j_thurm Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 How do these two Math programs compare/contrast? Is one better than the other? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 How do these two Math programs compare/contrast? Is one better than the other? Thanks! Both work on the same base 10 philosophy. Right Start will also introduce base 5 and other different approaches to math while also introducing normal approaches. Singapore is heavy on critical Thinking/Bar Graphing, especially if you use the Intensive Practice books. Singapore will at times make logical leaps that Right Start will lead you through step by step. Right Start doesn't have as many worksheets, and I recommend you play the games daily (my kids play them together). Overall I would recommend Singapore for advanced students and Right Start for LD or regular students. We have a definite math focus here, so we do both. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pageta Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 We've done both. Right Start is very hands on for both teacher and students. They tell you exactly what to teach and have goals for each lesson, but they don't fill you in much on the big picture so I felt a little lost. Singapore has defined chapters where you work on Addition, then Subtraction, etc. so you know what they're trying to accomplish. With the HIG, I like Singapore better. It is still teacher intensive, especially if you aren't using the Intensive or Extra Practice. They both use the same logic for math rather than rote memorization, which is what I like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkermamaof4 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I preferred RS after trying both. I think it depends on the teacher and students and you really might have to try both to see. My kids and I love the RS games. Singapore didn't make as much sense to me, but I think it does to some as is clear by the other responses you've received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_thurm Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 Thanks for the responses!! Do you need the teacher's guide of just the workbook in Signapore Math? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehon Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Thanks for the responses!! Do you need the teacher's guide of just the workbook in Signapore Math? Just get the HIG (Home Instructor's Guide) for whichever level you buy. Although there is a teacher's edition (or something like that), the HIG is for home schoolers. The HIG (at least the ones we've used thus far) give you ways to explain the concepts and also have Mental Math drill pages for your student. My eldest ds uses Singapore and my eldest dd uses RS. They both have their strengths and I think both do a great job of teaching conceptually, which is very important to me. If you go with Singapore, you'll need to decide if you also want to buy any of the extra books. Extra Practice is more problems on the same level as the work book. Intensive Practice becomes increasingly more difficult within each chapter and has the students really *think* about how to apply the concepts they've learned. If you can find a place selling the Challenging Word Problem books, get them. They're fantastic for teaching kids to think about arithmetic through word problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Another factor that makes a difference to some people is that you can use RightStart as a scripted program, whereas Singapore stuff is put together more by the teacher; SingaporeMath.com is now putting out home instructor's guides, and RightStart has an online forum with free advice from the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara R Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 You could buy just the Right Start abacus, and use it to illustrate math beginning math principles as taught in Singapore. I haven't used Right Start, but I have the abacus and the book 'Activities for the AL abacus." I love using it as a manipulative to illustrate how place value works. It helps kids so much to understand this concept from the beginning, and the abacus is a great way to show it. My older 2 kids used the Activities for the AL abacus and the Worksheets for 1st grade math. When the kids had mastered the math facts within 10, we switched to Singapore 1A. When they mastered addition and subtraction facts within 18, they switched to Singapore 1B, and progressed from there. Doing 1A and 1B before mastering the addition and subtraction facts got pretty difficult for my kids. With my youngest, I wanted a more workbook based approach, so we got Rod and Staff math 1. She has loved it, and the little ducks are so cute. We use the abacus to demonstrate new principles in there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I don't like scripted programs but I found the rightstart material worth reading and learning how to use the materials that way. I use the RS materials and ideas to reinforce topics as we learn them in Singapore. I also like Rod and Staff for extra practice of problems. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 My oldest is currently finishing up Level C of RS. We loved, loved, loved RS B. The hands-on aspect was perfect for her and I appreciated the scripted lessons. We also liked how little writing there was, which was important given her cognitive abilities were way ahead of her fine motor skills. She was only 4 yrs 10 mos when she started Level B and it took us 13 months (working year round) to get through it. I think it gave her a great foundation in math. I was in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy when we finished RS B so we took a break from formal math & just played math games and read "living math" books. We started Level C when we resumed formal HS in the middle of the spring. It was okay, but we didn't like it as much as we had Level B. My DD is now older and prefers to work problems out on paper rather than use the manipulatives. I also began to tire of how teacher-intensive RS is. I looked at Levels D & E of RS and was rather underwhelmed. I felt that the material covered in them is really only 1 years' worth of math spread out over two with too much repetition. I'm trying to decide what to do after she finishes RS C. One possibility is switching to Singapore 3A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Thanks for the responses!! Do you need the teacher's guide of just the workbook in Signapore Math? In Singapore you need the Home Instructor's Guide (HIG), the Text and the Workbook. I also highly recommend the Intensive Practice books, especially if you plan to use the upper level Singapore math programs. Some people don't use the HIG's but that is where the hands on, concrete teaching is located, which I think is pretty important with younger kids. Then later on it shows you how to do all the doing algebra type problems as bar graphs work, which can be really hard to get at first. That starts with the level 3 books. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 How do these two Math programs compare/contrast? Is one better than the other? Thanks! RS is both easier and more time consuming for a teacher to implement. RS is definitely better for K--after that, it's personal preference. I think RS is even clearer conceptually and Sing has "deeper" problems available through the Intensive Practice books. We used both. We Sing K first, then did RS K, then did RS followed by Sing for grades 1-3, then on grade 4 flipped back to Sing first, then RS... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I looked at Levels D & E of RS and was rather underwhelmed. I felt that the material covered in them is really only 1 years' worth of math spread out over two with too much repetition. And yet by the time you finish E, you've DEFINITELY covered k-5 and a good chunk of 6th grade math, too. :-) The "problem" is RS is that it covers topics with such clarity and effectiveness that you run into developmental blocks--kids aren't able to understand fractions, no matter how clearly presented, until they reach a certain level of intellectual maturity. In most programs, this isn't a problem, but because it takes so little time to teach a new concept because RS does it so well, you're left with a whole lot of time to fill with practice and other things that might be cool but aren't usually part of a basic "math" course. I think it's pretty awesome that RS teaches so well, personally! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I love the concept of Singapore math but could never get the hang of teaching it. RightStart made it possible to teach the concepts like I wanted without being lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 We tried Singapore. I liked it, but Becca calls it "that boring math we used to do." The HIGs were very necessary for me - I felt like she got the concepts better and I taught better with them. We hit a wall with Singapore and switched to RS. I went back and did A with Becca even though we'd done Singapore 1A and part of 1B - she needed to relax and build some confidence. Her confidence is much better now and she's tackled 4 digit addition without even a hint of anxiety. We're doing 3 lessons a week of RS B and playing games and doing MEP on the other days. She loves RS because of the games and variety. I like that there's more guidance on how to teach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_thurm Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 What a great idea...thanks so much! All these thoughts are so appreciated! You could buy just the Right Start abacus, and use it to illustrate math beginning math principles as taught in Singapore. I haven't used Right Start, but I have the abacus and the book 'Activities for the AL abacus." I love using it as a manipulative to illustrate how place value works. It helps kids so much to understand this concept from the beginning, and the abacus is a great way to show it. My older 2 kids used the Activities for the AL abacus and the Worksheets for 1st grade math. When the kids had mastered the math facts within 10, we switched to Singapore 1A. When they mastered addition and subtraction facts within 18, they switched to Singapore 1B, and progressed from there. Doing 1A and 1B before mastering the addition and subtraction facts got pretty difficult for my kids. With my youngest, I wanted a more workbook based approach, so we got Rod and Staff math 1. She has loved it, and the little ducks are so cute. We use the abacus to demonstrate new principles in there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenKase Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 Crimson Wife-I could have written your post myself. I loved, loved RSB but about 1/4 of the way through RSC we stopped using it and went directly into SM2B. My dd9 needed a refresher and even though she did pass the placement test for 2B I decided it a good place to start before diving back into SM. I will be doing the same with my second dd5 who is just finishing up with RSA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 You could buy just the Right Start abacus, and use it to illustrate math beginning math principles as taught in Singapore. I haven't used Right Start, but I have the abacus and the book 'Activities for the AL abacus." I love using it as a manipulative to illustrate how place value works. It helps kids so much to understand this concept from the beginning, and the abacus is a great way to show it. My older 2 kids used the Activities for the AL abacus and the Worksheets for 1st grade math. When the kids had mastered the math facts within 10, we switched to Singapore 1A. When they mastered addition and subtraction facts within 18, they switched to Singapore 1B, and progressed from there. Doing 1A and 1B before mastering the addition and subtraction facts got pretty difficult for my kids. With my youngest, I wanted a more workbook based approach, so we got Rod and Staff math 1. She has loved it, and the little ducks are so cute. We use the abacus to demonstrate new principles in there too. This is what I'm working on. Singapore EB with an abacus and the Activities for the AL Abacus on the way :), plus some other basic manipulatives to illustrate with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 I think the main difference between RS and SM is the amount of handholding for the parent. I felt more comfortable teaching with RS rather than SM. Plus, my DS didn't like the workbook feel of SM. Both my kids are advanced in math and RS has worked well for them. It's not as easy to telescope as SM is but my boys generally finish a level in much less than a year. RS E is taking a year b/c of the added facts practice etc and more lengthy worksheets. I wouldn't say that RS is for avg or LD kids and SM is for advanced. I think it depends more on personality of the kid and teaching style of the parent. Capt_Uhura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 SingaporeMath.com is now putting out home instructor's guides, and RightStart has an online forum with free advice from the company. SM's home instructor guides were first published by Sonlight and are now carried at SM's website. They've been out a long time, but with each new SM version, they have to be redesigned a bit. They aren't required for teaching SM, since the textbook is really your teaching tool. However, they can be helpful. There is a free SM forum at SM's website. They have hired the author of the HIGs to monitor their board. There's also a Yahoo group where SM users help each other when they're stuck. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Ah - thanks for the clarification about the author of the HIGs. When I said SingaporeMath.com is "now putting out HIGs," I meant as opposed to the early days of the 3rd edition, when no such thing existed. Hence Sonlight developing their own, rather than SingaporeMath.com. I'd summarize like this: Singapore: textbooks, additional materials (workbooks, Intensive Practice, Extra Practice, Challenging Word Problems now OOP and nearly impossible to find, etc), HIGs, answer keys, Yahoo group, online forum Right Start: scripted textbooks, Yahoo group, online forum I think it's safe to say that RightStart is a "self-contained" package, whereas Singapore has multiple component pieces that one calls upon as desired. It is not clear that all are created equal, but hopefully this list helps. There are variations within the online forum format in terms of what is allowed to be posted, and who is running the Yahoo group. I happen to know people who have made their decision about which program to use in large part based on the support offered to the user and the ease of assimilating the components, but clearly many people use both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.