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.
Well I might be the only one here to say it..:-) but we use Saxon Math and (gulp) we like it. It took me a couple of years to say that it is worth it, but it works for us!
Kelly
Well I might be the only one here to say it..:-) but we use Saxon Math and (gulp) we like it. It took me a couple of years to say that it is worth it, but it works for us!
Kelly
I have used Math Mammoth since the beginning with my kids and am thinking about trying Saxon next year.
I tried MUS and thought it was too basic and didn’t go through enough subject matter and left important imformation out.
We use McRuffy Math and love it. We started with Saxon but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’m really slow but sometimes I’d have to read over the lesson like 3 times before I understood what it wanted me to do, and then it really bored my daughter. We switched to McRuffy and she absolutely loves it. She would actually ask me if we could please do 2 lessons instead of one. I know it’s not super well known but its wonderful. The teachers guide is so clear and easy to follow. There is almost no preparation involved and each lesson is just one page with fun colors and pictures on it. It doesn’t take long to complete a lesson and many times we end up doing two. It uses the spiral approach which doesn’t work for everyone but its great for those little ones who get bored doing the same thing everyday. There are fun games to play and lots of hands on activities. It only goes through 5th grade, I think. But I would recommend it to anyone!
Loving Beast Academy this year… comic book style math… changed everything for my daughter!
Does mus have coupon codes or ever have a sale?
We have been using Math-u-See for almost 5 years now. It was a welcome change at the time from Saxon which caused my oldest many tears. Though this program has sufficed, it has not met the needs of my oldest who just literally can not stand math. I have also discovered that when doing standardized testing, everything had not been covered with MUS or had only been touched on for a brief moment. Because it also does not review the really practical things….time, money, etc., we ended up supplementing with a Saxon practice workbook this year just to keep those kinds of things in check. The MUS word problems certainly get a little mundane and don’t scream the practicality that it looks like Teaching Textbooks may do. With that said, we are moving to TT for Pre-Algebra. Though my oldest is a visual learner with EVERYTHING else, that doesn’t seem to mean a hill of beans for her with math. TT seems to be the saving grace for many in this situation. I am still contemplating whether or not to go ahead and move my youngest to TT. Her standardized testing in 3rd grade definitely showed that the basic everyday skills were not being covered with MUS. We are learning that every program needs a supplement, which is kind of sad. Can’t wait to see what TT does for us.
My head is just swimming reading all of this. I am going to be homeschooling my 4 sons starting in the Fall and choosing curriculum is literally keeping me awake at night. I love this forum, but feel that I am no closer to a decision after reading all of your comments. I have a 10 yr old who has been taking advanced (6th grade math) though he is in 4th grade, a 9 yr old who seems to share his brother aptitude for Math, and 6 yr old twins who are finishing Kindergarten (they are obsessed with counting and money). Choosing Math curriculum has been my hardest decision, I hate to spend a ton of money on something that we may hate. Help, what do I do??
To supplement the curriculum, I use Luminous Learning math workbooks. They’re good additions to any work you’re already doing with your kids. I like how the problems are spaced out on the pages so that it’s not an overwhelming amount of work per page. Each page in their math workbooks also have helpful “hints”- either example problems or directions to remind students of the math concept. They have a line of summer math workbooks called Summer Math Boosters. Each book has 30 lessons, which comes out to 3 lessons a week for 10 weeks. You can’t buy them in stores, though. They’re only sold online on their website: http://luminouslearning.weebly.com/summer-math-boosters.html
I am looking for recommendations for a math program for my 2nd grader who does well in math. My problem is I do not enjoy teaching math! I am not looking for a “easy math program” as my daughter likes math but one that is easy to teach (scripted, easy to understand, with lots of examples) or partly self taught.
We bought Math u see but I there is no explanation on the workbook pages. They also seem present things in a confusing manner. We have beta and the place value lesson told my child to call the teen’s numbers new names.
Thank you, I am really at a loss! Other info we are using My Fathers World Adventures in U.S history and loving it! I really enjoy teaching it and would use their recommendation of singapore if I wasn’t worried about teaching it. But if someone like me has used it and liked it please let me know!
You say there is no explanation in the workbook – are you using the DVD? You really need the DVD if you’re going to use MUS. Let your daughter watch the 2-minute lesson (as she starts to “get it” you may not even need to watch it with her all the time) and then try the problems in the workbook.
The one-ty two (12) things are not necessary — in Primer they explain that twelve is the nickname because the “-ty” means “tens” so they can think “one-ty” is “one tens” so that they have a better understanding. Personally, I just skip that part and teach my children the regular teens. Other than that section, I have found the program to be pretty good.