jail warden Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Which program was it and how did you do it? My ds is having a few issues with Math.:( While I love the RS approach and feel like he's getting it, I also feel like he needs more review than they give in the book. I was told there was someone on here who also felt their child needed more and was using another program to supplement. Please do tell!:D TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Alfred Academy Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 We use right start (B) without supplementing anything right now. However, I plan on using Singapore Word Problems grade 1 next year with level C. From what I understand, and I could be totally off base, this is an area that RS is not too strong in. I know there are others on the board who are doing the same thing...can't imagine where I got the idea to do it! :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 So we'll blame that for the reason I didn't give more background!:rolleyes: My ds is in RS C. We do CWP 1 on the side. During all the addition (basically reiview from last year) things went really well, and clicked in ways they didn't last year. However, now they've added subtraction, which for the first few lessons went well, but they keep jumping to other things and he needs more practice with subtraction and needs to review some addition because he sometimes 'loses' what I thought he had. He understands the approach and gets it when I remind him, but I would like to add something else to give review. I know I'm supposed to do more games for that and we do some, but just not as much as we could and I'd really like something more independent, thus asking for something to go alongside. Does this make more sense now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Let me say I love RS-it cannot be beat for the way it teaches concepts. But we've had issues with it (lack of spiral review, B gets pretty hard in the middle of 1st grade, very uneven levels within a book-such as doing mental 4-digit addition with carrying one day, then talking about quarters and one-half the next, etc.) Dd8 has done RS A, B, and is now in C. Around the middle of B, mid-yr in 1st grade, she hit a wall with B, so we spent a little time in Saxon 2. When we started up B again this past fall she was MUCH better able to handle it, and we went through to C fine. But I was very concerned when I started to see, as you said, that she would learn the concept fine, and then not see it again for so long she would forget it. As you know, they do that a lot in RS-take two lessons to teach something, and then you go away from it for ten or more lessons. She clearly needed more spiral review. Plus I wanted to get more "traditional-looking" math in there. And more independence-she took the CAT-E test last spring, and kept looking to me to "discuss" the math like we do in RS. As I looked at other programs to supplement with, the problem I had was that I wanted her to be initially taught a concept by RS-that's the beauty of it. So long story short, what I finally ended up with was CLE. It's been a good fit for now. Can be done totally independently, only about three pages per day of all spiral review. It's laid out nicely and it's not too much to do a CLE lesson on top of our RS lesson. It's also very inexpensive. It's ten thin workbooks per year, so they feel a sense of accomplishment when they finish one. What we do so that it is strictly review is use it behind the level of where we are in RS. In the middle of RS B I added in CLE 1, but started on book 6 of the ten workbooks. You can look at the scope and sequence to see where you should start. I occasionally have to cross out a couple things when we haven't hit it in RS yet. She actually likes it and never groans at all when I bring it out. Her computational speed has increased significantly. Telling time, money, etc., got quicker right away too, just from the daily practice. I did buy the TM to make correcting go quickly-it was very inexpensive. We also do Evan Moor Daily Word Problems-she's in book 2 and does a whole wk's worth per day (5 problems) rather than 1 problem per day. That has been a great help too. After we finish this book I'll probably do Singapore CWP 2. I personally think extra word problems are good for practicing application of concepts no matter what math one is using. This is all working really well right now. However, I'm currently in research mode to slightly revamp my math plans for upcoming ds5. I just don't want to be doing so many different things. For him I'll do RS A this fall (LOVE it), then probably stall with something else for several months before putting him in B so he doesn't hit that wall like she did. I may just switch them both to BJU at some point. I've done RS enough that when a concept comes up in BJU, I could just present it to them the RS way. The conceptual presentations in BJU are similar to RS so it's a good fit. I also really like CLE, so that's another possibility. (Not that you asked, but maybe this will help someone!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 So we'll blame that for the reason I didn't give more background!:rolleyes: My ds is in RS C. We do CWP 1 on the side. During all the addition (basically reiview from last year) things went really well, and clicked in ways they didn't last year. However, now they've added subtraction, which for the first few lessons went well, but they keep jumping to other things and he needs more practice with subtraction and needs to review some addition because he sometimes 'loses' what I thought he had. He understands the approach and gets it when I remind him, but I would like to add something else to give review. I know I'm supposed to do more games for that and we do some, but just not as much as we could and I'd really like something more independent, thus asking for something to go alongside. Does this make more sense now? My dd had the same problem in RS C. She needed more practice with subtraction. I confess that I didn't play the games. I felt like she needed some spiral review to keep things fresh. We added CLE 2 workbooks. They are cheap and I went through the books and marked out with a red pen which ones I wanted her to do. There was no need to attempt 2 complete math programs. I like the RS way of doing things. I just wanted more review of concepts we'd already covered. So she spends 15-20 minutes daily in her CLE workbook. She works the problems I've marked for her and then I check it. She is getting a lot better. We continued this practice into RS D supplementing with CLE 3. It's been working really well. Let me emphasize that she doesn't do all the problems. Only the ones that have already been covered in RS and only the ones I think she needs extra work on. I throw in the word problems too. This past week I finally started playing the games and I could see the benefit immediately. So I would recommend adding in a spiral workbook and selectively using it for extra practice and play the games for fact review. Oh, I also started using Calculadder drills the second half of RS C. That helped too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Great minds.....;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 in the back of CLE, one per day, and you could do those too. We just started this-I think it will be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Great minds.....;) Talk about Great Minds... I'm considering switching to BJ next year too for the same reason. I'm tired of coordinating so many different books. But I still really like CLE so I'm undecided what to do. My ds 11 is finishing up RS Geometry and CLE 5; I'm moving him into BJU Math 7 for 6th grade. I wanted to catch any gaps before ALgebra. It's dd 9 that I'm undecided about. Can't decide if I want to continue with E and supplement with CLE or go into BJU Math 4. If Math 4 was revised, I'd probably make the switch, but the current edition would have me using multiple books to get that spiral review I want. And I've got one starting RS A in 2 years. Let me know what you decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Have you done any testing? Just wondered how the scores were coming out using this method since we just started doing this. Trying to decide if I should continue this method with dd or jump ship to BJU where it will all be in one place (conceptually strong, word problems, spiral review, drill, etc.) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 We would fortunately be in line for the BJU revised editions, so it's especially tempting. But like you said, this is working okay for now. RS seems to kind of fall apart to me in the middle of C with all that T-square stuff, etc. I'm thinking I might like to go more traditional and have it all in one place, but RS does have a lot good about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Are you finding anything in the later levels of RS (D and E) that are really great as far as concept presentation? For example, I LOVED how RS did place value and mentally adding two digits, and certain other topics. Really outstanding, and so much better for building a great math foundation than a curriculum that uses rote formulas, etc. Looking ahead in C, I do like how they do subtraction and build up to multiplication. I've heard there's not as much of this type of thing in D and E though; that you could go with, say, BJU and not miss much by not doing D and E. What are your thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Have you done any testing? Just wondered how the scores were coming out using this method since we just started doing this. Trying to decide if I should continue this method with dd or jump ship to BJU where it will all be in one place (conceptually strong, word problems, spiral review, drill, etc.) Thanks! No, I haven't done any testing. And I'm trying to decide the same thing. The revised BJU editions do look tempting. Unfortunately for us, we are a year ahead of the revisions. Have you seen the books yourself? I'm wondering how teacher intensive it is. I had read that it takes a long time to teach a lesson. If that's the case, I'll just continue with what I'm doing. RS is pretty teacher intensive too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Are you finding anything in the later levels of RS (D and E) that are really great as far as concept presentation? For example, I LOVED how RS did place value and mentally adding two digits, and certain other topics. Really outstanding, and so much better for building a great math foundation than a curriculum that uses rote formulas, etc. Looking ahead in C, I do like how they do subtraction and build up to multiplication. I've heard there's not as much of this type of thing in D and E though; that you could go with, say, BJU and not miss much by not doing D and E. What are your thoughts on this? I suppose I would agree, but there are some good things in D and E. Sometimes it's hard to tell because RS builds on these concepts so slowly, introducing a certain type of thinking in a warm-up and then building on it for several lessons before officially teaching it. I like that. I'm not far enough into D to be sure, but so far I like the way that D presents multiplication. Haven't gotten to division yet. I need to look ahead. I went through E with my ds and loved, loved how RS did fractions. It was brilliant, and I definitely want to do that again. Division was presented very well for my son. To tell the truth, he got it and continues doing it the RS way in his CLE book, but I never really got it. I'll have to look at it again. He picked it up first and was ready to move on, so I never learned it myself. My dd is different from her brother and a more traditional approach may work better for her. She didn't like using the abacus. NOt sure. THey both really like making constructions in RS. They think that's fun. Dd is doing well with CLE and I think that that format might work better for her. Small increments reviewed heavily. I could just teach fractions the RS way when it comes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 the TM-it's so unwieldy and it's really made for the classroom. In fact, BJU just responded to my email that in the new edition, they use the exact same TM for home instructors and classrooms! I hate the thought of all that extra garbage in there so I have to prune it back to what I need. I haven't seen any of it in person. The only online sample I've found of the new edition is the first grade on their website. From what I can tell there, the new TM does look a little better than the old-it's four-color and a little better layout. Still unwieldy though. I am going to a local hotel meeting that BJU is doing on May 1 to look at the books in person. I will post after that about what I see. I'm just not sure I love what I've heard about RD D and E, so it may be worth the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 . I am going to a local hotel meeting that BJU is doing on May 1 to look at the books in person. I will post after that about what I see. Oh please do. If you get a chance to look at the Math 4, I'd love to hear what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 Now was cost the main reason you went with CLE rather than BJU? Or were there other reasons? Where is the cheapest and best place to order? Can you handle all these quesitons?!!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 When I first went with CLE, I was planning on continuing with RS through E, but just needed more spiral review. CLE was perfect for that because it was not too much extra work on top of our RS lesson, but gave the review I wanted. Price wasn't a factor for me in making my decision; after researching, it had everything I wanted, and providentially it was a good price! Just recently I started thinking about switching to BJU since I've heard from several people how they thought RS kind of falls apart in D and E. I would NOT use BJU for what you are looking for. In the older editions, which is what you'd need because the new edition for that level is not out yet, BJU is actually more like a mastery program without a lot of spiral review unless you get the separate reviews book. It would be way too much to try to add on to RS, and it wouldn't accomplish the objective of review you're trying to add. I ordered my CLE from the company and it was a good price and fast shipping. From what I recall, there is another company out there that sells CLE that people have had lots of trouble with, so I would avoid that one. I can't remember the name but sometimes it comes up when you google Christian Light Publications so be careful. Ask more questions if you need to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 I am googling it and all I can find is the Anabaptist Bookstore. Also, I can't see any samples. Is there any way you could post a link? Thanks! Your help has been appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 http://www.clp.org I think Anabaptist Bookstore is the one I was thinking of that you don't want to use. I'm glad I could help-let us know how it goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 I didn't realize CLP & CLE were on the same site.:o That's why I couldn't find it! Thanks so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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