Yeah, I have to admit those MM pages are a little dizzying even to me. I really like the look of Singapore...the pages aren't crowded, the textbook is colorful, etc. My daughter said she likes the pictures that go with the problems better than the MM ones too. I like the scripted aspect of the RS teacher's manual better, but I think I can adjust. Also, teaching RS to my oldest has given me a good foundation since both programs teach in a similar way. Anyway, yes, she tends to get new concepts pretty quickly and not need the manipulatives, but when she doesn't get it, I struggle to help her understand when she resists the abacus so hard. We grabbed some linking cubes and colored counters today and we have the base 10 cards from RS that she likes a lot. Glad to hear you moved from RSB to Singapore 2A easily!

Well, we went to Mardel today and flipped through Singapore 1B and 2A. She was really excited about the pictures. We got 2A and are going to give it a try. We obviously have plenty of fall back options if this doesn't work. ?

I feel like her frustration tolerance is too low for Beast Academy. If that improves with a little maturity, we may try it next year. I do think she would like it if she can get comfortable with a little frustration.

Thanks for the ideas on other manipulatives. I could print off a place value mat and maybe I'll get some linking/unifix type cubes. It looks like Singapore uses those, so I might need them anyway if we do end up switching.

I like this idea! I could validate that she is getting the right answer that way. I think I've been too discouraging when she does that.

Rightstart has been the perfect fit for my 10 yo, but I'm not so sure it is for my 7yo who is about halfway through RS B. I want to finish the subtraction lessons with her and then possibly move her into something else for 2nd grade. She recently told me she hates using the abacus (she has always resisted it) and just wants "to use my B-R-A-I-N." ? I can understand that...my mental math skills have improved while teaching my older daughter, but I don't see an abacus in my head. I see more of a very long number line. Anyway, she catches onto math concepts more quickly than my oldest, but she has a very low frustration tolerance and easily gets upset. She tends to do more counting to figure out problems than I would like, so I've always made her do the strategies we learn on the abacus so she can learn it, but I'm tired of the fight. Also, I know she has a pretty good 1st grade grasp of the things like money, time, measurement, etc that fill up the last part of each level in RS. So I don't think the needs to finish the book past the subtraction lessons before we move on. If we stick with RS though, we probably will finish those just because she struggles with handwriting and I know that all those lessons in C with addition and subtraction tables will be too much for her. I also see her struggling with the geometry lessons in C. Options I'm mulling around: Try to adapt the abacus lessons to another manipulative like money or a 10-frame. (I'm not exactly sure how to do this, so would appreciate tips from anyone who has. I tried popsicle sticks and that didn't work well either.) I have all of Math Mammoth (one of the failed attempts with big sister), so I showed her some pages from it, but the pictures were not something she is used to and that bothered her. I'm thinking of gradually transitioning her into it anyway and seeing if she gets used to it. For example, while we keep working on subtraction in RS B, give her some pages from a fun topic like time and see how she does with it. MM was way too busy and not enough explanation for my other daughter, but I'm not sure that will be a problem for my 7 yo. If neither of these go well, I'm thinking of Singapore or Math in Focus although I hate to spend that much on another curriculum when I already have two. Do these rely on the abacus as much as RS? I've thought of Beast Academy because I think she would like the explanations in the comic book in the samples I've seen, but I think she would get frustrated with the problems. Thoughts? When I asked in the RS FB group, most of the replies said she didn't have to like the abacus and to just make her do it. ? I get that we have to do hard things, but would like math to not be a fight most days. ☺️ Thanks!

Thanks, everyone! This makes me feel even better about it. My daughter has had a hard time learning to read and AAR really helped after trying a less rules based approach, so it is a little hard for me to give up the rules based approach now for spelling. But I know using rules for reading is different than for spelling since spelling has more exceptions and there is so much more to remember. Sbgrace, I was actually wondering about definitions for each morpheme, such as what it means when you add "er" or "ly" to a word. I mean, I know a lot of them intuitively, but wondered about another source.

I have book A in the mail and I'm excited! We use Handwriting Without Tears, which is a pretty different style. Did it bother your kids to trace a different font or did you have them do those exercises on plain lined paper? Is there a good resource of spelling rules I could use as a reference to go alongside it if a question comes up? I really love the look of the morpheme approach, but would like to be able to refer to rules like All About Spelling would have from time to time. Actually, I have Bluedorn's Handy English Encoder Decoder now that I think about it. Maybe that would be enough? As I'm looking through A, I don't see that they define the morphemes. Any ideas for a resource for that when questions come up?