Singapore Primary Math-what to buy?

[La Condessa]

First, U.S. or Standards?

 

I don't care about aligning with CA state standards, and my kid is pretty mathy; I don't really think she will need the extra review. But I've read on here how much better the HIG is in the Standards edition, and that it really is the methods taught in the HIG that make this program so good. So I guess my question is, is the U.S. HIG lacking enough, and the Standards HIG great enough, to really justify paying the greater cost of the Standards edition?

 

Secondly, the Workbook and Intensive Practice-which, or both?

 

Do people generally replace the workbook with IP, or do they use both in full, or use the WB in full and then add in from IP when they want something more on a topic?

 

Thanks.

[sunnyday]

I went with US edition but I don't remember why. I ended up with the HIG, the WB, and the IP. I had planned to do mostly the workbook and add depth or review with the Intensive Practice book. This has sort of worked out for us, but my mathy child keeps deeming the workbook practice "easy-peasy". Therefore when we do Singapore, he generally just does the IP. We're nearly ready for 2A and when I buy it I think I will get the HIG, IP and CWP.

 

In short it probably depends on your child, and if this is a first experience with Singapore, you might want to err on the side of getting too much material. The method is really important, you don't want to skip any part of the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach, and sometimes extra review can cement concepts in useful ways.

[SFM]

I use the US Edition and looked at Standards but we started with US and it works well for us so we have stuck with it. We have the HiG, Textbook (we work through together) and then the Workbook. We also throw in some CWP and Intensive Practice when we want to, not scheduled.

[madteaparty]

I switched from US to Primary in 4th grade. I use the HIG, workbook, textbook, IP and CWP(the latter delayed by at least a semester)

[kbutton]

I went with US edition but I don't remember why. I ended up with the HIG, the WB, and the IP. I had planned to do mostly the workbook and add depth or review with the Intensive Practice book. This has sort of worked out for us, but my mathy child keeps deeming the workbook practice "easy-peasy". Therefore when we do Singapore, he generally just does the IP. We're nearly ready for 2A and when I buy it I think I will get the HIG, IP and CWP.

 

In short it probably depends on your child, and if this is a first experience with Singapore, you might want to err on the side of getting too much material. The method is really important, you don't want to skip any part of the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach, and sometimes extra review can cement concepts in useful ways.

 

This is basically what we do too. We use the IP like the workbook for most topics, and if it's a topic we know well, we do the IP and just refer to the text. We do CWP when we get to it. It just depends on how much repetition or review your child needs. I think the IP gives kids multiple ways of looking at things, and my son seems to need every angle to really feel confident in his abilities.

[Staceyshoe]

We use the workbook, IP, and CWP.  I have several editions of HIG's (mostly Standard but a couple of US ed).  I've cracked them open twice in the past 4 years--both times for a very brief time to get ideas for teaching concepts that we're sinking in.

[Dahliarw]

I use standards and use the HIG, Workbook, and Textbook.  I did buy IP, but we just don't find the time to fit it in.  I may use it over the summer as review, since we take a couple of months off in the summer from formal schooling.

[Element]

I would start out with the Std. Ed. HIG, textbook, and workbook. After you get the hang of those, purchase the Challenging Word Problems. CWP is an integral part of the program, IMO, but you don't need to jump right into it. If your child can do the workbook problems easily, add the Intensive Practice (or- and this is probably controversial among Singapore Math users- replace the workbook with the IP. It's not a perfect fit, as IP was intended to be used with the U.S. Edition, but the combination of IP/Std Ed. has not been an issue for us.)

[trulycrabby]

I was really curious about the differences between US edition and Standards...so I purchased both...

 

We're on 4b, so the material is different than your level, but there are some things to point out:

 

Standards 4b is much more colourful than US edition; so much so, that DS9 found it distracting and asked to use the US edition.

 

US edition is black and white, with some blue added in illustrations.

 

For most people, this is a very minor differnce, but it's important if the child is easily distracted or overwhelmed by too much stimuli.

 

 

[CrunchyGirl]

I agree it depends on your child. We've been using SM since 1B and we are now in 3B. I really don't think LegoMan would like the black and white standards textbook. We use the US edition. We use the textbook, IP, and CWP. We dumped the workbook about a grade and a half ago--it was just too much. He gets concepts quickly and finds excessive review to be offensive.

[marlowefamily]

I'm constantly refining my opinion for the best way to teach singapore, but currently the textbook + workbook + book with tests/answerkey + occasional dabbles into khan academy + various math games on the kindle fire hd seems to be more than sufficient.  If I was to make any change going forward, it would be to drop the workbook and replace it with either the intensive practice or word problem book.  I honestly wish singapore would just redo the workbook to incorporate more of the word and intensive practice problems and then I could just settle for that new book rather than the three we have now.  There is barely any time for the IP + CWP as it is.  I suspect though that just the IP or CWP would be too much.  The test book is very nice and should stay as is.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I have the HIG and TB.  I regret getting the WB because I rreally think those problems could be made up on the fly by a parent to do on a whiteboard, at least  or most of the lower levels.  I have the IP which I plan to use as a semester review in a month.  I also really likee the  CWP.