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Hi everyone,

My little guy took his placement test and it indicated that he should start in Singapore 1B for the coming school year (2nd grade). I was wondering if I should start him in 1A so that he can get the feel for Singapore or is that not necessary? He just finished Horizons 1, but I know Singapore approaches math very differently.

Thanks!
Jessica

Bump

Anybody? Anyone?

Which guide will your little guy be doing? I think it would be up to you about whether to start him in 1a, but I probably would to get him in the Singapore mental math mind frame. It is very different. It is really good, but I think the earlier you start in the guides then the children have less trouble adjusting to the change. I would rather start with the A guide myself. You could buy both 1a and 1b and he might fly through 1a quickly. If my kids would have tested that close to 1a, then I probably would have done 1a with them instead.
Val

You really could start with either 1A or 1B. If you are using the hands-on math plans in Beyond, there are wonderful plans for both 1A and 1B, so you can weigh that in your decision. Beyond also has a schedule in the appendix for 2A and 2B, but those do not have the hands-on plans. The Bigger Hearts guide has hands-on plans for 2A/2B. So, some of that information may make a difference in your decision. The hands-on plans HOD writes are fantastic. They are a great pair with the Singapore workbooks, and teach the dc to think mathematically first with objects then mentally. We started with 2B this year with my older, and then did 3A. It went fine for him, so I'm sure it would for your little guy too. You have 2 great choices here - you will know best!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks so much for the feedback, ladies! At this point, I am leaning towards doing Beyond with him (he will be 7.5 in the fall) and one of the reasons I was wondering about the math issue is b/c I am still going back and forth b/t Beyond and Bigger. I'm driving myself nuts and I need to just make a decision! He was frustrated with math this past year and I really want to bring back his love of math again (loved it in K), so I definitely don't want to push him too hard. I definitely want the hands-on activities for him...he responds really well to hands-on activities and they seem to "cement" what he learns. He is an advanced reader/speller, loves history and science, etc., so that is part of my confusion as to where to place him. I was going to add DITHOR level 2 for reading, so I am hoping that will challenge him a bit. I posted about where to put him a few months back, but when he took the Singapore placement test, it threw me off a bit as to where to start.

3sweeties wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback, ladies! At this point, I am leaning towards doing Beyond with him (he will be 7.5 in the fall) and one of the reasons I was wondering about the math issue is b/c I am still going back and forth b/t Beyond and Bigger. I'm driving myself nuts and I need to just make a decision! He was frustrated with math this past year and I really want to bring back his love of math again (loved it in K), so I definitely don't want to push him too hard. I definitely want the hands-on activities for him...he responds really well to hands-on activities and they seem to "cement" what he learns. He is an advanced reader/speller, loves history and science, etc., so that is part of my confusion as to where to place him. I was going to add DITHOR level 2 for reading, so I am hoping that will challenge him a bit. I posted about where to put him a few months back, but when he took the Singapore placement test, it threw me off a bit as to where to start.

It's more important he's accurately placed for his reading and writing capabilities, as well as giving consideration to how he listens to books with little or no pictures in them. I'd base your decision between Beyond and Bigger on that, rather than the math, since the LA skills are also tied into many other subject areas in HOD (i.e. Science, History, Bible, Poetry, etc.). HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

How much writing, on average, would you say is in Bigger per day? He does really well listening to books without pictures. We need some help on learning how to truly narrate those books, though. He kept a history and science notebook this past year and enjoyed it. He was writing on his own (with notebooking) for the most part towards the end of the year, although sometimes he would still ask to dictate it to me. I know I asked some of these same questions a few months back, but he seemed to mature a little bit towards the end of the school year (end of May). If I did Bigger, I think I would slow it down (at least in the beginning) to 4 days instead of 5 so it wouldn't overwhelm him. I would have no problem continuing it into the next school year if I needed to. I would purchase the Beyond guide for the hands-on math activities since I know he would begin Singapore with 1B at the most. Thanks!

3sweeties,

I missed this part of the thread until now! I'm thinking this previous answer by Kathleen in an older thread may give you the help you're needing in explaining the amount of writing within Bigger:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3005

Blessings,
Carrie