Why did you STOP using Rightstart Math?

[Samiam]

I know alot of people love Rightstart Math. I am wondering why someone would buy RightStart math and then stop using it, go to another program?

 

I am thinking most people buy Rightstart because they have a child who needs the manipulatives, the different way of explaining math, and isn't really worksheet-oriented. I have one of those children. Rightstart seems wonderful. I realize that it can be teacher-intensive, but I am fine with that. So if you bought it because of those reasons, why did it not work?

 

So what are the negatives of Rightstart?

 

thxs

[2sweetgirls]

For us it was to teacher intensive. We only used level B. While I didn't mind teaching it, my daughter is a very independent learner and it just didn't fit her style. I have discovered that she thrives on workbook style math. That said, I loved the concepts behind the program and my daughter did benefit overall from the time we used it. I've kept the math games and we drag those out from time to time.

Edited June 20, 2009 by 2sweetgirls

[Melenie]

:lurk5:

I will be watching this thread. We have started with level A and I really like it, however I see most people move on to something else (or at least supplement) within a year or two so I was wondering the same thing.

[linders]

Not what you asked, but I have one in Level D and one in Level B. Yes, teacher intensive, even as you go up the levels. But it has worked so well for us. We plan to go through Level E and Geometry.

[Ray]

Incoherence. Taken on an individual basis the lessons were fine, but I could not figure out how everything was supposed to gel together. One lesson you are counting and the next you’re making a calendar. I only purchased one level at a time (A & B), which meant that I was unable to look ahead and try to figure out that ‘big picture’.

If concepts are thought of as ‘pegs’ that must be in place to ‘hang’ other concepts off so that ideas gel into a whole and make sense to the student. I recommend either Singapore Math or Japanese math. We are using both in tandem and so far the pegs are nice and shiny.

Ray

[Closeacademy]

The con for us was that it is a scripted program and really don't like those. But I did keep the manipulatives and used them with Singapore instead.:001_smile:

[gandpsmommy]

Incoherence. Taken on an individual basis the lessons were fine, but I could not figure out how everything was supposed to gel together. One lesson you are counting and the next you’re making a calendar. I only purchased one level at a time (A & B), which meant that I was unable to look ahead and try to figure out that ‘big picture’.

 

If concepts are thought of as ‘pegs’ that must be in place to ‘hang’ other concepts off so that ideas gel into a whole and make sense to the student. I recommend either Singapore Math or Japanese math. We are using both in tandem and so far the pegs are nice and shiny.

 

Ray

 

Isn't it so fascinating how diverse people are and how their differences shape their experiences and their responses to the same stimulii? The "gelling" together of ideas and skills into bigger concepts and the teaching of mental strategies before memorization that allow me (and my children) to see the "big picture" are among the primary reasons I love Righstart. We were using Singapore and Miquon in K5 and first grade and just found that aspect sorely lacking. I felt that if we continued with Singapore as our main math curriculum our daughter would have a difficult time really understanding math and would just be memorizing facts and processes. So far I have used C with dd, am currently using A with ds, and plan to purchase B and D for next year. We love it.

 

I suspect that the incidental evidence of many people moving on to another curriculum reflects more the personalities, learning dispositions and preferences of the individuals, rather than the quality of the program itself. I personally found Singapore to be inadequate for us, but I know many others find it very well-suited to their purposes.

 

I know that some people really don't like scripted curriculum, and some kids don't like having to do math with their teacher/parent and prefer more independence. Personally, I love scripted curr., and dd was craving that interaction and hating having to do worksheet after worksheet everyday with Singapore. She really doesn't always need the manipulatives as she is quite intuitive and often understands the concepts without them. So we sort of tailor the curr. to her needs and abilities. But overall we love it and are so glad we made the switch.

[HappyGrace]

I used A-C. A was really great. B was choppy and very unrealistic as far as level. Most kids hit a wall somewhere in B because they expect them to go from learning one to one correlation in the beginning to adding 4-digit numbers WITH carrying by the end. Dd got lost somewhere in the middle and I did not know enough at the time to stay at that level for awhile (by using another math program or games) and just continued to progress through the lessons like I thought you were supposed to do. C was a train wreck for us. I looked ahead carefully through D and E and it looked like it jumped around even more! And I read from several others using D and E that they felt it was VERY choppy. In general through the whole program I thought the lessons jumped around too much and they didn't take enough time to solidify each thing before moving on, and then they'd move to something else for weeks, and then when they came back to the first thing, the dc had already forgotten it! Plus dd never learned her math facts because I didn't know we were supposed to continually be doing the games for that. I am having to remediate her in all aspects of math now, and she lost all her confidence and hates math.

 

I really really wanted it to work for us. I did not mind the teacher-intensive aspect of it. But it turns out dd needs a more spiral program. Others have had good success with RS. All that being said, I am cherry picking some things out of RS for younger ds, but he is very mathy and the things I am using from RS are just a supplement to another program. Another positive of RS is that it taught me a lot about math that I did not understand, and the way they script it taught me how to teach math and I'm much more confident as a math teacher now. I loved many of the things I learned in RS (part-whole circles, NO number lines, etc.) and I still refer to those in our present math. Also the abacus is great and I continue to use it as our primary manipulative with our other math programs.

Edited June 20, 2009 by HappyGrace

[samba]

My dd wasn't a kid who ever needed or used manipulatives. She was also already fairly strong in math concepts. I chose RS because I liked the way it got her thinking mathematically, seeing relationships in numbers, etc. It was great for us for a time (we used Transitions, C and D). I bought E and didn't use it because it seemed to jump around and I didn't like the way the lessons were sequenced. I still think it's a great program and even if you don't use it all the way through, it does wonders for a kid's math reasoning. Once my dd had gleaned from RS what I wanted her to have we moved on to a traditional program (BJU).

 

Carolyn

[nmoira]

My oldest didn't need the kind of scaffolding Right Start provides. She was not a little frustrated by both its teacher led nature (we quit halfway through Level C) and the way it dribbles out new information.

[Catherine]

my math-intuitive elder kids have done Singapore and thrived. Not so my youngest, who has some kind of as-yet-unclear learning challenge. I think he may be dyslexic.

 

Anyway, he was in tears the first day we tried singapore-it was too many problems on a page for him, there was no way he could have done the page of addition problems, despite knowing the facts. RS allows me to back up and reteach-frequently needed with this child-and de-emphasizes memorization and counting as strategies.

 

I suspect children who have strong memory skills, those who don't need manipulatives, would probably tire of the careful spelling-out of concepts that RS does.

[winoelle]

We started with Rightstart and I was SO excited about it. I am a math person and I loved the way it taught math, thought it would be fun and workable with my daughter. She cried EVERY day, with every lesson. Even so, being new to homeschooling, I thought I had to stick with it and keep trying. We did it for about 6 months and finally I switched to Singapore. Singapore clicks for her and she no longer cries at math time. We still use the RightStart card games which are great, but the overall program just wasn't right for her.

 

ETA: Just wanted to add that my daughter is not a "math person" at this point, and the way that RightStart wants you to conceptualize was just frustrating for her. I notice a lot of people that use RightStart do it because their dc are not math minded and it seems to work for them, but I think it is less a matter of whether of being inclined to math, and more a matter of how you are able to conceptualize and think through things that determines what works best for you, kwim?

 

Noelle

Edited June 20, 2009 by winoelle
Clarification

[Mama2Three]

I tried to use Level B exclusively for my before-schooling DS. I felt like I didn't have enough time to do justice to the lessons, and DS hit a wall when numbers to the thousands were introduced. We switched to Singapore for our spine -- we dabble in RS if we need reinforcement of a concept and to keep up DC's abacus skills -- which has worked very well. I plan to use both programs for my DD.

[PeterPan]

We did RS A-D, and like Carolyn jumped to BJU. I chose RS for the conceptual, and it's great for that. Dd needed more visual (visual interest, stimulation, cute stuff on the page, COLOR). The RS pages were b&w, no pizzaz. Dd needed the practice, but not so much the lessons. (She tended to see the strategies before the lesson, didn't need the manips, etc.) There were elements I liked in E (which I still own, btw, as well as Geo), but they weren't sufficient to make me want to supplement and continue, which I had tried and failed at. In the end I went to BJU, because it gave me everything I wanted (challenging application problems, color, plenty of practice, good conceptual approach, etc.) in one place. That in one place thing was key for me. Once I realized RS alone wasn't going to do it for us (which became a real issue in C, not earlier), I had to decide whether to supplement or move. The jump seemed natural at the end of D, because I was going to have to jump after E anyway. I like the Geo, but it certainly isn't something I would do as a stand-alone.

 

Don't buy problems you don't have. If you have problems with it, you'll know soon enough, lol. I LOVE the foundation my dd got from RS in place value, mental math, etc. I LOVE the way they teach 4 digit addition and subtraction. After that, it's really your call. If your dc is needing more work on math facts, you'll know. Your life can change and you need a different type of program. Around 3rd gr my dd really started expressing herself as far as what SHE needed. There are lots of things that explain the changes that have nothing to do with whether RS is good or not. It might be perfectly great for you now and not the right choice in a couple years simply because life or your dc or your understanding of things changes. Do what fits them best right now. RS is a GREAT program and will create a solid foundation in place value, etc. to enable them to go successfully into any program. You won't regret it. Just make sure you play those games or hand them a Flashmaster or something to work on those math facts. ;)

[MrsMe]

Because:

First, I didn't learn math that way and I found it confusing to teach a concept. Second, it drove dd batty that she wasn't allowed to count. And IMO, they didn't really teach her to learn how not to count. I think they sort of started saying here's 5 on the abacus, you can't count this, but you need to know this is 5. I felt like they didn't start at the beginning with basics on HOW to see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. They just started with 5 and went on from there. The concepts were just too abstract for her (abstract reasoning doesn't come till 4th-5th grade age as a rule). So I think if your child is math oriented it works well, and from everything I've read on all the forums, it tends to be the case. But my dd didn't understand abstract and isn't math oriented. It brought her to tears and she ended up being math phobic. I know a lot of people love this program, but for us it was not it.

[siloam]

Incoherence. Taken on an individual basis the lessons were fine, but I could not figure out how everything was supposed to gel together. One lesson you are counting and the next you’re making a calendar. I only purchased one level at a time (A & B), which meant that I was unable to look ahead and try to figure out that ‘big picture’.

If concepts are thought of as ‘pegs’ that must be in place to ‘hang’ other concepts off so that ideas gel into a whole and make sense to the student. I recommend either Singapore Math or Japanese math. We are using both in tandem and so far the pegs are nice and shiny.

Ray

 

I would agree with Ray. I am a visual spacial learner. Generally I need to see the big picture then fill in the details from beginning to end in order. It is hard to do that with RS. I have to just use it and trust it to be OK, which I was fine with doing because Singapore was our main program and RS was a supplement because 3 of my kids are hands on learners.

 

Now that my oldest has done levels B-D I do see a little more of a why behind the arrangement. Often they review or introduce something to build on it, but because it approaches math differently from traditional approaches it is not immediately clear that that is what they are doing.

 

While I still don't love or entirely get this aspect of RS, the results in my kids speak for themselves. I now consider RS our main program and Singapore our supplement. If I didn't plan on doing upper level Singapore math I would drop Singapore entirely and be comfortable with that. There is obviously no problem in how the concepts work together when you are learning, just with us adult users who want to figure it out ahead of time. :blink:

 

Though Singapore makes logical leaps that my kids don't follow and RS, while not getting why they teach things in the order they do, it does a great job of leading the child through each step of a concept.

 

If I could wish for the perfect RS I would also include more diagrams for the parent. For a hands on program the TM is awfully one dimensional-I want pictures and more demonstrations/diagrams of the games. It would also have a glossary of terms for those of use who are easily confused, or who can't find what lesson that was introduced in to make sure we have it in our head right. :D

 

Heather

Edited June 21, 2009 by siloam

[prairiegirl]

We have used RS from the beginning. We chose this program because my dd was anti-worksheet right from the beginning. I thought that the heavy use of manips. and lack of worksheets would work well for us. I was right. I love RS and think it is a very good program.

 

My dd is halfway through Level E and I am not liking this level as I have the others. I don't think there is enough practice for division nor enough time spent on decimals. We recently switched to MUS (I was going to do this anyway after we finished Level E) We have started with Delta so we can firm up her division skills. We have just started so I don't know whether this was a wise decision or not. So far, my dd loves MUS.

 

My ds will be finished Level D next year. I am thinking that we will just switch programs then. I am not sure what we will switch to, though. I don't think we will do MUS with him. I am thinking of BJU, but I have a year to figure this all out.

[MrsMe]

because it approaches math differently from traditional approaches it is not immediately clear that that is what they are doing.

 

:blink:

 

Heather

 

This was a huge problem with me.

[kangato3]

My dd started with RS Level C, completed through Level E and had stellar test scores. Ds started with Level A, but by the end of Level C, his test scores were dropping significantly. This really surprised me as he enjoyed RS Math and seemed to be doing well. For him, I think it lacked sufficient problem solving practice with word problems. I switched him to BJUP because many methods of teaching were similiar to US, but BJ has lots of practice with world problems. Dd's scores rose each year with BJUP.

 

Just our experience.

 

Louise

[prim*rose]

My dd started with RS Level C, completed through Level E and had stellar test scores. Ds started with Level A, but by the end of Level C, his test scores were dropping significantly. This really surprised me as he enjoyed RS Math and seemed to be doing well. For him, I think it lacked sufficient problem solving practice with word problems. I switched him to BJUP because many methods of teaching were similiar to US, but BJ has lots of practice with world problems. Dd's scores rose each year with BJUP.

 

Just our experience.

 

Louise

 

RS definitely lacks in word problems, but I supplement with Singapore Challenging Word Problems. We started it this year (Level C) and 8 yr dd has done fantastically.

[yslek]

T used RS level B in 2nd grade, and started this year (3rd) with level C. I thought B was wonderful, although it did get tough at the end. I attribute T's mental math agility to RS. Within a year he went from only being able to add and subtract very simple problems to adding and subracting problems in his head that his older brother had to work on paper to solve.

 

The reason we quit halfway through C was party due to the teacher intensity and my struggle with fatigue. More than that, though, I became annoyed with the use of calculators and the refernces to the NCTM, as well as some of the instructions that sounded a little too new-new-mathy to me. (Sold the book, so can't look up now exactly what it was.) I had recently read some articles by mathematicians on the subject, though, so may have been hyper-sensitive at the time. :D

 

I plan on using RS A & B with my younger kidlets. After that, we'll move on to something else. I may come back to RS Geometry with T in a few years, simply because he liked the "drawing lessons" in level C so much.

[KinderSafari]

My college roommate was an actuary (math person) and she recommended this program.

 

We use it for all our kids to start out math concepts and it is AWESOME the way they can visualize up to 100 in their heads and seem to answer all those questions in a flash.

 

I was the one that stumbled with progressing beyond that foundational level, and with 5 little ones, I switched to something that was more independently led instead of needing me to work through daily lessons with them.

 

My oldest returned to RS for Geometry - and I liked the approach.

 

We still do RS for the youngest, and then progress to Saxon with the DIVE CDs. My daughter struggles in math, and also with reading comprehension - so the CDs are excellent as she can replay the lesson concept as many times as she needs to before she does the assignment.

[Haiku]

I became annoyed with the use of calculators

 

I saw that C requires a calculator, and I had planned not to buy it. Is this something that can be skipped? How many lessons use the calculator?

 

Tara

[PeterPan]

The calculator is used to see patterns, not replace computation. The particular calculator RS sells has a constant function that allows you to repeat something (+5, +2, whatever) and see how it builds. I normally skip calculator things, but I thought it was worthwhile.

[Sarah CB]

I tried RS for about 6 months with my ds. I thought it would be great for him because it would give me one-on-one time with him and the verbal interaction would be good speech practice (he had speech issues).

 

I thought he'd love RS.

 

He didn't. He became more and more frustrated with "the white book" and eventually he burst out and said, "I'm tired of all the talk, talk, talk - I just want to do real math!"

 

Real math, to him, was Singapore (that's what dd had always done). So, I got him a book and a pencil and we never looked back.

 

I happen to really like Right Start and I believe there are some advantages to using it (even over Singapore - gasp!). There are some disadvantages, too, like the word problems. But, I think RS is providing a foundation that would be very difficult to replicate with anything else. I'm now using RS C (after finishing A and B) with my next ds. He loves it and he's learning so much.

 

I have even been dabbling in RS A with my 3 year old.

 

I plan to slowly integrate Singapore in during RS C. For a while we'll do both and then we'll switch over to Singapore completely (once we're done with E).

[PeterPan]

Sarah, I had read your comments on this before, but they sort of gelled in my mind this morning and made sense to me. How does Singapore handle long division? Just curious. I don't love the way BJU is handling division and wish it were more RS-ish, going all the way. We did the early stuff with short division (no problem), now we're doing long division. I also think I'm running into hormones, growth spurt, etc. We're plowing ahead, but I don't love the way BJU does division. The fractions I'm happy with, and I'm guessing their pre-algebra will be fine. I just wish they had a more intelligent, interesting way of pulling together division. Your progression is nice and tidy, so I'm thinking it would be an option to use with my new little one someday. :)

[Marla]

We started in MUS Alpha which left dd in tears because she got “stuck” mastering her addition facts so couldn’t move on. The mastery of approach of MUS didn’t seem to fit her learning style so we switched to RS and have completed Level B & C. I’m currently contemplating whether to continue with D or jump ship. Here are my rambling thoughts.

 

A positive of RS is that it taught me a lot about math that I did not understand, and the way they script it taught me how to teach math and I'm much more confident as a math teacher now. I loved many of the things I learned in RS (part-whole circles, NO number lines, etc.)….the abacus is great and I continue to use it as our primary manipulative….

:iagree: RS provides a fabulous conceptual understanding of math versus mere memorizing of rote formulas. It is the main reason I hesitate leaving RS.

 

I LOVE the foundation my dd got from RS in place value, mental math, etc… If your dc is needing more work on math facts, you'll know. Just make sure you play those games or hand them a Flashmaster or something to work on those math facts.

:iagree: My dd still struggles with her math facts although is improving as of late. Ideally math facts are supposed to be mastered while playing the RS card games, but I’ve not been consistent with playing the games which is my fault not a fault of the RS program. Hindsight is 20/20. :) OhElizabeth is right! If you use RS, play the card games frequently or supplement with math drills so facts are mastered.

 

We chose this program because my dd was anti-worksheet right from the beginning. I thought that the heavy use of manips. and lack of worksheets would work well for us.

My dd also dislikes worksheets so RS is a good fit in that regard BUT the problem I’ve discovered is that she really needs more practice before moving on to new concepts.

 

In general through the whole program I thought the lessons jumped around too much and they didn't take enough time to solidify each thing before moving on, and then they'd move to something else for weeks, and then when they came back to the first thing, the dc had already forgotten it! Plus dd never learned her math facts because I didn't know we were supposed to continually be doing the games for that.

This was our experience as well so I decided to try out CLE, over the summer, as its spiral approach provides continual review in each lesson plus it has built in math drills to master math facts. DD is doing great with it, but HATES the 4 worksheets per lesson and is begging to return to RS.

 

I agree that RS is teacher-intensive but IMHO, it is NOT difficult to teach at all. It is "intensive" in that you actually have to sit down to teach the lesson so you cannot hand the student a workbook and expect them to work independently. DD likes the one-on-one time RS provides, but I’m longing for her to have more independence and CLE fits that bill perfectly. Plus she seems to have trouble following directions so though she may understand the concept, she makes many silly little mistakes when doing computation. CLE's worksheets give her needed practice in computation as well as reading directions on her own which is important at her age (almost 11).

 

So all of this rambling to say that I think RS is a fantastic program that gives a solid math foundation. I’m contemplating combining RS and CLE in the fall, but the jury is still out. Not sure it'd be wise to do 2 math programs as it'd probably send dd over the edge (math is not her favorite subject)! :) I really like the independent, spiral approach provided by CLE plus the fact that it covers concepts we've not encountered in RS (somewhat important because we are "behind" in math), but I really hesitate giving up the conceptual understanding gained through RS.

 

Any input is welcome!!

Edited June 22, 2009 by Marla

[PeterPan]

Marla, math facts are one of those things she'll probably deal with for some time to come, no matter what program you use. Some kids have brains that are sieves for those types of facts, whether it's math or spelling or whatever. You'll see moms on here who used RS with two kids very close in age, and the one will do fine, memorizing her facts quickly, and the other dc will struggle in spite of everything. It's just how they're wired.

 

I have no problem with CLE, tried it with dd as a matter of fact when we were making our jump, so I see why you're drawn to it. How old is your dd? She'll naturally make a move to independence, and my suggestion would be to wait for that rather than pushing her. It's usually around 3rd or 4th gr that most people seem to come on saying their dc suddenly wants EVERYTHING independent and wants to toss Mommy. That's when it happened for us, and I bet if you wait just a bit it will happen with no tears.

 

As for hating CLE, well that's a pretty strong term. When a kid HATES something, I say dump it. There are so many good options in the sea. I think sometimes we expect our kids to grow up faster than need be, and we buckle them with ugly stuff. All your reasons for liking CLE have to do with you, not your dc. If it's an older dc, that might be ok, but with a younger dc I'd defer to their learning style, bent, and preferences. BJU can give you just as much practice but break it up into shorter sessions. Or you may need to move back a few light units in CLE into easier material. She should not be HATING what she is doing.

[buddhabelly]

Well, we haven't done RS Geometry yet but we did do B, C, D, and E. I just want to add in responsexto the person who said that Level E doesn't have enough division practice..... Oh my word. It has lots!!! It is just spread throughout the program, and there is plenty in the final ten lessons. Level E does not pretend to be a full decimals and fractions program. Dr. Cotter has just not completed such a book yet. I admit that I was puzzled over the long division method in RS, but my child did not seem to be puzzled. I did love the way it taught short division, though.

[Marla]

Marla, math facts are one of those things she'll probably deal with for some time to come, no matter what program you use. Some kids have brains that are sieves for those types of facts, whether it's math or spelling or whatever. You'll see moms on here who used RS with two kids very close in age, and the one will do fine, memorizing her facts quickly, and the other dc will struggle in spite of everything. It's just how they're wired.

Thanks for the reminder Elizabeth. Her math facts are finally starting to click with the help of Times Tales and some focused drill (flashmaster and CLE).

 

I have no problem with CLE, tried it with dd as a matter of fact when we were making our jump, so I see why you're drawn to it. How old is your dd? She'll naturally make a move to independence, and my suggestion would be to wait for that rather than pushing her.

She is turning 11 and will be in 5th grade this fall. The move toward independence may already be occuring with CLE. The other day, when it was time for math, she wanted to do a RS lesson. I was finishing up another task, so on her own, she decided to do CLE because it was "quicker" (her words).

 

As for hating CLE, well that's a pretty strong term. When a kid HATES something, I say dump it. There are so many good options in the sea. I think sometimes we expect our kids to grow up faster than need be, and we buckle them with ugly stuff. All your reasons for liking CLE have to do with you, not your dc. If it's an older dc, that might be ok, but with a younger dc I'd defer to their learning style, bent, and preferences. BJU can give you just as much practice but break it up into shorter sessions. Or you may need to move back a few light units in CLE into easier material. She should not be HATING what she is doing.

My dd dislikes change of any kind so switching to CLE has been difficult just because it is different from what she is used to so she is being stretched. Just to clarify, she is breezing through CLE in the sense that she is getting A's on every lesson. It's not too hard for her at all. The problem is that she just doesn't like worksheets. RS only had 1 worksheet to complete whereas a CLE lesson has 4 pages so she is having to "adjust" to doing more work. I could break up the CLE lesson, but we missed months of school last year (which is why we just finished RS Level C) so I'm trying to make up some lost ground. I've decided to have her set a timer and work 30 minutes in CLE and than be done for the day. Hopefully, she'll work hard and stay focused. The next day we'll pick up where she left off. She's capable, but gets easily distracted if you know what I mean. :)

 

I genuinely appreciate your input Elizabeth and will take it to heart. I plan to stick with CLE this summer to help shore up her math skills and will re-evaluate in the fall re: whether to continue in CLE or stick with RS Level D. Any further thoughts are welcome! :)

[PeterPan]

Marla, of course it's not fun or an easy change, going to longer assignments, since her facts are an issue. But it sounds like she's getting used to it. I just wouldn't go back and forth. If you want to do CLE, do CLE. You can supplement with some RS concepts or warm-ups or games, but I'd let one or the other be your day-to-day thing. As you say, pulling in two directions at once gets you no where fast. And I didn't mean to split the CLE lessons. I meant that BJU takes that same amount of work and divides it over separate pieces of paper (sessions in a day you might say), making it SEEM like less work. Since she's getting used to CLE, I'd stick with it.

 

Buddhabelly-I should go look at my level E and see how it handles long division. For some reason I was thinking it only covered short division. I'm not thrilled with the way BJU is handling it.

[Karen in CO]

I stopped RightStart because I moved too quickly through it, and my dd got to a point that she wasn't ready for developmentally. I didn't understand enough about teaching elementary math to know how to deal with it. She got frustrated. I got afraid she would never learn. She started crying when we did math. I quit. She's now a whiz at math. I have the book that I might use for the youngest, but I am going to wait before I start math. I've learned a lot about elementary math in the last few years. I also learned in those years that I stink at teaching high school math, but my ds got into college anyway. :)

[Marla]

Marla, of course it's not fun or an easy change, going to longer assignments, since her facts are an issue. But it sounds like she's getting used to it. I just wouldn't go back and forth. If you want to do CLE, do CLE. You can supplement with some RS concepts or warm-ups or games, but I'd let one or the other be your day-to-day thing. As you say, pulling in two directions at once gets you no where fast.

Good advice! Thanks!

 

To clarify further, we only finished about 8 lessons in RS Level D (already own it) when we switched to CLE for the summer. After reading all the rave reviews of CLE, I decided to do a trial run after picking up some Light Units inexpensively. Since early June, we've only done CLE as our day-to-day math program with the exception of 2 RS lessons so we are not alternating between RS and CLE in theory, although I am going back and forth between the two in my mind because of dd's resistance to it.

 

Just out of curiousity, why did you switch to BJU over CLE? Was it BJU's colorful pages? Their mastery approach? I'm not looking for another math choice, but just curious to know your reasoning.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Marla

[PeterPan]

BJU over CLE? Well there were things I liked about CLE, like the cute themes, the built-in drill, but, as you say, the the visuals won out. Also, this about two years ago (wow, already?), and I didn't like the thought of dd doing her math totally independently, which was what was happening. I wanted her to think more and go beyond just copying the pattern of the problems on the page. I don't know for sure that would have been an issue with CLE (not trying to slam it), just saying I wanted to get back that connection in our math. Third, I wanted something with extra challenging problems. We've enjoyed the Stretch Your Mind workbook for BJU, and now I'm getting some of the Math Olympiad books to see if they might be fun for us.

 

I guess what I've learned through this is it's more important to be stable than anything. There have been things I liked about each math curriculum.

[PeterPan]

I went back and checked about the long division in RS. Their method is much better than BJU's, so that's what we'll do!

[Judy in WA]

My dd has been in RS from the beginning. She is just about to finish level E. We will not continue with RS into the geometry program (re-named Intermediate Math) because it relies to much on drawing. I'm worried she's not getting enough of the practical skills like long division and opperations with fractions.

 

My biggest beef with RS is the time it takes to do a lesson. I don't always have 45 minutes to an hour a day to spend on math and as a result, it's easy to fall behind.

 

Both my dd and I are looking forward to a program she can do more independently. I'm going to use a combination of MUS and Chalkdust.

 

The one positive thing about RS - - Math is one of my dd favorite subjects. This curriculum makes her feel smart.

[lighthouseacademy]

. A was really great. B was choppy and very unrealistic as far as level. Most kids hit a wall somewhere in B because they expect them to go from learning one to one correlation in the beginning to adding 4-digit numbers WITH carrying by the end.

 

All kids are so different! I felt like it was so slow and progressed so slowly that I might scream at times...

 

In our case, my son went through B and enjoyed it, and we went through half of C. At that point, he really was pushing to take off on his own. He found a Singapore 2B book and finished it within a week. I had a hard time with the teacher intensive aspect, but I am using RS B with my 5 yr old this year because I know that RS B gave my son a fabulous mental math foundation as well as a strong grasp on place value. I love the abacus!