airforcefamily Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Our first grader was getting bored with math mammoth so after reading good reviews of rightstart math I ordered it. We've been using it for a few weeks and it just seems so.... weird. I don't know how to put it. Much of it doesn't make sense to either of us. Parts of the lessons seem so simple, like they are for a three year old. Other parts of the lessons seem really advanced. I don't know what to do about it. He's not happy with math mammoth, rightstart doesn't seem like a good fit, and having spent $300 on math for him this year I don't really want to buy anything else. I'm planning on him starting tt3 next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmarango Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 What level of RS did you purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I'm using Singapore with my 1st grader (and love it) but I bought the Right Start math games kit and there are parts of it that I can tell are definitely *different* approaches to math than I'm used to. I was tempted to purchase the entire curric. but after having a look through the games... I was glad I didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I didn't end up using RS, but it really is a neat program. If nothing else, you can start working your way through the games. We do have those and they're awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 There's always MEP... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItoLina Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I agree. I got through most RIght Start A with my son in prek and I didn't like it. I did end up getting the games book, since I already had all the cards and stuff from purchasing the level A kit, and I do like using the games to supplement, but the actual curriculum drove me nut and confused ds. The thing that drove me the most nuts was that you jump around so much even within one lesson. This was not a good approach for my son either. Also, I would say if you do decide to keep going with it, ignore the whole "one ten and two" way of saying numbers that they use. My son is still confused and can't remember the real names for the teen numbers because we did this. Again, I think the games are a great supplement, but I just couldn't use the curriculum anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 (edited) I didn't care for RS either. Can you make MM work by tweaking it? Assign half the problems (if you need all of them, circle back and do them later as review). Skip anything already understood, or just do a few problems on the white board to demonstrate understanding. Stand at the white board and teach the lesson with workbook in YOUR hand, then assign however many problems he needs to practice the concept. If it's the fact that you're doing the same topic every day, skip around - do a few problems from time/money/geometry chapters. ETA: Buddy math is one I forgot - Alternate you doing the problems and him doing the problems. Edited November 14, 2012 by boscopup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 There's nothing worse than feeling dumb teaching 1st grade math, huh? I know - been there when we tried Singapore. My son asked me why they were doing something a certain way and I said I had no idea. We tossed the book the next day. Different math for different people, that's what I say. Good luck in your quest to find the right math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 There's always MEP... :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbotoast Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Which level are you using? Level A is very spiral so it jumps around A LOT. The first twenty lessons or so of B cover what is in Level A, and then I felt like it started to go more smoothly. So maybe look ahead and see if it starts to make more sense? RightStart is pretty easy to resell if you decide you can't deal with it though. Hope you find something that works for you :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airforcefamily Posted November 14, 2012 Author Share Posted November 14, 2012 It's so strange. I get the concept they're trying to show but the three ring circus involved in getting there doesn't make any sense, Today I just gave him a couple math mammoth sheets. I really just want him to learn his basic math facts and have them down pat so he can start tt3 next year, or even in the spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 We use RS and MEP. We like them both. If you want something different without additional expense, I would use MEP and LOF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeachingMyTwo Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Some Mom's I know rave about RS but I was never completely sold on it. What I DID do was use their style of abacus by repainting ours and it serves as a nice supplemental manipulative to our math worksheets and such. I have also taught the kids how to count the RS way and they already knew how to count the regular way, hoping to further cement their understanding of tens, etc. I have no problem with encouraging them to be bilingual in that respect and we flip-flop back and forth by saying "one ten and five, which is also fifteen" etc etc. We've gotten a little into their horizontal abacus trading, but I am NOT sold on their version of the vertical abacus. After hunting online and reading all I could, I feel like we took the best parts and I am happy with what we've done. The only thing left that may interest me is the games. Other than that, I think we're just going to continue with Singapore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airforcefamily Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 I've been having him do the math mammoth worksheets that are already printed and ready to go. We're keeping the card games and manipulatives to use in addition to mm. I also laminated quite a few of the worksheets that go with rs so they can be done over and over as practice. I've been having him do one sheet of basic problems each day, trying to beat his time from the day before. The rightstart level we were using was level b. The first 25ish lessons were skipped/looked over because they would have been repeating what he already knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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