Dear Wendy,

Thank you for your post. I believe this quote below from Dr. Cotter explains well the difference between the approach to teaching reading and math.

"The difference between the two approaches lies in the nature of reading and mathematics. Reading and spelling are rote activities, whereas math is the study of patterns and relationships, which are often visualizable. The value of phonics is that it minimizes the amount to be memorized by observing certain regularities. RightStart does teach each strategy separately, but ultimately lets the child decide which one to use. In the case of spelling a word with c or s, ultimately only one is correct. In fact strategies, there is more than one route to the correct solution."(Dr. Cotter07)

In other words, there's more than one way to solve a problem, but only one way to spell a word. (That if if you don't include text messaging.)

Hope this helps. Please feel free to email, call or post any other questions you have regarding RightStart math.

Sincerely, Rosine

Thanks Rosine, I hadn't quite looked at it like that before, and since the results are so well proven, I'm going to rest my mind on that topic.

You know, because I feel such a huge responsibility because I've taken ds out of the norm by hs him, I want to make sure I do right by him and give him a superior education to what he would of recieved in private or ps. I am irritated SM didn't work out as well as I'd hoped for us, but I must confess, I spent alot of time last year choosing everything but math. I saw the articles "Singapore kids are continually #1 on the TIMMS" so I chose it and didn't look any deeper than that. This year I've spent many bleary-eyed hours looking over math curriculum, Ds has major visual perception issues, causing him to be a strong auditory learner, RS seems to be the best I've seen for addressing his kind of learning, I didn't even think about that last year. Ds can better describe something from memory than something right in front of him. Upon learning we were hs, the Dr who tested ds in these areas thought math would be a challenge, but made no recommendations beyond teach to his strengths atleast 80% of the time. I guess I say all this to explain why I've written you so many times before even using RS, and to squeeze in one last question >grin< about RS and auditory (who ofcourse do have to learn visually, too)learners, not so much a question, but do you have any comments on the subject? Thank you, again, -Wendy

Dear Wendy,

The only comment I have is that I believe the more learning styles we present to our children, whatever their preference is the better we serve them in their educational experience. Even with a strength in one area we all learn the best when all learning styles are presented. Sounds to me like you're doing a very good job doing what is best for your son. You can certainly feel good about the education you are providing him.

I hope this answers your questions. Please always feel free to ask more questions. That's what we're here for. :)

Sincerely, Rosine