gandpsmommy Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I decided to use Righstart C with dd this year for second grade instead of continuing with Singapore because I needed a curr. that would help me to teach her more. I was afraid that she was relying too much on counting strategies for addition and subtraction, and Singapore was just becoming frustrating for us. I'm so happy that I did. It has really been what we both needed. I can see her mental math making so much progress. After seeing the Righstart program, I am planning to use levels A through C with ds, as well, when he starts school. But I've heard some less than satisfactory things about RS D, and I feel that after this year we will have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish by using Righstart. I also know that Righstart only goes through E, right? So, I'd like to transition her back to Singapore next year, in third grade. So I went to the Singapore website and looked at the placement tests. It said that they were more of exit evaluations for knowing when a child was ready to leave one level, so I looked at 2A/B. I'm afraid that maybe she won't have covered everything to be able to move to 3A/B with a smooth transition. Has anyone else done this: transitioned from C directly to Sing. 3A? Was it pretty seamless or were there things that you had to cover on your own before you could move on? Thanks for any help. Amazingly, I'm trying to plan ahead on this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 We've never used Rightstart, but we did 'transition' from (3rd grade) ps to Singapore. I gave the placement tests, and we ended up just going through the 2A and B texts to fill in any gaps and get used to the Singapore way. So we spent about 4 weeks going through 2A and 2B, then started w/3A, and that seemed to ease the transition and give us all confidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddhabelly Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I would encourage you to at least look at Right Start "D." Many of the things you have heard on this board is that the program spends a lot of time on multiplication. Well, that isn't strictly true; it just appears that way. What it spends a lot of time on is multiples. Same thing, you say? Not really. After a child has worked through RS "D", she can look at a number and instantly say whether "7" is a factor of it. Does it use that language? No, and that's why many parents believe that it spends "too much time" on multiplication. I will confess that I said EXACTLY the same thing ("when are we going to move on?") and then a huge lightbulb went off. Remember in algebra when you had to simplify by factoring out as much as you can first? A child who has completed RS "D" can do that very quickly and easily. Just my opinion -- I'm in a hurry so I might appear too blunt. Sorry! I can also speak to the Singapore issue because I use those books too. The transition you mention would work well. I have all these books, though, and would recommend the Teacher Guide if you don't have it. We are starting Singapore 4A now (along with Right Start "E"), so if you have any questions about how those compare, let me have 'em. By the way, I am completely puzzled by the comments that RS "E" doesn't have "enough" work with fractions, percents and decimals. Ds has been adding and subtracting fractions (proper and improper) for weeks now. Perhaps people don't see "worksheets" in this program and think it's not covered? Dunno. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 I would encourage you to at least look at Right Start "D." Many of the things you have heard on this board is that the program spends a lot of time on multiplication. Well, that isn't strictly true; it just appears that way. What it spends a lot of time on is multiples. Same thing, you say? Not really. After a child has worked through RS "D", she can look at a number and instantly say whether "7" is a factor of it. Does it use that language? No, and that's why many parents believe that it spends "too much time" on multiplication. I will confess that I said EXACTLY the same thing ("when are we going to move on?") and then a huge lightbulb went off. Remember in algebra when you had to simplify by factoring out as much as you can first? A child who has completed RS "D" can do that very quickly and easily. Just my opinion -- I'm in a hurry so I might appear too blunt. Sorry! I can also speak to the Singapore issue because I use those books too. The transition you mention would work well. I have all these books, though, and would recommend the Teacher Guide if you don't have it. We are starting Singapore 4A now (along with Right Start "E"), so if you have any questions about how those compare, let me have 'em. By the way, I am completely puzzled by the comments that RS "E" doesn't have "enough" work with fractions, percents and decimals. Ds has been adding and subtracting fractions (proper and improper) for weeks now. Perhaps people don't see "worksheets" in this program and think it's not covered? Dunno. Julie Thanks so much for your input. It is good to hear from someone who uses both programs. Do you just use the Singapore workbook and textbook along with Righstart or do you add in CWP and IP as well? How do you schedule it? I would love to use both, but I don't know how we would get it all done. In your opinion, do you think a child could go through E and then easily transition to the next level in Singapre. If so, we might try that. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cillakat Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I found it a very easy transition. And let's just say I'm not one to transition easily:) iirc we started 3A at about 1/3 of the way through. She does know long multiplication though....I'm pretty sure that's not from rightstart. maybe math mammoth, maybe my dh taught her. I am keeping and using the Rightstart D teachers manual b/c there are 15 or so lessons that will be highly beneficial in explaining concepts presented (imo) weakly in singapore (ie division). We're also using various RS math games, Aha!Math (hsbc) to maintain and improve fact fluency. :) katherine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddhabelly Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Thanks so much for your input. It is good to hear from someone who uses both programs. Do you just use the Singapore workbook and textbook along with Righstart or do you add in CWP and IP as well? How do you schedule it? I would love to use both, but I don't know how we would get it all done. In your opinion, do you think a child could go through E and then easily transition to the next level in Singapre. If so, we might try that. Thanks again. I don't schedule Singapore; I just use it when we need a break from Right Start. That way we don't have to take a break from math completely. I like Challenging Word Problems, but Intensive Practice just seems wierd to me. (True confessions: it stumped me completely.) I have the Home Instructor's Gude this year which helps tremendously. While I schedule "math", I must confess that I don't schedule which lesson is done which day. As long as we do something productive mathematically, I'm good. It usually takes us 12 months to finish each school year, but we take lots of breaks (1 or 2 weeks at a time). OK, that was completely unhelpful. Sorry! Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 I don't schedule Singapore; I just use it when we need a break from Right Start. That way we don't have to take a break from math completely. I like Challenging Word Problems, but Intensive Practice just seems wierd to me. (True confessions: it stumped me completely.) I have the Home Instructor's Gude this year which helps tremendously. While I schedule "math", I must confess that I don't schedule which lesson is done which day. As long as we do something productive mathematically, I'm good. It usually takes us 12 months to finish each school year, but we take lots of breaks (1 or 2 weeks at a time). OK, that was completely unhelpful. Sorry! Julie Actually, it makes sense to me because that's very much the way we operate, too. We used to use Singapore and Miquon, and we didn't schedule it out. We just used Miquon when we needed a break from Singapore. And I, too, feel that as long as we do something productive mathematically each day, it doesn't really matter in which curriculum. I still have all of the levels of Miquon and try to add it in once in a while. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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