MATH

Overview of Ray's Arithmetic

Three Stages of Math Learning in Ray's Arithmetic:

• Manipulative Stage - Most early work is done using real objects such as balls, checkers, counting blocks, or food.
• Mental Image Stage - Later, work is completed in the head using mental images of the objects.
• Abstract Stage - Gradually, objects and images are dropped and students learn to compute with digits, which comes quickly due to the first two stages.

Ray's Arithmetic teaches arithmetic by starting with rules and principles, building knowledge piece by piece, and guiding students from simple to complex. Even in the first book, Ray's Arithmetic incorporates story problems. Students read simple sentences which lay out real-life problems that require the student to decide whether to add, subtract, multiply or divide. The student must arrive at the answer mentally.

"A student raised on Ray's will not even know he should be fearful of "story problems" because from day one every problem is posed in a sentence format."