I have used Singapore math for kindergarten and first grade with my daughter. A sales rep told me that the first grade home instructor's guide was not worth the money, so I did not purchase it. Although most of the math in the first grade book has been pretty simplistic, there have been a few things that I was a little stumped at how to teach to my daughter - primarily dealing with base 10 math. My main worry is how good the guides are for the later years. If I do need to switch, I'd rather do it now instead of later. My background in math is not that good, so I need all the help I can get. I guess that is why I feel like I should be using Math-U-See. I have really enjoyed Singapore and hate to switch because of my inability to teach. My daughter has not had any problems keeping up with the pace. Is there someone out there that has used the guides that can tell me how detailed they are with presentation and later on with the problem solving? Thanks, Teresa
This is our 3rd year using Singapore. We just finished 3B. I bought the Home Instructor's Guide for 2nd and 3rd grades - never used them. I passed the 2nd grade guides on to a friend who loves them. She has already asked for the 3rd grade guides for next year! I guess it all comes down to your child's math ability and your comfort with teaching. The guides have games, ideas for extra reinforcement, and other activities for teaching the concepts. It wouldn't hurt to invest in the guide (for one section - A or B) to see if it is a good fit for you. Good Luck!!
Depending on how you feel about math, you probably don't need them until about 5th grade, and then I needed them to help explain some of those more abstract problems - the ones that involve 5 steps to solve and involved a certain step that they don't really teach but "insinuate"? Those problems REALLY frustrated us in 5th grade, and I didn't have the guide to help us solve them.
But did the 5th grade guide help you? I guess that's what I'm worried about. If I need a little help explaining in 1st grade, if the guides are not good, when I get to fifth grade, I'll be in BIG trouble.
If you are worried about 1st grade, then yeah, you might want the guides. They start by having the student do some hands on stuff, give you the language of what to say when explaining it, give you a few problems you can work out on the "board" and then give you the step of how to work out all the problems in the textbook, and some of the work book. It helped us A LOT this year (the first year we used it - end of 6th grade - 7th grade math!). I also use it offset from the grade they are in. For example, my 2nd grader is using 1B and 2A, not 2A and 2B - that would be for an advanced 2nd grader, and my dd is a young second grader. My ds is in 7th, and he is just now finishing up 6B. We worked through it all slowly, and he is now really starting to get it, but he abstract problems/advanced word problems STILL throw him for a loop and he gets many of them wrong. Get the guide for those abstract problems if nothing else. I hope this helps!!
The most helpful resource I've found in teaching math is Liping Ma's book, Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. The Singapore math site sells it as well as Amazon. She researchs why Chinese math teachers who finish an equivilent of grade 9 seem to understand and teach math better then American teachers who are university educated. She breaks down the proper way to look at place value, subtraction, etc. and it's actually a book I think everyone involved in education should read. If you're struggling with how to teach it should help a lot.
I have never used the guides. They were not even available when my oldest went through. But if the level 1 books are stumping you, you may have troubles getting through this series and might want to consider something with more guidance like Math-U-See. You could try the home instructors guide, but it might not be enough. HTH
