Aloha2U Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 We are happy with RS and plan to do Level D next year, but lately I've been reading that many seem to jump ship after B or C. Is there anyone who can share their likes or dislikes about RS D? I can't find any reviews of it on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 We skipped along through D. My ds had the tomes tables down an we went through the whole thing in about 5 months. We have switched to CLE as our spine but are finishing up E too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 We are happy with RS and plan to do Level D next year, but lately I've been reading that many seem to jump ship after B or C. Is there anyone who can share their likes or dislikes about RS D? I can't find any reviews of it on this forum. I love all the levels of RS. My guess as to why people jump ship are two fold. One is the child outgrows the need for manipulatives, and two, the parent needs more time with the younger kids. D is heavy on measurements. I love how RS demonstrates perimeter with the 1" tiles, how it teaches area again demonstrating it first with the tiles, then demonstrates volume using the 1" cubes. Plus D works more with fractions. Lots of good stuff in D. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloha2U Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Thank you, ladies! Now if I can just find the C to D kit used before the end of the month... otherwise it's HBC. I love all the levels of RS. My guess as to why people jump ship are two fold. One is the child outgrows the need for manipulatives, and two, the parent needs more time with the younger kids. D is heavy on measurements. I love how RS demonstrates perimeter with the 1" tiles, how it teaches area again demonstrating it first with the tiles, then demonstrates volume using the 1" cubes. Plus D works more with fractions. Lots of good stuff in D. Heather Just out of curiosity, which level of Singapore do you use alongside RS D? :) Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Just out of curiosity, which level of Singapore do you use alongside RS D? :) Melissa Melissa, I really don't schedule them. I just make sure and start Singapore late enough (a whole year behind grade level) that RS will introduce topics first. But I would probably say level 3. Right now my dd who just finished D was doing Singapore IP3A and my dd who next week will start level D is doing Singapore IP 2B. Just so that will make more sense to you I have the kids do the Singapore texts in this order: 2A, 2B, 2A IP, 2B IP, 2 CWP, 3A, 3B, 3A IP, 3B IP, 3 CWP...you get the idea. :D Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloha2U Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 Melissa, I really don't schedule them. I just make sure and start Singapore late enough (a whole year behind grade level) that RS will introduce topics first. But I would probably say level 3. Right now my dd who just finished D was doing Singapore IP3A and my dd who next week will start level D is doing Singapore IP 2B. Just so that will make more sense to you I have the kids do the Singapore texts in this order: 2A, 2B, 2A IP, 2B IP, 2 CWP, 3A, 3B, 3A IP, 3B IP, 3 CWP...you get the idea. :D Heather Perfect! Thank you so much! We'll probably do likewise. :) Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linders Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 actually, DS10 has completed through level E and is starting RS Geometry. DS7 is now two-thirds of the way through level D. DS10 really liked D and - he's a kid who likes drawing a lot and ate up all the geometric drawing in D. I expect DS7 will like it also, for the same reason. (I've heard some kids don't like it so much.) Level D also did a good job of helping DS10 become proficient at long multiplication. I did find that by level D I tended to rearrange the lessons a bit to do more work in chunks - creating more of a "mastery" approach than "spiral." I did a lot of that in E, also, partly to accelerate long division (which appears at the end of E) so that DS could start Life of Fred. If RS is working for you so far, I would really tend to stick with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txhomemom Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I love all the levels of RS. My guess as to why people jump ship are two fold. One is the child outgrows the need for manipulatives, and two, the parent needs more time with the younger kids. We were one of the ones that jumped ship at Level C and I agree about the reason that the child outgrows the manipulatives. If I could have I would have stayed with Rightstart. We came in later and once my dd had mastered a lot of the skills she had outgrown the abacus, etc. She just was not interested in using manipulatives anymore. RS is also teacher intensive and that is another reason we switched. I just needed something simpler because I was working a lot of hours at the time. Even though it did not work out for us to completely go through the series, I highly recommend RS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I switched my oldest to Singapore after she finished C. When I previewed D & E, it seemed like there was too much review and not enough new material. RS struck me as having about a single year's worth of content spread out between the two levels. And because it's scripted, I find RS difficult to accelerate. Singapore is easier to accelerate and the Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems books also help up the challenge level for a bright student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sew happily ever after Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 RS is very teacher intensive so if you have more than 1 or 2 kids in RS, it is very difficult to teach. My oldest has done right start B-E and succeeded. I am very uncomfortable with how long they wait to teach division. BUT at least she had her multiplication facts down really well and division was a breeze! I would love to stick with it, but just can't manage teaching 4 lessons from 4 different levels. I have found that MUS is much easier on the teacher while still using a similar approach. I like the mastery of MUS and am much more comfy with that. I LOVE the games in RS and will continue to use them even as my kids need them to reinforce the concepts in MUS. I don't believe RS D to be very dependent on the manips. I believe if your child is past manips then just don't use them. They can visualize well enough if they are bored with them, which is the whole goal of RS. For my third grader we have barely picked up the manips during level D. She just doesn't need them. Sometimes RS gives too many different ways to solve the same problem. i realize this is good math thinking skills, but it tends to confuse many children. This is prob. the only "problem" that I have with RS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) We switched after C for my dd and B for my son. I have RS D and looked through it many times. There was no way my math-loving daughter could have suffered through D. She would have become my math-hating daughter. Why? 1) Way too much review. She was groaning about perimeter review in C. "Again? Mom, I KNOW this!!" 2) Pace of new concepts WAY too slow. Not much is learned in D, imo. It's a major re-hash of concepts already covered. 3) Division didn't start until over 100 lessons in! My dd was chomping at the bit to do division, and it was going to be 20 weeks or so into D before we started that! Dd would have gone into full revolt. 4) Not enough written practice. By the time kids get to D (and probably C), they simply need more written practice, imo. The conceptual basis of RS A and B is its strength, imo. By the time you get to D (and probably even C) it becomes a detriment because it is not balanced by written work to solidify the concepts. I was supplementing with practice sheets from worksheetworks.com, Evan-Moor's Daily Word Problems, and Math and Logic Word Problems. I wanted a program that didn't necessitate that. 5) Too much of a time investment to teach two kids at two different levels. 6) I wanted a more traditional program where I could see more linear progress. That's just a personal preference though. Tara Edited March 13, 2011 by TaraTheLiberator typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LolaT Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I agree. Considered switching after RSM Level B but decided to stick with it and supplement/review with Singapore Math. I think RSM gives a better foundation for understanding numbers. And I think SM will challenge her, putting the concepts in a different context. I don't mind the time RSM requires (but I'm only teaching one) because I think it's super important to get off to a right start (OK, that sounded kind of dumb) and not have problems later on where they can sort of do math but don't understand it. (My DH has a minor in math and he can't even use the tape measure correctly or realize when he has been rung up wrong at the cash register. :001_huh:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momofeat Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 We're preparing to go into Level D, so I'm watching this thread closely. I have to say, though, that my dd(11) has dyscalculia. Through the years & various math curricula I have found that for her, all math programs are teacher-intensive. We just set a timer. When it goes off, we finish the section we're on and stop. Some days she finishes 2 lessons, and other days she doesn't make it all the way through one. I spend less time with her now than I did when she was using the programs that are supposed to be more independent, because she understands it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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