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When we used Rod and Staff Math I use to let the kiddos write in the textbook.

Aha - a few other Singapore Math Textbook rebels are out there along with me! In answer to the question about the workbook, we still do all the math workbook work too. The only difference is we write in the textbook as needed instead of pulling out other paper and pencil to work through the textbook problems. The textbook is sort of like our scratch paper, where we figure problems out right there. We also use a markerboard as needed. Both the textbook and workbook are necessary for a complete lesson. I'm so glad you asked!

In Christ,
Julie

Oh my, the only thing written in my guides are corrections and correct page numbers for different versions of books so that I don't have to keep flipping back and forth.... also I have the Singapore 1A/B pages written on the days in LHFHG again so I don't have to flip around... of course I don't know that I"ll ever have another child using LHFHG with 1A/B again, but it's there if I need it I don't even check off days in the manual!

My manuals have to go through 5 kids though... Maybe when Penelope is going through it I'll feel better about marking We also don't write in the math textbook (unless its' a help to explain the problem that will be used down the line.

Yikes! I think I almost fainted seeing that.

Homeschooling6 wrote:I'm just kidding, we used highlighters tape

abrightmom wrote:My HOD guides are pristine. Seeing huge marks all over the page gives me hives and heart palpitations.

Me too! I gasped out loud. I use post-it flags and we move them over when we are done with that day's box to the next day's box. If I make notes for myself they are also on post-its. But, to each their own... Glad your kids are so enthusiastic to finish!

my3sons wrote:Aha - a few other Singapore Math Textbook rebels are out there along with me! In answer to the question about the workbook, we still do all the math workbook work too. The only difference is we write in the textbook as needed instead of pulling out other paper and pencil to work through the textbook problems. The textbook is sort of like our scratch paper, where we figure problems out right there. We also use a markerboard as needed. Both the textbook and workbook are necessary for a complete lesson. I'm so glad you asked!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you Julie!

Chiming in on the main topic.....I'm another that couldn't imagine marking my guides. Each one has to survive three kids. I'm already down in the mouth that my Beyond manual is showing wear and has dingy page edges. However, hearing that some mark in their textbooks does ease my anxiety - I started letting DS LIGHTLY mark some things in his R&S English 2 text. I can easily erase for when the next child comes through it but I still had a brief checking of my senses before letting him proceed. But the guides? No way!

I did a checkmark by each box (on the upper left) that I complete with my son in LHFHG. I'm going through it again with another son and I check on the lower left so I know it's from doing it with him. I have one more coming up and I'll put the checkmark somewhere else. . I'm also going through right now and writing the memory verse at the top of the Day 1 page for each week to save having to look it up. I really need everything streamlined for time. . I'm going to do it to the Beyond guide we are doing right now also.

I am one of the ones that can't stand to have anything written or marked in my guides. Last year's Beyond and LHTH have nothing in them. Due to lack of time this year in our guides I have a very faint pencil marking the date. That about does me in, and I certainly don't allow my children to see me do that. I don't want them thinking it's okay to mark up their books, and I've already had an issue with my 8yo writing in the R&S text.
Although I certainly think if you are ok with it, to allow your children to do so- just don't let me see it!

Yikes! That scared me! I would be horrified if my dc wrote in the guide! I'm loosening up a little this year with the guide realizing that with the way they are using it, it will be lucky to survive the year. It still won't have marks in it, but you should see the crumpled pages and paint splotches here and there. I even got one of those cookbook holders for it, but it is still taking a beating. All of our guides up to this point looked pretty good at the end of the year, except a tea stain one year when I spilled my tea on the guide , but now that the guide is more theirs than mine, it's not looking so great.

I am one of those though that treats the Singapore text like a workbook. We've been writing in those from the beginning. For some reason that doesn't bother me. They feel like a consumable to me, but the HOD guides don't. I guess I just value the HOD guides much more!

mamas4bugs wrote:I take notes in mine. Not quite as marked as the op's since I'll be using the books with the younger ones, but definitely not pristine either.

Same here!! We are saving our guides as a "record" of all that we did, so it doesn't matter for us if there are check-marks by each box that is done. (But, we only use pencil, and small checks on the sides of each box.) I also write (in pencil) all the adaptations/extras that we do for high school.

I used to be much more OCD about my homeschool guides, but over the years, I think it is precious to have those notes and memories of what we actually did together there.

Homeschooling6 wrote:I'm just kidding, we used highlighters tape

highlighter's tape, they make such a thing?

I make notes in my guides as I go so I remember things for the next kiddo and I mark off each box for each kid with a check for the oldest, a star for the second and a heart for the third.

I let my ds number the boxes in pencil and put pretty big checks in the guides. He is my only one that will use them. If I had another coming behind, I would still let him write in the guide just smaller. It really helps him to feel ownership of the guide and at his age that is what I want. He also is very visual and it helps him to keep a very positive attitude about school if he can see how much he is accomplishing.

Well, I used to keep them pristine, but I make small notes with pencil now and I have highlighted some in my guides. Mostly in the math section to get the main idea for explanation!

As kiddo's get older they are using the manual more and more on their own. My ds is about the start CTC and I'm currently enjoying the newness of it! I had to let go last year with Preparing as he needed to handle it more. He did his very best and kept it pretty neat!
( I told him Mrs. Austin has more and they ship fast, if he ruined it, he would have to share in the cost of a new one), , He took it seriously!
I might put clear contact paper to protect the cover

Someday, I would love to keep a library of ALL the guides brand new!!,

I do have to admit seeing it all marked up gave me a bit of anxiety

Whatever works to keep your kiddos motivated, it is all about them accomplishing the most in school and our job to come along side them! I think it's great that you have already overcome in this area.

Blessings and success

I, too, have to reuse the guides with all four kids. Or at least, from the point we are starting on. But I get that they like to check things off, or cross them out, or whatever floats their boat, as a reward for finishing the activity. So I cut the binding from my guide and put the pages for one unit into page protectors. (The pages are all three-hole punched and kept in a two inch binder. I give them one week at a time in a small three ring notebook and when they are done, they can check it off, or whatever they choose to do, with a dry or wet erase marker. I can also add little notes on small post it squares whenever I have something to add. So far it is going swimmingly. I have one DD with ADD/SPD issues who is a doodler. This is the only way I could think of a guide surviving in her hands to last through the other two. My Bigger girl wonders when I will do that for her, as she wants to do school like her big sisters. I told her she has to wait until she gets into Preparing, which won't be until about January 2014. But, Homeschooling6, I know that you have to do what works for you. I'm just thrilled that school is going well and you seem to have found something you can stick with.