R&S Math Q: Do your dc find the pages to be...

[Sue G in PA]

too "cluttered"? I finally got a chance to see a R&S Math text. After reading all the glowing reports about R&S Math being the perfect combo of review AND new concept work, I had to check it out. Well, for me, the pages looked so full and cluttered. Has anybody else noticed this or is it just me? How do your dc feel about it? Perhaps I'm being particular.

 

AND, how necessary is the teacher manual for the lower level math? TIA for your commentary!

[DB in NJ]

The TM is absolutely, positively necessary for the lower levels. ALL of the teaching information is in them. The workbook pages (Grades 1 and 2) or the textbook (Grades 3+) are really practice opportunities for what you have taught from the TM. As a matter of fact, if you teach from the TM and give a few practice problems, you could call it good for the day (if the kid really gets it). Those problems in the student books are tools to be used AS NEEDED.

 

Please don't feel like your child has to do every problem on every page. You don't use every tool in the toolbox for every job, right? Same with this. Use as needed.

 

:)

[Nestof3]

too "cluttered"?

 

You know, I had the same reaction when I looked at the online samples. I am still on the fence between Rod & Staff and CLE.

 

The other thing is my oldest used Saxon from 5th on to Alg 2/Trig and did well with it. I just need grades 3 and 4 right now (and 2nd for my youngest). So I cannot decide whether to switch curric. or just stick with Saxon. I used to let my son skip some Saxon problems, so the # of problems doesn't concern me.

 

Too many choices! AAAAAHHH:tongue_smilie:

[vmsurbat]

I don't know what program(s) you are coming from or what grade level you are looking at. We find the layout crisp and clear with clearly identified Parts A, B, C, etc. We appreciate the lack of color (several of my children find color distracting).

 

To work through the text (up to 4th grade or so), I would assign Part A (most or all of it), set the timer (generously) and then correct work. Student got a sticker to decorate Part A if he finished before the timer went off. Then on to Part B, C, D. If a section was long, I checked after the section (and child got a sticker). If the sections were short, I might check after two or three sections and then child got a sticker.

 

Perhaps it is the length of exercises that is overwhelming you? Breaking it up by sections helps and setting the timer (again--not at a race-pace, but gentle pace) helps the child see it is not overwhelming.

 

HTH,

[Rhondabee]

We've just recently switched from BJU. My ds can do the work, but he does get overwhelmed with the amount and tends to sit there thinking about how much work it is rather than doing it (kind of like me and laundry!).

 

I've been having him do all of Part A, but marking out about half of the review problems. Does that sound ok? (I also do about half of the Oral Review in the TM).

 

I will try the timer thing for each section - sometimes that works and sometimes not.

 

Thanks!

Rhonda

[Rhondabee]

And it is much less visually "cluttered" than BJU. It is just so obvious what the student is supposed to do with R&S. My ds much prefers the R&S format (though the quantity is a bit overwhelming for him - see my question to Vicki).

[Sue G in PA]

which is also very plain and bk/wt. That doesn't bother me or ds9. He's not into "fluff" on the pages. Hid deal is just that he needs more practice on the current concept...something that Saxon doesn't provide. He will be doing MUS Gamma over the summer to get back up to speed on Mult. tables. My plan is to breeze through that, see how he does w/ MUS and go from there. My hangup? I'm still not convinced that *I* like MUS b/c it is entirely different from how I learned the higher math concepts! *I* like Saxon! But, R&S seems like a "happy medium" and I want ds9 to "get it", KWIM? So, that is why I'm looking into it. When *I* looked at the text...it seems very full, lots of problems crowded together on a page...more than SAxon even. I guess w/ R&S you can more easily skip problems or assign odd/evens than w/ SAxon? Is this right?

[Melanie in WI]

The TM is absolutely, positively necessary for the lower levels. ALL of the teaching information is in them.

As a matter of fact, if you teach from the TM and give a few practice problems, you could call it good for the day (if the kid really gets it). Those problems in the student books are tools to be used AS NEEDED.

 

Please don't feel like your child has to do every problem on every page. You don't use every tool in the toolbox for every job, right? Same with this. Use as needed.

 

:)

I agree. My dc like using this. We don't do every problem.

[terrylee]

Our daughter is doing R & S grade3 she loves it and so do I! This is our first year homeschooling and she was a bit behind but now has zoomed! Our 13 year old dd just finished R & S 8 and is now doing Lial's Introductory algebra and is doing very well also. I plan on using R & S next year for our ds who will be in first grade. I don't assign all the problems. I do all the speed tests and quizzes. When we do a Lesson a lot of times I can combine two lessons into one. It has great review throughout. Don't feel like you have to do all of the problems, just judge by what your dd can do. Hope this helps!

 

Terrylee

[Malenki]

My DS loves the format and doesn't find it cluttered at all, but books like Abeka and BJU were way too busy for him (it could be the color vs. single color format). He loves it! By the time a particular problem shows up on the worksheet we've already done it a number of times orally together on a white board following the TM.

 

We have done every problem plus extra worksheets but that's what he *needs* and is one of the big reasons we have been using R&S.

 

Also agreeing that the TM is completely necessary.

[vmsurbat]

We've just recently switched from BJU. My ds can do the work, but he does get overwhelmed with the amount and tends to sit there thinking about how much work it is rather than doing it (kind of like me and laundry!).

 

I've been having him do all of Part A, but marking out about half of the review problems. Does that sound ok? (I also do about half of the Oral Review in the TM).

 

I will try the timer thing for each section - sometimes that works and sometimes not.

 

NThanks!

Rhonda

 

Rhonda,

 

It has been awhile since my kids were young enough for "timer mode." Just as a side encouragement, my youngest is now in 7th (she started with R&S 1) and she can *easily* sit down and do her whole R&S 7th lesson with virtually no help from me. I can remember the pouts at math time (she tends that way in her personality) with a big sigh of "Math will take FOREVER, Mom." I used the timer with her *a lot.* All that to say, the kids do grow up and you may someday look back on these days nostalgically! I do!

 

Back to what we did:

 

I think you are right on with the oral review. That review is excellent, but the amount is geared to accomodate a whole classroom of children!

 

For completing the exercises, the timer worked well with all my kids. Again, I tried very hard to make sure I set the timer so that with reasonable (for a kid) diligence (not speed), they could finish the section. And especially in the beginning, I set it for every section. This provided very tangible rewards all throughout a single lesson (they got to choose a sticker for each timed section). And after a few weeks, the children did get the sense that each lesson was doable.

 

Regarding the assigning of problems, I usually did the first one or two with my 5th gr or younger students** (see note below) just to make sure they started off on the right track.

 

If a "New Topic" section was heavy on computation (you know, lots of straight addition/sub/mult/div, and *especially* if with larger numbers), I would cross off the last problem in each row automatically. R&S exercise problems tend to be the same difficulty across the rows--thus cutting the last one by row meant that my child was still getting an assortment of problem types & difficulty as she/he progressed through the lesson. Sometimes, if a section had 20+ problems of the same type (say 4 rows with 5 problems each), I might have my student do the first three in each row and if they were all correct--no need to do any more in that row. If one was wrong, my child had to correct the mistake and choose one of the two remaining problems in that row to do. (This helps with careless errors).

 

On review exercises, I tended to have my child do almost all of them until the last quarter of the year. Once we hit lesson 130 (or so), with those topics that had been practiced most of the year, I would definitely cut problems--often to just one of that type. Other review sections were for recently-studied topics--I would assign as many as I thought would be beneficial.

 

Also, now that I think about it, those review sections that were of equivalent measures (or similar--no computation), for ex. 3 ft = ____ in; 7 weeks = ____ yr, We would almost always do those orally at the end of the lesson. It takes just a minute or two orally, much longer for the child to write them out. I saw no need for that kind of busy work. (Same goes for grammar--those things which just need to be identified, we did orally ("Find the proper nouns in these five sentences"). Diagramming and writing sentences (ie. "Write a sentence with a proper noun" *were* assigned and done as independent work)).

 

The nice thing about R&S is that it is very easy to see at a glance just what kind of topics are coming up--the layout makes it easy to pick and choose problems. I don't want you to think that I slaved over how many problems to do each day. (At one point I had four kids all in R&S Math!) The kids mostly did it all. Heavy computation lessons were subject to the most pruning. The last quarter of the text saw more trimming in the review exercises. The timer worked the best for finishing a lesson in a timely manner. And most of the judicious trimming of problems occurred in 3-5th grade.

 

**Note: Beginning in 6th grade, the books are *designed* for you to assign either the evens or the odds. Yes, it says so right at the beginning of the TMs! I do very little cutting once the children are working in the 6th grade and up texts....

 

HTH,

[Chris in CA]

I haven't read the other responses, but the TM is necessary up until 7th at least, then it becomes somewhat self-teaching in that there are very specific instructions in the student text. I always assign 1/2 of the problems per assignment. We've only done Rod & Staff in the lower grades, so I don't have anything to compare, but the b&w has been helpful in not distracting my dds

hth

[Sandi_NC]

We've used R&S math grades 1-3, and are currently taking a break with grade 4. We had great success up through grade 3, but for some reason with 4th, my children (dd9 and ds10) just hit the skids and we've struggled quite a bit with it. I agree with the others that the TM's are very important - and well worth having - even if you comfortable with math. We're taking a break right now to work through some Singapore books and the children are enjoying the break but they have begun to express an interest in getting back to R&S 4 so we'll see what happens. For my children in particular, R&S works beautifully because of the way the pages are laid out, black and white, no fuss, no cartoons - just straight math concepts. We do use a timer with R&S and I don't assign all the problems unless we're struggling with a concept.

[Rhondabee]

nt