Rightstart A with a 4 yo

[DhanyaCali]

Have you done it? I own RS ! 2nd edition it's downstairs, so I'm not looking to to be sold/dissuaded on it, we laid some big bucks down and now we're committed! lol

 

I am looking to see if anyone else has done it with their 4yo or otherwise very young child and how that looked for you. What pace did you go at? Are the lessons too much for one day and should be split or does it fly by faster in life than in the guide? How many days a week did you do it? etc.

 

The right start math people say 4 is the perfect age to start, that it'll give them a good start in subitizing vs counting, but they would say that wouldn't they! Plus Ocean's already counting and I certainly don't want to make him feel like that's wrong rather just present the RS way as an additional way things could be done. Was already counting an issue for you, or a non issue?

 

Anyways I was thinking we wouldn't start any math "lessons" until fall when then frost will drive us indoors more, but now I'm considering giving the first few lessons a whirl just to see what kind of pace they'd be at and see if DS4 can "handle" formal math. Everything else we do for school is very relaxed Sonlight books everyday, workbooks that are fun, random patterning occasionally paying with the abacus as "math."

 

^ That's a little disjointed, yes, but it mirrors the state of my mind where math is concerned

[nature girl]

We started when my DD was an early 4 (the first 20 lessons or so we probably could have started at 3 actually, they're very simple), and she's now on RS B. She loved it then, and still loves it now, routinely asks for lessons. We usually do around 4 lessons a week, but I don't schedule them, just let her decide when she's in the mood. The early lessons we did one a day, later lessons (from about 50 on) I usually broke up into 2, or stopped when she didn't seem to be enjoying herself anymore. She has a good attention span though, and is very good at sitting still for long periods of time. A young child who likes to be up and about more would probably have a harder time of it, especially as things progress and get a bit harder.

 

She was counting to 100 before we started, and it wasn't a problem at all. And outside of RS lessons she still counts, except when we're using the Alabacus or tally sticks, where grouping by 5's is easy to see. As mentioned in a thread on the General board, it would be rare for kids to start RS without having already learned to count objects. Switching to the Asian mathy way of counting (one-ten, two-ten, etc.) also didn't confuse her at all, she just knows there are two names for each number above 10.

 

Congrats, you've chosen a great program! :)

[PagesandFields]

I just started it with my hardly 5 YO..  I actually wish I'd had it at 4 and started early.  I think my boy needs to wait for most structured lessons, but the lessons are really practical and so real-life/game oriented that I think they would have worked well.  I only do 2-3 lessons a week right now.  But I think my ideal would have been to start at 4 and do 1-2 lessons a week.  I'm pretty charlotte masony with unschooling tendencies and I know my boy's not ready for more than that.  He'd much rather still count and do math with pillbugs, lightening bugs, and whatever else naturey or gross he can find.  

[DhanyaCali]

Thanks guys, that's very reassuring :)

 

I had almost forgotten about the asian counting! DS4 counts reliable up to about 13-14 and then starts blending and confusing all the teen words, so maybe 6-10 and such will be perfect for him. He has 1-1 correspondence like a champ though, even if he flubs up the # names higher up sometimes. Hmm maybe I'll try it this week, we accidentally blew through our whole week on Sonlight school already, so the field is pretty open for a new type of "lesson" to be introduced.

 

Thanks again ladies!

[Jackie]

I started it with a barely-3-year-old and it went fine. I didn't use the book with her, though. I would read ahead, look at the next couple of concepts, and teach them as part of play. She just thought the abacus, tally sticks, and colored tiles were special toys. ;) I didn't go at any particular pace, just introduced new concepts as she was interested. We started level B as she was turning 4 and it is also going well so far.

[DhanyaCali]

Thanks ladies!

 

We did the 1st two lessons this week, they did go by much quicker IRL than I had thought looking at the page. It's weird to say but I LOVE the scripting! It's a nice safety net for me on math which of course is the subject I have the most anxiety about (which is hilarious because I'm pretty sure I'm competent at K level math!) and I think it'll help keep the instruction balanced on my own I occasionally belabor a point, lol.

 

Good so far, we'll keep on gently, thanks for your input!

[Guest freawaru]

We started at four, but not with serious sit-down-and-do schoolwork; just using the first lessons and spreading out the activities over months and months. It worked well for giving a foundational basis, and is probably what we'll do in the future too. But I wouldn't push anything at that age.

[Meg429]

I just started this with my just 5 YO DD and 3 YO DS simultaneiously.  This is after doing Singapore Kindergarten Essentials A and B.  It is very basic and under the level of my 5 year old - but that was what I wanted.  She was struggling with Singapore 1A mental concepts, and I wanted to go back and review/solidify concepts to give her confidence.  It is working wonderfully.  Not only is it building confidence the kids think it's really fun because they get to explore with the manipulatives.  So far, we're loving it and my 3 YO DS is enjoying it as well - although I will repeat with him at 4 or 5 when he is fully ready because some of the things are beyond him right now like some of the patterning.

[Teneo]

I started it at 4. We did a lesson each time. However we didn't do it every single day. By the end of Pre-K we made it to introducing hundreds, about lesson 73. For K we plan to finish A and begin B.

Already counting was a non-issue for us. What was an issue was using the left hand for one vs the right. I'm now trying to use the left hand when showing the numbers to my toddler so hopefully she can avoid that same issue!

[Kidlit]

I started both my girls at age 5, and now my eldest is in level E. She is in 5th grade, and where we are in math seems developmentally appropriate for her ability--it's slightly challenging but doable. RS has been our primary curriculum all along, and I'm happy we started A in kindergarten of for no other reason than I don't see the advantage for my children of pushing any of the more difficult concepts back to younger ages.

[PeterPan]

Counting is developmentally normal.  It's how they explore sequences.  What you're trying to do is give them a way to visualize their math so they don't have to count to do their math.  It's not that they can't count AT ALL, lol.  And I think you'll find that as they develop visualization and subitizing strategies they'll begin to use those to count FASTER (counting by twos, etc.).  

 

You're going to see a range of when RS A is used.  If he's comfortable and enjoying it, you're great.  I used RS with my dd when she was young.  She was actually right on that line, testing into RS B at 5, but when we hit a wall in RS B we went back and did RS A quickly.  Then you take my ds.  I tried RS A with him this past year, and he looked at me like I was speaking some TOTALLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE.  Like couldn't even get out of the first lesson.  Turns out he may have a math disability, and we're lost in the land of Ronit Bird.  RB is very similar to RS conceptually, but it takes each concept in RS and spends MONTHS on it.  Like an entire book of lessons for what RS spends a week on!  We've been working for MONTHS on this is the number 7, this is the number 8, this is the number 9.  He still doesn't have all the right number words to match his fingers.  Oh, and a gifted IQ supposedly, lol.  Crazy.

 

So anyways, I'm glad you're enjoying RS.  Little trick.  As we learned games, I jotted them in the front cover of the tm so I'd have a list for review/practice.  RS B was my especial favorite. I CRIED when I sold my RS manuals.  (Well not the upper ones, but definitely A and B!)  Enjoy your special stage!  :)