Anyone who has ever hosted a podcast knows the magic of finally landing a guest you’ve been hoping to interview for years. Today, I have the extraordinary privilege of sharing a conversation with Dr. Joan Cotter.
As a young mom, Montessori teacher, and PhD student in math education, Dr. Cotter began developing what would become one of the most beloved math curricula in the U.S. homeschooling community and around the world. Right Start Math is a creative, gamified, hands-on math program designed for children from PreK through 8th grade.
Right Start Math is a rare gem that meets all of Modulo’s criteria for a strong math program:
It’s mastery-based, allowing children to move at their own pace through a sequence that aligns with how math learning actually works.
It emphasizes deep conceptual understanding over rote memorization of procedures.
It’s fun and engaging for children. Kids love it.
The customer-feedback loop is child-centric. It’s constantly evolving based on feedback to better meet the needs of learners.
It’s designed specifically to support families and caregivers helping their children with math (whether they have teaching experience or not), as opposed to being designed to support schools and trained math educators.
Right Start is a treasure in the homeschooling world and one of the only curricula we recommend for gifted learners who thrive with hands-on learning, as well as students with dyscalculia and ADHD. In a world where everyone (and their second cousin) seems to be launching AI math tutors, it’s worth taking a closer look at this extraordinary program, developed by a teacher, continually evolving to serve children better over the past 40 years. In fact, I learned on the podcast that Dr. Cotter still revises the program almost every day.
One of the most striking aspects of Right Start is its exceptional customer support. They have learning specialists available to speak with families directly as they navigate the program, ensuring every child can thrive, no matter their learning profile or their parent’s confidence in math.
I deeply believe that evolving our K12 education system takes everybody, not just teachers, not just bureaucrats, not just education experts. Everyone should be involved and everyone should be encouraged to innovate in this space. And everyone has valuable experience and feedback to bring from 12 years of schooling or alternative education.
However, I often worry that attention and funding are disproportionately given to projects led by individuals skilled in raising capital and marketing, rather than those with deep expertise in teaching and learning. Hiring a teacher onto a team is valuable, but it’s not the same as a program built by a teacher for her own children, and honed over decades to meet real, evolving needs.
Moreover, a bespoke program that’s in close contact with its community can be more powerful to a child’s learning than an adaptive learning app or AI tutor build to scale rapidly (and sometimes conflicted between its accountability to investors and its mission to serve children)
Dr. Cotter’s Right Start Math is truly a rare gem, and one we should all be paying closer attention to.
Watch it on YouTube
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Resources
Right Start has levels, rather than grades. They suggest each student take a placement test to determine the best level for them. We’ve provided approximate equivalents for each grade, we also recommend you take a placement test here
Materials:
Materials for every level (you only need to purchase this once)
Right Start Tutoring Program
Right Start Math Levels
Level A (Approximately kindergarten/1st grade)
High School (Algebra through Calculus)
Note that high school has three different programs, Video Text, which is a good choice for self-directed, visual learners who love youtube and learning through videos, Art of Problem Solving which is a great option for independent students who prefer more of an interactive approach. They start with the problems, encouraging students to figure it out on their own and then provide step-by-step solutions with pictures. These can be done independently without a teacher. Finally, Jacob’s includes Geometry and Algebra only, includes a teacher script and requires support from a teacher/caregiver.
Affiliate Disclaimer: Modulo has a partnership with Right Start Math, which means we may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. We only recommend resources we truly believe in and have carefully vetted for our community.
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