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I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on RightStart level b for DS4.5. It will be my first big homeschooling purchase, so it makes me a little nervous. I see that it's still pretty pricey to go from one level to the next.
I'm curious as to how quickly your child progressed through this curriculum. Looking at the things that the levels cover, it seems that in B there's some stuff he already knows. There's also some things in level C that he already is starting to understand. But I do think that B is the right place to start. I'd just like to have an idea of when I'll need to make a new purchase...

I don't know about the curriculum, but do you actually need all those things? Looks like a lot of money for things that can be purchased separate, made at home or not even needed at all?

I was attracted to this because it's similar to a Montessori program (which would cost more to get the materials for) and my son's been in Montessori for two years and is very attracted to the math materials.
I think you need all the materials if you want to do it all by-the-book, which I think I would want to do, especially since this is my first year. I'm not sure that savings would be that great to DIY-it or get elsewhere when you consider the time involved in doing that.

I guess if that method of instruction works for your child than it's worth the $. I know for us it would be a total waste. If we ever got to do one activity just once if at all, that would be a miracle. My two sons don't like any sort of repetition or hands on learning. They just want to be shown something and move on. I have a ton of stuff I've accumulated over the years thinking they'd use it and they never wanted to do any of it. We are considering homeschooling too but no formal curriculum. Just want to make sure they are at and beyond whatever would be appropriate for their grade level in our district and the rest would be up to them and their interests.

We do a lot of math (unintentionally) with Lego blocks and other kinds of building blocks like Trio or as of last week with Superstructs blocks (they are not cheap but I found them at a local resale store for $5!)

My DS also hates a lot of repetitive activities after you get past a certain point. My thinking was that this would be varied enough. I think I should double-check with the person I know who uses this...

Mana, maybe I will take that approach...not trying to make a commitment to go through all of RightStart, but focusing on it for now. I've got another younger one that I'd hopefully be able to use the materials with, so it's not like it would be a complete waste.

If you're interested, I've also bookmarked this link, which is a collection of resources for DIY Montessori materials. I think someone mentioned that buying all the necessary things to make the bead materials was maybe $50. I was interested....but ain't nobody got time for that round here.

http://www.livingmontessorinow.com/2012/07/31/diy-montessori-materials/

(As I'm posting this, the site seems to be having issues. But it's always worked in the past. Maybe try again later if that's the case for you.)

Mana, not to rub it in but I actually got TWO Superstruct block boxes for $5 each and they were brand new! So we have plenty of blocks to play around with I was going to put it away till a later time but DS4.10 saw it in my bag and I lost the battle. He wanted them out right away! lol

lilmisssunshine, I found the Dollar store to be a great place to get all kinds of learning materials for real cheap too!