Half-baked Homeschool

That title makes it sound so much more enjoyable than it was. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't bad. It was fine, and some of it was even a bit amusing. Mostly it was just, well, second-grade math. (Begging the pardon of my former graduate school roommate, who is a math person.)


This was our first year using Singapore Math, and so far it's been a fairly good choice for us. The text is easy for Bearclaw to understand, and the teachers' guide provides solid explanations of concepts as well as plenty of enrichment ideas. Singapore says it runs about 1/2 year ahead in terms of grade level, so we spent almost the entire school year on Level 2A, and this summer we're slowly getting into 2B. At the moment, we're focusing on multiplication tables; Bearclaw is learning the 4s right now and enjoying practicing on Multiplication.com.

Skills attained this school year include the ability to:

• read, order, and compare whole numbers up to 1,000
• identify place values in three-digit numerals
• add and subtract two- and three-digit numbers (with and without regrouping)
• solve simple word problems involving addition or subtraction
• measure, estimate, and compare objects by size
• write the date numerically
• write and recite multiplication table through the 3s

Skills that Bearclaw has yet to master include:

• telling or writing time to five-minute intervals
• solving problems about elapsed time
• writing number (using number-words)

I don't have any math pictures...I'll work on that next year.