How to get the most out of Singapore Math® Live

 When I was homeschooling my elementary-aged children,  I loved the feeling of knowing that we were completing enough today in order to accomplish our year-long goals. So when I created SML, I started with a syllabus which lists the pages to complete in each book for each week. Following this plan will allow you to finish the set of books in 34 weeks. It's not broken down by day - just by the week so you can fit it into your schedule in whatever way works for you.

In our house, each day we generally did one exercise, one or two pages in Intensive Practice, and one page in Challenging Word Problems. By working a little in each book on most days, your children will have exposure to a couple of word problems each day which will, over time, increase their critical thinking skills and give them a whole lot of problem solving strategies to store in their tool box for future use. Here's a bonus - since the assignments come from different books, you don't have to do all of the day's math in one sitting. 

The Class Recordings are a crash course for the teacher. Plan a time each week that you can watch the recording from start to finish. The concepts from the Workbook and the Intensive Practice book are explained and demonstrated. When your children have questions - you'll be prepared to answer them!  

After watching the Class Recording, use the Syllabus to plan your child's week by deciding what your child should accomplish each day and varying the assignments so they do a little from each of the books on most of the days.  

Each day that a Workbook exercise is assigned, your student can sit at the computer with their textbook in front of them and watch a "Student Recording." I'll use the Singapore Math terminology and strategies to teach them what they need to know before starting that exercise. You can watch it together if you like, or you can send them to the computer to finish that part on their own. 

The Intensive Practice book is divided into two sections per unit - practice problems and word problems. When your child is doing the practice problems, you'll use what you learned from the Class Recording to help them if they get confused.  This practice is quite a bit more difficult than the workbook - but you'll be ready to help since you've seen the Class Recording!

The word problems are my favorite part of the Singapore Math curriculum! They really make you think. Many people write to tell me that although they can solve the problems, they have to resort to using Algebra skills to do it. When they watch the CWP and IP solutions recording, they see how to solve them in a much simpler way. The beauty of the word problems is that although they seem so complex, they are solved quite simply by organizing the information and using logic. The solutions recordings help you and your child to solve the word problems the easy way! 

So, at the first of each week, Mom watches the Class Recording and uses the Syllabus to plan the week. At the beginning of each day that has a Workbook exercise assigned, the student watches a Student Recording that corresponds with that assignment. And when you get stumped by a word problem, you can click on the IP or CWP link for that week and fast-forward to the problem you want to see explained and solved.

All of the help you need is at your fingertips! You CAN give your child the best mathematics education available and maximize their math potential!

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