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Rightstart math vs MUS for first grade?
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We have really loved right start math! My son is picking up math skills that they failed to teach him adequately last year in kindergarten. He has picked up the pace and I’m getting him caught up with his math. Right start math has been a real blessing and I love that it is so hands on and fun.
If you are fairly good with math yourself (even though it is taught a bit differently) – and don’t need the lessons scripted, there is one other option I’d suggest. But not if you need fully scripted lessons. And that is the “tutoring” program. It was the “original” program, and it is great for K to about grade 4 or 5 in one kit. I actually have it (as it looked like I was going to need to tutor a sort-of-grand-child) – but haven’t used it yet, but I know of people that have, and I have read through it. It is a lot less expensive, and I may be switching to it after this level…. It is the “Activities for the AlAbacus.” So what you would want to get is probably the:
“Activities for Al Abacus for $15
“Worksheets for the Al Abacus” for $25 (can be copied for each child.)
“Math Card Games Kit with Standard Abacus” for $60. It includes the Games Book and DVD, the Cards abacus, and fraction chart.
So your total is $100 for 4-5 years of math, for as many students as you have….
I have written on other posts before on our math experience. We have used Saxon, MUS, and then RS. I think my dd takes after me more and is more math minded and could use anything. I grew up in ps with Saxon, but I think MUS is a good program. The reason I switched to RS is for my ds who must take after my dh and find math to be a bit of a challenge. RS IS more teacher intensive, but it is still laid out for you in the teachers manual. You are interacting more with the child and many different manipulatives plus fun math games versus MUS blocks as the only manipulative and a dvd. We have finally found a successful program for my ds with RS and I am so happy, even though it does take more of my time. But it was more important for me to find a program to help him learn it and even like it (sometimes) than for me to have an easier program for the teacher. I think he has a better understanding of math the way they teach it. It is what I’ll continue to use with my dd even though she could succeed with any math program. PM me if you have any questions for me. We have completed level B and are in the middle of level C. We got about 1/3 to 1/2 through Alpha MUS before the switch.
Another option to save you money with the RS in the long run is to buy their cd-rom of pdf files and a good laser printer and you can print as many worksheets, tests and appendix for levels A to E that you need and it also includes the book suzukimom mentioned: Worksheets for the AL Abacus. I bought my disc used through the RS yahoo group. That is a great place to find used teachers books too.
Suzukimom, thanks so much for all the useful info on RS and the manipulatives. I’ll have to check into the other less scripted option as well. Thanks, wings2fly, love to know all my options if I decide to go with RS. Very helpful!
Not sure if you know there are sample files on RS at the same page as the placement test. (Includes “Activities for the AlAbacus”)
Oh, and one other thing I wanted to mention (boy, I apparently have a lot to say!)
When I was waiting to get RightStart (we had to wait for a bit), I did a bunch of research…. and I did these couple of things with the kids. I made a homemade abacus (note, the kids prefer the bought ones – but we have 3 homemade ones too…). You can see them here http://maplehillacademy.blogspot.ca/2011/07/looking-at-rightstart.html
And, I found the rules for “Go to the Dump” – which is like Go fish, except you are matching numbers that add to 10. So a 7 and 3 match. You can see the game here… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d8ZvoES5U8 and we played it with regular playing cards. This might not work with a brand new to math student though (we were moving from a different program) – but if you can find Finger Cards, and abacus cards, and tally stick cards (I found them with a bunch of looking around) – you could do number memory – starting with ones less than 5)
And I started singing “Yellow is the Sun” with them (which is used to help recognize quantities greater than 7 on the abacus) The song is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5w8gulQPlY [Did you know that knowing the higher numbers are made of 5 and something else make adding numbers easier? Like 7+8 is easy because 7 is 5 and 2, and 8 is 5 and 3, so you add the 5’s together to get 10, and 2+3 is 5 – so 7+8 is 15. My kids can do this quickly because of it….
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