Singapore Math help

[Alice]

My ds is a little over 4 and is working through the Singapore EB books. We are on 2A now and he's loving them. So far he's going at the rate of about 1 EB book a month...he always wants to do more and the concepts are mostly things he knows so it's easy and fun for him.

So..I'm thinking of going on to the PM books earlier than I would have expected. Couple of questions as I'm looking at what to order:

- Teacher's guide vs. "home instructor guide"? I seem to remember posts where people recommend the teacher's guide but I've never seen anyone mention the "home instructor's guide". I couldn't really figure out what it was on their site.

- Manipulatives? What are the top math manipulatives you use that you would recommend a new homeschooler get? So far we use stuff around the house...for counting I use a lot of M&M's (which may be why he loves math :o) or sometimes beans or pennies. For other stuff like measuring, weighing and measuring volume we've just used the real items like measuring tapes or the scale. Any suggestions for manipulatives to purchase?

Thanks!

[Laurie in VA]

I, too, have a young 4yo who is about ready to start 1A! I have been through this before with DD#1, and we use the HIG. We also add in Miquon - mainly as a way to slow DD#1 down, but also to make sure all of our bases are covered.

DD#1 now refuses to use any manipuatives, but we did use counting bears for awhile. We also bought several bulletin board sets at a local teacher supply store and punched out the decorations (pumpkins at Halloween; bugs in the spring; etc) to use as counters. Those were lots of fun! With Miquon we use the cuisenaire rods for awhile. We did use a balance scale and I know in 2A or B you'll need a scale that measures g. and oz. HTH!

[Closeacademy]

The Home Instructor's Guide is the one you want if you think you need something that explains how to teach the concpets, game ideas and mental math pages.

The only manipulative that is really worth buying is the balance scale--for everything else you can just things that you have around the house.

I only have one piece of advice. Take some time between EB 2b and PM 1b to really get the addition and subtraction facts down. It will make the transition to PM 2a so much easier.

Slow down when you need to and speed up when he wants to but make sure and get those facts.

Good luck!:)

[Pencil Pusher]

I have a ds7 who's in Singapore & a dd4 who I *wish* was in Singapore. LOL. I haven't ordered anything for her, & she's used up her preschool worksheets & wants more, so she's just doing leftover Saxon.

Teacher's Guide/Home instructor's guide: You don't need this. Save your $!

Manipulatives: I bought everything I needed to do Saxon for ds for 1st g, & we've mostly really enjoyed it
--for fun, mostly. Both of them LOVE making shapes w/ pattern blocks. They like the geoboards pretty well. They seem to like addition/subtraction songs on tape. I've got a bucket full of math stuff, & it's nice for encouraging them to love it (if I'd just remember to get it out!)

We've also got Math Shark; only ds7 uses it, really, but I LOVE it for drill, which you'll need to add to Singapore at some point.

Good luck!

[Alice]

Thanks for the advice. One more questions..I saw on the Singapore website that they are adding a new edition that will be what is used in California public schools. Any reason to use or not use this instead of the PM? I couldn't think of any reason to use it but wanted to see if more experienced and wiser minds had different advice.

Thanks again.

[Alice]

Laurie-
We're in Virginia too...up in NOVA. We go to Sandbridge every May with my parents. It's very nice down your way.
Alice

[siloam]

Alice,

I love the HIG's. I have only seen the Teacher guides for the 1A and 1B level and I didn't care for them. The activities were group related and used specialized manipulatives not easy to reproduce, from what I remember.

As far as manipulatives you can use M&M's at the beginning. Eventually I would recommend you buy a Base 10 set (I prefer interlocking) and a place value mat. I think those have taken care of all our needs so far, though I don't do the activities in the HIG because we do RS math.

Heather

[Alice]

Thanks Heather!
That was exactly the info I was looking for...I couldn't tell from any of the websites what the difference was between the HIG and the Teacher's Guide.

And my son will be glad to know we can keep using M&M's...at least for awhile. :)

[swimnactmom]

Go with the Home Instuctor's Guide. We started in 3A and are now in 5B. The HIG presents ways of explaining the concepts to your child. I'm good at math, but I still prefer the HIG. I've looked at both and it was a no-brainer for me.