We've been using RS with my 5 year old for about 6 months now. I'm overall very pleased with how much my son has learned already, but I was a little concerned at his kindergarten readiness evaluation the other day. We're considering sending him to PS for awhile for a variety of reasons, primarily financial. At his evaluation, the teacher asked him to count out x number of little bears into a container and he was able to do most of them correctly, but he did make a mistake when counting out 10 (he only placed 9 in the circle). I'm just a little concerned that my son may already be behind the other kindergarten children (though I'm sure they can't mentally add 20+50 or 10+4 like he can either!) I know RS de-emphasizes counting, but when and how are children taught to complete a task like this? What is the proper way to teach a child to count items? I'm assuming it would properly be in groups of 2, since that's less prone to error, is that correct?

Dear Katie,

Thank you for your post. I'm am pleased to read that you recognize that your son is able to add double digit numbers, something that is not asked in PS screening or for Kindergarten readiness. Counting bears and putting them in a container does not show a child's ability to problem solve. What does he do when you ask him to show 10 on the abacus? Does he count them out or move all 10 beads? I hope he moves all ten beads because he is able to see the 5 and 5. He does not need to rely on counting to "see" quantities.

Please know that your son is not behind other kindergarten children. You can certainly take comfort in this. All you need to do is look at any traditional kindergarten text to be quickly comforted in the fact that RightStart is setting a firm foundation of math understanding for your child. I would like to invite you to consider continuing to homeschool your son in math even if you do choose to send him to PS for the rest of his education. This is what I do with my children. I do this because I have a passion for how I believe math can be taught for understanding and I believe that RightStart is the curriculum that teaches for understanding like no other curriculum.

I know this answer is more than the question you asked. Yes, your son will be able to count out quantities when needed and he will grow in this skill as he matures in his understanding of math concepts. however, do note that there really are few times in our lives when we are asked to count things out by ones. The most we are ever asked to do this has traditionally been in an elementary classroom.

Please feel free to post, email or call with any other RS questions you might have.

Sincerely, Rosine