I finally wanted to take the time after almost 2 years of using the RightStart Mathematics Program to thank you for the wonderful math curriculum you have written for parents and teachers. I was a math major in college and wrote my Honors Thesis on teaching mathematics with manipulatives and how to help children develop their mathematical thinking. I then taught in elementary school for 8 years where my main focus was always mathematics. After having children, I stayed at home and am now homeschooling my children. My oldest child is in 1st grade, and we are about a month shy of completing Level B. From the time I started looking for math curriculum for homeschooling, I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a program that was hands on and guided children in constructing their own mathematical knowledge so that my child would truly have number sense and excellent logic skills. I didn’t want a book program with a lot of worksheets that simply taught algorithms. I wanted my children every time they worked with numbers to always understand the why’s behind the numbers and the problems. When I found the RightStart program, I knew it was exactly what I wanted, and it has exceeded every expectation I have had and beyond.
My daughter enjoys mathematics, and everyone is duly wowed by her mathematical skills and number sense, and I have slowly started Level A with my 4 year old. My two year old is also running around the house also singing the songs. I have recommended RightStart to at least half a dozen other parents who are all using the program and love it as much I love it. Everyone says that it is the way they wish they had been taught math when they were young. My brother-in-law, who is a high school mathematics teacher, is as excited about the curriculum as I have been and has already started using it with his 4 year old also to introduce numbers to him.
The layout of the Lesson Book is excellent and easy to use. The sequence and concepts are perfectly laid out, and when I have talked on the phone to the company, I have always received excellent advice and help. As a former classroom teacher, most curriculum that I have been using the past couple of years, I usually tinker with and change to my preference, but no “tinkering” needed with the RightStart program. Thank you for writing the curriculum that I would have loved to have written if I had the time, expertise, and experience that you have. What a gift you have given to us parents! I hope more and more parents discover your curriculum. I am definitely doing my share to get the word out.
