zaichiki: the issues are the same as what others mentioned. SM is great for handing to *some* kids and letting them have at it. A friend does this w/ no instruction from her but her DS who is gifted in math, thinks the SM way before he even started SM.
ANd yes, people complain SM doesn't have enough review built it but that's what the IP,EP,CWP books are for. For the ones I've seen, it appears it's that the curriculum wasn't used as intended and that's why it failed. It's not a failure of the curriculum. I LOVE SM and have a lot invested in the books, CWP etc.
Rightstart Math is what I use as my spine and supplement w/ SM and it's identical to SM conceptually although the scope and sequence is a bit different. But over and over people will post how it's just not working, DC is not retaining, DC can't do mental math and someone will ask, "Are you playing the games?" The response, "Well, uh, no, we never seem to get around to them." Or you get "There isn't enough review in RS." That's where the games come in. And yes, my son hit a wall w/ multiplication b/c we weren't playing the games enough lol but until this point (RS D) he's never needed the games.
The comment I read often is that SM is soooo cheap and RS is sooo expensive. Then you read about the problems. Well, by the time you add in the HIGs, CWP, EP etc the price is only about $10 cheaper than RS.
The great thing about SM having the parts, if your kid doesn't need it, don't buy the EP. If kid needs some review but a bit more challenge, get the IP etc. It is easy to taylor but I also think as one poster put it on WTM, SM is deceptively simple.
