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My now 1st grade son is going to be 7 in December. He is very intuitive in math. He loves it and is very good with it even without ever using a formal math program. He is excellent at mental math and tells me all his discoveries he makes daily. For instance, there are ten tens in one hundred because when he counted by tens the were ten of them to make 100. I never taught him to count be tens either. Another self discovery! And if 5+5 is 10, then 5+7 is 12. Or if 6+6 is 12 then 5+7 is too because one number is one less and the other is one more. He also makes up and/or mentally solves word problems for fun.
He LOVES talking math and rambles the above sort of things often each day. All that to say he passed the Singapore 1A test and I'm not sure if I should trust the placement and start with 1B. I don't want to get to the upper levels too soon, but I don't want to bore him and squash his love of math or slow him down when he's this receptive.

My suggestion would be to start with 1A to let him (and you) get a feel for how Singapore Math works. Let him pace himself, learn and have fun. The workbooks don't cost that much to go ahead and do that, if you are able. If he moves through it quickly, great. Then onto 1B.

My son is a lot like your son, has always done math in his head. Last year when we switched to Singapore from MUS, he placed in the Singapore 1B book, too. I ordered it but once he began working in it, I realized there were a few things (i.e. subtraction) that he didn't have a good grasp of, so I ordered Singapore 1A and we worked back through it. There was a lot that's basic for him, so some days we'd skip a page or just talk through it rather than writing everything down. I felt better knowing we weren't skipping anything.

If you do work through 1A and then 1B I definitely suggest getting the Bigger guide if you don't already have it. We made the mistake of getting the Singapore Home Instructor's guides (which are good) but I wish I had just spent that money towards the Bigger guide and getting Carrie's fun math plans for 1A & 1B.

creativemommy wrote:My son is a lot like your son, has always done math in his head. Last year when we switched to Singapore from MUS, he placed in the Singapore 1B book, too. I ordered it but once he began working in it, I realized there were a few things (i.e. subtraction) that he didn't have a good grasp of, so I ordered Singapore 1A and we worked back through it. There was a lot that's basic for him, so some days we'd skip a page or just talk through it rather than writing everything down. I felt better knowing we weren't skipping anything.

If you do work through 1A and then 1B I definitely suggest getting the Bigger guide if you don't already have it. We made the mistake of getting the Singapore Home Instructor's guides (which are good) but I wish I had just spent that money towards the Bigger guide and getting Carrie's fun math plans for 1A & 1B.

I just wanted to say that you should get the Beyond guide and not the Bigger guide for the math activities that Carrie includes in the guide.

1a/ab activities are in Beyond, and 2a/2b are in Bigger.

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, you want the BEYOND guide for the 1A/1B plans Carrie has written. Thanks for correcting me!

Thanks ladies. I guess most would agree to start at 1a. I've used Singapore in the past so I'm somewhat familiar with it. I guess it's still best to begin at the beginning!
Unfortunately, I've loaned out some if my Beyond books, including the guide. A friend needed it for this year.
Would adding in the intensive practice or challenging word problems be wise since he loves math so much and 1a might be a tad easy for him? I'm over the academic pushing and if I felt that would push him too much, I wouldn't consider it. He just wants more. He finishes what we are currently using which has several more problems per page and asks for more. If only this would last forever. Hahaha!
I may just get the HIG to add a bit for him. I'm not sure but I will be sure to start with 1a. Thanks everyone!

I'm all ears. Anyone else?