Any "bad" experiences with Math U See?

[mrsrandolph]

I am leaning toward MUS for my very visual son who has language processing issues.

I am wondering if any of you have used it and if you have had any problems with it.

I want to be sure it doesn't leave any gaps and that the children can solve problems presented in more traditional ways eventually.

Shannon Randolph

Mom to Cassie (6) and Will (5) Schooling with LHFHG,
Ellie (3) "Listening In" to LHFHG,
and Jack (8 months) also "Listening In" : )

[crlacey]

We have only had good experiences and comments about it. My DD enjoys it. And my math whiz DH and school teacher MIL both like it a lot. I know you were asking about bad experiences, but I haven't really come across too many of those yet.

[annaz]

We also had very, very good experiences with it. Mom loves the DVD and the mastery and it took my math phobic dd out of her phobia.

[Motherjoy]

We use Math U See and like it, but I want to address the following:

I want to be sure it doesn't leave any gaps and that the children can solve problems presented in more traditional ways eventually.

Math U See is organize differently than other math programs. Students are not taught all of the functions (add, subtract, multiply, divide) at once like in Singapore. Because of this, students may not test well when using MUS until they are past the fourth book (around fourth grade). The writer of MUS cares nothing about what is taught in traditional settings or the order it is taught in. He wants to teach math logically and effeciently. If testing is required or if you are very dependent on having 'good' test score, MUS may not be for you.

I went with MUS for two reasons: 1) when I watched the intro dvd I actually understood some simple concept for the first time. It was awesome! I always tested VERY well, but I had no idea why I was doing what I was doing. I knew the formulas, but not the reasoning. 2) I liked MUS from PK-12. I wanted a program that we could stick with all the way through.

MUS probably takes a bit longer, depending on the child and the particular lesson, than Singapore. So just remember to work that into your day.

[gingel]

Hi!

I can't say we had a "bad" experience w/MUS Alpha, but it wasn't as successful as I would have liked. My daughter has a rough time with math, so I had high hopes for doing most of our math with manipulatives. We did about 1/4 of the book last year. What I learned through the program is that my dd also needs the same concept presented in many different forms before she finally has that "aha" moment. The Alpha book usually only presented a math concept in one form, but with lots of practice. Trying to do more of the same when she wasn't getting it was really frustrating .

Also, in hindsight, we should have spent more time memorizing which colors were which numbers (ie the blue is 10, the brown is...)

I'm still looking for that "perfect" math program so that she'll love math as much as history or reading! (ok, at least not dread doing math everyday! )

[moedertje]

Hello,

I have recently switched from Singapore to Math-U-See. My son is finishing 'Primer". He had to get used to it, but he is just doing great at it and has slowly fallen in love with it.

One of my main reasons for switching to Math-U-See is, because it is the most friendly Math-Phobic-Mom program out there. It is by far the best program out there for those Mom's who are a little nervous teaching math.

The other beauty of it is that it is great for all learning styles, it is excellent at teaching concept based math through all levels, Steve teaches in the videos and most kids like that, it is a spiraling program and has plenty of drills worked into it. I was very excited to see that even at Kindergarten level they have simple word problems. We are doing 1 1/2 lesson per week and my ds of 3 gets a kick out of getting to watch his brothers Math-video with him.

The one thing I did learn by doing Carrie's Math in LHFHG is that if you are not sure your child gets the concept all the way, that you implement that concept in everyday life situations, for instance repeat counting by 5's with tally marks, gold fish, pennies and nickels, groups of other objects sorted in 5's, just get creative. That is why it's important that we as mom's (and dad's) understand the concept that is being taught to our child and now I do!

If Math is your child's strong side the program just leads him to move at a faster pace. So you may have a child who is able to cover more than 1 book a year and is doing great.

I'm a bit long winded, but hope this helps you in your decision making. And as always I would recommend seeking the Lord on it and sticking with what He tells you to use!

[lil'ladies]

My dd's hated MUS. I loved it, it was so easy to teach, but they really hated doing math with MUS.

It turns out my kids 'like' plain old workbooks. We switched to saxon now, and they love math.

[ksjk3]

My dd who's 10 liked MUS in the beginning, but when we reached Delta, the division year, it became very labor intensive. Lots of long division problems over and over again. She really needed more variety and "fun" added to her day. By the end of her 4th grade year, she disliked math even more. Keep in mind it's never been her strongest subject., and she too had vision problems. Hence, she needs lots of active learning to help retain information.

I was disappointed in MUS's coverage of time and money. Though it has a lot of problem solving, I wish it taught the different kinds of problem solving individually . . . extra information, patterning, drawing a picture, making a table, working backwards, etc. Also, I felt the coverage in geometry was very weak.

I have decided to switch to Moving with Math with my daughter. So far, I'm very pleased with the variety of math skills covered, and it has a lot of fun activities/games to teach the concepts. We aren't just using unit blocks all day long.

Hope this helps on how to choose what's best for your kiddo!

[momof2n2]

just to build off of what someone else said.

We use and like MUS. My older son struggles with Math, some, so after we complete the MUS year, we do the Abeka workbook for that grade over the summer.

Here is what I have noticed...
When my son did the Stanford this year, he was not prepared to answer a number of questions on symmetry, chart reading and fractions. He did still score ABOVE AVERAGE, however... the tests were in May when we'd just finished MUS. We'd started the Abeka book about two weeks before. We worked through the Abeka book at 4-5 pages a day for the last 14 weeks or so and he learned all the symmetry, chart reading, patterns, and fractions since the test.

So - my son still tested well over all... but he would have had more variety with Abeka.

[mrsrandolph]

One thought for Gingel...

Saxon has a LOT of really good manipulative activities. Also, instead of using only one manipulative (like MUS), a variety of manipulatives are used. Then you also have the "traditional" practice with Saxon. Kids who use Saxon perform well on Standardized tests (if you care, or if your state does), and the cyclical repeating of concepts learned keeps learning fresh.

Some find Saxon boring. I think if your child "gets" the lesson, they don't need to do a million problems. Have that child do one problem of each type & move on. When I was a Primary curriculum specialist, I encouraged teachers to allow every child to do "Most Difficult First". With this, the teacher goes through the math practice sheet for that day and circles the 5 most difficult problems. When the child finishes those, he/she can bring the problems to be checked. If they are ALL correct, the child was done. If they missed even 1, they needed to complete the rest of the practice. This also encouraged children not to rush.

Another great resource for EXCELLENT math games & manipulative activities is "Great Source". These books are leveled by grades (k-2), (3-5), and so on. They are published by ETA/Cuisenaire. We have one called "problem solving using color tiles". There are 50 problem solving activities using that manipulative.

OK, One more. The books by Marilyn Burns like "ABOUT TEACHING MATHEMATICS" have SUPER, multiage problems. Like, "If you have a total of 16 "legs" on a farm, what animals night you have?". Then have the child draw the farm animals to represent their answer. They could have 4 cows, or 3 cows and 2 chickens, and so on.

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Anyway, the reason I am considering MUS is that, like others have said, when I watched the DVD I understood they what & the why & the how for the first time.

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Also, someone mentioned Moving With Math. That is a curriculum I have a lot of experience with from my Public School work. It is a great manipulative based program with good practice. It can be confusing to use, but it is a good curriculum.

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I don't know if any of you have seen "Right Start Math". The woman who developed this went to Japan to see how those children learned math, and brought that to her program. I also think it is excellent. Like MUS, it teaches the concept understanding. It is very high on parental involvement and is not something they can do independently. It is also about the same "price wise" as MUS. But, you can hardly ever find it used.

Well, This post looks about as scattered as my brain feels!