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Posted

I know comparisons between CLE math and R&S have been done on here several times, but I have some more specific questions that hopefully someone can help me with....

 

I know that R&S does a *very* good job in laying a solid foundation of arithmetic skills. Do you feel that CLE does as good of a job in this area? Or do you feel that the focus on geometry/algebra skills (especially in the middle school grades) takes away at all from arithmetic skills??

 

I really like the way R&S develops concepts. For instance, I really like the way it has taught fractions and my ds has a great understanding of fractions now. Do you think CLE also does a good job developing concepts? Is it similar to R&S at all in this way?

 

If anyone could help me with this, it would be greatly appreciated!

Posted

Hopefully you'll get some better replies than mine, however, I'll give it a shot based on our experience. I have one average daughter and one delayed son that I'm teaching. We've been through quite a few math programs but have used first RightStart then CLE the longest. I've looked extensively at R&S and have just switched to R&S for my delayed son.

 

CLE has done a good job of teaching the basics and the facts to my kids but we definitely do the flashcards and the drills. Without those I'm not sure how well they really would have gotten them. That was one of my reasons for switching from RightStart to CLE. RightStart drilled with games (which is great) but my kids didn't like the games so they didn't get much drill. As boring as flashcards and drills are, they are working for us. I do think, from what I've heard and from samples, that R&S might review these even slightly more than CLE.

 

My other issue with CLE (and this greatly depends on the child and how they learn) is their spiral/incremental approach to lessons. My daughter does fine with this though I think she'd do fine with any math curriculum. I even really like their lessons and how they explain everything. I only wish that they would bunch lessons together that are alike - fractions with fractions, decimals with decimals, etc. If CLE did that, we'd be in heaven - especially with it's workbook format. Unfortunately for my son, this skipping around is not good for him so that's why we switched to R&S. I even contemplated taking apart CLE and doing the lessons that way but it sounds way to hard for this tired mom.

 

My daughter definitely understands the concepts from CLE (how much is from her RightStart beginnings, I'm not sure). She enjoys the geometry/algebra skills though I don't think she even realizes that's what they are. For my son, they get in the way.

 

Hope this helps a little. I'm sure others can give some more advice too.

Posted

I only wish that they would bunch lessons together that are alike - fractions with fractions, decimals with decimals, etc. If CLE did that, we'd be in heaven - especially with it's workbook format. Unfortunately for my son, this skipping around is not good for him so that's why we switched to R&S. I even contemplated taking apart CLE and doing the lessons that way but it sounds way to hard for this tired mom.

 

I know what you mean and I've always wondered why they don't have it set up like that?? It seems like they could take each lightunit and have it focus on one or two concepts while still keeping all the review problems in there. It would probably be darn near perfect like you said. :)

Posted

I know what you mean and I've always wondered why they don't have it set up like that?? It seems like they could take each lightunit and have it focus on one or two concepts while still keeping all the review problems in there. It would probably be darn near perfect like you said. :)

 

That would definitely be perfect. If it wouldn't mess up all the "We Remember" review parts, I'd do it myself.

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