Gentlemommy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I don't NEED it. But I NEED it. Lol. Dd is 7.5, pretty good with math, she enjoys MEP and Miquon. She also LOVES a story. Loves it. She listens to audio books on my iPad all day, in the car, she loves to be read to. She is my oldest, and I have two others who would use it. Thing is, I'm an all or nothing gal. I want ALL of them. Lol. Can't just get one. I know people have said they are pricey, and I agree, BUT, are they worth it? Is it anything revolutionary? I've been looking for them used but they are hard to come by, by the time I see them, they've already been sold. I'm trying to justify spending the money. We are set for curriculum for this year, so I don't need to buy anything else...this would be my big splurge. Ready, set, go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 (edited) If she loves a story, is good with math, is doing well with MEP and Miquon, I would suggest Beast Academy, if you really wanted to supplement, and really who doesn't. :D Wait, are you talking about the upper levels or the elementary levels? You mentioned the age, but that doesn't always mean what it usually means around here. :tongue_smilie: ETA: If it's elementary LOF, I prefer living math books and Beast Academy if a kiddo likes stories, like mine does. I don't think I can justify paying that much money when we've experienced BA. Edited July 28, 2012 by crazyforlatin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 (edited) :lol: I am not going to try and convince you to buy *all* of LOF, but I will try and talk you into buying one, to see if you and your kids like it. My dd devoured the entire Elementary series last year during 4th grade, and it was a really good thing for us. She, too, is a languagy, story-loving girl who loves (needs) to see the connection between what she's learning in one subject and, well, EVERYTHING ELSE ON EARTH!!! :D LOF is really good for that. It recharged her, and reinvigorated her love for math, which had been dying in 4th grade in ps - the main reason I pulled her. So for us it was perfect, we did it along with MM. Actually, we did it each day *after* completing our MM lesson. I loved getting to reward finishing a math lesson with . . . more math! We read 2-3 chapters a day, in the early books she did them orally, then as it got into multi-digit addition & subtraction it was great mental math practice, and by the end she was using the whiteboard. It was really great, it introduced the conceptual underbelly of math in a very engaging, interesting way. I learned stuff about functions and set theory that I don't remember learning, ever, and I took Calculus in college. All that said, start with one book. Some people hate it. Some kids don't click with it. Don't plunk down $$ for the whole set until you figure out if it's going to work for you. Buy Apples, you may find it used or on eBay, you may just buy it new from Ztwist - they don't charge shipping, and you can return it if you don't like it. I hope you love it as much as we do! But, no pressure. ;) ETA: yeah, I assumed you were talking about the Elementary series. Fractions is great too, dd is working through it independently (as intended) now. I had been a little intimidated about teaching fractions, but LOF explains it in a really, really easy to understand way. She really likes it. Edited July 28, 2012 by rroberts707 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 If she loves a story, is good with math, is doing well with MEP and Miquon, I would suggest Beast Academy, if you really wanted to supplement, and really who doesn't. :D Wait, are you talking about the upper levels or the elementary levels? You mentioned the age, but that doesn't always mean what it usually means around here. :tongue_smilie: ETA: If it's elementary LOF, I prefer living math books and Beast Academy if a kiddo likes stories, like mine does. I don't think I can justify paying that much money when we've experienced BA. :lol: Yeah, we like Beast Academy too. Why choose??? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 :lol: Yeah, we like Beast Academy too. Why choose??? :D Aw, Rose, your posts always make me slightly worried because there could go our food money for the month. :D Fortunately I own MCT from a couple of years ago and bought them used. But you did say how much better the revised CE is, but I'm not falling for it. Nope. You can't convince me. Don't even try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Aw, Rose, your posts always make me slightly worried because there could go our food money for the month. :D Fortunately I own MCT from a couple of years ago and bought them used. But you did say how much better the revised CE is, but I'm not falling for it. Nope. You can't convince me. Don't even try. :lol::lol::lol: Imagine how gleeful I was to come to the Forum this afternoon and find two questions on my two favorite topics - MCT & LOF? Is it my lucky day or what??? Soapbox city . . . :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2koh Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Both my 8 year old and my 5 year old BEG to do LOF everyday!!! It was the best money we spent this year hands down. I'm finding we are migrating towards LOF as our main math program. It has my kids thinking mathematically and they are understanding the concepts. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 :lol::lol::lol: Imagine how gleeful I was to come to the Forum this afternoon and find two questions on my two favorite topics - MCT & LOF? Is it my lucky day or what??? Soapbox city . . . :D I certainly can imagine the gleeful laughter and hear you rubbing your palms just before you type furiously. Let's keep it at MCT and LOF for you, shall we? :D Ok, you got me. I'm going to check out the last LOF elementary book. And that's it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I can't. My kids like LoF Aples and now Butterflies. We have through Dogs, but I'm hoping I can steer them more toward BA. The storyline of BA appeals to me more while LoF is just... odd and unappealing. But my kids seem to enjoy it. :001_rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6wishes Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 My child that normally hates math and is behind, and who is also the one that says she hates reading (what homeschool kid says that :)?), loves this curriculum, and asks me to read multiple chapters every time. That there makes it a winner curriculum for me. I did buy the whole set, but you may desire to start with just one. We're in the Buterflies book, and started with Apples even though it's below where they are. I didn't want them to miss any of the story part, and didn't want them to lose interst if we started with a book that was too hard or more at their level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker Martin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I gave the first LoF book to my DS this week because he loves all things numbers, and he is devouring it. (He already knows the math in it, but it's so much more than that.) He's on lesson 9, and we already do MM, BA, and some other supplements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker Martin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I like the perspective, the attitude about figuring things out. The fun of it. Like I said, it's more than the math. At least that's my opinion nine lessons in. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted July 28, 2012 Author Share Posted July 28, 2012 I gave the first LoF book to my DS this week because he loves all things numbers, and he is devouring it. (He already knows the math in it, but it's so much more than that.) He's on lesson 9, and we already do MM, BA, and some other supplements. Do you mean you do Beast Academy? With your 5 year old?! I thought it started at 3rd grade? Or did I miss something? My plan was to do Miquon all the way through the last book and switch her to BA after. For third grade. Hopefully by then they will have started/completed the later levels, and we can stick with it through higher level math. LOF was gonna be a supplement for whatever curriculum we choose... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Hisglory Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I like the perspective, the attitude about figuring things out. The fun of it. Like I said, it's more than the math. At least that's my opinion nine lessons in. :001_smile: :iagree: I bought the elementary series plus Fractions and Decimals and Percents. My DS 11 started in Fractions for the summer and LOVES is. My DD 9 started in Apples and we are part way through Cats and she also LOVES it and asks for more. The story line is unique in a way that I can see some people just not enjoying it. The elementary series from what I've seen so far is a building story line book by book. You could jump in but you would miss some of the story so some references may not make perfect sense. I love all the extra information in the stories it makes them very interesting for me and I have really enjoyed my DD using and understanding commutative and non commutative properties, also ordinal and cardinal numbers. I also feel at least for my DC that the critical thinking in the problems is greater. I'll be buying the rest for my DC to do alongside their regular math. It really is a fun and engaging supplement for us. I was just thinking the other day that this will be one of those that I can't part with when I'm done, they'll be shelved, collect dust and looked at with great memories attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker Martin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Do you mean you do Beast Academy? With your 5 year old?! I thought it started at 3rd grade? Or did I miss something? My plan was to do Miquon all the way through the last book and switch her to BA after. For third grade. Hopefully by then they will have started/completed the later levels, and we can stick with it through higher level math. LOF was gonna be a supplement for whatever curriculum we choose... He's in third grade math. He just really loves numbers. The way some people like to listen to music all the time, he likes to do things with numbers all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 :iagree: I bought the elementary series plus Fractions and Decimals and Percents. My DS 11 started in Fractions for the summer and LOVES is. My DD 9 started in Apples and we are part way through Cats and she also LOVES it and asks for more. The story line is unique in a way that I can see some people just not enjoying it. The elementary series from what I've seen so far is a building story line book by book. You could jump in but you would miss some of the story so some references may not make perfect sense. I love all the extra information in the stories it makes them very interesting for me and I have really enjoyed my DD using and understanding commutative and non commutative properties, also ordinal and cardinal numbers. I also feel at least for my DC that the critical thinking in the problems is greater. I'll be buying the rest for my DC to do alongside their regular math. It really is a fun and engaging supplement for us. I was just thinking the other day that this will be one of those that I can't part with when I'm done, they'll be shelved, collect dust and looked at with great memories attached. Right. Who else teaches the commutative property by putting on shoes and socks??? :D Seriously, the reason to start at Apples even if the "math" is too easy is because it introduces *all kinds* of stuff that you normally don't see until much later - sets and functions and bears oh my! And it completely demystifies algebra. 3 pencils plus 4 pencils equals 7 pencils, right? So 3x+4x=7x. And 3+4=7, so if 3+x=7, what is x? Don't look now, you are doing algebra! My kids are not remotely intimidated by the idea of algebra, because they are getting introduced to it by Fred, and it just seems so . . . normal, just what you do in math. And I love how it sprinkles the geometry in with everything else, in a very applied and matter of fact way. The farther away from it we get, the more I see the value in having done all 10 books of the elementary series. And yes, even though I justified buying it all because a) I have a second dd who will use it, and b) it has great resale value, I don't know that I will ever actually want to sell it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_midori Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I didn't get anything out of the A-D; didn't even make it past B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 :lol: Yeah, we like Beast Academy too. Why choose??? :D:iagree: :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I got the one book to start, then I ordered 2 more, another order of 2 more, THEN I got the other 5. Start slow. My ds LOVES it. LOF is what he GETS to do if he finishes everything else. He also likes Beast Academy, and that is more challenging, and he classifies Beast Academy as Math Work. WOrk he enjoys, but work. LOF is his treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We started with Fractions. I haven't done the elementary books. Fractions lasts a bit longer than those. We use it as a supplement, and only after we'd already learned a lot about fractions anyway. I do plan to get Decimals when we finish Fractions. We just don't work on it all the time. I do like that it has helped DS get used to working from a textbook - writing on separate paper when doing problems. I've thought about getting the elementary set, and that may end up being a Christmas present from the grandparents. :D I have two little ones that could use it. My oldest would enjoy reading through those, though I doubt the math would be much new to him. He loves Fred... and BA... and Singapore. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo_keeper Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 he classifies Beast Academy as Math Work. WOrk he enjoys, but work. LOF is his treat. ^This is my daughters' POV as well. We do SM & BA, and while they love the latter (the guide book, at least), Fred is part of our night time storytime routine and definitely NOT considered schoolwork (despite the math drills). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 LOF made a huge difference here. It gave my ds8 his love for math back. He not only devoured the elementary series, he busted through Fractions and Decimals in a couple of weeks and is waiting not-so-patiently for Elementary Physics. It's been an expensive semester, but worth every penny. The fact that they are non-consummable takes the sting out of it. They've also been good for my ds6. He's a language arts guy and is doing well with Singapore, but it isn't his favorite thing to do. LOF is one of his favorite parts of the day. I do agree with the advice to buy 1 and see. My kids love them, but I can see how others could be less-than-thrilled with it. Unfortunately, BA wouldn't work for us...ds8 was too far beyond the levels out. I'm not sure which I had chosen if they'd had more levels out. I'd probably be more tempted to give up one of my other programs in favor of BA instead of LOF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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