Hi everyone! Welcome to another homeschool curriculum forum post. Today we’re talking all about math!
As most of you know I have previously tried both Abeka and Saxon math. Abeka was okay for the younger years, but flashcards just weren’t doing it for us. We needed something more hands on as well as something that better explained the various skills we were learning.
We switched to Math U See. While this curriculum was working well for us, I ventured over to Saxon for a bit just to see how it worked. After finding myself explaining Saxon lessons using our Math U See blocks and examples, we switched back to Math U See and haven’t looked back since.
One thing to know about MUS is that they do teach to mastery, and that means your student might not learn a certain skill right off the bat. They build on concepts so that the math skills actually make sense for your student.
Students also use the MUS visual manipulatives to help further understand whatever skill they are working at the time. However to my surprise the students do not become depending on the manipulatives to solve problems. They’re simply hands on training tools to use until a concept is mastered.
Pros:
- Hands on learning.
- Teaches to mastery.
- Visual aids to help explain various skills.
Cons:
- Skills are taught in a non-traditional order.
- Manipulatives can be pricey unless purchased used.
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite Math curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards MATH, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Click here if you missed my previous Homeschool Curriculum Forum posts!
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
When I started homeschooling we used Abeka for math. My oldest daughter did well with it but when it came time to start homeschooling my next child I switched to Singapore. My husband basically nagged me into doing it. I should have listened to my instincts and stayed with Abeka. We did Singapore for one year and it was awful! It confused my oldest daughter, frustrated my second child and just didn’t work with my teaching style. In the end we went back to Abeka and we are sticking with it! My third child will join our homeschool next year and I fully intend to start her out on Abeka too!
Let’s see, my (rising high school freshman) absolutely enjoys MUS so much that she wants to stick with it all during high school. My middle daughter (rising 7th grader) doesn’t like math at all even though she’s been using MUS throughout as well. So, I just bought Life of Fred for her. This dd. loves to read and LOF does get rave reviews from many people. I don’t know whether I will use it as a supplement or as her complete curriculum, though the creator of LOF says it’s complete as is. I thought of pairing it with MUS or TT. My other kids have always used MUS with mixed results. Honestly, I think math is less about the curriculum than the person using it. Some people (like my oldest) just love math, some don’t. They still have to learn it, but math may never become their favorite subject.
We will be starting Grade 3 in the Fall and will be continuing to use Singapore Math. We have used it from Kindergarten. I have to say that I am really, really pleased with it. We use it in conjunction with a math drills app on the old I-pad. We also supplement with a lot of drill books that we pick-up at the local book store or at Staples. The combination has meant that my ds know his times tables inside out and does most equations are done mentally. If there is any challenge it is that there are a lot of recommended manipulatives in Singapore Math and ds gets very easily distracted by them. Additionally, ds has so language processing issues and so is still not able to read the questions on his own. If read to him, he can answer without issue but it makes for very much a front and center teaching.
End point, we would highly recommend Singapore Math.
I have homeschooled for 3 years. I have used Abeka from the beginning. My daughter is a slower learning and Abeka moves pretty fast, but I have added some homemade worksheets where needed. This next year we will be continuing with Abeka. We will be doing a little lapbooking/notebooking in addition to the textbook. She seems to learn the concept very well from Abeka.
I am right there with you Bridgett! We love Abeka. It does move quickly but I keep a close eye on how my girls are doing. If I see them struggling to grasp a concept then we simply take a few extra days to work on it. I find worksheets online that deal with whatever it is we are struggling with and after a few extra days of practice they are good to go. 🙂
Even though we have dabbled with some other math programs in all our years of homeschooling, we have always come back to Math U See. I encourage people, though, to try to stay with one program as much as possible since each one teaches concepts in just a little different order, manner, and speed.
We use Right Start and absolutely love it! Very hands on. I love how it teaches strategies for solving problems. My first grader loves doing math and playing the card games that are part of the program!
My oldest, who is finishing 2nd grade right now, has only used Abeka and I think both him and I are ready for a change. He is very strong in Math with very little assistance from me and it seems like Abeka is getting boring to him. I’m deciding between Teaching Textbooks and Math-U-See. Could somebody tell me if Teaching Textbooks is a spiral approach? Or mastery like Math-U-See? I may consider Math-U-See for my upcoming Kindergartner because he loves Legos as others have mentioned.
I posted about the same thing up at the top, I got a lot of good replies from different people, you should go check them out! Teaching Textbooks has a wonderful section where your child can try the program online. There are several COMPLETE lessons on there. 🙂
TT is definitely spiral. They continue reviewing all throughout each year.
We have used MUS in the early years but starting in gamma (multiplication), my oldest who is not a math lover just wasn’t getting the concepts and wasn’t learning her multiplication tables well. I came across Times Tales and that has been the key for her to learn her multiplication tables. It is very simple but basically puts each of the harder multiplication facts into a story. Now if she’s stuck all I have to say is “Mrs. Weeks & the first grade class” and she knows the answer (7×6=42) based off the little story that goes along with that problem. Because she strongly disliked MUS though, we switched her to TT4 for this year. It’s a little behind where I’d like her to be just because I find TT a little behind but I think she is learning and has been exposed to things that MUS doesn’t cover – at least not at this age.
For my son who loves math (2nd grade this year) I am trying to decide whether to stick with MUS or switch to Horizons for 3rd grade. Anyone have any thoughts about switching??
I have a 2nd and 6th grader. We have done Saxon from the beginning, but in the last year, we were introduced to Life of Fred. Our boys absolutely love it!
Saxon was great in repeating (spiral effect) to make sure they retain what they learned, but my oldest was having a hard time understanding why they don’t explain why you do the problems (it was more a drill/kill). We do like Saxon, but as they got older, it was getting to “mundane” for them.
Life of Fred has been a great blessing to our boys. They beg to do math every day. If you are not familiar with Life of Fred, each chapter is a story (only about 3 pages); then there are questions at the end. Every story gives the child an understanding of how math is used in everyday life. The stories are very entertaining, and my child does not want to stop after the first chapter. Plus through the stories, you learn other things as well (English, Science, History, etc.). This is considered a full curriculum; so we plan to move forward with this. With my youngest, since he loves the stories and has been learning; we just keep moving forward (he’s gone through 7 books since last fall); I do throw in some supplement work on the side once in the while.
We are also using Life of Fred this year. I was hoping someone else was also. I am not 100% sold on it so we have stuck with our saxon also. We tried MUS but neither of my kids (1st and 2nd) liked it. Its a little much to do both Saxon and LOF but my kids LOVE doing them so I guess we will continue this next year.
HUGE Life of Fred fans here!! We don’t use any math “curriculum” but we bought a couple of these just for fun, to see what our daughter thought, and she voluntarily decided to go through the whole elementary series!
She got farther in a year and a half of doing that whenever she felt like it, than she had in six years of public school math. I can’t say enough good things about Fred. I enjoy when we read him – and learn new things too – and I was a math major!
Also a huge Life of Fred fan aswell! I love the Fred tries now you try format.
We love Life of Fred! I homeschool my first grader, third grader and fourth grader and they all love it!
I guess we are kind of eclectic right now when it comes to Math..We are currently using Singapore EarlyBird Kindergarten and he seems to like it..I am also going to add MUS Primer and HWTears , Get Set for School Math..as well for him..I personally like all of them and each one seems to be what my son likes so I guess I am still exploring..Meanwhile, we will have fun with all of them..