Saxon Math, Rod and Staff Math, or Right Start Math??

[kye022984]

These are my choice of math curriculums this year, boiled down. Anyone have experience with or like either one in particular? These will be for a 5 and 7 year old.

[edeemarie]

Those are 3 very different approached to math: Saxon is spiral, Rod & Staff is mastery, and Right Start is more of a conceptual math program as opposed to traditional. With that being said, if those were my three choices and I had time to teach it, I would go with Right Start. My 2nd choice would be Rod and Staff if you were going for more traditional. It is really going to depend on how your children learn, too. Don't be suprised if one works for one child and not the other. Math is one of those tricky subjects that really depends on the child's learning style and how quickly they pick up new concepts.

[SilverMoon]

I only have experience with one from your list at those levels, and it's what my nearly same aged girls will be using this fall. Rod and Staff. Scripted "class" time where the teaching is done, and the student pages for reinforcement. No bells and whistles, just math. Solid, effective, and it does teach the concepts if you use the teacher guides the way they're intended.

 

Grades 1 and 2 have student workbooks. In grade 3 they start the textbooks, though I've had my dd write directly in the 3 text just fine. Some say the 4 text has room for that; some say it doesn't. I'll worry about it when we get there (probably in January).

[Ellie]

Saxon is incremental, not spiral. :-)

 

The main differences, to me, are that Saxon is heavy on manipulatives and R&S is not. R&S uses visuals, and it would be easy to add manipulatives, but manipulatives are not part of the learning.

 

IOW, Saxon is process math, R&S is traditional. That's much more important, IMHO, than whether one might--or might not--be incremental and one might--or might not--be mastery.

 

The primary levels of Saxon don't appeal to me at all. Math 54 and up, yes; primary levels, no.

 

I like R&S's traditional approach. I appreciate the scripted lessons in the teacher manuals, and I appreciate the non-fussiness of the lessons. And who can complain about the cost? :)

 

So I'd use the first grade materials with your little one, and just be prepared to move slowly, maybe also use the blackline masters for extra practice which is different from the seatwork; and the second grade materials with your older one.

[hsmom08]

I have only used Rightstart with my dd. We have used it from B to E. We will also work on the geometric method this year. I like Rightstart because it does focus on concepts and understanding what is taking place and not just rote memory. Rightstart is spiral in that certain concepts are touched on for 1 to 2 lessons and you see it much later with more info added to it. It also uses a lot of manipulatives to help with visual learners. It has games that they want you to play that help reinforce things as opposed to lots of worksheets for the kids to do. It's completely scripted so I never had to do any prep work except gather the manipulatives if they were needed for the lesson. Hope that helps.

Grace

[kye022984]

Thank you :) We do the Classical Conversations Memory Work at home and I know a lot of local CC people who use Saxon because that's what they use in their Challenge programs. That's the one thing I considered about the Saxon program.

 

The Right Start Math we did a little last year and my son didn't seem like he was into it. But I also feel like we didn't give it much of a shot.

 

I looked at the samples of R&S and really liked what I saw at the first grade level.

 

My boy is really active and I divided as to whether or not he'd enjoy the worksheets for all the manipulative :)

 

Thanks for your help.

[She Reads a Lot]

Thank you :) We do the Classical Conversations Memory Work at home and I know a lot of local CC people who use Saxon because that's what they use in their Challenge programs. That's the one thing I considered about the Saxon program.

 

The Right Start Math we did a little last year and my son didn't seem like he was into it. But I also feel like we didn't give it much of a shot.

 

I looked at the samples of R&S and really liked what I saw at the first grade level.

 

My boy is really active and I divided as to whether or not he'd enjoy the worksheets for all the manipulative :)

 

Thanks for your help.

 

We have used RightStart Math for 1 1/2 years now and we both love it. The bolded section above is why I chose RS. My son (who is 8 now) was a very busy six year old when we started HSing and writing was a challenge for him. I knew a worksheet-heavy program would not work for him, so I chose RS.

 

What I did not know at the time was how terrific RS is for teaching mental math. I am amazed by the math problems ds can do in his head thanks to RS. I've also found that the maniuplatives are wonderful to help him "see" the concepts.

 

I've only ever used RS so I can't speak to the other programs, but I am a big fan of RS math. And I'd say, since your son is a wiggly one, too, that RS might be a good fit for you.

 

Best of luck with your decision,

Christina

[Closeacademy]

I've used both Rod and Staff and Rightstart for those ages. I like the fact that Rod and Staff has lots and lots of problems and practice. I don't assign it all. In fact, I don't assign most of it but I can if the child is having problems.

 

To help my children understand things, we made colorful notebooking pages, used small objects for manipulatives like those colored gems that people put in vases, etc.

 

Basically, I liked Rod and Staff over Singapore, Rightstart and Saxon because it gets the job done. It presents the information clearly, gives them stuff to work on and keeps throwing in review until it is down and stuck in their heads.

 

Good luck with your choices.:001_smile:

[ednkirstin]

I started out using Rod and Staff with my kids. After a couple of years (and BJU in between) I ended up switching to Saxon and have been in love ever since. I disagree with pp about Saxon early levels. We've used them and really liked them. I do skip Saxon K, as my kids pretty much do those things when they're playing in their toddler years. We start Saxon 1 in K. We use Xtramath instead of speed drills. I have no experience with RightStart.

[kye022984]

Thanks for the input. It's been really helpful :)