Singapore Math

Singapore Math Inc. sells the two best-known versions of the Singapore method: Dimensions Math, from pre-K to grade 8, and Primary Mathematics, running from 1A to 6B. Both follow a concrete, pictorial, abstract sequence, moving a child from handling objects to drawing a problem to working with numbers alone. For a parent who never learned math this way, the Home Instructor's Guides are the reason to buy: they lay out how to teach each lesson, including games and hands-on work, so you are never guessing how to explain place value. Plan to sit with a younger child for the lesson itself. This is a program a parent teaches, not one a child works through alone.