I swapped to RightStart for my children about 6 weeks ago, so haven’t yet had the full benefit of the RightStart method. What I am noticing is an enthusiasm for math which had been lacking until now. My girls were finding their old curriculum a little dry. I love that they now can’t wait for their math lessons and when choosing 2 toys/games to take away on holiday the RightStart cards were among their choices!
Thank you again for providing this excellent program!
On another note, my 13 year old who also watches along with your online level G program has said this is helping him a lot with his pre-algebra that he is working on.
My 15 year old who also watches along, who started with the RightStart Math Curriculum and worked through the program when he was very young, has just filed for his first patent and is about to patent his second device. He is able to design very complex designs in a Cad program and 3D print his prototypes. He has started reading a Calculus book for fun (even though he is only in Algebra 1). I think Dr. Cotter’s program is a great foundational program!
Thank you for teaching the math to my children and for your exceptional Geometry program and encouragement!
Both my son and I love RightStart Math!!! He is learning math differently than I did, but he knows how to do mental math better than I ever did and has an understanding of what is actually going on conceptually, before he learns the terms and “facts” like I did when I was in public school. I don’t feel like my words are putting to justice the experience we’re having with RightStart, but it is such a great program and has been working so well for both of us (and that’s important!). Even though this is a different way than I learned math in public school many years ago, I entrust myself fully to those who God enabled to create the curriculum, and it is so easy for me, as his teacher, to follow. Everything is laid out right there for me on the 2-page spread for each day/lesson. It has been and continues to be such a blessing, and I thank God for RightStart Math! I know our son is getting an excellent math education!
My homeschooled third-grade son has used RightStart Math (Second Edition) since kindergarten. My son is not a math whiz or an eager learner, but he loves the many games in the curriculum. This year we took a standardized test to meet state requirements. We were pleased to learn that he placed in the 90th percentile on math computation, 99th percentile for math concepts & problems.
I have homeschooled six children. Only my last has had the fun and privilege of learning through RSM. I only wish they all had had this curriculum. My last child has the very best mental math skills and conceptual understanding of mathematics of all six.
RSM is brilliantly thought through and requires almost no prep from the teacher ahead of time. A commitment to a daily joint math session with each student at a different level is necessary. The payoff is huge! We add daily math fact testing, as we don’t always do as many games we would like, but the games are excellent. We grateful to RSM for publishing such an excellent curriculum.
RightStart Math has been the most successful part of our homeschooling endeavor from the beginning, the one piece I would never change or tweak. Not only does my son favor math, never tire of it, ask to do extra, etc., but his academic accomplishment with this curriculum has been outstanding. My son began Right Start A a month before he turned five. A year after beginning Right Start (and still age five), he tested at a third grade math level! He continually impresses us with his ability to mentally subtract four-digit numbers, even with trading/borrowing. Due to his visualization of the abacus, he also came up with logical strategies for all the multiplication tables, even before they were formally introduced. For example, he figured out on his own. at age seven, that any number multiplied by 5 would be half of the number multiplied by 10. I believe this is because he holds “the abacus in his head,” as Dr. Cotter says. This is actually my favorite aspect of the curriculum: Before a concept is formally introduced, my son already understands the foundations, because the mathematical concepts are understood, rather than algorithms memorized. He is always being pointed toward the next thing, implicitly. We are now working comfortably in the middle of Level D, and I continue to be grateful for RightStart Math, the best part of our homeschool day.
I met Joan Cotter at a homeschool conference 12 years ago. I used her program to teach my two older children math for grades K-4. When they entered traditional school they were well above their peers. In fact, my son had his math IQ tested in 2nd grade and scored 182!! When the counselor was testing him orally, he thought my son was cheating because he didn’t need to write down anything! In reality, he was just doing the word problems in his head!!!
I am homeschooling 3 of my children this year. My 9 year old daughter and 10 year old son both have reading/learning challenges, and I have an eager 4 year old. We have used several different math curriculum’s in the past with varying levels of success. I was led to RightStart while researching Montessori methods for my 4 year old and discovered that it is also a wonderful choice for children who are math-challenged. After using this curriculum for only a few weeks, I was delighted to see the lights start coming on in the eyes of the 2 older children. The abacus was making things really click for them. I started the two of them in Level C, per the placement test, but each level starts with a review training that teaches the abacus methods. As for my 4 year old, she is using level A, since she was 3 1/2 and we have completed about 15 of the lessons so far. Between the manipulatives and the games (All 3 LOVE the games!!) she is getting a solid math start. We are planning to use all levels.
– Louise
Our second daughter has begun RightStart Math: A Geometric Approach, and was inspired by Lesson 9, and decided she wasn’t going to be outdone by some kindergartners. She just kept going and ended up with 768 triangles. I’m pretty sure we calculated correctly. I thought you may enjoy seeing her work.
Our youngest began RightStart in kindergarten and finished Level B last year, and he finished up the year testing in the middle of third grade on the WRAT-4.
Thank you for putting this wonderful math program together for our children.
