Has anyone used RS math D and E and liked it?

[Wendy in ME]

About a month ago I posted about my frustrations with my 4th grade ds and math. Many of you offered great advice and I ended up taking OhElizabeth's advice and used the RS Transition lessons to sort of remediate him. The lessons and playing lots of games has really transformed his math thinking and he has really liked it. We will be done with the transition lessons in 2 weeks and I'm not sure where to go now. I like the RS transitions but it seems as though so many people who really liked RS in the earlier books move on before doing D and E. :confused:

[OhElizabeth]

Well since I was persuasive to you before, hehe, I'll try again. I would keep going till it becomes a problem. Don't buy problems you don't have! Those of us who switched had done all the levels, from A up and had dc who were getting the math easily and were ready to move onto something a little more independent, a little different. What you're doing is working, so stick with it!!!!!

So what level are you launching into from Transitions? I'd keep going through D at least. You're going to like the way RS teaches division. Don't try to decide on E now. Just keep going and see how things go for him. If it's working, it's working. Quite a few people have gone through E and then into BJU 5 or even 6. Whether you jump after level D or E, you're going to be happy. Nuts, he may like it so much you decide to continue through and do the RS G with Primary Challenge Math by Zaccaro. Don't mess up what's working! :)

[Wendy in ME]

Thanks Elizabeth. I wasn't sure if you left the program because of problems with the upper levels. I am planning to go to D even though he is 4th grade now and has had multiplication and division already in his former math program. I figure we can move right along and work on it during the summer in the mornings to catch up. Although he could muddle his way through the multiplication and division, he never quite understood it. Thanks again for your help with my math problems. The games have been a hit with both boys. The older one likes to play with the ds in question so that frees me up a bit.

[cajun.classical]

About a month ago I posted about my frustrations with my 4th grade ds and math. Many of you offered great advice and I ended up taking OhElizabeth's advice and used the RS Transition lessons to sort of remediate him. The lessons and playing lots of games has really transformed his math thinking and he has really liked it. We will be done with the transition lessons in 2 weeks and I'm not sure where to go now. I like the RS transitions but it seems as though so many people who really liked RS in the earlier books move on before doing D and E. :confused:

Well, here's my 2 cents, Wendy. It seems we travel in similar circles. When my ds was entering 4th grade, I decided to ditch Saxon (we were in 54) because I just didn't see the lightbulb going on for him. He was like a trained monkey when working those problems; he had very poor understanding of why he was doing anything. I went to a workshop on RightStart and was sold. We did the transition lessons and I saw that light bulb come on finally. We then did RSE and we both loved it.

I know that some have complained about levels D and E being weaker than the other levels, but I had never seen the other levels and I liked what was in RS E. I love the way fractions and division are taught. My son blows me away with his understanding now. We liked the whole thing so much that he is now doing RS Geometry and I'm supplementing with a few workbooks, including the Key to Series.

So, I agree with OhE. If you like what you see, keep at it. My dd has completed RS C and is in RSD now. I heard all the complaints and thought seriously about jumping ship, but finally I realized that she was doing well. I was seeing improvement and advances in math. She likes it. So forward we go.

[samba]

We used level D all the way through and I was quite happy with it. We switched to BJU 4 after that because, although I had purchased E and planned to do it, there were aspects of it I just didn't like. I was going to use it to supplement BJU and teach concepts the "RightStart" way. But once I started BJU I found that supplementing wasn't necessary and I honestly don't have time to combine programs if I don't need to. If you have been happy with C go ahead and start D. You may find that it suits your child just fine.

Carolyn

[OhElizabeth]

Wendy, another thing is that level E is a very sophisticated level. On the one hand you're doing 4th and some 5th grade made, but on the other you're doing things like creating equations using a given slew of numbers and operation signs, including square roots, algebraic notation, etc. There's a LOT of thinking to it, and some of us who jumped were going to be hitting it with really young kids, as young as 8! I owned the level, looked at it, and just didn't think the lightbulbs were going to come on with my dd, not as a newly 8 yo. It was just too much for her age, kwim? She's not a genius, hehe! The people using it with more typical aged kids seem to be happier and find the challenge to be just right.

I know that's a sweeping summary and there will be exceptions. I'm just saying there is more going on when people switch than just what people say in a post. The same curriculum might sit very differently with an 8 yo and an 11 yo. I'm doing WT2 and see the same thing, where my dd has all the skills to keep up with the bigger kids, but not the maturity or interest, kwim? It's just a matter of timing. Some things can't be rushed. And I have kept my level E, because like the others said, there are certain elements in it I DO like and will probably do with her. It's just working out better for us right now to be where we are.

[samba]

Wendy,
There's a lot of validity to what OhElizabeth is saying. I should have added (I was trying to be brief and I probably left out important info) that my dd was still 7 (almost 8) when it was time to move on to level E. I felt like I needed to sort through it to use it the way I wanted to and I simply didn't have the time for that ( my other child has significant needs). If money hadn't been an issue, I would have kept E because, while there were things I didn't like, there was a great deal I did like. It was a hard decision to make. I think you need to go through the process yourself to find what will work best for you.

Carolyn

[Wendy in ME]

Angelina, We do seem to be on the same path. I am actually looking very seriously at using the RS geometry with my 11ds when he finishes R&S 7 in a couple of weeks. He is very mathy and already ahead so I thought that he would really enjoy the geometry. He is always drawing and trying to imitate dhs drafting projects. I am in search of a good workbook to supplement it. We will start VT algebra when he hits 7th which is over a year away. He is a bit old for his grade because of a December bday. It makes me feel good about moving to RS D with some BTDT advice.

Elizabeth, I have heard that RS gets pretty advanced. I hadn't even thought about that as a reason for leaving it. It probably will work out well for us where he will be older going through it. He will be 10 in June and technically 5th grade next year. This might be a problem for us when we get there with ds5 in a few years. I am now sold on RS and have already purchased A to start with him in the fall for K. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice.

[Blossom'sGirl]

I do feel at times we jump a lot from topic to topic but I think the variety really "works" for my guys. My oldest is in the last quarter of Level E and is being introduced to a wide variety of topics and he is liking it. I see that after a few weeks of that they introduce long division just before we finish up. I still don't know what we will do next. My younger ds will be in level D next year and I will also be starting my 3rd ds in Lev. A soon.

As I have stated in other posts, I also really like doing Challenging word problems alongside. They do 2 problems a day except review days.

Dh doesn't like it because he was home schooled in straight forward math. I think it was Alpha Omega. Their are many times he commented my ds using a calculator for doing decimal work and he doesn't like how they teach subtraction from left to right. He thinks it's fuzzy math but I disagree; RS focuses on mental understanding and discovery before using rote formulas.