Hello,

I did RightStart Levels A and B with my son (now second grade), and RS Level A with my daughter when she was 4 (now Kindergarten--she's advanced). I loved RS but felt it was requiring too much of my involvement so I switched to Singapore Math.

Months into it and I'm still not liking Singapore. I can see my daughter failing to grasp concepts that I felt my son grasped well; I don't think it's because of *her* (she's actually way ahead), but because RS explained it better than Singapore. When I interrupt the Singapore method and explain it in RS language, my daughter gets it better. All the cartoonish drawings in Singapore are mildly irritating to me and I think Singapore expects fine motor skills too soon, whereas RS didn't require several pages of worksheets daily in Levels A or C.

So, I'm actually considering switching BACK to RightStart. I'm concerned about having "wasted" half a year and now my son will be nearly finished with second grade and just *starting* RS Level C. He'll be behind, how will I ever catch him up, worry worry, blah blah blah.

Any thoughts about how to switch (again)? Is there a placement test I should give either of my kids?

Regretting ever leaving,
Katherine, mother of four

Hi, Katherine! My name is Rachel and I am happy to help you today.

I am sorry you left, too! However, don't worry too much about catching up. I have helped many parents (without a RSM background) who is MUCH further behind than your son might be. The first step for you is to complete our online placement test. Here is the link: http://rightstartmath.com/home-school/placement-test. From there, you need to go ahead and get the level it suggests for your son...most likely Level C. With that being said, I HIGHLY recommend the Second Edition of the program. Having taught both the First Edition for my first three children and the Second Edition with my fourth child, I can say that the Second Edition is even better!!! There is more review, more games, more activities, and more math concepts taught. As a teacher, I love the layout of the new edition, as well.

If you find that you need Level C, don't skip through lessons to 'try to catch up quicker'. There are so many nuggets of information your son will need to continue building a solid math foundation. You can group some of the lessons together to do more than one lesson a day (I have done this in the past with my kids and it has worked out very well). Also, you may want to consider doing a couple math lessons a week during the summer. I did this one year to 'catch up' and I found that their learning in the fall was SO MUCH BETTER! So, now, I teach some math, Spanish, and reading over the summer every year.

The key here is to not panic! You are not that far behind and your son will catch up fairly easily. Take it one step at a time and just keep 'plugging' away. AND don't switch again! ;-)

If you have any further questions, please feel free to repost here or email RightStart Math directly at info@rightstartmath.com.

Have a fabulous day!
Rachel