When my daughter wasn’t getting the “carry the 1” concept I sought out another curriculum. RightStart Mathematics was perfect because it uses several physical elements within their program that help explain the various teachings and help the students in their computations. They include things like an abacus, a scale, 3D shapes, tangrams, cards to help with addition, multiplication, a clock for telling time, etc.
I’ve just realized as well that this course will be the end of our journey with Right Start. We picked it up over a decade ago with my son, who had finished “grade 6” math with other courses but retained next to nothing so we started from scratch with RS. He graduated from university last month. And then we used RS methodologies with my daughter from the time she started to learn to count.
As a (literally) award-winning mathlete and math geek myself, I still found new and wonderful ways to think mathematically from working through this program with my kids. I have been and will remain, a fervent “evangelist” for this program and its approach.
Your excellent customer service is just the icing on the cake! So thank you again, not just for this file, but thank you to Dr. Cotter and the whole team for providing this wonderful, wonderful curriculum in the first place.
I do want to tell you how much I have loved this curriculum for my son. He has intellectual disabilities (including some left-brain impairments) and apraxia of speech. When he was in public preschool, his teachers were so focused on getting him to count to 10 and after 2 years, he just still wasn’t getting it. When we decided to start homeschooling in Kindergarten, I realized quickly that due to his speech difficulties and the way his brain worked, a focus on counting just wasn’t working. I was thrilled to find RightStart (recommended to me in a group for homeschool parents of kids with apraxia). We have to move very slowly and are still working through Level A (and often repeat a single lesson for a week, especially at first). But he is now able to use to the abacus and other manipulatives to express numbers to 100! He still can’t verbally count to 10 correctly every time, but what a joy to find a curriculum where his visual strengths can help him and his verbal weaknesses and processing don’t hold him back. Thank you!!
I thought the original editions were fantastic, but the second editions that I have used are fine tuned and are on the genius level of teaching. Please, thank Dr. Cotter for her continued work in providing material that is creative and enjoyable to teach.
I have been working with an autistic student for MONTHS on addition with lots of abacus work. I encourage him, telling him that SOMEDAY all of this will make sense because he will have the abacus in his brain and he won’t even need to touch it anymore.
Weeell… this morning we were playing a game with his abacus close by. I soon noticed that he was giving me answers (sums) very quickly without the physical use of his abacus. I became so excited and started celebrating (in truth, screaming), telling him I was so proud of him for recognizing quantities (picturing his beads in his mind; 5 + 2 to be exact) so quickly. I asked him to tell me how he was doing this. He exclaimed “I finally have the abacus smashed up in my brain! See, look, this is how I did it!” He then proceeded to place the abacus on top of his head and push down!
We’ve been playing more games [in math] and they are just crushing it. My kids just said to me, “Math is going so well this week!” Riley said, “My multiplication has gone from here (pointer low) to here (up high) with just a few games?”
I’ve just begun using RightStart Math for my neurotypical year old and he’s doing great. What’s even more interesting is that my 9 year old autistic child loves it too! It’s visual, tactile, and fun for him to play with all the things that came with the kit. Great program.
Hello, I strongly feel the need to tell you how much I love this curriculum. We are almost through Level A. I wasn’t sure about it in the beginning. With the spiral style curriculum it felt like each lesson jumped quickly from one subject to another. I hate to say it, but it almost made each individual activity feel pointless. But we hung in there and are now seeing the results. My son is grasping the concepts covered so well, and he is so proud of what he’s learned. I think this is a direct result of how RightStart is designed to allow students to essentially discover the patterns and rules of math, rather than being told.
My son can take ownership in what he learns, because RightStart has provided the activities that allow him to discover math in a structured organized way. Every single day outside of our official math lesson time he’s bringing up math in one way or another. He quizzes his younger brother with addition problems or counting questions. He practices counting just for fun. He proudly, and completely randomly will tell me the answer to an addition problem he’s been pondering for a bit. I just can’t thank you enough for the care and thought that had been put into each lesson. I have always enjoyed math, but didn’t learn it this way. It is so fun to see my son learning math a better way, and being able to manipulate numbers differently than I ever did. I feel like I’m getting to re-learn math a bit too. Sorry to ramble, but I’m about to purchase Level B and I’m just so excited, and wanted to say thank you.
Thanks for teaching Bonnie for two years! Bonnie passed the TSI (college entrance math and english) exam earlier this year and is now taking some dual credit classes at the Jr. College. She is entering 9th grade. I wish you could teach trig too! We loved your online class and we miss your weekly instruction and enthusiasm!
We initially were attracted to RightStart’s approach, but chose another option because of cost. However, after 2-1/2 years in 2 different programs, we switched our son to RightStart level D and started our daughter in level A. I can say that the upfront cost of the manipulative set is worth it. My kids are developing a conceptual understanding of math, learning math facts, seeing visually how concepts work, discovering patterns in math for themselves, and having fun playing games. It is very teacher involved until mid-late elementary, but worth the effort. My son’s attitude toward math has improved greatly since starting RightStart, and my daughter is starting out enjoying math. We plan to continue using RightStart through all levels.
