezed through and I did not even bother buying the HIG's since I did not need them being such easy early math. Different levels I did buy the workbooks a couple of times, but it was just too redundant for him and he hated it. The tests were my gauge if I thought he totally grasped the work. This year we did buy and use the Challenging Word Problems, which definitely pushed him a little. We are starting 4a and I bought the HIG, just because we are getting higher up and I do not want to miss something.

 

Anyway, after all of this I think it depends on how well your dc do with math and their ability to grasp the concepts without a ton of repetition.

[ChicoryChick]

Thanks for the link!

 

Danielle, I didn't need the HI guide for 1-3 (I had a child in each of those this year), but I would like it for ideas on how to teach my dd math since she is the one who struggles and we will be doing fractions and decimals this year. I do have Calculadder drills (grades 1-6) I could add as well as LOF Fractions for her. (Plan to do LOF Decimals the following year and then TT7 which I have for my oldest daughter this year - she is not mathy either). I also have Ray's and was planning on using it this coming year, but as I was planning my lessons for next years I am just not sure it suits my teaching style and my 2nd dd's needs so now I regret not sticking with Singapore for them when I was doing my purchasing. *sigh* Decisions, decisions.

[Jenn in Mo]

We've gone with just the textbooks for a couple years now and had no problem with it. We started in 4th grade. I had the workbook, but it started becoming overkill. We slowly just used it less and less until we weren't using it at all. I decided it would be silly to buy the 5th grade workbooks if we weren't going to use them. We never missed them. There are plenty of problems in the textbooks for the student to demonstrate if he "gets it" or not. When mine seemed stumped a bit, we worked on explaining it better and just made up a few of our own to check their understanding. We just finished up 6th without the workbook and all was well.

 

For younger than 4th, I would probably want the workbook just for reinforcement. Adding and subtracting aren't just skills to "get", but skills that need worked repeatedly to cement them and improve speed. Same for multiplication. After 4th, I think most could get by without the extra work.