Customer
Comments
These are some of the letters received from purchasers of the
Ray's Arithmetic.
Letters from Customers:
Thank you again for my
order. I put the CD in my computer last night and looked over
the material with my husband. This is a treasure and I'm glad you are keeping it alive and sharing it. I noticed
that the inside cover of my CD Jacket was personalized. You offer an excellent service.
Tisha
Our Experience:
My children seem to be thrilled with this math program. Previously, they cried and
complained about the Saxon books (even though I feel they learned a great deal from them). My oldest son (17) had
all but given up on math because he disliked the program so much. I didn't want to yank them out of the Saxon books
because I didn't know about another program I approved of until I read about Ray's Arithemtic on your website. We
just started this week (Monday and Tuesday). We've only completed two Articles, but the participation,enthusiasm
and comprehension of the children has been so encouraging. My son (the one who hated math) has come alive and has
had his confidence rebuilt in just two lessons. We started doing the lessons together so that I could make sure
they understood the difference in the delivery of the Ray's Arithmetic compared to Saxon. Now they are anxious to
go back to self-teaching again. I guess you can say they're off and running. Once they have completed an Article,
we will go over the lessons together for a time to make sure they are grasping the material. I love the way they
introduce every little concept the student will encounter in understanding Algebra. I think that's what have
boosted the children's confidence in their ability to tackle this subject. They don't see Algebra as some
mysterious concept that they will never understand. They see it as an extention of the basic math they have already
learned. I truly love the approach the lesson takes in teaching such a complicated subject. I really wish I had
heard about these books earlier. Once I purchase the CDs, I will switch my 10 ydd and 5 yr old son to the Ray's
Arithmetic. They are even excited about starting the math books too. You may be wondering why I'm writing you so
soon after starting, but I have not been very encouraged lately about my children's attitude and progress in math.
I was down-hearted to say the least (especially about my 17 year old). I have a 19 ydd who is also doing the
lessons with us. She is preparing for college and needed to refresh her memory of Algebra. She took Algebra from a
correspondence school and though she did well, she didn't seem to retain what she learned. I have printed some
sample lessons of Ray's Primary and Intellectural Arithmetic from a website selling the books. I started using what
I printed with the two youngest and they are so happy and excited with this new math program. I just can't believe
the difference in them. It's like they were let out of jail and are once again free . I hate to put it in those
terms, but that's the analogy that best fits their sudden interest and adulation with math. I just hope their
enthusiasm continues as the lessons become more difficult.
I apologize for the long e-mail. You asked for parents' response on the website and I
couldn't contain my excitement and appreciation for this program. I will be happy to write you again to tell you
about how the kids are progressing with Ray's Arithmetic. In trying to convince the children of trying out the
program, I mentioned to them that Ray's Arithmetic was published and used way before the Saxon math books were ever
created. They seemed to like that bit of information. If you have any questions or suggestions, your e-mails will
be very much appreciated. Thanks so much!
Colleen
Hello Aaron,
I just wanted to take a few minutes and let you know how much we have enjoyed using the
Ray’s Arithmetic in our homeschool. We have four students – ages 8, 6 (7 next month), 5, and 3. They all have
different learning styles, and they all learn differently than my teaching style. Ray’s has really helped with this
because the lessons are so clear and simple that we can easily supplement with any others tools that will help the
students.
First, I’d like to tell you why I chose Ray’s. To be honest, I first discovered Ray’s before you
started offering the books on CD. I purchased the 8 book series in hard back, as published by Mott Media, and fell
in love with it right away. It is sequential. It teaches math tables (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division, as well as other important conversions). It includes word problems every step of the way. It is
self-reviewing. The concepts covered are wonderful and applicable to daily life. By the time a student finishes the
Practical Arithmetic book, he/she would be ready to get a job and understand basic financial concepts (not that I
expect my 12 year old to go to work, but they could help with the family business and family finances with ease).
The real-world applications of the material in the books were the greatest I had seen. I also loved the Ruth
Beechick Teacher/Parent Guide. Although not a step-by-step teacher’s manual, it had many tips, tricks, and tools to
help teachers and parents use the books effectively, as well as a grade-by-grade lesson planning guide, sample
tests, and games.
Now, if you’ll bear with me, I’d like to share what I didn’t like about the hard-bound set I had at
the time. The main concern was that it ended with the Higher Arithmetic book. Although my oldest was only in
Kindergarten at the time, I was already concerned with what curriculum we might use for high school. Second,
although the lessons are simple and easy to use, I sometimes felt that things were missing. The Beechick guide
helped with this, but my oldest is a worksheet/workbook fanatic.
When I heard of the Ray’s Arithmetic website, I was skeptical at first. I already had the books?
Why would I want them on CD? When I finally checked out the website, I was so pleased to discover that the books
covered on the CDs went all the way through Calculus! There went that problem. The CDs also solved the problem of
my worksheet-loving daughter. I could print the pages for the lesson, and she could write the answers right onto
the page. The price was unbeatable. I could get at least 6 additional books for $30 less than what I paid for the
hardbound books. Not to mention the fact that an additional $59 was still considerably less than I would pay for
one year of high school math. The Manual of Methods book was a wonderful aid in my teaching style. While it was not
as comprehensive and clear as the Beechick guide, it did help me look at teaching math in a new way. See, I am a
math addict. I love math, algebra, calculus, and trigonometry. I love finding math problems in everyday life and
working them. But I’m not always good at finding ways to teach the basics.
So, how do we use the books? My oldest is now in 3rd grade and using the Intellectual book. I make
a pre-test from the Test Example book and using Beechick’s book as a guide. Then, we cover the unit and focus on
concepts she had problems with in the pre-test. I use the hardbound book as my copy, and I print the pages from the
CD for her worksheets. Occasionally I will make additional worksheets, or find them on the Internet, to give
additional practice. Once we’ve covered the unit or lesson for a few days, I give a post-test. If she still has
problems, we’ll cover the material again. This has been very effective in helping her understand her problem areas,
and it satisfies her need for the worksheets.
My son is in 2nd grade and has a very different learning style. He is a hands-on learner and
doesn’t like writing things down. He is in the 2nd half of the Primary Arithmetic book. I do the same things for
him that I do for my oldest, but we also work the problems manually – something my oldest never enjoyed. We do a
worksheet style pre-test, study the concepts he doesn’t understand, then do a post-test. He likes doing the word
problems and, like me, he finds real-world problems daily and talks through them. My older two are already teaching
my younger two the addition tables. They talk about it non-stop.
My 5-year old is technically in kindergarten but doing first grade work. She is just starting the
Primary book, but she already has an understanding that her older siblings didn’t have. While the first portion of
the Primary book is oral lessons, it gives us targets for things she needs to understand before moving on. The
counting lessons are a great guide for helping her understand numbers. She is another worksheet/workbook fiend, so
I make a lot of counting worksheets for her to help her practice writing the numbers and counting. We will probably
be working on this through most of this year, but she will be more than ready for addition once we start.
My youngest is 3 and not quite ready for formal math, but again, we use the Ray’s as a guide for
her. We focus a lot on shapes and time and calendars, but we’ve also been slowly working through the first few
counting lessons and writing numbers. She already counts to 20 (mostly) and copies numbers non-stop. She recognizes
them when she sees them and loves counting people, fingers, forks, plates, beans, clothes, groceries… I think you
get the idea.
Another thing I wanted to mention is that because the books are logically organized, the concepts
are built one upon another. This makes it very easy for students to transition to different thought processes as
they mature. I have never seen another math curriculum like this. Many other programs out there, while certainly
effective, are not logical in this manner. Of course, they are also considerably more expensive. My students have
found it very easy to apply these logical thought processes to other things such as Sudoku puzzles (we do them
about once a week), jigsaw puzzles, real-world problems, carpentry project, sewing projects, grocery shopping, etc.
They are currently working on building a rocket (which they plan to ride in to the Moon – I know…it will take them
a long time and they never finish it, but they are applying their logic processes to the problems they encounter in
this project). The value in the Ray’s Arithmetic books is so much more than just math. It is certainly the most
“bang for the buck.”
We fully plan to use the Ray’s Arithmetic series throughout our homeschool years. Once I saw the
Ray’s books, I knew it was the program for us. Thank you for helping to make such a wonderful resource available to
homeschooling families. While the hard-bound books are not that expensive, having them available on CD has been an
even better investment. Of all the things I have purchased for our homeschool, the Ray’s CDs are my 2nd favorite
thing (our unit study curriculum is my first – sorry). By the way, I am constantly trying to convert other
homeschoolers to the Ray’s math books. So, I just might be sending more customers your way.
Sincerely,
Mandi
Ray's is great if you can get used to thinking about teaching and
learning math differently than most of us had it in our own education. Read the Ray's teacher's manual a few times
over. This was also written by Ruth Beechick. She gives the big picture rather than all the details, but I think
the reason is we are so used to having each day's work told to us of what we are to do. Ray's, rather, presented
the content of the next topic to be learned, each topic and content to its own lesson, and Ray's left it to the
teacher to teach the content and drill the content and test the content in the way that fit her own style and
personality.
The idea was that each lesson, each topic, the content of each topic, didn't have a time period
associated with it. When we think of modern math textbooks, we equate one lesson with one day. But with Ray's, the
content of each lesson was to be worked on however long it took for the child to master the content, whether one
day or one month, it didn't matter. You stayed there until the child knew that topic and was ready to go on to the
next.
The advantages to the Ray's approach are many: there is no such thing as failures in math with
Ray's, because a child works on the lesson until he has mastered it. Contrast this to the modern way of doing one
lesson each day. If a child doesn't get something in the lesson the first day it is presented to him, he might get
half his problems wrong for that lesson. Of course, you go back and work with him on it, but he has the stigma in
his mind of, "I got only a 50% on my math today, that's not good." He develops the idea that he isn't good at
math.
Also, Ray's can be used with bright children or slower children, it matters not. A bright child
might master the the content of the lesson in a day or two. He is then free to go on to the next. He isn't held
back. The slower child might master the content in two weeks. He is then free to go on to the next. He isn't made
to feel as if he isn't "caught up" to where he is supposed to be, because Ray's is set up as a series of content to
be mastered, not as 3rd grade math, 4th grade math, etc. The bright child who "gets it" isn't forced to do two
weeks of lessons teaching the same content as in modern math, and so avoids boredom, and the slower child isn't
rushed through two weeks of lessons teaching the same content if he really needs to spend four weeks on it, and so
he avoids labeling himself in his own mind as no good at math.
Because Ray's is ungraded, the lessons are not keyed to 1st grade, 2nd grade and so on, anyone can
begin where they are and not feel as if they are doing "baby" work.
As for games and measurements: I also recommend The Three R's by Ruth Beechick. Another good
resource for games and unconventional ways to teach the measurement concepts as well as other arithmetic concepts
is Family Math and Family Math for Young Children. Most public libraries have these, and you can check them out and
see if it would be something you want to purchase or not. Something nice about Family Math: the games are written
so that adults as well as young children, and all the ages in between, can play the same game together, each at
their own level. So you can have family game night and play math games instead of scrabble or something once in a
while and the whole family can have fun with it.
Christine
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