my 7yo and 8yo (grade 2 and 3) have seemed to have forgotten many concepts of math over the last 8 weeks we took off. i know i shouldn't have done that but we were extremely busy and they were getting very burned out on math. we stopped when they were both about halfway through level b and c, respectively. i have been frustrated the last week of math lessons b/c they just don't remember their facts or the strategies on how to figure them out. we have reviewed and played the games. they just don't remember. at this point i feel like i have wasted the entire last year of math lessons! i have 2 options now as far as I see it: start at the beginning of each level OR switch math curriculums. i really love right start and it has worked very well for my oldest dd 10yo who is just starting level E. she loves it, understands math, and it works for her. it appeals to her to. i am concerned that as a fifth grader she has not gotten into division much but hopefully she will pick that up this year! i do not want to start at the beginning of each level. i also don't have the money to buy something totally new. mostly i am concerned about my 7yo. she just isn't getting it! we counted by 5's today and she couldn't even remember that...she had it down pat just 2 months ago! i'm realy frustrated right now and need some advice. i'm really leaning towards getting something else for the 7yo. she hates math and really hates playing the games. the 8yo will do anything. she likes it just can't remember. i think i can bring her back up to where she used to be. what to do? i'm leaning toward math u see for the 7yo maybe the 8yo also. i feel like rs is just doing too much jumping around for her!

Linda,

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Make it a great day,

Cassie
Activities for Learning-RightStart™ Mathematics
Cassie@ALabacus.com
www.ALabacus.com

Our Mission: To help children understand, apply, and enjoy mathematics.

I, too, find that my daughter gets rusty very quickly. We jumped out of multiplication and division only a short while ago to do the geometry near the end of Level E. Then, near the end of the book, it introduces long division.

Her speed at multiplication and division as she works her way through it, and even subtraction, are painfully slow all over again.

This makes me nervous, as in a few weeks we'll begin A Geometric Approach, and I wonder, what on earth is going to happen to her basic skills as we delve around in there? I'm hoping they stay reinforced by calculations within geometry, but will also be using Life of Fred, the Zillio Math Mountain, and Hand-On-Equations before we get to Video Text. I can't let her just do the geometry, she needs to keep getting experience and ease with her basic skills. Until they come super-easily, they need constant refreshment, with games, games, games, and application.

Does that mean that Right Start is the wrong program? No, not at all. Does it mean that they suffer after a break? It definitely does. It's no coincidence that most of the fall at schools is spent on review. Especially in math, which, as has often been said in the Right Start world, is like a foreign language. Constant exposure is the only key to fluency.

You can take a break. But it almost always means taking a step back, especially when they weren't "fluent" to begin with. Don't be scared. Play lots of games, and move slowly forward in the lessons until it's coming more easily again. They'll get there.

I'm not scared about the fall. I'll just be sure to reinforce her thinking and calculating with more "games." Life of Fred is a game to her, so that's one of them.