Rays Arithmetic Series (8 Volume Set) [Hardcover]

Joseph Ray (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0880620501 | ISBN-13: 978-0880620505 | Publication Date: June 1, 1985

Combination of hard cover and soft cover. Mott Media has Republished the Version of Ray's Arithmetic from the late 1870's and early 1880's! Ray's Arithmetics teach arithmetic in an orderly fashion, starting from rules and principles, building knowledge piece by piece, leading pupils from simple to complex. From the very first pages, Ray's Arithmetics incorporate what has become the scourge of today's math students - story problems. Students must READ simple sentences which pose real life problems, decide whether to add, subtract, multiply or divide, and finally arrive at the answer - sometimes mentally - sometimes in writing. Ray's Arithmetics students learn arithmetic, increase their reading comprehension skills, and learn to think rather than plod through page after page of addition or subtraction problems with a one-line direction at the top of each page. 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. Most early work is to be done with real objects such as fruit, counting blocks, or marbles. Later it is to be done in the head with mental images of the objects. When children are ready to think symbolically, they gradually drop their use of objects and images and learn to compute quickly with digits. Thus the child is carefully led through three growth states in arithmetic: 1) the manipulative stage, 2) the mental image stage, 3) the abstract stage. Over 120 million copies were sold in American education's golden age. Many millions of children used these Arithmetics in the generations that produced Edison, Bell, and Ford. Now it's your turn.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Mott Media (June 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880620501
• ISBN-13: 978-0880620505
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.4 x 4.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete arithmetic for homeschooling, March 17, 2009

By 

E. Whelan "Mom" (Central WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rays Arithmetic Series (8 Volume Set) (Hardcover)

I am delighted with the Ray's books and my daughter who is in 1st grade seems to be less distracted by doing these books that the litany of workbooks and more flashy things we have used. I like that it is repetitive in a way but since it uses a lot of word problems(which I read to her or help her read at this point) it is not boring.
I am less satisfied that Amazon was not very clear in listing the specific titles in the series and we ended up purchasing a seperate Key which came with the set after all so we wasted our money there.
Just as a FYI, the titles include:
Parent-Teacher Guide (by Ruth Beechick)
Primary Arithmetic
Intellectual Arithmetic
Practical Arithmetic
Higher Arithmetic
Key: Primary, Intellectual, Practical
Key to Higher Arithmetic
Test Examples in Arithmetic

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best texts for the best price, July 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rays Arithmetic Series (8 Volume Set) (Hardcover)

Ray's Arithmetics offers the best of all I liked about other popular homeschooling programs (and more) at a fraction of their cost. The lessons are sensible and practical, and they will take us through the eighth grade, from learning to count and read numbers to doing college-level business math. The teacher's guide, which is written by Ruth Beechick, provides an outline and tips on teaching each grade level. Here is her entry for the chapter on Grade 2 : "Teaching Second Grade - A Typical Day - A Typical Week's Schedule - Planning Guide - Progress Record - Testing Second Graders - Test Schecule - Unit Tests - Answer Key for Unit Tests." She offers outlines for fitting lessons into a 36-week year. She also includes a chapter on interesting projects and games that help teach everything from counting to geometry and measures. The books are compact and well-made, so they will fit on my already-crowded bookshelf and they will last through all our children. This eight-book set is perfect for parents who are not impressed with bells and whistles and slick packaging: Ray's Arithmetics look old-fashioned, inside and out. The exercises are practical word problems written using 19th-century prices and situations, which is charming and could be used to enhance a unit study on that era. Ruth Beechick recommends taking care in the eighth-grade year to strengthen any weaknesses that are apparent before going on to algebra, probability, navigation, and so on. I'm excited about learning along with the children. I see many things in these books that I wish I understood, but never was taught, not even in college. When we're finished, the children and I will KNOW math, and I will no longer feel helpless when it comes to our insurance and investments. I highly recommend Ray's Arithmetics.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great price - great education, August 3, 2002

By 

"turbofamily" (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rays Arithmetic Series (8 Volume Set) (Hardcover)

I love this series. It's practical, productive, and, most of all, interesting - it keeps my children's interest. I have natural mathematicians and struggling ones in our homeschooling family, but this suits all of them equally. Math is no longer avoided by the ones that find math challenging. The natural development of the mind is addressed by this unique but "old-fashioned" style. The parent's guide offers clear instructions to assist the learning schedule and process.