RS B- Lesson Time, Pacing?

[Soror]

I aspire to do 15-20 min per day on Math for my 6 y.o. but it seems near impossible to get a lesson and warm-up done in that amount of time. Am I the only one? Do you just split it up in 2-parts for the day or just drag the lesson over a few days. Seems we are doing a bit of both.

 

On the games how often are you supposed to do that? When do you do that? Seems like we are spending a lot of time on Math and I don't always know if it is productive

 

I am not sure I quite understand the approach- not the base-10 aspect but how we cover something for just a day and then not again for a week- like this Geometry stuff- it seems out of place to me. Why cannot we just focus on the ten facts and hundreds- UGH!

 

Lastly I am considering camping where we are a bit as I am not liking how it seems to me we introduced a big concept 10s, 100s and then 1000s and then spend such little time on it. I want the 10 facts to be down much better I was thinking of supplementing w/ something else to help cement that, perhaps lots of games but maybe another program- I considered MEP as it free- thoughts or suggestions, commiseration?

[Guest CarolineUK]

DS6 is doing RS B and we spend as long as it takes to do a lesson a day. I regard maths as fundamental at this stage (along with reading and writing) and we do what is required no matter how long it takes, just as long as DS is not getting cross or upset. Sometimes it will take half an hour, sometimes an hour, sometimes longer if DS insists on playing the games over and over until I beg for mercy :lol:. I feel a child of this age needs as much exposure as possible to maths, it's all good. If we don't get round to science, history, French, etc on some days because we're hammering maths, reading and writing then I'm quite happy, there's plenty of time for other things when they're older.

 

ETA: We do the games mostly only when they're scheduled in the lessons, although DS is very keen on them so we've even been known to play them as a family in the evening after supper.

Edited November 18, 2010 by CarolineUK

[Snowfall]

Lastly I am considering camping where we are a bit as I am not liking how it seems to me we introduced a big concept 10s, 100s and then 1000s and then spend such little time on it. I want the 10 facts to be down much better I was thinking of supplementing w/ something else to help cement that, perhaps lots of games but maybe another program- I considered MEP as it free- thoughts or suggestions, commiseration?

 

All of this was a problem for me, or rather my DD, as well. We spent EXTRA time on building numbers, playing the bank game with base ten cards, etc., but then we moved on and haven't covered it in a while and now DD can't read a number over 99. :001_huh: If I tell her it's a "hundreds number" or "thousands number" she can read it, but not on her own, despite us spending twice as long (in days spent) on it as the lessons dictated. It seems to me that RS doesn't teach a subject to mastery, but at the same time it takes too long to spiral back to it, so that by the time you do, the child has already forgotten. Maybe that's just my dd, because I've never heard anyone else say that, but it's been my only complaint with RS really. The only other problem I've had is that my DD just doesn't like to play the games, so we've had to supplement to get her facts down.

 

If your child likes the games, I'd suggest just playing them more for those addition facts. For instance, you can change Go To The Dump to work on the facts for any number under 10 - you don't have to play it to equal 10. If your kid doesn't like the games, then MEP is pretty great for getting the facts down, IMO. It worked for us, until DD started getting frustrated as the puzzles got harder. Now we're doing Horizons worksheets, Math Magic worksheets, and whatever else I find that looks colorful (she loves color).

[threelilbirds]

Im one of those that needs it spelled out...:confused:...what is MEP? Thanks!

[threelilbirds]

Thanks, I found it! :001_smile:

[Haiku]

Having been through RS A-C, I would say that you can't get a Lesson of B done in 15-20 minutes. My suggestion would be to take the time required to get a lesson done and not worry about limiting it to a certain amount of time per day. Because of the way RS builds the concepts it is teaching into several different topics, I think it's important to do a whole lesson each day.

 

Games are pretty much meant to be played daily. We usually didn't do them as part of math time; we played them later in the day for fun.

 

Your issue with how RS introduces a concept and then moves on to other things for a while before coming back to that concept again is what caused me to jump ship to Math Mammoth after my son completed level B. I love the foundation RS gave us, but the methodology was not going to continue to work for my son in C. My dd went through C and then we switched her to MM as well because RS was going far too slowly for her.

 

A suggestion would be to group all the lessons on a related topic together and move through the book topically, but I suspect that would be difficult because you would encounter things in later lessons that you haven't yet covered if you move topically rather than numerically.

 

You can continue to move through the lessons numerically and use the games to cement the 10s facts if you want to. The games really do work!!

 

Tara

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

We almost always finish a lesson a day. My DS got the 10 facts down by playing go to the dump for many days in a row. I've been bad about the games recently, but we are getting back into them. Did you get to corners yet? (lesson 64 or so?). That is a great game for mental math. We are going to do more addition war also. With that said, I also have my DS do the Singapore 1A/1B workbooks and Intensive Practice Books. He can do them mostly on his own, and he does them in the van.

[Crimson Wife]

It's very common to take more than a full academic year to go through RS B if the student started with that level rather than A. My oldest took 13 months HS year-round to finish B. Don't worry about getting "behind" as by the time the student has finished RS C, he/she has covered nearly everything on the 3rd grade CA math standards.

[2squared]

We spend 20-25 min/day 4 days/week on RS B. I don't worry about finishing a lesson. The material in B is quite meaty, and I want to make sure my dc have time to process it which oftentimes means short lessons and time to regroup before the next school day. I also want them to enjoy math. For us, spending too much time on a lesson would be counter-productive for both goals.

 

I asked Dr. Cotter the game question at a conference, and she told me to only play the games when the manual directed us to. That frequency has worked for my dc.

 

I should probably mention that I prefer to start B half-way through 1st grade and finish it at the end of 2nd grade. Neither of my kids have had to camp-out or spend extra time on concepts, and I think that's because I start them a little later and don't push through the lessons. They also LOVE math!!

[Soror]

Lots of good thoughts. It is good to read that it is expected to do the games just when suggested, so I guess we are not behind there. Today our lesson was about 25 min. but it seemed to be an easier lesson. We have done 11 wks here and only on Lsn 29. We only school 4 days though a week. Some lessons of course recommended doing more than one day and some we did that way of our own choosing.

 

It is also good to read that often it takes longer than a reg. school year to get through. We will be schooling year round. I guess it will just take as long as it does. However, I need to work on the schedule to give me more time for Math, I agree it is vitally important. However, I agree just as strongly that I don't want to burn him out, so I need to work a way to fulfill both of those priorities.

 

I think I need to be looking ahead more at lessons so I can see what is coming. Part of the problem is having some things that I need to have printed out and not having it ready, that of course adds time. Also, if I am reading ahead I can see where the lessons might be broke up and doing part at the beginning and part at the end of our day on the days it seems like a long day, or plan to play games in the evening if that is on the schedule for the day.

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

We started in June, and I just recently went through all of my curriculum to make a month by month plan for the rest of the year. it was helpful to see what I wanted to cover each month, to keep me on target. Maybe looking ahead will give you some peace of mind.

[2squared]

I think I need to be looking ahead more at lessons so I can see what is coming. Part of the problem is having some things that I need to have printed out and not having it ready, that of course adds time.

 

I had the same struggles with Level A. Last year I went through and prepared everything for every lesson before the year began. It was wonderful. If I needed 10 dimes for lesson xx, I put them in a bag in a manilla envelope labeled with "lesson xx." If I needed copies, I made them and put them in a Level A folder. After all the pre-work, Level A went very, very smoothly.

[Soror]

Yes, I will just have to get it set up- thankfully we are going into a break week so I have time.

[siloam]

I aspire to do 15-20 min per day on Math for my 6 y.o. but it seems near impossible to get a lesson and warm-up done in that amount of time. Am I the only one? Do you just split it up in 2-parts for the day or just drag the lesson over a few days. Seems we are doing a bit of both.

 

Especially with A and B I tend to do the warm ups on day 1, the lesson on day 2, and any work sheets and/or games on separate days after that. It really is fine to take longer. If you keep the child at "grade level" you end up starting Pre-Algebra in 6th grade. Some kids can do that, but most kids would benifit from having more time to absorb the concepts.

 

On the games how often are you supposed to do that? When do you do that? Seems like we are spending a lot of time on Math and I don't always know if it is productive

 

I have 4 kids, so I have a schedule where they each play a game daily. I just change who they play it with, and at what level. In B I added more of the memory games because they visualization of numbers and quantities wasn't easy for my youngest two. But in C the format will change and be more regular. Right now just play them as they come up and once in a while play them for fun.

 

I am not sure I quite understand the approach- not the base-10 aspect but how we cover something for just a day and then not again for a week- like this Geometry stuff- it seems out of place to me. Why cannot we just focus on the ten facts and hundreds- UGH!

 

Looking back I do see the why. Not that I love the order of level B, but I do see why. Later on when you get to E they will introduce a concept cover it with time, then money then with measurements (draw a figure and use it in the calculations). This same basic formula is being used in level B, but because it is too early to do measurements they work on laying a foundation of understanding the terminology. For example when they are covering numbers to 5 you cover pennies (1) and nickles (5). Then they work with numbers to 10 and you add in Dimes. I believe still later still they cover numbers to 100 and then quarters and that is when they introduce Quarters. Generally each time they cycle through some topic they cover it with a geometrical shape in some way as well, and if they can't they introduce some geometrical topic they will use later. You really can't cover geometry as a function of numbers 1-5 or 1-10, but by covering the figures earlier the child is prepared to use them for work on quarters.

 

Yes they could also pull all this and cover it in sections of just money or just geometry. I honestly have mixed feelings over which is better. My logical brain prefers the idea of having them in blocks, but one of the aspects I love about RS is how it demonstrates the relationships between different areas of math, and that really is best seen with the order they use.

 

Just keep in mind that all the geometry stuff will come up again, so just cover it and move on. No need to focus on mastery there.

Lastly I am considering camping where we are a bit as I am not liking how it seems to me we introduced a big concept 10s, 100s and then 1000s and then spend such little time on it. I want the 10 facts to be down much better I was thinking of supplementing w/ something else to help cement that, perhaps lots of games but maybe another program- I considered MEP as it free- thoughts or suggestions, commiseration?

 

I did camp out on these. Once we hit the worksheets that focused on adding in the 1000's we did one problem a day. I would use the place value cards, the abacus, my interlocking base 10 blocks, and a white board and we would work the problem in multiple ways. Build it with each manipulative to double check the other and see how all got the same answer. I never regretted the time spent there.

 

Now that my ds is in 2nd grade and past the 9 digit addition, he can generally do all of a warm up, lesson and the worksheet in one day as well as playing games daily. In K and 1st grade that just wasn't realistic. He likes math but was so wiggly. I think it all stuck better by giving him more time to really absorb it as well (and my 3rd dd who went before him).

 

My older two girls have also done RS from level B, but they were older when they started.

 

Heather

[Celia]

We're at about lesson 50ish in B right now, and taking it somewhat more slowly than a lesson per day. He did A last year, but I did some of the lessons in B that weren't required anyways for review, as we took a couple solid months off in the summer and he needed it. I plan to hs lightly through the summer this year, so I'm actually kind of glad that RS B looks like it will be enough, as I want him to have a solid foundation, but don't want to push him to accelerate more than he's ready for. We took it quite slowly through the 4 digit addition as well, and did plenty of extra practice. The spiral way of teaching bothers me a bit too, so now and then I do a bit of a review of things we've covered.

 

I don't do math for longer than 30mins a day, and sometimes we take a break in there as well. Skip counting as he skips around the house is sometimes our math break time!