If You've done RightStart D (Or decided not to...)

[kirstenhill]

I just finished doing Right Start C with DD8 last Friday...:party:

 

It took us 12 "school months" of new lessons (we only reviewed over the summer), and it was hard work and had its ups and downs, but in the end I felt like it was great and DD really learned a lot.

 

I just assumed we would use level D, and bought it at convention last spring. I pulled it out last night to read through the first few lessons and I was shocked. Really shocked. I got the impression there was some review at the beginning, but wow...we're back to doing mostly addition and subtraction, and just writing a few multiples out. Full pages of multiplication practice don't come back into play until lessons in the 60s, and that is after writing out the multiplication table, again (we did that in C!).

 

I'm tempted to skip a bunch of level D, except for the fact that there are random lessons mixed in about things we've never done before, like liquid measurement and some new addition/subtraction strategies.

 

I was tempted to ditch it all together and find something else, but DD begged me not to (I asked her what she thought about leaving RightStart). She really doesn't like change! :lol: And I already have D, which, as much as it seems like it is going to drive me crazy, is simpler and cheaper than having to find something else.

 

Some days it does seem like RightStart is a poor fit for her (she just hates questions like "what pattern do you see here?" or when the lessons have us jump through a bunch of hoops to discover some new principle or method -- she would rather the lesson just explain it to her up front!). But on the whole RightStart has been good for us.

 

So...now that I have all that off my chest...If you have done level D, did all this review drive you crazy? Or will there be enough new stuff in there to keep it interesting? Did you skip/combine lessons? Or did all this drive you away from Level D all together?

 

I feel like at minimum I need to have DD do multiplication practice via practice sheets or iPad apps, or she will forget the multiplication facts she has learned. Sigh. It's so annoying that D doesn't just pick up right where C ends.

[skeeterbug]

We're only in C so I can't help you, but bumping.

 

The beginning of C was a lot of review, so we doubled lessons often. And skipped some too.

 

Did you know there is a RS yahoo group?

[kirstenhill]

I did know there is a RightStart Yahoo group...I had been thinking of posting there too, but I feel more self-conscious about complaining about the curriculum there...:lol: I want to try and think of a more positive way to say it on that list. Somehow, DD needed more of that review at the beginning of C...not so much at the moment.

[melbotoast]

:bigear: and bumping for you!

[kristinannie]

:bigear:

[campmom]

Well I haven't gotten to D yet but I can tell you what I would do. I would go through the beginning of D and make myself an outline of what lessons I wanted to do, or even what parts of certain lessons I want to cover. I know because I have had to do this with RS before. I also would do something to keep reviewing those facts.

One thing that you might consider is supplementing with something else. I do it at a grade lower so that the material is mostly review and is presented in a different way which I think is good. This year I'm using CLE, we love the way the flashcards are organized for review, and that there is a timed drill with each lesson. I can't believe how much my boys have gained from flashcards and timed drill ( which both only take 7 minutes per day) And how much they enjoy them, maybe because its different and they have never done anything like that before.

I do love the way RS teaches the concepts.

[Sew happily ever after]

I actually have asked questions on the forums located at the alabacus website. A very helpful lady answered my questions and one time dr. Cotter actually called me at home to help alleviate my concerns. If I were you I would copy exactly what you've written here. I didn't perceive it to be negative just stating your concerns. It's been a few yrs but I do remember level d being TONS of review! I think we just breezed through it, but I do remember thinking that it seemed odd to have so much review. Almost like they should have cut the review and just joined books d and e together. I do remember thinking the same as you--we just worked really hard to cement those multiplication facts and then we didn't touch them for several months. I was worried we would lose all that hard work! I think you can in all reality play lots of the games and do some drills on the side if you are concerned about forgetting them.

[Kirch]

We just started D a few weeks ago. Honestly, I like the review because my son is often stubborn about getting math done, and the easy lessons are a bit of a breather. That said, I do skip a lot of things (he knows the skip counting patterns cold, so I see no reason to keep making him write the same one several days in a row) and add a few. We do some multiplication review on our own, and if there's a 3-4 digit addition problem in the warm-up section, I'll add a 3-4 digit subtraction problem as well. We also add in games to review. I combine lessons sometimes. But overall I find that the easier lessons are a bit of an ego boost for him as well, which isn't a bad thing when it comes to math!

[skeeterbug]

I did know there is a RightStart Yahoo group...I had been thinking of posting there too, but I feel more self-conscious about complaining about the curriculum there...:lol: I want to try and think of a more positive way to say it on that list. Somehow, DD needed more of that review at the beginning of C...not so much at the moment.

 

I know what you mean! I'm always more worried about sounding too negative on groups since it is usually the people who love the curriculum that are hanging out there! But I think you did fine and have gotten some responses that will help, at least you know you aren't alone in your thoughts on Level D. Earlier this year I had some serious negativity toward Level B and I came here to voice it, not there. :blush:

 

And I'm glad to hear about this too, I'll know what to expect when we move to that level next year.

[Soror]

We started RSD this year. However, we are currently stopped on it, we've done about 1/3 so far iirc. We had also started Beast Academy and he had started begging to only do it. Meanwhile when looking through the book I realized that so much of it he already knew. We might go back and do bits here and there but we will be skipping many lessons. I also looked on the scope and sequence of BA compared to RSD there is very little that isn't covered by BA if any. I figure we might use it when we get to division as we haven't covered that at all yet but we will see. I had sort of planned to transition to BA anyway but wasn't sure how so we are testing out using it solely.

[2squared]

We just started D a few weeks ago. Honestly, I like the review because my son is often stubborn about getting math done, and the easy lessons are a bit of a breather. That said, I do skip a lot of things (he knows the skip counting patterns cold, so I see no reason to keep making him write the same one several days in a row) and add a few. We do some multiplication review on our own, and if there's a 3-4 digit addition problem in the warm-up section, I'll add a 3-4 digit subtraction problem as well. We also add in games to review. I combine lessons sometimes. But overall I find that the easier lessons are a bit of an ego boost for him as well, which isn't a bad thing when it comes to math!

 

:iagree: I am in level D for the second time now. For my dd, level D was a perfect mix of new material and reinforcement from level C. D was a welcome breather. It allowed her to mentally ease up a little and build math confidence. Level E ramps up right away (and I am very pleased with E thus far), and I see that level D was good for her.

 

Interestingly, my ds is finding level D to be challenging and easy as well, but in the opposite way as my dd. My ds is very mathy and using D a grade level earlier than my dd did, and I find his reaction to D very interesting. I thought he would cruise through D, and while he is going quickly, he is finding D to be more challenging than I had anticipated. It has been a much better fit than I thought it would be. What my dd found to be easy is more difficult for ds, and vice versa.

[kandty]

We just started D a few weeks ago. Honestly, I like the review because my son is often stubborn about getting math done, and the easy lessons are a bit of a breather. That said, I do skip a lot of things (he knows the skip counting patterns cold, so I see no reason to keep making him write the same one several days in a row) and add a few. We do some multiplication review on our own, and if there's a 3-4 digit addition problem in the warm-up section, I'll add a 3-4 digit subtraction problem as well. We also add in games to review. I combine lessons sometimes. But overall I find that the easier lessons are a bit of an ego boost for him as well, which isn't a bad thing when it comes to math!

 

:iagree: This has been our experience too. It works for us.