Talk to me about Primary Mathematics

[Elizabeth86]

We used and loved essential math for K and thought we would love it for first, but neither ds nor I seem to enjoy it for 1st. I feel like I dread teaching it which is sad because ds and I both like math. I am following the HIG carefully because I am still in the early stages of homeschooling and I am still afraid of screwing up my son's education.

 

The HIG annoys me. I like it perfectly scripted instead of it saying make up an addition story. We get very distracted by the 2yr old so it is nice to have it word for word written down. The games and things dont seem very fun to my ds really. Not to mention toddler is shufflung cards and things all over the place. I feel I could easily teach 1st grade math without the HIG in a traditional way, but I am still not really sure what makes singapore math different or how to teach it without hig. Ds and I are using abeka for language arts and we both love this really traditional style.

 

So any tips or advice. Point me toward a different curriculum for next year? I want it to be rigorous. I want him to know what he would know if he were in school or more. I am just annoyed by the HIG. I might not be able to exactly put my finger on what it is I dont like about it, but I dont like it. It says things like take as much time on each lesson as you need or work on learning math facts and things like this and I dont thrive on this I need day 1 do lesson 1. I hope that was clear enough? The kids are talking ny ear off right now, so I will leave it at that. If you have questions just ask and I will clarify.

[Sk8ermaiden]

Just for background, we are in 4A and have done Singapore since Earlybird. My DD gets concepts very easily, but still needs the full amount of practice offered in the book to get the processes memorized. We both love Primary Math.

 

We did not use the HIG in 1. Even though I had it. In my opinion, the Singapore way in early grades is 1) teach it with manipulatives, 2) move to pictures, 3) move to mental math, repeated for each new concept. And an emphasis on "making tens." We never did the stories or games.

I started using the HIG much more frequently around when DD started 2B. 

 

As long as you are teaching the concepts instead of just having them memorizing the processes, I don't think you can really mess up the Singapore way at this age. Being able to do the number bonds within 10 is also a big thing that year and we took some time off the workbook to get them down. 

 

You don't have to let the HIG be your master, I promise! I flip through it to make sure the way I am teaching something isn't off from the way they want it taught. We do one exercise in the workbook each day, unless it is overly long or short. If you throw the HIG away for first grade and do one exercise a day, I promise he will be fine! But I do think there is a schedule in the front of the HIGs for the school year, if you really like schedules. I don't have recommendations for next year though, as we haven't used anything else.