I have been a bit unsettled about using Rod and Staff math with my son, who is coming to homeschool from ps 5th. He is a great math student, but was frustrated with the wordy explanations he would have to give on paper for a correctly done problem at school. It sucked the joy out for him. I wondered if R&S would suck the joy out also, since there are so many problems and it looks as though there will be a good deal of review for him.
My husband, who is an engineer, finally had the chance to look through the R&S 6 book last night. I wanted his opinion since he is so math oriented and has spent his adult life solving real world problems. He gave it a green light....GO!
Some remarks as he skimmed each lesson:
"This is practical, useful stuff"
"I use this (forgot what part exactly) every day in my job"
" they are building a strong foundation for what is to come"
" even the word problems teach you something". (Here, he was referring to some cement block ones and rate of weight gain of a hog....all useful stuff). This word problem comment was one *I* had somehow failed to recognize. But, if you start looking at them, there is something other than math to be learned in most.
"This book is laid out in a straight-forward, logical way"
"Most people can't do this...this is so important" (he was looking at lesson 40)
There were many other comments, but these I remember. Now, I am also coming home from teaching in ps with the common core. The folks pushing STEM in my school were NOT math inclined and have never had their livelihood depend on real, practical, problem solving math. They would look at the R&S book and diss it. There are no "projects" "cooperative learning" "21st century skills" "flipped classroom" (insert any buzzword here that you've heard) etc.. They would call it drill and kill. Yet, my husband, whose livelihood has depended on these math skills in a real STEM field gave it a whole-hearted thumbs up.
Are there topics that I taught last year in ps 6th grade that are definitely not in the R&S book? Sure, but in my district anyway, the kids did not "get it" and were shaky as jello on basic math and number sense. I had to teach inequalities anyway, and never felt good about any of it.
We are getting our son ready for *life*, not a yearly standardized test.
With many of us about to embark on a new year, I hope I've given fellow first time R&S math users some peace of mind if there was any doubt.
My husband, who is an engineer, finally had the chance to look through the R&S 6 book last night. I wanted his opinion since he is so math oriented and has spent his adult life solving real world problems. He gave it a green light....GO!
Some remarks as he skimmed each lesson:
"This is practical, useful stuff"
"I use this (forgot what part exactly) every day in my job"
" they are building a strong foundation for what is to come"
" even the word problems teach you something". (Here, he was referring to some cement block ones and rate of weight gain of a hog....all useful stuff). This word problem comment was one *I* had somehow failed to recognize. But, if you start looking at them, there is something other than math to be learned in most.
"This book is laid out in a straight-forward, logical way"
"Most people can't do this...this is so important" (he was looking at lesson 40)
There were many other comments, but these I remember. Now, I am also coming home from teaching in ps with the common core. The folks pushing STEM in my school were NOT math inclined and have never had their livelihood depend on real, practical, problem solving math. They would look at the R&S book and diss it. There are no "projects" "cooperative learning" "21st century skills" "flipped classroom" (insert any buzzword here that you've heard) etc.. They would call it drill and kill. Yet, my husband, whose livelihood has depended on these math skills in a real STEM field gave it a whole-hearted thumbs up.
Are there topics that I taught last year in ps 6th grade that are definitely not in the R&S book? Sure, but in my district anyway, the kids did not "get it" and were shaky as jello on basic math and number sense. I had to teach inequalities anyway, and never felt good about any of it.
We are getting our son ready for *life*, not a yearly standardized test.
With many of us about to embark on a new year, I hope I've given fellow first time R&S math users some peace of mind if there was any doubt.
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