After Son2's worry over multiplication he didn't already know, in his workbook, I set the workbook aside for a while. Let the idea rest and get settled in before forging on.

So... I picked up several different kids' books about multiplication at the library, which we read and reread. Maybe a book every other day -- or, more typical for us, three books in one day then a three-day break! I've been learning some cool tricks from these books -- for 3x, 7x, 9x especially.

We practice skip counting. You know, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, .... He has the 2s, 5s, and 10s down pat. The 3s and 4s are pretty good. We're working to extend those farther and with more ease, and just starting the (related) 6s and 8s. The bigger ones we practice up to the square (6x6=36). We'll go higher after he has these mastered.

And we just talk about multiplication, or "groups of", from time to time.

I think he's pretty much ready to see how the workbook is again.

Update: It worked! We pulled out the Singapore textbook yesterday and he merrily worked through a bunch of problems. Then today he was quite happy to tackle some division problems in the workbook. Yay!

Son1:  We've had several weeks of daily multiplication fact drill pages to improve Son1's mental math skill and speed. He is working steadily through the Singapore Math 5A text and Intensive Practice workbook.

This week he is in the midst of problems involving angles of intersecting lines. He works almost entirely solo now, a big change from the tutor-at-his-elbow approach we took all fall and winter. After each day's work, I review his work and call him back as needed to go through his answers with me.

Looking back, I guess it took this long for Son1 to become comfortable with this completely different math curriculum and with homeschooling -- and the reality that we will move as quickly or slowly as needed for him to understand concepts and gain skills.

Son2: He, too, has had several weeks of daily addition and subtraction drill pages, with the goal of improving his mental math skill and speed. In Son2's Singapore Math 2A text and workbook, this week he is in the midst of the first introduction of multiplication with the standard notation. Oh my!

He worked quickly through the multiplication section but upon the similar introduction of division he got anxious. He kept thinking he had to know more than he did, so I spent time reassuring him that everything he needed to know was right on the page, laid out for him.

I think we'll switch to the Extra Problems workbook so Son2 can settle into the multiplication for a while before tackling division. I got this workbook because last fall I saw that on occasion more exercises would be very helpful to give Son2 time and practice so he can absorb concepts rather than rushing onward.

...or at least, the boys are flying through their math still. Son2 dug into his new Singapore Math 1B workbook this week. I got the Extra Practice Problems workbook that is for A and B, but I didn't realize he had started at the beginning of this book. It is all review (so far). On Monday he did -- SOLO -- 8 exercises (a/k/a "days" of problems. On Tuesday he did 5. Today he did 8, stopping at the end of Exercise 21. There are 40 exercises in this book. That means he did the review of the first book in three days. O-kay... I wonder if Son2 will slow down now that he should be getting to new applications of concepts, and early multiplication and division. Oh boy.

Son1 is doing the problems I mark for him in the end-of-section reviews in his Singapore Math 4B textbook. He will probably finish the book by the end of this week.

I need to get the next level or two of the Singapore books ASAP for Son1 (5 A and B, 6 A and B) and the next level for Son2 (2A and B), and enrich like CRAZY with all of the rabbit trails one normally doesn't have time for. That probably means getting some wonderful enrichment books such as Challenge Math, my first choice right now, and Primary Grade Challenge Math. If I could swing it in my budget, I'd also buy the Living Math Lessons History Cycle 1, intermediate level, and some of the resource books for the intermediate level.

Math with my two boys is shaping up to be a fun, wild ride!