How many Singapore books in a year

[hands-on-mama]

Hi! We ditched CLE partway through this school year. My daughter was hating math. We switched to Singapore Standards and it's going so well. She is constantly telling me how she understands so much more. My OCD keeps making me feel like we are behind though. I started her in 1B to make sure she had the conceptual side of things down. She is finishing up 2nd grade. Are we behind? She will start 2A as soon as we finish 1B (probably have her start it in May or June). Should we try to do 3 books over the next 2 years to catch up? If you've done this, has it worked out well for you?

[El...]

I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the way Singapore Standards works is that 1st grade is 1A and 1B, 2nd is 2A and 2B, and 3rd is 3A and 3B.  I don't know what grade level your particular 7yo "should" be on, but if you want to do three books in a year and she's grasping it all, I don't see why not, especially if you do math in the summer. 

 

I have found a few things teaching my Dd; first, I want her math to challenge her, but I don't want her to cry over it more than, say, once a week.  (I jest, sort of; I'm a meanie.) 

 

Second, my real goal is her understanding, so getting it done is not all there is to it.  I think you were smart to let her start farther back, when you saw it wasn't working.  I know how many lessons Dd needs to complete per week to get done with her book by Memorial Day, but if she gets bogged down in a concept, it is not good to rush her; I have to get out the manipulatives and slow down until she truly grasps it, or it will not work out later. 

 

Third, if I scribe for part of the work, especially in 1st and 2nd grade, she could get a LOT more done in a time period.  Writing all that down took too long, and her mind was ahead of her hands.

 

I hope that is related to your question!  Go, mama, go!  :thumbup1:

[Ms.Ivy]

I don't think you're behind. It seems many kids are ready for pre-algebra after Singapore 5b, so I don't see a need to catch up, unless you have a strong preference for making sure your daughter can start algebra in 7th grade.

[hands-on-mama]

My daughter is 8 and in the end of 2nd grade right now. She will be in 3rd grade shortly. Ms. Ivy, that makes me feel way better. After seeing what others were doing on here, it made me feel like we were way behind. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

The books are meant to be taught two per year (A and B). I think it would be very easy to do three (A,B, and A for example) if you are willing to put in a bit of time in the summer.

[ondreeuh]

Hi! We ditched CLE partway through this school year. My daughter was hating math. We switched to Singapore Standards and it's going so well. She is constantly telling me how she understands so much more. My OCD keeps making me feel like we are behind though. I started her in 1B to make sure she had the conceptual side of things down. She is finishing up 2nd grade. Are we behind? She will start 2A as soon as we finish 1B (probably have her start it in May or June). Should we try to do 3 books over the next 2 years to catch up? If you've done this, has it worked out well for you?

 

Singapore Standards is on grade level, so she is a little "behind" at the moment but that only matters if you enroll her in PS or have to do standardized testing. :) We have found it easy to more at an accelerated pace, doing about 3 books a year lately, and that includes occasionally slowing down to do more practice on a tougher concept. We also do Math Minutes alongside our regular math, and so my son gets extra practice and a "preview" of later concepts which helps him fly through those chapters. Often I can condense the first lessons in a chapter because it is all review, and then we focus on the new material. I don't time the Math Minutes and find they have been a wonderful supplement since they spiral through topics and Singapore is mastery.

 

[hands-on-mama]

Singapore Standards is on grade level, so she is a little "behind" at the moment but that only matters if you enroll her in PS or have to do standardized testing. :) We have found it easy to more at an accelerated pace, doing about 3 books a year lately, and that includes occasionally slowing down to do more practice on a tougher concept. We also do Math Minutes alongside our regular math, and so my son gets extra practice and a "preview" of later concepts which helps him fly through those chapters. Often I can condense the first lessons in a chapter because it is all review, and then we focus on the new material. I don't time the Math Minutes and find they have been a wonderful supplement since they spiral through topics and Singapore is mastery.

 

Thank you! This helps a ton! I'm sure she could have started in 2A, but Singapore is so different from CLE that I wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything. It has been a great confidence boost for her, so it's definitely been worth it. We've gone through 1B pretty quickly, so I think we can "catch up." I'm not super worried though. :)

[hands-on-mama]

Would you mind showing me which math minutes you use?

[Targhee]

I would be careful during this time of "catch up" to ensure you are building the conceptual understanding that is hallmark of Singapore PM. Of course you don't want to hold your DD back, and you want to get back to grade level, but I suggest doing it while ensuring you're laying the conceptual ground work.

 

Are you using the HIG? Without it or some other background in the Singapore method then you're not getting the real benefits of the program - just a (expensive) workbook.

 

I brought DD home from public school in 4th, but we started in 3A, working hard on the conceptual side and using the concrete--->pictorial--->abstract progression. We did 3A and 3B steadily with that heavy conceptual emphasis, starting 4A in late April of 4th grade. We finished 5B by the end of 5th grade and she went on to AOPS preA after that. I am so glad we did the first year slowly and deeply!

[kristin0713]

I switched my DD to Singapore in 3rd grade and we started on 2a to make sure we covered everything. That was last year and she plowed through it and competed 2a, 2b, and 3a by the end of the summer. Our plan was to complete 3b, 4a, and 4b this year (4th grade) but we missed a TON of school because of family stuff so she's still in 4a. But I think she will still be able to complete through 4b before September.

 

That is the long way of me saying that 3 books in a year is not hard to do if you are consistent and do about a lesson a day. We school through the summer too though.

[hands-on-mama]

I would be careful during this time of "catch up" to ensure you are building the conceptual understanding that is hallmark of Singapore PM. Of course you don't want to hold your DD back, and you want to get back to grade level, but I suggest doing it while ensuring you're laying the conceptual ground work.

 

Are you using the HIG? Without it or some other background in the Singapore method then you're not getting the real benefits of the program - just a (expensive) workbook.

 

I brought DD home from public school in 4th, but we started in 3A, working hard on the conceptual side and using the concrete--->pictorial--->abstract progression. We did 3A and 3B steadily with that heavy conceptual emphasis, starting 4A in late April of 4th grade. We finished 5B by the end of 5th grade and she went on to AOPS preA after that. I am so glad we did the first year slowly and deeply!

We do use the HIG. We are doing Standards version and I much prefer it over the US edition. The HIG has been phenomenal. We also use the TB, WB, and the FAN math process skills books. We have spent as much time as she needs using manipulatives to work through problems. It has truly deepened her understanding.

[fyonaf]

We did this! Boys started 2B at beginning of school year (they are in third grade) and daughter started 3A (she's in fourth grade). We are now in our third books (3B and 4A, respectively)--it will be a stretch to finish completely by the end of the school year, but not impossible. I told them their comprehension is more important to me than our speed, and I expect we'll slow down a touch as they see more new stuff. We do 1 exercise most days, no tests, and no school on Fridays. Every 5-10 lessons or so, I skip one/do two in one day. Slow and steady wins the race :-). All kids are making 90+% on their exercises, so it seems we're not moving too quickly. I use *many* of the HIG tips (definitely the games), but often just use the textbook to teach (incorporating some of the HIG tips/strategies) and then turn them loose on the workbooks. The only thing I wish we'd made more time for were the extra mental math enrichment pages. I'm thinking of those as a quick daily summer review (shh... don't tell the kids!  :laugh: )