Singapore Home Instructor Guides vs. HOD plans

[sharonb]

A good friend of mine told me that the Home Instructor Guides are essential to teaching the Singapore way of thinking. I took her advice and purchased them for the levels we are currently using (1A and 1B). I have been following the lesson plans and things are going great. I admit, I am not following the math plans in our Beyond guide these days (it was kind of a pain with all the flipping around since dd and ds are in totally different spots; yeah, I know, silly excuse!). dd and ds are loving Singapore.

Anyway, I'm adding up all the expenses for 2010-11 when we do Bigger. I had decided on switching to Singapore's new standards edition if we are going to use the HIG's and not the HOD plans anyway. Well, talk about pricey!!! I went back through and recalculated everything based on doing things the HOD way, and I'd save a HUGE chunk of money.

Please reassure me that following the HOD plans 100% will be FINE. I don't really want to spend in excess of $150 for math for my children next year. I'm already trying to switch us over to the spelling in the guide instead of using R&S, and I am considering dropping the R&S penmanship once dd finishes learning her cursive (it seems silly to buy her a penmanship workbook when she's going to be doing copywork everyday!). Every dollar counts, and I'd love to have extra $ in the homeschool budget to use for quality read-aloud books!

[sharonb]

Anyone???

Carrie and Julie, I know I've read that your children have scored very well on math standardized tests. Do you use JUST the HOD plans for teaching the math, or are you getting ideas from elsewhere too (like the HIG's or other sources)?

Bigger has hands-on math for 2A/2B, right? dd will be ready for that in another month or so; I do have the HIG for that level already, but I might go ahead and get the Bigger guide instead and see how that goes....

[Carrie]

Sharon,

We've only ever used the HOD plans for Singapore and have not used the Home Instructor's guides with our kiddos. The Home Instructor's Guides are actually written by Sonlight to accompany Singapore math (which Sonlight carries and sells as well), so those instructor's guides are a U.S. creation and are not part of the original Singapore math series used in Singapore. The textbook/workbook combination is what is used in Singapore and is what was designed to teach the Singapore way of thinking.

With that being said, we did look at whether we should carry the Home Instructor's Guides at any level and chose to write our own plans for the early levels instead. We found the instructor's guides at the early levels made the program much more involved and complicated for the teacher than it needed to be. For the middle levels, we found the explanations in the textbook and workbook combination to be clear enough that the Home Instructor's Manuals were not needed. We have chosen to carry the guides, however, for Level 5A/5B and 6A/6B (for reference only, as needed, rather than for daily teaching). This is in case kiddos need more practice or in case the parent needs a bit more help at those much more difficult upper levels. I hope that helps. If you have other quetions, ask away!

Blessings,
Carrie

[8arrows]

I bought the guides for level 6, and I wish I had bought them for 5. I agree with Carrie that I did not use them all the time, but they were very helpful when I needed them. I did not need them before level 5.

[sharonb]

Thank you, Carrie. That is very reassuring. I'm going to go back to using HOD's plans for math. I'll just add a couple more post-its back into the manual to mark each child's place!

We are gradually doing more and more of HOD, and it is such a freeing feeling! I don't need to buy as much as I thought, because HOD has it covered. My spreadsheet of books I need next year is shrinking and I love it!

Thanks again!!!!

[my3sons]

Sorry I missed this sharonb! I have not done anything else other than add in flashcards during one summer. I may look at the HIG in level 5 or 6, but not before that. Both of our dc love math and are good at it. I know it's due to the way they've learned it.

In Christ,
Julie

[yayadaisy]

What a relief to see this post!!! I have been struggling with the math so far this year! I have one doing LHFHG and two other older ones doing another program but doing singapore math. I got the HIG's and to me they seem more confusing then not having them at all. Maybe what I should do it order the HOD that has the math for my son in it so I could have the lesson plans and activites rather use the singapore HIG. What guide is level 3a-3b in?

Sheila

[sharonb]

From what I've been told, 3A/3B does not have hands-on activities scheduled for it. Rather, you use the textbook. So, you don't necessarily need a guide to tell you what to do for that. Just go through the textbook with your child, and when it says to do an exercise in the workbook, have them do it.

[Daisy]

We are loving Singapore!! We are just using HOD's plans. My children are actually enjoying math again and still learning. Anyway, just wanted to pipe in my 2 cents.

[Carrie]

Sheila,

The 3A/3B daily schedules are in the following HOD guides: Bigger Hearts, Preparing Hearts, and CTC.

Sharon is right that at 3A/3B the hands-on activities bow out and the pictorial representations in the Singapore textbooks kick in. This provides a steady, needed progression from hands-on learning to the visual representation and then later to the abstract representation.

Hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

[yayadaisy]

Thanks for the help. I really love singapore math!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheila