Right Start vs Shiller

[melaniehice]

Anyone use both or either of these and can offer input to each? I've heard some on each and am torn between the 2, looking for a tie breaker. :)

 

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[fshinkevich]

Hello,

 

I have not used either program yet, but I just went through this decision a few days ago so I thought I'd let you know what I chose and why. I was looking to switch my daughters from Saxon and wanted something more hands on so I was considering Right Start, Math U See, and then also looked into Shiller. My daughters are older so I was concerned about starting RS with them and was going to just get the math games kit and then probably place them into Shiller. Finally after tons, and tons of reading and looking at samples, and talking to people that have used RS with older children, I placed my order on Monday for a few levels of RS and the fractions kit. I went with RS vs. Shiller for these reasons -

 

1. Most important reason was I simply liked the looks of the samples for RS better than Shiller. The lessons made more sense to me, and I liked the layout of the teaching manuals better. Plus I have read for years how awesome the games are.

 

2. RS has a lot of "fans". I know there are some that RS didn't work for (mostly due to teaching time required), and there are probably more Shiller users out there than reviews, but overall RS gets a lot of positive feedback. I figure there must be a good reason for this, plus with so many using it there are tons of blogs, pinterest pages, fb page, yahoo group and members here on WTM that could help if needed.

 

3. I read a few negative reviews of Shillers customer service. Two people said they purchased because Shiller had a buy back guarantee but then wouldn't honor it and another said she spent a lot of money on the Shiller website, just not in the form of a kit. She called for help with something but they wouldn't help her because she did not buy a kit. Now I don't know if these people just didn't read carefully or were trying to return items they damaged or something. Also didn't check the date of reviews, they might have been really old, but I have read nothing but how great RS customer service is, so that did factor into my decision.

 

If RS doesn't work for us, I'll probably give Shiller a try anyway, I do like that an algebra kit is coming out soon, so if you pick Shiller you can stick with it awhile. If you do decide on RS I suggest ordering from Rainbow Resource - the manipulatives set is a bit cheaper there.

 

Hope that helps some until someone with more knowledge on actually using the curriculum can give you some input :) 

 

 

[3 ladybugs]

I noticed Shiller doesn't have a review on You Tube. Give me a few minutes and I will try to get one up for you. I notice this comes up every now and then and I am one of the few families that uses it on here.

[3 ladybugs]

Okay I made this in one take, so hopefully it is helpful. :)

 

[melaniehice]

Hello,

 

I have not used either program yet, but I just went through this decision a few days ago so I thought I'd let you know what I chose and why. I was looking to switch my daughters from Saxon and wanted something more hands on so I was considering Right Start, Math U See, and then also looked into Shiller. My daughters are older so I was concerned about starting RS with them and was going to just get the math games kit and then probably place them into Shiller. Finally after tons, and tons of reading and looking at samples, and talking to people that have used RS with older children, I placed my order on Monday for a few levels of RS and the fractions kit. I went with RS vs. Shiller for these reasons -

 

1. Most important reason was I simply liked the looks of the samples for RS better than Shiller. The lessons made more sense to me, and I liked the layout of the teaching manuals better. Plus I have read for years how awesome the games are.

 

2. RS has a lot of "fans". I know there are some that RS didn't work for (mostly due to teaching time required), and there are probably more Shiller users out there than reviews, but overall RS gets a lot of positive feedback. I figure there must be a good reason for this, plus with so many using it there are tons of blogs, pinterest pages, fb page, yahoo group and members here on WTM that could help if needed.

 

3. I read a few negative reviews of Shillers customer service. Two people said they purchased because Shiller had a buy back guarantee but then wouldn't honor it and another said she spent a lot of money on the Shiller website, just not in the form of a kit. She called for help with something but they wouldn't help her because she did not buy a kit. Now I don't know if these people just didn't read carefully or were trying to return items they damaged or something. Also didn't check the date of reviews, they might have been really old, but I have read nothing but how great RS customer service is, so that did factor into my decision.

 

If RS doesn't work for us, I'll probably give Shiller a try anyway, I do like that an algebra kit is coming out soon, so if you pick Shiller you can stick with it awhile. If you do decide on RS I suggest ordering from Rainbow Resource - the manipulatives set is a bit cheaper there.

 

Hope that helps some until someone with more knowledge on actually using the curriculum can give you some input :)

Thank you for the input! I think I'm also leaning more towards RS, but still researching both. I currently use Horizon, and like Saxon is spiral learning. I am wanting something with mastery learning that will be well suited for my very hands on 6 yr old. :)

 

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[melaniehice]

Okay I made this in one take, so hopefully it is helpful. :)

 

Thanks!

 

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[3 ladybugs]

I was curious so I look up on my blog when we got Shiller math. The family blog is my memory. Anyway, I got it nearly exactly 1 year ago. So in 1 year (we school year round but last summer wasn't really strict and I know we had at least a month off from math in the last year, maybe 2 or 3... that isn't on the blog. LOL So in 1 year we have went through 2 of the 3 books for the first program. It goes very fast as you can see. I think we will be through book 3 by the end of the year easily.