Hi Misty,

Are you currently using RS with another child? Some of what I've written below may not make much sense if you are not familiar with RS. Feel free to ask ?'s if needed. E-mail me if you like.

I did order the Transitions book, and have been using it with my ds for about 3 weeks. He is having fun with it, though he DID seem mildly insulted at the level of the work at this point.

We are currently doing the Addition Strategies- +1 is the next counting number, +2 is the next odd or even. I decided to play "What Comes Next?" with him using the +2's. He had to stop and think about EVERY SINGLE ONE. This really surprised me, and I think it shows what kind of gaps he has in his knowledge. He also had to be explicitly shown that 71 + 6 is a +1 problem, just as 76 + 1 would be.

We've been playing "Speed" using odds and evens mixed, and stacking according to +2's. The first time we played I totally slaughtered him, because he had to stop and think about so many of them. Today he ALMOST beat me, and I am NOT easy to beat at any form of Speed. I've been playing the game since grade school.

Only time will tell how effective this will be in the long run, but for now I'm glad we are doing it.

I do not have the ALAbacus Activities book yet. We have our state homeschooling conference next month, and I will be checking the used book sale for it.