What supplemental Singapore books do you use?

[happycc]

We are currently using Primary Math Standards. I am kicking myself rather hard right now for not starting with Singapore math straightaway. We used Teaching Textbooks 3 and 5 last year and Key to series and the kids and I regret that decision ( I don;t want to go into reasons why I regret Teaching Textbooks right now). They were previously in public school so last year was their first year homeschooling. I do not regret doing Rightstart B for my 8yrs old though. Key to...I will have the kids take a break from so we can get caught up with truly understanding the concepts rather than just memorizing the steps to do the problems.

 

I originally delayed Singapore math because I was intimidated by the bar method for some reason and didnt realize that it had a bunch of manipulative to go with it and that Primary Maths should be done with manipulatives. Anyways after watching Education Unboxed and Crewton Ramone I felt more secure in using Singapore and wished I had the ability to figure out Miquon sooner. Oh well. So I had to back track big time for the kids and went back to 1A for the 8yrs old and 3A for the 10yrs old so I could reteach the kids as well as myself the Singapore way. Rightstart did help with the transition too. Anyways, I do have the Process skills and Challenging Word Problems here.

My kids seem to struggle with mental math and Word problems so far. I don;t know the other supplemental books well enough to see what else I could to round things out.

 

Anyways with this knowledge.....

 

What supplemental Singapore books do you use and when?

Do use some of the supplemental books during the summer?

What have you used and really like and recommend?

Also what other curriculums do you use in addition to Singapore?

How does it fit in your weekly math schedule?

Edited August 6, 2012 by happycc

[aprilleigh]

We're strictly Singapore Mathematics Standards Edition (SE) - we don't use anything else to supplement because it works very well for my math and science loving DS6.

 

For supplements I picked up Intensive Practice (only available in US Edition, but not difficult to use with SE at all), but Extra Practice is also a great choice if your child isn't as math-focused and simply needs additional practice. Both are very well done. Intensive Practice was more appropriate for us because it keeps my son challenged.

 

We also use Challenging Word problems, which I recommend because the ability to do word problems in math is a very important and frequently overlooked skill. Get them used to doing this as soon as possible, but don't feel like you have to do all the problems in that book because some of them (usually the last 2-3 in each chapter) can be quite challenging at the level where they're presented. Definitely let them use manipulatives to figure out the answers to these problems - in the long run their ability to set up a word problem correctly is far more important than their ability to do the math itself in their heads.

 

I school year-round, so summer work isn't relevant to us. The word problems might lend themselves well to something like that, or some of the other supplements we've not chosen to use, but the extra practice should probably be used as intended.

 

We do math every day - if for some reason we've finished everything scheduled for the week by Friday we play some of the games again, or we make up our own problems based on recent work in one of our supplements.

 

For mental math, keep working with process skills and drill using the mental math at the back of the book (you can make up your own if you run out, or just reuse them as needed). For the word problems, make up problems together once you run out of problems from the book. Skip the challenging ones and go back to them later if you get stuck. With word problems half the fun is making up problems from daily life and then showing the kids that they just solved a word problem.

[boscopup]

What supplemental Singapore books do you use and when?

 

We use CWP and sometimes IP, though mostly we don't need the extra practice in IP. I try to hit the more challenging problems in both books.

 

Do use some of the supplemental books during the summer?

 

We school year round, so our summer looks the same as fall and spring. :D We did take 3 weeks off between school years in June, but I didn't have him do any school at all during that break. It was truly a BREAK.

 

What have you used and really like and recommend?

 

I like and recommend both IP and CWP, but I don't recommend doing every single problem (unless your child really wants to!).

Also what other curriculums do you use in addition to Singapore?

 

We do Life of Fred for fun, but it's not at all essential. DS1 is doing Fractions, and DS2 is doing Apples. They like Fred.

 

Any supplemental math I add to DS1 is usually to slow him down, though that doesn't necessarily work. :tongue_smilie:

 

How does it fit in your weekly math schedule?

 

I typically have them do one regular Singapore lesson (lecture/oral TB/written WB) in the morning, then in the afternoon we do IP/CWP/Fred. My DS2 is not currently doing IP and CWP, as he's only 5.5. I don't want him to have that much "work" yet. He's in Singapore 1A and finding it fairly easy, which is fine for now because reading is difficult for him. I want something in school to be easy! DS1 is in Singapore 5A, so he does a page here and there of IP or CWP or a chapter of Fred. This week is a Fred week. I have one page of CWP scheduled (to finish up a unit) and then the rest of the week is Fred. He's happy! :D I only have him do the challenging problems in IP/CWP. We're skipping the other problems. Currently he's working through CWP4 because we didn't really get to it last year (we had a million other things going on), and when I looked at CWP5, I decided we better hit 4 first. ;) We'll go through it pretty quickly though, since we're just doing the challenge sections. DS1 enjoys word problems.

[Kathryn]

Pretty much everything boscopup said except that we use Miquon as well. We do Fred on Fridays and switch off between Miquon and Singapore at will.

[Alice]

What supplemental Singapore books do you use and when?

We use mostly the IP books. If it’s a topic that has been more challenging I have him work through some of the extra practice type of problems. I always have him do the challenging problems in the IP book. I have the CWP books and we use them sometimes. I plan on using it more htis year but we have found the IP problems to be more challenging and enough for us so far.

 

Do use some of the supplemental books during the summer?[/color]

I’ve had ds do either one challenging problem a day during the summer or work through Beast Academy.

 

Also what other curriculums do you use in addition to Singapore?

We use LOF and Beast Academy. Both are more for fun. I had ds do LOF Fractions after he had done Fractions in Singapore. He liked it a lot and it was both a good review and a way of looking at things differently. He LOVES Beast Academy but the level that is available is topically below what he’s working on in Singapore. So it’s also provided a great review, a totally different way of looking at things and it’s encouraged him to work on tough problems. He’s a bit of a perfectionist. He’s good at math but he gets frustrated easily if he can’t get the answer quickly. BA is great because he thinks it’s fun and forgets that he’s working at a math problem.

 

How does it fit in your weekly math schedule?

Usually on Monday we will do a topic or chapter together. Then during the week I will assign problems from the WB and IP book. He may also have some mental math sheets, LOF or BA to do each day. It would never be all of that in a day. For us it depends a lot on the topic he’s doing. Some conceptually we move through very fast and then do more challenging problems. Some conceptually we need to park on for awhile and do more review problems. Last year for third grade I aimed for about 30-45 minutes of math a day with each day being a mix of different stuff.

[fractalgal]

What supplemental Singapore books do you use and when?

Do use some of the supplemental books during the summer?

What have you used and really like and recommend?

Also what other curriculums do you use in addition to Singapore?

How does it fit in your weekly math schedule?

 

We use most of the IP (US Editions) and parts of the CWP (Standards Ed.) books at grade level. Both books give more difficult word problems and encourage visual problem solving. The bar diagrams are really interesting ways to solve algebra type problems, and my daughter has found them useful in sections of the Art of Problem Solving Intro to Algebra book.

 

It varies, but some of the CWP do not get done until the summer around here.

 

I am now using both MEP math and Miquon with my PreK son in addition to Singapore Math. With the middle two I am using MEP and Singapore.

 

Math is a priority here, so I find ways to fit it in. I count up the number of days it will take to do the lessons and the number of days I have available and schedule that way. I will try to maximize the most useful parts of any math program with what time I have left. Math is also the first or second subject to get done during the day and my soon to be 5th and 7th graders usually spend at least one hour per day on it. Also, if I were going to keep a subject going through the summer, it would be math.

 

One helpful tip I have found is that when teaching several levels of teacher intensive math, I often read through the various lessons the night before and have any manipulatives set up and ready to go. It saves time and helps the lesson flow more smoothly. :)

[sleeplessnights]

 

What supplemental Singapore books do you use and when?

Do use some of the supplemental books during the summer?

What have you used and really like and recommend?

Also what other curriculums do you use in addition to Singapore?

How does it fit in your weekly math schedule?

 

We use the Intensive Practice books after we have finished the regular curriculum for the year. I have found that it helps to go back over the concepts they learned earlier in the year, but ups the challenge level. I also give my kids a 100 problem math drill page every day to "get them warmed up." We have been able to get through both IP books in a year by doing two pages a day. If we're not done, we just finish them over our break. Oh, and I pay for every Challenge problem they can figure out on their own.