OrganicMom Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Hey! I just wanted to say that it's taken a little bit, but I've really been leaning into the Rightstart math way and enjoying the process. At first it was hard too and I was a little overwhelmed, a lot overwhelmed, actually. But today my daughter was telling me how much more she loves it than other math (we were doing a horizons, singapore, miquon combo). And with my son who is only 4 I can have FUN math time with him without workbooks, etc... We are doing level B with my daughter and reading life of fred when we want to. I love this balance. But i read somewhere that RS was lacking in word problems. we are only on lesson 31 in level B and lesson 5 in level A.... so i'm not sure where this is all headed. I've started to have my daughter do a little out of one of our old "extra practice" singapore books " level 1a. specifically the word problems... but was entertaining the idea of using even more's daily word problems for grade 1 instead...? anyone's thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_midori Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Personally, I LOVE Rightstart for teaching - but I think it is lacking in any practice period. I do all my main teaching out of RS (A,B,C - 3 grade levels currently!) but I have supplemental math practice for each grade. I need to be able to just say "go sit and work on math for xx minutes or xx pages" sometimes! :) For level A and B I use Math Mammoth as a supplement (it ties in fairly well with the teaching approach and sequence, with occasional alterations). For C I've been using ALEKS online (which started mainly because my 8yo HATES worksheets but I actually really really really like as a supplement). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 We have not done any additional practice, but my kids do the Singapore Challenging Word Problems a grade level behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonia Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 We add Challenging Word Problems too and also review with Horizons math. My dd needs the written review and practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 We use Math Mammoth for extra review and also use MEP-just because my dd thinks its fun. I was planning to try Singapore CWP or Evan Moor daily word problems as well. My dd needs lots of practice but we love RS for its teaching. We like a lot of variety and I have a problem with supplementing everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I do feel that RS is lacking in word problems, and that can be problematic if your children need to take standardized tests that include word problems. I personally add in Singapore CWP and the Kumon word problems books starting about halfway through level B. Because RS doesn't get into subtraction until level C, you could hold off the word problems until then, but I start the addition problems in B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 We supplement RS with MEP, Horizons, and CWP. You don't need all of them, but my kids love math. I like the combination because they get the word problem practice from CWP, "puzzle math" from MEP, and a wide variety of problems in Horizons. Plus, I love that when we are on the go, they can grab their MEP or Horizons and not miss math for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 FAN-Math Process Skills in Problem Solving is a really nice series. It systematically and explicitily steps the child through how to think about and solve each type of word problem (in a Singapore type way with bar models). The problem you run into with CWP, FAN-Math and the others is the scope and sequence of most programs at particular grade levels, particularly those Common Core aligned, is quite a bit different than RS. This is especially true in the introduction to subtraction but also true for multiplication and division. At least that was my main problem with supplementing in level B. You at least need an introduction to subtraction to do even the entire 1st grade levels of those other programs. You could still do the addiition parts while in B but the meat of those supplemental word problems need level RS C skills. To me a lot of is missed when you don't use the models to do subtraction as the inverse of how you're using them for addition problems. The 2nd grade levels (at least for the Singpore based programs and I assume the others too) include multiplication and division. We jumped ship mid-RS C to Math in Focus so I'm not sure how I would have handled grade 2 CWP and FAN math had we stuck with RS. I don't feel it hurt us at all to wait until 3rd grade to heavily supplement word problems. I'm using FAN math right now and really like it. I'm assuming if you're doing testing the sequence of skills introduced RS would be an issue anyway. I personally would keep doing what's working so well and work on word problems when it fits better with where you are in the RS sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I know this is an older post, but I wanted to add that I don't start CWP until my kids are reading fluently which is usually around RS C. I usually start with RS C + CWP 2 and increase the levels together so RS D + CWP 3, etc. Used this way, the sequence of topics hasn't really been a problem. If we get to something in CWP that hasn't been introduced in RS yet, we skip that chapter in CWP and come back to it later in the year. I also have the kids do all the "regular" word problems throughout the entire book before starting any of the "challenge" word problems. They are much more successful with the challenge problems after another few months of maturity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonia Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I also have the kids do all the "regular" word problems throughout the entire book before starting any of the "challenge" word problems. They are much more successful with the challenge problems after another few months of maturity. That is a great idea! I never thought of doing that before but will certainly keep it in mind when my dd struggles with a section. Thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicMom Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 It was so good to re-look over these suggestions. As I had not made a decision yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Yes, you need to add word problems (but I think you need to with most programs that I've considered. MM recommends adding them in, and Singapore has the extra CWP books to buy etc.) We just use the CWP books from Singapore and use them a level behind (SM teaches concepts in a different order, so we found this works best for us.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicMom Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Yes, you need to add word problems (but I think you need to with most programs that I've considered. MM recommends adding them in, and Singapore has the extra CWP books to buy etc.) We just use the CWP books from Singapore and use them a level behind (SM teaches concepts in a different order, so we found this works best for us.) Ok, this does in fact sound like a good plan :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 My son is almost done with RS B. We do Ray's New Intellectual Arithmetic once a week for word problems. We also do Miquon almost daily for extra practice. We also play the math games from RS to learn math facts. That sounds like a lot of math, but it isn't really. We do RS for about 20 min 4X week, miquon 3-4X a week for about 5 min (1 side of a sheet), and Ray's 1X a week for about 10 min (1 section of word problems). We do the Ray's orally. I could see how using SM CWP would be a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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