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Abandon Level Band and move on or stay the course???

Hi,

I've ranted and raved (sometimes at the same time!) about RS! Here I am with yet another question. My public schooled dd8 is in 3rd grade and math is not one of her stronger subjects. After much, much research I landed on this website and decided this would be the perfect program for my dear math phobic child (I love that the program is not worksheet heavy and relies on games to teach--I don't even think my dd even looks as this as work at all and will often squeal with excitement when I announce it's game time). Last year (just about a year ago) I purchased Level B in the hopes to have been finished by now but we've just only completed lesson 47!! In my defense though we had our house on the market for 7 months and just bought and moved it this past summer and still struggling to put everything in order!! So, I'm feeling a little self pressured to abandon Level B altogether and start afresh with Level C. My dd has seen much improvement and my husband just mentioned how he can see more confidence in her math abilities than ever before! Horray for RS! I too have seen it in her and she really enjoys the lessons and never moans or groans when I tell her it's math time. My hesitation here is that I don't want her to stagnate and start to feel bored. I also don't want to be too far behind what is being presented in school so that the math we do at home can help her with the math she does at school and brings home for homework. Right now I beforeschool RS math 3x per week and sometimes one day on the weekends and play the math games in between which my daughter absolutely loves!! Even my preshcooler gets in on the action (thinking about buying level A for her but that's another topic of conversation). The only stumbling block is that at this point is that it feels like it will take forever to finish Level B when I wasn't planning on it taking this long. Maybe it's me and I'm just a bit impatient. Maybe I should just let the program just do it's thing and go with the flow! Because I'm not sure though, I would love to hear from someone out there who can help to guide my decision.

Thanks in advance and have a great day!

Cassie

Re: Abandon Level Band and move on or stay the course???

Dear Cassie,
thanks for the post and your honesty about how you feel about our curriculum. It is a great blessing to many, but it does take work to get through it since you are laying a firm foundation. I think your emphasis on playing games is very wise, especially with her phobia for math starting out. Now however, it might be time to pick up the pace a bit since she is feeling confident. How about doing four lessons a week with one game day, or even five if you feel ambitious. Some Moms homeschool throughout the summer too when the children are not doing regular school work and that can help you catch up.

A word of caution about skipping Level B. Each level builds sequentially on the last and it is very important not to skip lessons or you may end up with gaps that don't show up until too late. I would keep moving forward on Level B, 4-5 lessons a week if you can manage it. Then go through C, which usually takes more than a year by the way.

Our Level B is like a first-third grade standard math curriculum. Our Level C is like 2nd-4th in most other curriculums, so even though she is "behind" she will quickly catch up and more importantly see will really understand place value and the principles of mathematics.

Also, you want to remember that you are teaching your daughter, not just going through curriculum. You need to pace your instruction on her needs, interest and ability.

Hope this helps. Please let us know how things are going.
Nancy

Re: Abandon Level Band and move on or stay the course???

Nancy, Thank you for your reply. I will take your advice and speed up the number of lessons during the week so we can "catch up". As I mentioned, she really loves RS and it's really clicking with her. Today we introduced the math balance and she played the Bead Trading Game. She would not stop until she became a "Grand Champion"! She sat there the whole time with her stack of cards and insisted that she "finish" the game in one sitting all the while saying over and over how much fun she was having. Her enthusiasm and energy was all that I needed to see that this program is indeed the right choice for my dd. So, plow through B we shall and start C right after. I will indeed keep you posted throuh the boards about our progress. The problem though has never been progress because it's been nothing but that. I will increase the amount of days we do RS and will post how we are coming along.

Thanks again and have a great day!

Re: Re: Abandon Level Band and move on or stay the course???

Dear Cassie,
Thanks for sharing. You are making a wise decision that will benefit your daughter for her whole life really.
Nancy