Rightstart, what do you think of it?

[beachrose]

I can't seem to make up my mind which math to stick too. I used Abeka then Saxon with my oldest children now in their teens. While both usually score perfect math scores when tested they hate math. So I want to try to approach this subject differently with my youngest three.

 

I'm also considering Noble knight,miquion,mus. Currently we are using the waldorf math gnomes stories but I want something a bit more scripted as I'm teaching 5 children. I don't have the time or energy to make up my own story problems etc..

[Crimson Wife]

I loved, loved, loved Right Start B. I think it provides an excellent foundation in math and really is great at teaching the concepts without neglecting to teach the traditional algorithm. Right Start C was just okay, and I've decided to switch to Singapore rather than continuing on with D & E. I feel that there is too much repetition of material from earlier levels and not enough new material for my oldest.

 

The other big issue, and what I suspect may be the deal-breaker for your family, is that RS is a very parent-intensive program. I'm probably going to be starting my 2nd in RS A some time next year and it would require quite a bit of my time to be doing 2 different levels of RS. 1 is manageable, but I'd rather not be doing RS with 2 kids on top of everything else.

[Satori]

We are loving RightStart A. It was definitely the right fit for us. Lessons are more teacher-intensive than the two other programs we started with (MUS and Singapore), but it is totally worth it. At the beginning of a lesson, it tells you what you'll need to have prepared. Perhaps one day you'll need the abacus, place value cards, a worksheet, and some coins. There's some review to begin with, but it's pretty easy like rattling off even numbers and talking about the date. The lesson itself covers various topics. Then at the end you can do some card games. A whole lesson for us takes about 20 minutes. My daughter will often beg for more if we are playing a game though.

 

Thinking back on our time with MUS, we simply watch a video and do a few pages in her workbook. Nothing to prepare ahead of time and the same predictable routine. For this creative mama and her daughter, that routine bored us to death, hehe. In RightStart, I honestly don't know what we're going to cover until that day and I'm looking through the lesson seconds before we start. I like that though, gives some spice to life!

 

Most importantly, it turned my young daughter from a math-hater to a math-lover. I did not expect that, but it has made the switch so worth it!

 

Keep in mind that I only have one student to homeschool, and she's very easy to teach. When I think of adding another child, I will still probably make the effort, as I do love the program! I see you have 5 children, in that case, that would be quite a challenge if you had to do 3-5 different levels a day with each child...

Edited February 6, 2010 by Satori

[siloam]

I can't seem to make up my mind which math to stick too. I used Abeka then Saxon with my oldest children now in their teens. While both usually score perfect math scores when tested they hate math. So I want to try to approach this subject differently with my youngest three.

 

I'm also considering Noble knight,miquion,mus. Currently we are using the waldorf math gnomes stories but I want something a bit more scripted as I'm teaching 5 children. I don't have the time or energy to make up my own story problems etc..

 

My oldest was in 3rd grade when we started RS. I was doing Singapore and Miquon before that, and my oldest two cornered me and told me in absolute terms that they did not like Miquon, but would tolerate Singapore. :001_huh:

 

Knowing I have mostly hands on learners, who aren't math intuitive I went searching for something else to use with Singapore. They also hate any sort of math flash cards (including Flashmaster-they did a dance when it broke). Calculadders was a HUGE disaster.

 

RS has provided them with a fluency in both math in general and in math facts. My oldest still doesn't love math, but it is no longer her most hated subject (she really doesn't hate anything anymore), and she even says now that she is good at math. Her attitude change is a good representation of how all my girls feel towards math. They don't hate the topic, they don't love it, but they are good at it. They enjoy most of the games, and know their math facts well. My ds, might be the one who surprises me and is a math kid like me. He loves RS, and plays with the manipulatives for fun.

 

Heather

 

p.s. I started my oldest all the way back in level B, and just did two lessons a day up till Level E, which she is now doing at normal pace.

 

[Greta]

We absolutely LOVED levels A and B. Less impressed with C, and switched to MEP about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through D. I would still recommend RS for those early years, though. I have no regrets about that. I think it gave my dd a good foundation not just with skills but also with loving math. She was never intimidated by it, and enjoyed it. That's worth a lot in and of itself.

[Mommy22alyns]

We're most of the way through B and we love it. Becca hated Saxon & Singapore math, but loves RS. I'm amazed at what she has learned!

[Mom-ninja.]

Love it

[Paula in PA]

We have used all of A - D, and are more than halfway through E. We love it, and honestly, have never had any of the issues with it some other users have. We'll be moving into G this summer for 5th & 6th grade.

[Debbie in OR]

We started with B and went through half of E.

 

Pros:

If you have hands-on learners, this is great. This will irritate those who would rather just have a worksheet.

 

It uses an abacus to "show" math, which really opened my kids' eyes to the "why" of math.

 

She teaches several different strategies and the kids naturally start to gravitate towards one particular way of doing something. So my ds found a particular strategy helpful for multi-digit multiplication....my dd, a different one.

 

Notebooking work and narration-type work, usually with each lesson.

 

Cons:

Very teacher-intensive. You can not just set it out for them to do on their own. (Paradoxically, this is also the strength of the program.)

 

Not enough repetition. Even though we learned so much with RS, it's been our switch to MUS that has solidified the concepts.

 

General thoughts:

I had thought once we found MUS that I wished I had started with MUS. But as we progress with it, I am realizing what a great foundation RS laid for us. What I wish is that I had alternated learning the concepts with RS and then followed with several weeks of MUS to reinforce. Oh well. Live and learn.

 

When it's all said and done, I highly recommend RS for concepts if your kids like hands-on learning.

[Caitilin]

I would guess that since you need to share your teaching time among your kiddo more than some that RS is going to be awfully time-consuming. I have looked at it, but know that I personally could never implement it--it's got too many manipulatives for me. I know myself, and I know that if I had a program that required all that time and all that STUFF, we would never get it done. :D

 

I know several people who love it, but they tend to be those with smaller families or whose older children can do nearly everything independently. I am sure it's excellent; I just know that it' not for us. :)

[GailV]

We've used all levels of RightStart. Older dd used Transitions, D, E, and the geometry program (which wasn't totally published at the time she did it); younger dd has used B, C, D, and is now in E. I'm a huge fan, and the kids are happy with it. (Except Level D -- after the 2nd time through I was ready to burn it, but that's another story.)

 

 

Having said that, using RightStart with 3 kids is NOT something I would attempt (I'm assuming the older kids are pretty self-directed in math by now). You need to be able to sit down and focus on talking to the child during the lesson.

[Mom0012]

I used RS A, B and almost all of C with my daughter and really enjoyed it. Sometime towards the end of C, I felt my daughter needed more systematic written practice and I kept hearing that D had tons of review in it. My daughter loves workbooks, so we switched at that point to CLE. I do not regret starting out with RS though. If I had it to do again, I wouldn't change anything. I think RS gave her a really firm foundation. I may use RS's Geometry program when she gets older because I think she'd enjoy it.

 

Lisa

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I'm a huge fan, and the kids are happy with it. (Except Level D -- after the 2nd time through I was ready to burn it, but that's another story.)

 

Uh-oh...We're just starting Level D. Why were you ready to burn it? :D

[Haiku]

:lurk5:

[Greta]

Uh-oh...We're just starting Level D. Why were you ready to burn it? :D

 

I know your question wasn't directed at me, so forgive me for butting in. But we were happy with RS until level D too. In fact, we were happy with level D until we got to lessons 100-105 or so. The way they introduced division just did not work for my dd. My math-confident child was in tears she was so frustrated.

 

Obviously, YMMV, and I hope you have a different experience with it! This may have been something particular to my dd. But after about the fifth day of her just not getting it, I stopped to think about it, and realized I wouldn't have learned division very well that way either. We had been using MEP lightly as a supplement, so at that point we switched.

 

ETA: I just really like MEP, so that's part of the reason I made the switch so readily. If I were going to stick with RS, though, here's what I would recommend based on my experience. Go through Lesson 102 with your child, and then put the book aside for awhile. Find some simple worksheets, or make some of your own, that will introduce the idea that division is like multiplication in "reverse". Things like "what times 6 equals 48?" and "81 equals 9 times what?" etc. And then practice straight-forward division for awhile. 63 divided by 7 equals... The problem is, after only two lessons briefly introducing division, lesson 103 jumps into division with remainders. This was really hard for my daughter, who was still working on cementing the whole concept of division. I think it's much easier to get a good solid practice of even divisions before moving on to division with remainders. Just my $0.02

 

ETA2: The division memory game in lesson 107 looks really good. I think you should do that, a lot, before tackling lesson 103, personally.

Edited February 7, 2010 by GretaLynne

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I know your question wasn't directed at me, so forgive me for butting in.

 

Butt in, butt in!

 

Thanks for your advice. I just took a look at those lessons, and it does look like something I would have had a hard time with myself.

 

I'm homeschooling my nieces for a few weeks while their baby sister has heart surgery. I just finished teaching division with remainders using Saxon and I was really hoping RS had a better way of teaching it. I guess we'll see when we get there!

[Haiku]

We're in C, and I own E, but I don't have D because we will be borrowing it from a friend. Can you explain the RS way of teaching division?

 

Tara

[Oak Knoll Mom]

We're in C, and I own E, but I don't have D because we will be borrowing it from a friend. Can you explain the RS way of teaching division?

 

Tara

 

She uses the parts/whole circle and has the student fill the parts circle with multiples of the same number (so 10/2 is 10=5+5 vs 10=9+1 etc that we used when teaching addition). After a couple of lessons doing that, she introduces division with remainders, so the student has to fill in the part/whole circle with multiples of the same number with a smaller part circle indicating the remainder so 17/3is 17=5+5+5+2. Clear as mud?:lol:

[Greta]

We're in C, and I own E, but I don't have D because we will be borrowing it from a friend. Can you explain the RS way of teaching division?

 

Tara

 

The first two lessons that introduce it, 100 and 101, use part-whole circle sets, and word problems such as:

 

Four scouts are having a pizza party. They have 2 pizzas cut into eighths. How many pieces of pizza does each scout get?

 

And:

 

Three erasers cost 69 cents. What did each one cost?

 

Not so bad. Though I think it was a little early to introduce two-part problems (such as the first one above, where they have to multiply before they divide) and personally I would have stuck with numbers that were multiples of ones through tens, rather than doing multiples of numbers like 23, as per the second problem above. At least in the beginning.

 

But then the next lesson, actually 103 because 102 is review, does the same thing, part-whole circle sets, but with problems that have remainders. That's when my dd "lost it"!

 

Do you have the math games book by any chance? If so, I would check out the division games in there, and use those *before* using the lessons in the book.

[Haiku]

Do you have the math games book by any chance? If so, I would check out the division games in there, and use those *before* using the lessons in the book.

 

I do. Thank you (both) for responding! My dd (in C) has already figured out easy division. Perhaps I will keep my eyes open for another supplement to work on division and skip the RS stuff. It sounds odd.

 

Tara

[Oak Knoll Mom]

I can't seem to make up my mind which math to stick too. I used Abeka then Saxon with my oldest children now in their teens. While both usually score perfect math scores when tested they hate math. So I want to try to approach this subject differently with my youngest three.

 

I'm also considering Noble knight,miquion,mus. Currently we are using the waldorf math gnomes stories but I want something a bit more scripted as I'm teaching 5 children. I don't have the time or energy to make up my own story problems etc..

 

I *love* RightStart. My kids have such a deep and rich understanding of math that comes from understanding math before learning the standard algorithm. This came into clear view over the past two weeks while homeschooling my nieces who use Saxon.

 

My third grade niece is working through Saxon 5/4 and while she can do (knows the algorithms for) math that is more advanced than what my 4th grade son is doing, she seemed to have less understanding of what she was doing and why. She made lots of careless errors and didn't understand how to fix them because she didn't really understand why she was doing what she was doing.

 

My first grade niece is working through Saxon 2. One day I taught addition with carrying to my son the RightStart way and to her the Saxon way. (It just so happened that their lessons lined up like that.) I was much more impressed with RightStart. He understood what he was doing; she memorized the algorithm after a short demonstration using dimes and pennies.

 

This experience reinforced my belief that RightStart is a wonderful choice for us. :D

Edited February 10, 2010 by Oak Knoll Mom

[GailV]

Uh-oh...We're just starting Level D. Why were you ready to burn it? :D

 

Whoops, didn't mean to start a huge controversy. Yes, something about the presentation of the topics in that particular volume seemed sort of cloddish to me. I never could put my finger on what it was because I was too busy dealing with the typos -- our version of it had a bunch of 7s written as 3s, as well as 3s written as 3s. Wow, it was a mess. I had no idea why so many of the equations seemed incorrect in the 2nd half of the book, and it was a giant logic problem to figure out what had happened (not all 7s were written as 3s, not all 3s actually represented 7s). And then I had to go through anything I gave my child to get rid of problems like "28 divided by 3" for an equation that shouldn't have a remainder.

 

So, I wrote in all the corrections I could find the first time through with older dd. And I still didn't like the book the second time through with younger dd. I never really stopped to consider WHY I didn't like it the second time through ... and I threw it away as soon as we were done with it so I'd never have to look at it again. I figured it was just the bad memories. Dd had no trouble with the concepts. But I think the presentation might have been the problem, as others have said.

 

BY the way, the 2nd time through LEvel D I skipped almost everything about check numbers because I still don't see the point of any check numbers other than for 3s and 9s. The whole concept seemed like a bunch of busywork to me. It was another annoyance about that book.

 

Now younger dd and I are in E, and the sun is shining again. I can open it up and say, "Oh I remember this lesson -- this is a fun one!" It helps that I happen to like drafting and still have my old drafting triangles, protractor, T-square, etc. etc. from way back when I was in school and actually look forward to reasons to play around with them.

[Mama Lynx]

I can't seem to make up my mind which math to stick too. I used Abeka then Saxon with my oldest children now in their teens. While both usually score perfect math scores when tested they hate math. So I want to try to approach this subject differently with my youngest three.

 

I'm also considering Noble knight,miquion,mus. Currently we are using the waldorf math gnomes stories but I want something a bit more scripted as I'm teaching 5 children. I don't have the time or energy to make up my own story problems etc..

 

I have used all levels and love them all, except for A. It is an excellent way to introduce concepts in such a way as to get kids really thinking about math, and comfortable with how math works.

 

I have four kids. Right Start is teacher-intensive, but I am also not afraid to skip parts of lessons, or games, or to otherwise use it in a way that works *for* me. I have had three children in Right Start at one time; currently I have one in C and one in B.

 

However, we use them in conjunction with Singapore. We don't really align the two, but whenever possible we wait until a concept has been introduced in Right Start before doing the exercises in Singapore.

 

Now that we've found Fred, once we're through Right Start E we will continue with Singapore and Fred.

[melissel]

I can't seem to make up my mind which math to stick too. I used Abeka then Saxon with my oldest children now in their teens. While both usually score perfect math scores when tested they hate math. So I want to try to approach this subject differently with my youngest three.

 

I'm also considering Noble knight,miquion,mus. Currently we are using the waldorf math gnomes stories but I want something a bit more scripted as I'm teaching 5 children. I don't have the time or energy to make up my own story problems etc..

 

I haven't read the rest of the thread, so for whatever it's worth, I LOVE it. It's teacher-intensive, but I only have two kids, so I don't mind that. I'm constantly amazed at the real understanding it engenders in my DD7. We'll start a lesson or series of lessons and I'll think to myself, "Oh my gosh, she's going to throw a fit, she'll be so frustrated, she'll never get this." And then we'll struggle through, and at the end her face is lit up with understanding and the knowledge that she can work the problems herself. It blows my mind every time.

 

I'm sure it's not for every kid, but for my kid--and for me--it's totally the way to go.

[Sweetbabe]

:iagree:DH thought I was crazy to lug back 18 pounds of RS on our flight back to Singapore. But totally worth it, my active DS2 doing well. I'm still thinking on how to use lessons in RS (in parts)to supplement my DS1 Singapore math. I havent started yet though. I wonder if anyone has done this successfully....

[pageta]

We are Right Start failures. It is very scripted, and it seems to wander aimlessly from topic to topic. You'll be learning numbers then you do partitioning (okay, I'm fine with that), but then you're counting money with nickels and pennies and doing partitioning with them and then you start in on perpendicular lines and rectangles. When I tried to figure out how RS taught telling time, it was mixed in to a few lessons halfway through the book while they were working on something else. It isn't something where you have a section on Numbers, then Addition up to 10, then Addition up to 20, then Geometry, then Subtraction. So you can't look at the book and figure out the scope and sequence - you just have to wander aimlessly with it, which I simply did not have the patience for. I am sure the activities are effective, but I like to know what I'm doing and what the point is and I could never figure it out.

 

Right Start is also very opinionated about not doing certain things like counting or using flash cards or anything like that. My son happens to like flashcards, just like some children like workbooks. I understand that workbooks and flashcards aren't for everybody, but they just seemed very adamant about not doing certain things, kind of like a religion or something. I just wasn't a believer, I guess. Playing games to learn math facts may work really well for some kids, but locking yourself into doing only that is just as bad as locking yourself into using flashcards and workbooks. You really have to be on their bandwagon if it's going to work for you, and I wasn't.

 

We tried it multiple times and finally gave up on it. Lots of people swear by it, but it isn't for everybody.

[Greta]

BY the way, the 2nd time through LEvel D I skipped almost everything about check numbers because I still don't see the point of any check numbers other than for 3s and 9s. The whole concept seemed like a bunch of busywork to me. It was another annoyance about that book.

 

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! We skipped that too because dd hated it, and I didn't see the point when using check numbers was no less work than checking your work with more traditional methods. It seemed like a lot of effort to accomplish little, so we didn't mess with it.

 

Now younger dd and I are in E, and the sun is shining again. I can open it up and say, "Oh I remember this lesson -- this is a fun one!" It helps that I happen to like drafting and still have my old drafting triangles, protractor, T-square, etc. etc. from way back when I was in school and actually look forward to reasons to play around with them.

 

I'm glad E gets better. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

[Jumping In Puddles]

I love the way RS A introduces the teen numbers and the tens. Fifteen is actually called "one ten five" instead of 15, and 2 ten 8 is 28. That works really well for my kids to cement what the numbers really mean.

 

My ds loves the games and the manipulatives and the workbook.

 

RightStart B is super challenging and my ds really understands the concepts so that makes me happy with it.

 

I hate the way it jumps around from subject to subject too. I have to remember to mark certain pages for review otherwise my kids would forget certain things. For example, parallel and perp. lines are introduced in the beginning of B, then that's it, you don't see them again until the end. So every week or so I try to incorporate shapes and terms that were introduced and dropped.

[beachrose]

Wow thank you for all the responses! I do not mind teacher intensive as long as I do not have to be the creative one. LOL! We try to avoid workbooks and my kids tend to get concepts pretty fast so I think rightstart is going to be a great fit! Thank you for the input!!

[jewel7123]

I hate the way it jumps around from subject to subject too. I have to remember to mark certain pages for review otherwise my kids would forget certain things. For example, parallel and perp. lines are introduced in the beginning of B, then that's it, you don't see them again until the end. So every week or so I try to incorporate shapes and terms that were introduced and dropped.

 

RightStart A also talks about parallel lines in lesson 7, but I'm not sure my daughter really understood the concept. Any suggestions on where to go for more exposure to this term (parallel and non parallel lines?) Do other K Math books cover this that we could use to supplement, or should I not try to worry about cementing this now at age 5 1/2?

[Haiku]

should I not try to worry about cementing this now at age 5 1/2?

 

Don't worry about it.

 

We're getting ready to start D, and parallel/perpendicular is touched on again and again.

 

Tara

[siloam]

RightStart A also talks about parallel lines in lesson 7, but I'm not sure my daughter really understood the concept. Any suggestions on where to go for more exposure to this term (parallel and non parallel lines?) Do other K Math books cover this that we could use to supplement, or should I not try to worry about cementing this now at age 5 1/2?

Don't worry about it, because it will come up again later. RS follows a general pattern. It introduces single digit numbers, then you cover hours in time, and dimes and nickles in money and a few geometry terms. Then RS introduces double digits and you cover minuets in time and add quarters to money and again cover a few geometry terms. This is a general pattern in RS where they introduce a topic, then apply it to time and money and later measurements, and fractions. It is just that in A, B and C it is a bit early to do measurements, so instead they are laying a foundation of understanding the terms and in C how to draw basic geometry figures so that in D when they cover measurements the child can draw a figure then use it to find perimeter and area.

 

But at the A level they will cover parallel lines several more times, so it is not something to worry about till C, and even then it is not a big deal if they have to be reminded a few more times. :D

 

Heather

[GailV]

RightStart A also talks about parallel lines in lesson 7, but I'm not sure my daughter really understood the concept. Any suggestions on where to go for more exposure to this term (parallel and non parallel lines?) Do other K Math books cover this that we could use to supplement, or should I not try to worry about cementing this now at age 5 1/2?

 

As others said, don't worry about it. BUT, if you use the term in casual conversation -- not making a big deal of it, just using it appropriately -- it helps cement it. Some day she'll be looking at the parallel bars during a gymnastics meet, and it will click. Geometry is everywhere! Coolest subject in the world!

 

Also, when it comes up again and your child doesn't remember it, don't get excited. Just calmly explain it. Even when she's gone through all the levels of RightStart and still sometimes blows it (sigh, it happens) just calmly correct her.

[ScoutTN]

We love it so far. Though I've only one to teach and we're newbies at this HS thing. We are on lesson 30 of level A and I love the way it is teaching my DD to think. It is not inexpensive, but I'll use it for two kids (hopefully!) and the quality of instruction is worth the investment. I wanted to stay away from workbook type programs at least while my kids are younger.

 

Hope you find something that works well for your kids!