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Who had used Right Start math "successfully"?
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If you have used RS math for the first 4 years or so and then switched to Math u see or another program, I would love to hear about your experience! Thanks.
I don’t think I understand your question?
I am using RightStart right now with 3 children. I have 2 partway through Level D, and another almost done Level B….
We have done levels B and C. It is a great program. It uses a lot of manipulatives and has the child figure things out on their own, but not a lot of practice. I am not sure if we will continue to D next year. It takes a lot of my time for each child. For a season, we took a break from it to some of CLE Sunrise level 300 series. There is lots of practice with CLE and I think my son needed some of that to cement some concepts that were taught in RS. I am not sure how long we will do CLE because there is LOTS of drill. But I know some cut out some of the review problems. We are also supplementing with Life of Fred, which also does not have many practice problems in the elementary set. My plan is to do only LoF once we get to Fractions book and above, since it has more practice problems.
As to the not a lot of practice – the answer to that is play the math games…. play the math games a lot. (Something we don’t do enough of.)
Also, Level D takes the things learned in level C, and really works on them and deepens them, if you get what I mean.
Sorry if my post was not very clear – it was pretty late when I was typing it! Anyway, I am just debating on whether or not to switch to Right Start after using Math U See with my two older kids.
Would it be worth it to make the switch? Do you believe that RS give a stronger foundatin in the basics than other math programs?
Another thought that I had was using RS in place of MUS primer for my 5 year old. Would that work?
Any ideas are MUCH appreicated!
True, the practice is in the games mostly, which I love. But we struggled this year to get to the games. We will re-evaluate where to go come August. Yes, I believe that it does lay a good foundation and is the best, but it also takes more teacher time for each student than MUS, which we had tried first.
For a 5 year old, I would just play games and read some living math books like Mathstart. I also did some teddy bear math then. We never did level A, as much of it is repeated in the first part of level B. They could start using an abacus early, along with fingers, to see the quantities without having to count them, something they must learn at the very beginning of RS. Start level B at age 6 or 7.
What level of math are your older kids at?
Are you switching from RightStart or from MUS? Or do you mean you are worried about switching to a different program once they have gone as far as RS will go?
My two older kids are 10 and 12 and I plan on keeping them in MUS all the way through to the higher math levels. My 10 year old is almost finished with Delta and my 12 year old is about to finish up Epsilon. They are doing well eventhough math is pretty hard work for them.
My 7 year old did the first 12 sections of alpha this year. He does not know his addition facts – not blaming this on MUS……we just did not spend enough time on math with him this year, obviously, if he only through section 12, we did not spend enough time on it. We did stop to spend some extra time, however, on addition facts.
Do you know of a website or post that breaks down Math U See and Right Start Math, like a compariosn of thier scope and sequences?
I have always wanted to do Right Start Math but with five wonderful blessings (kids), it just has not seemed feasible.
Thanks so much for your input…….I may just continue to use MUS for all and just play the RS games. I did buy the RS Games kit last year.
I have printed out scope and sequence for each when I made the switch from Alpha to RS B to compare. MUS is much more mastery based than RS. MUS uses only their blocks while RS uses AL abacus, tally sticks, math games, etc. MUS uses a DVD and RS relies more heavily on the teacher’s guide (and the teacher).
We were doing MUS and switched to RS this year. My children 6 & 7 and two four year olds,that think the math is for them, love RS, and honestly I do too. My children beg to do math and they are building a good foundation from what I’m seeing. We are not that far into it, but so glad we made the switch. They were not getting the blocks with MUS, and were not understanding concepts at all, just going through the motions. After switching, a few weeks later, my 7 year old started adding in her head (5+6=11, 4+4=8). We started with level A just to make sure the foundation was strong and they are all developmentally delayed. I don’t find it a bother or even taking more time than MUS. I had to sit right with them doing MUS or they just froze. I actually love that my girls are playing the games without me asking them to play. We enjoy math time and with four kids it becomes a fun family time. It might change as things get harder, but for now it was a very good choice. My four year olds just do what they can and when done interacting, play with the tiles or talley sticks right there with us. My biggest reservation about switching to RS, was just due to the time involvment everyone was saying, but really it hasn’t been a big deal at all.
I have finished Book E with my son. I plan to do Prealgebra and Geometry for the next couple of years continuing with RS instead of switching to MUS. If that goes well then I plan to just stay with RS for all of Algebra. They don’t have a Stewardship math though that I am aware of like MUS has. We enjoy RS and do not want to have to change to any other program.
Kim.
My oldest dd went through RS levels B-E. She has incredible mental math skills. We did the program as recommended including tons of game playing. It was right up her alley. After E or actually about 3/4 of the way through we switched to MUS. She has thrived and even though she still doesn’t like math, it’s easy for her and she can do it. Started on MUS algebra 1 about a month ago. Most of the beginning was a review form precious levels, but I chalk that up to confidence building!
The only reason we switched from RS to MUS for my other 3 kids is because I couldn’t imagine teaching 4 lessons of RS every day with my 4 kids on top of everything else we needed to accomplish.
Thanks for your input, baymoose-that gives me a lot to think about. I guess I Could try it over the summer and see how it works out timewise for us.
Linda, Joytoread-
Do you think that doing MUS Alpha to Zeta and then consistently supplementing with the Right Start Games Kit would give my kids the same mental math skills that Linda is talking about?
My oldest did RS Math B for 1st, Level C for 2nd, Level D for 3rd. Next year, for forth grade, we are switching to an online virtual academy so he will use their math text. We looked at the placement test and RightStart has more than prepared him for an advanced math class.
My second son is going to switch to Saxon Math after Level C because his homeschool co-op uses it. I would not use Saxon for earlier grades but their upper elementary and beyond look fine.
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