Rod and Staff math-Yikes!

[stephanie]

This is my first time to use R&S (after a switch from Saxon), and I'm wondering about exactly how much of the lessons you do? There's the lesson, speed drills (on even lessons), blacklines......ugh! I know I've been told here that it's not necessary to do every problem, but what can you safely skip. Oh yeah, don't forget about fact forms and extra practice!!! How do you do fact forms, all the lessons, and blacklines in one lesson without driving the kids nutso? Please help me with this b/c I'm missing my Saxon now...and that's a bad thing! I grew to really dislike Saxon, but now I'm not so sure! Thanks!!!!

[Frankie]

We did RS in 5th grade and I loved it. Sounds like you're in the lower grades.

 

One of my son's biggest complaints was I made him do every problem in the book. We did not do the speed book, just due to the volume in the text.

 

Math was a very weak area for Thomas and that's why we struggled through every problem. He improved by leaps and bounds that year. Then begged to NOT do R&S the next. We skipped it last year and we're doing it again this year.

 

So anyway, not having seen the lower grades, I can't help specifically. However, for us this year, we will be doing even or odd problems and then instead of their speeed drill book, we'll be doing Calculadders.

 

I think that will be more than enough for us.

 

Good luck!

[Julieofsardis]

They are only necessary if the child needs extra practice. I'm not sure what grade you are doing, but I love the amount of review and drill. But we honestly didn't always do everything. Just do the main lesson and the oral drill. Do the timed drills only if your child needs it.

 

Julie

[Beth in Central TX]

I know that I'm in the minority, but we do all of the problems for each lesson for R&S Math along with the speed drills, quizzes, and tests (if they apply for that grade level). This year, my boys are working through R&S 2, 6, & 8. I don't do the blacklines though. I did purchase those for my middle son when we transitioned from Saxon, but only to help him get up to speed on his math facts.

 

Math is a core subject in our homeschool, so I schedule it for an hour each day. My older boys spend just about that amount of time each day doing math (sometimes more, but sometimes less too). My youngest son only takes about 30 minutes, but that includes a short break between the pages he has assigned.

[sweetbaby]

We don't have the worksheets which you are speaking of but I can share what we do in 3rd and 4th grade R&S Math. We do odd problems each day and some days I assign the even numbered problems. If a concept is mastered, I skip those problems because R&S has a lot of review. We also complete some sections orally together.

[Penny]

Well, you know your child. I assign at least one problem of each type, and assign all the problems of a certain type if my child needs it. We do speed drills, but certainly not all of them. I do as much as possible orally.

 

Since R&S continuously reviews, it keeps me on my toes to continuously check my child to see if he can still do the problems. If he asks questions, then that means he needs more practice in a certain area.

 

I would say that we do probably 1/3 of the total number of problems. I assign all of the word problems.

 

R&S has been a huge blessing at our house to regain math confidence. I have used it for 3rd, 4th, and now 5th grades. I hope to get a year ahead and finish the 8th book in 7th grade, then proceed to algebra.

 

Blessings,

 

Penny

[momee]

Don't know how popular this answer will be but here's my two cents.

 

Do the problems. If they can struggle through for a while, once they know those facts math will be soooo much easier in the higher grades.

 

Don't ask me how I know! :)

 

I have two in RS math - 2 and 4. They complained at first, but now they feel it if they haven't practiced those facts. It's good reinforcement of mom saying - practice your facts because blah blah blah.

 

A week or two of standing my ground, now I hear no more when it's time for math.

 

Edited to say this is just book work and speed drills for our home. I determined before they started those were more than adequate.

[Ellie]

It would be helpful if we knew which grade you're using :-)

 

The blackline masters are optional. They can be helpful, as they review concepts differently than what is in the workbooks, but they are optional.

 

Personally, *I* would probably not do the speed drills.

 

For the first three grade levels, the oral class time is *mandatory.* So you do that, which shouldn't take more than, oh, 115 minutesthen give your dc the seatwork. You can assign even/odd rows if you think your dc is doing well (unlike Saxon's Math 54 and up, where you should NOT skip problems).

[Mary in NJ]

Not sure which grade level you are talking about. But we have used R&S from 1st grade and have used it all along. We have always done all the problems. The fact forms are to be used for extra practice. The blacklines (usually for grades 1-3) are to be incorporated with the lessons.

 

Again, we did all the problems, but the result of this is that my children have a very strong foundation in Math. They never spent more than 30-45 minutes on a lesson, and that was doing all the problems. And if anyone is curious, the children wrote the problems out in a composition book, they did not answer them in the book.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Mary

[new2homeschoolmom]

Just my two cents.

 

This is my dd(10) 2nd year of homeschooling. Last year we used MUS Gamma and half way through the year we had to stop, she did not have her simple addition and subtraction facts down. That darn public school. My sister-in-law used R&S math with one of her 6 kids and said I should give it a try because it really allows the child to get those facts down and then it reviews, reviews, reviews each basic math fundation, which MUS did not. MUS is a good program just didn't work for us since she was not solid in her basic fundation. We used the third grade book last year and she is doing sooo much better. I would have her do all the problems day one, then odds day two, then all the problems day three, then evens day four and all the problems on day five. This helped with her attitude toward math. This year she is doing all the problems in the lessons and odds or evens in the drills. We did not use the blacklines.

 

So I guess what I am saying is you can do as many of the problems as your child needs to get those facts down. Some else said that it really helps in future math to have the basics down and I would have to agree.

 

Hope it helps, God bless,

 

Kristi in Oregon

 

dd(10) - R&S Math4, R&S Bible/Reading, R&S Spelling, EG 4&5 w/DG, R&S Health, God's Design Animal Kingdom and Human Body, Geography and still looking for handwriting and art.

[LoveBaby]

We are just getting ready to switch to R&S math. My plan is to have my kids do most of the problems, especially in the beginning, while we solidify those math facts. After awhile, though, if I see them really getting it and getting bogged down with problems, then I will probably assign the even/odds.

[Cindy in Indy]

We used R&S Math 1-8. Grades 1 and 2 have workbook-style pages, which we completed as assigned. But once we started in book 3, I assigned half the problems (usually the odd-numbered ones), occasionally adding in an even if it looked like something my student needed. If they needed additional practice on a topic, I assigned the evens related to that. After Book 4, we stopped the speed drills (my dc "hated" them). I like the oral work that goes with the teacher's manual, but with my older kids, we didn't even do that. I just went over the new material with them, and they were off. The student text is self-explanatory from 5th grade on. Never used the blacklines.

 

My older son had used Saxon prior to grade 3 and I strongly disliked it. I hope you like R&S once you get used to it! I think it is a great curriculum.

 

HTH,

Cindy

[deeinfl]

For the first grade we did the oral class time and then the two page lesson. We never did the blacklines, never.

 

 

At first my son complained and on some days I'd break the lesson in half, but very soon he was able to complete the whole two pages without complaint and we never skipped any portion of our first grade lessons. For my son, he needed the review, so it was very important to us to complete every lesson.

 

Now we are doing the second grade book and he is flying through 3 pages daily with no complaints. The first page we do together while we are doing the oral class time instead of doing in on the dry-erase board. The second page he flies through and the third page he gets a little help in if he needs it. With all of this, it takes us about 30 minutes and 10 minute class time.

I am loving that he is so solid in his math facts and that by the time we learn multiplication in the third grade, his addition and subtraction facts will not be a hinderance.

 

No blacklines or speed drills for us! Don't need 'em! My little guy is so proud of how fast it takes him to do his addition fact pages.

 

Blessings,

 

Dee in Sunny FL!

 

We are loving Rod and Staff and don't plan on switching for a while! Yay!

[stephanie]

Thanks for all the responses! I should have said that was our first day to do it! Today was much better b/c I was more prepared, and had read the lesson last night to see what we were to do. Today ds9 told me that he loved math this year...that it was so much fun! Ha! We'll see if he says that in a few months!

[Crissy]

We've always just used the text book. For my guys the black lines and the speed drills were overkill.

We read the beginning of the lesson together and do a couple of sample problems on a small whiteboard, then he's off to do the rest of the lesson independently.

 

I would only use the blacklines if he ran into a problem, and then I'd set the text aside until he really understood the concept. I wouldn't do the worksheets and the text concurrently.

[PollyOR]

How we use R&S:

 

Drill - use as a warm up, do not time

 

Lesson - read together, do as much mentally/orally as possible, use the chalkboard for the remainder

 

I was a bit overwhelmed when we switched from Saxon. Hang in there. It gets better. :001_smile: