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Excuse me, but I'm forgetting who out there is homeschooling and who is using Singapore math.

I'm looking at supplementing my 1st grader in math a bit, who is learning very little at school this year, with 2nd grade Singapore math. He breezed through the placement tests for 2nd grade. He could most likely go higher, but I don't want to leave any gaps. He isn't necessarily familiar with all the notation, etc even if he understands conceptually. I think if we have it around the house, he'll learn it by osmosis and we can skip sections if needed.

ANYWAY - to the point. What books/workbooks do I <NEED> to have to get by with the Singapore series? I do have a BS in math, so I don't feel like I need a lot for myself to help him. But enough for him to be able to dive in. Is the textbook and the workbook enough?

Thanks for any advice!

You should be fine with the textbook and workbook. The teacher's manual, IMHO, is a waste of money in the elementary years. It may be that a kid who needs a lot of reinforcement will be helped by additional hints or suggestions from the teacher's guide, but I purchased it a couple times as part of a bundle and never needed it. I'm not a "mathy" person either, so you should be all set with your mathematics degree!

Thanks a ton!

Look for challenge books, with lots of word problems.

For my part, we're loving the "Challenging Word Problems" and "Intensive Practice" books instead of the regular workbooks. They're much more challenging and thought-provoking. They seem to me to go "deeper, not just faster" with even arithmetic.

I'd also recommend getting the homeschool teacher's book instead of the textbook if you're only going to get one or the other. I find the textbook to be pretty <meh>. Color pictures, but not much real teaching. The homeschool teacher's book, on the other hand, has given me some good ideas for introducing material and some uses of manipulatives to reinforce material that I wouldn't have come up with on my own.

Of course, I'm an English-type person. If you're very math-oriented, you might not really need the help like I do.

Enjoy!

We just got the first grade Singapore Maths book for our Ker. I'm 100% sure he knows 95% of the content, but we want to make sure he knows it in the right way for school!

Kriston -- I wish I'd seen this post before I bought them last night; I was remembering that you used Singapore math! I bought the text and the workbook, but I guess I should have gone for the homeschool book. Maybe for 1B. :-) However, you can't really beat the price, can you? I'll have to check out the books once they arrive ...

I like the workbook because I just give it to the kids and let them go at it. I rarely "teach" math. The kids can always come to me with a question, but mostly they are happy to work independently.

I'm chuckling that we homeschoolers have to find different ways to do things, even with the same basic materials!

So true, Lorel! And if you're handing the child the textbook and workbook, then those would be my picks for the books, too. It's my first year, and I'm not ready to go there yet. Newbie nervousness...

And you're right, Mia, you can't beat the price on any of the Singapore math books. They're dirt-cheap. Very little repetition either. Each section is introducing new concepts and strategies instead of rehashing stuff already covered, at least from the books I've seen so far. It's the best value on curriculum I can imagine!

Sorry to sound like an ad, but we are extremely happy with Singapore!

I'm excited about the price of the Singapore books too! I was looking at EPGY for him, but I'd really rather that was a last resort for the price. Eeek! And my son actually loves having stuff like this around the house. He thought the placement test was great fun!

Well, you guys have me torn. My biggest objective was to avoid buying that $21 teachers book! I think I may just order the text book, the workbook, and the intensive work book on the first set and see how it goes. I think the intensive one may actually be fun for him to play with, even if we only use it occassionally.

Kriston - I think I'd be right where you are if we ever get to a homeschooling point!

<grin>

I might be someplace different if it hadn't been what we call "an emergency home schooling." I might have, you know, made plans and worked out a curriculum for the year and stuff. As it was, we just dove in, utterly clueless. Thank goodness Lorel recommended Singapore to me when I was brand spankin' new around here!

Home schooling has actually worked far better than it should have, given the givens. I warned DS6 from the start that it would be an experiment and that we would both be in it together, making mistakes as we went. We've had a couple of minor course corrections as we went along, but it's really been a very successful year so far. Certainly better than the experience he was going to have where he was going to school back in August!

Anyway, you can't go wrong with any of Singapore's stuff, IMO. I think it all comes down to how much you plan to teach and how much you plan to just let him do his own thing. Neither way is wrong!

I'll be interested to hear how it goes. Let's compare notes!