adventumacademy Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I have only recently heard of Math Mammoth, but someone mentioned to me that they use this in conjunction with Rightstart?? They alternate days (RS on Mon/Wed, MM on Tues/Thurs) My dd is currently using RightStart B. Would Math Mammoth be additional reinforcement/practice of concepts taught in RS? If so, what level corresponds to RS B? Or is it learning in a different way?? Sorry I am so confused :confused: I would love to get dd a little more practice on what she is already learning, but I am afraid another curriculum would just confuse her if it is taught differently?? Any help and/or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 We don't use Math Mammoth, but I use RightStart and Singapore Math with my oldest. I feel that it is a great combination for her. Math is not her strongest subject, and having two different approaches seems to help her. What we do is use only one program at a time. We continue using it until we get stuck, bored, or to a good stopping point, then switch to the other curriculum. Though the sequence of skills learned is different, we used RightStart B with Singapore 1A & 1B and next RightStart C with Singapore 2A & 2B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakshmi Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 RightStart is made to be a stand alone program. Adding anything extra to it, IMO would be too much. RightStart's focus is to use mental math, rather than paper and pencil math. The extra practice comes from playing the games. Which games you play depends on which skill your child needs to improve. The warm-ups at the beginning of each lesson will show you where the weaknesses are, if any. The practice sheets introduced around Lesson 30 could be used over if needed as well. I use RightStart with both of my children and they are learning the concepts well. We do math first thing, and it takes about 30-40 minutes per lesson. Mainly depending on their attention spans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_midori Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I actually use RightStart B & Math Mammoth 2a/b together, and they really do work well together! :) I generally do RSB 1x per week (because we have a longer school year) and 2 pages of Math Mammoth 4x a week. I have found that MM really fills a gap that we needed filled - he catches on to the RSB teachings very quickly & thoroughly, but then RS moves on for a long time to other things. When it comes back to the things that he had TOTALLY understood before, all of a sudden it was a "huh? What was that again?" thing. :( Doing the MM allows me to constantly see what he is remember of older (from RS) areas and have things stay fresh. That said - next year we may move to ALEKS online instead of MM for 3 main reasons: 1) He doesn't like worksheets, but LOVES computer based things! :D 2) Someone else is correcting his work and gets to be the "bad guy" if he misses problems (that is SO getting old!). Also, the correcting is done immediately (which I try to do, but I have to work with his bro, too!). 3) The ALEKS artificial intelligence is supposed to find that point when he TRULY gains long-term mastery and stop the repetition of mastered information by moving on to other areas. I am having trouble with finding this point, as he tends to make careless errors (as opposed to comprehension errors) and then I get to be the bad guy who makes him re-do it to prove that he can do it right. This gets me very frustrated, and a computer program won't get mad! :) It is a lot more expensive, though - and I see they are having a Math Mammoth sale over the next 3 days - so I may just go ahead and buy several grades worth now just to have them on hand!! ETA: I have a terrible confession... I really don't like the games that much!! They are good for a one or two time go-around, but I can't bear to do them over.and.over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adventumacademy Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Thank you everyone for your opinions so far .. any more would be appreciated as well .. :thumbup: I went into Rightstart with the thought that it was a solid, stand alone curriculum so I agree with Lakshmi there. I still feel it is a strong stand alone curriculum. However, as mentioned you need to be diligent on the games to reinforce skills and unfortunately I am bad at making sure the games are played :( Like Lisa and Black_midori, my dd needs a little help. I never thought about using Singapore..since MM is having a sale though maybe I will try that out first and see if it works for my dd. She does do the practice pages from RS, but there are only 10 practice sections and it gets old. I am going to look into MM 2a and 2b if that is what is considered comparable to level B in RS. Any other suggestions?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angiegal Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I love to use Xtramath.com daily in conjunction with rsmath. It has free drills on computation up to division. Your children only practice facts they don't know rather than all of them. It's free and takes only 5-10 minutes a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I have only recently heard of Math Mammoth, but someone mentioned to me that they use this in conjunction with Rightstart?? They alternate days (RS on Mon/Wed, MM on Tues/Thurs) My dd is currently using RightStart B. Would Math Mammoth be additional reinforcement/practice of concepts taught in RS? If so, what level corresponds to RS B? Or is it learning in a different way?? Sorry I am so confused :confused: I would love to get dd a little more practice on what she is already learning, but I am afraid another curriculum would just confuse her if it is taught differently?? Any help and/or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :) If seeing it taught a different way and having to do similar problems in different ways is confusing, perhaps she isn't learning it that well to begin with. Kids NEED to learn to solve problems more than one way and if they can't, they may not really be learning the conceptual WHY, just the formulaic HOW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakshmi Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 RightStart games are not my favorite games but my children love to play them. I'd forget what was happening in RS if I only did it once a week too. lol... We do it everyday, five days a week and it works best like that. I tried doing it less but it didn't work. We start out with Maths in the morning and before we start we play a game. The current favorite is swim to ten. So we swim. Games would rock it better than a worksheet IMO.. to keep my children interested is more important to me than getting away from the games. But now that I am thinking about it, a mother's helper might like to get paid to play the games! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adventumacademy Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 If seeing it taught a different way and having to do similar problems in different ways is confusing, perhaps she isn't learning it that well to begin with. Kids NEED to learn to solve problems more than one way and if they can't, they may not really be learning the conceptual WHY, just the formulaic HOW. I am not certain that it would confuse her, that is just my own personal fear .. probably because I was never a strong math student. :tongue_smilie: I guess what I really need to know is if they go at a similar pace making it conducive to use jointly? I don't think it would be beneficial if, just for example, RS is teaching addition and MM is teaching division, kwim? RightStart games are not my favorite games but my children love to play them. I'd forget what was happening in RS if I only did it once a week too. lol... We do it everyday, five days a week and it works best like that. I tried doing it less but it didn't work. We start out with Maths in the morning and before we start we play a game. The current favorite is swim to ten. So we swim. Games would rock it better than a worksheet IMO.. to keep my children interested is more important to me than getting away from the games. But now that I am thinking about it, a mother's helper might like to get paid to play the games! We do math every.single.day. Not my favorite thing to do, but I know it is what need to be done. DD likes the games the first or second time, so we play them. After that she has no interest in them. Even if I try to seem excited about it and her ask if she would play with me, she usually will turn it down It's not something I want to force. More lessons or worksheets, however, she never argues about. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Would Math Mammoth be additional reinforcement/practice of concepts taught in RS? No, it would be adding a completely separate, full math curriculum, and I think it would be too much. I suppose you could buy just the blue series worksheets, but again, I think it would be overkill. If so, what level corresponds to RS B? After my son finished RS B, he went into MM2A. If you want extra practice for your child, I would recommend just printing off worksheets from worksheetworks.com. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 More lessons or worksheets, however, she never argues about. :confused: Sounds like she would be happy if you added something like Math Mammoth. Some kids just like worksheets. I was one of those. I found RightStart B and Singapore 1A & 1B (which I think is comparable to Math Mammoth 1) to fit well together. Sometimes a topic was introduced in RightStart, sometimes in Singapore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 If you want to combine the two, why not use Math Mammoth and play a game every day? I would go nuts with RightStart and a second curriculum because RS takes enough time as it is, and my children and I love math! Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Here are two more suggestions: Do RS lessons 4 days a week and the 5th day is game day. Don't do a lesson on the 5th day only games. That way you know you will get to the games even if you don't on the other days of the week. This is what I do and it works great. Check out the MM supplement worksheets. The blue series instead of the light blue series. You can pick by topic if there is anything you feel your dc needs extra work on. I did this a couple times. I bought the 1st grade level place value blue series worksheets. We worked on those for a couple weeks, and did not do RS lessons during that time. Doing both programs fully would be a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adventumacademy Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Thank you all for your input and suggestions!! I think I will try to insist on the RS games at least once a week and look into the MM worksheets by topic instead of the full curriculum. I think this will work best for my dd. Thanks again for all your help!! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakshmi Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 ...More lessons or worksheets, however, she never argues about. :confused: AHA! She can read it and write it easier than the games which are verbal and mental. So of course she chooses the worksheets. So it depends on what you want to reinforce. If you want it to be the mental aspect then hit the games, but if you just want the concepts then go with worksheets. ... would go nuts with RightStart and a second curriculum because RS takes enough time as it is, and my children and I love math! Emily Thanks for saying this, I thought maybe i was the only one. Here are two more suggestions: Do RS lessons 4 days a week and the 5th day is game day. Don't do a lesson on the 5th day only games. That way you know you will get to the games even if you don't on the other days of the week. This is what I do and it works great..... Doing both programs fully would be a lot. Great idea, then at least getting games once a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb4 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I realize this is a very old conversation but we use Dreambox Online math with RightStart and have found it is the perfect fit. I found I did not have time to play all the games in Rightstart with my kids, but the Dreambox games are very similar, they even use an abacus that is identical to the Right start abacus. It is about $10 per month but if you have multiple children I would recomend getting it through Homeschool buyers coop. It motivates the kids to keep playing by having them solve problems in different lands (dinosaur land, pet land, fairyland and pirate land.) The program completely changes for older kids with really great problem solving activities etc. I have my kids play for about 30 minutes a day and they love it. (I don't let them play any other computer or video games so for them this program is really exciting! :)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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