Does anyone only use Beast Academy 3 (A, B, C, D) for math?

[Forgiven]

The reason I'm asking is because I was afraid to just have my DS do BA 3 (all books) as it doesn't seem to cover everything that Math Mammoth 3 does. So, I've been having my DS(8) work out of both MM and BA every day. He told me today (this was our 5th day of doing BA) that BA is harder than MM, but he likes it a lot more and only wants to do BA.

 

I wish I could feel 100% confident in doing this, but something inside me churns at the thought. Maybe because it's new so there aren't many success posts of using it alone--actually I haven't seen one, so it's not that there aren't many, there are none.

 

My other worry is that he'll get caught up in 5th grade without having any math due to their release schedule.

 

I wish I could do just BA, but my fears are holding me back.

 

Is there anybody out there that is only using BA for their 3rd grader's math this year? If so, how is it going? Do you have any worries or fears about doing so?

 

If you are using BA as your main math program, but are supplementing with something else, what are you supplementing with, and how much of this supplementation are you doing?

 

I really don't want my DS to have to do two entire math programs this year. I was only going to have him do BA at a slow pace, finishing 3A and 3B only, but DS enjoys it so much more than MM. It's nice to see him smile while doing math. :)

 

 

[Farrar]

One of my ds used MM3 and the other finished Miquon and then used BA for third grade.  He only got to 3C, but I did feel like it covered everything MM covered, just in a different way.

[musicianmom]

I have enough confidence in BA that I will use it as a stand-alone for my younger children. My oldest is using it right now, but we'll have to switch when she outpaces the production.

[LydiaG]

I know this is an old thread, but there weren't a lot of responses and I think more people at this point (BA has been out longer) have an opinion.

 

We use BA exclusively for one child (DS9), and he recently finished 3D. He loves BA, even though it is hard. My older son (DS10) uses MM, and he doesn't like it. He thinks it's boring and too much work. But, fwiw, DS10 thinks everything is boring and too much work after the novelty has worn off.

 

Yesterday, at the Math Olympiad contest, one of the questions was covered in BA 3A. But, DS9 didn't realize/remember the solution using the techniques shown in BA until he had turned in his answers, and he hadn't been able to solve it any other way..

 

I gave DS9 some problems involving factoring and the distributive property, which are covered in BA 3B, and he didn't remember how to solve the problems. He understood the problems when we covered 3B, but that was over 6 months ago.

 

My son doesn't remember the techniques taught. I assume that reviewing them would help cement the concepts, but there isn't any review built into the program. I love BA, but my one complaint is that there isn't enough repetition

[Farrar]

That's interesting.  It's my ds who used MM who has more trouble remembering methods, despite the review.  My BA kid is much better at it.  But a lot of that is personality.  I've found that BA does build in review of the more simple concepts - you might have to do division to solve a fractions problem, for example, or use the distributive property to solve something in the variables section.  But some of the concepts - how to solve pentamino problems or how to find squares of 25 or things like that aren't really reviewed.  It was a struggle for ds to get some of those type things and they have not stuck with him, but I'm okay with that.  I see that stuff as being more like how you teach about ancient history to first graders - because then they're familiar with the names, even if they don't really get all the connections.  He'll remember that there are tricks and that sort of thing for when he does squares again down the road.

[LydiaG]

 I see that stuff as being more like how you teach about ancient history to first graders - because then they're familiar with the names, even if they don't really get all the connections.  He'll remember that there are tricks and that sort of thing for when he does squares again down the road.

 

That's what a friend of mine said when I discussed this with her. She said that BA was using higher concepts to teach multiplication. He may not remember the higher concepts, but the goal was for him to learn multiplication facts without boring a bright child.

 

Still, it would be nice to have some review. I can always make up my own review problems. Considering how much I like BA, that doesn't seem too much of a sacrifice.

[CrunchyGirl]

I would love to use it as our only math program for LegoMan because he doesn't need constant repetition and he LOVES his beast friends, but alas there is no way we can stay behind their production schedule. So sad :(

[Farrar]

Yeah, because of our break schedule, my ds who is mostly using it as his main program is halfway through 3D now.  I'm hoping that he'll be able to get through 4A and B with BA, but then I suspect he'll need to move to something else.  No clue what yet.  That's the main argument against using it as your main program or your sole program, IMO.  But he's also my twin who has program hopped a bunch and he math understanding has no suffered, so I don't think it's an insurmountable reason by any means.

[blondeviolin]

We are currently with my 7yo. We did take a bit of a pause at the beginning of 3b to memorize some multiplication facts. So far, her retention has been pretty high, but we can also afford to pause and review because she's ahead.

[Soror]

We've had periods of just using BA and now have alternated back and forth w/ RS. Ds seems to have some memory issues that I'm trying to figure out. We love BA but it seems that we need more review than it provides and I do prefer the way RS teaches some things. 

[FairProspects]

I know this is an old thread, but there weren't a lot of responses and I think more people at this point (BA has been out longer) have an opinion.

 

We use BA exclusively for one child (DS9), and he recently finished 3D. He loves BA, even though it is hard. My older son (DS10) uses MM, and he doesn't like it. He thinks it's boring and too much work. But, fwiw, DS10 thinks everything is boring and too much work after the novelty has worn off.

 

Yesterday, at the Math Olympiad contest, one of the questions was covered in BA 3A. But, DS9 didn't realize/remember the solution using the techniques shown in BA until he had turned in his answers, and he hadn't been able to solve it any other way..

 

I gave DS9 some problems involving factoring and the distributive property, which are covered in BA 3B, and he didn't remember how to solve the problems. He understood the problems when we covered 3B, but that was over 6 months ago.

 

My son doesn't remember the techniques taught. I assume that reviewing them would help cement the concepts, but there isn't any review built into the program. I love BA, but my one complaint is that there isn't enough repetition

 

I agree. Ds had long division down after 3C? but by this fall had lost it because there was not enough repetition and/or because of breaks in the publishing schedule. He has been doing MM Division 2 to get it back.

[Soror]

I agree. Ds had long division down after 3C? but by this fall had lost it because there was not enough repetition and/or because of breaks in the publishing schedule. He has been doing MM Division 2 to get it back.

Glad to hear we're not the only ones. BA is still worth using though but I'm just trying to figure out when and how to keep reviews going for retention.

[TracyP]

I have started leaving a few pages undone so we can go back and review. We are just starting 3D so I think we will finish that then do a big review of 3A-D before moving on to 4.

 

I also started having my ds do CLE alongside BA. I'm not sure it is necessary, but it makes me feel better. We have to test yearly and BA alone didn't prepare him for that.

[kiwik]

could you use one of the MM revision books behind BA. They are cheap and only have enough repetition to check you remember.

[Forgiven]

Thanks, everyone for your replies. We're still chugging away at BA. We are very far behind, though. I got sick in November and so we didn't do school for two months. We are back to it, and doing well, though I'm stressing over the 2 months with no school. Yikes!  We are almost finished with BA 3A, and he's doing very well with it. I looked ahead to see what's coming up in BA 4, and I'm amazed at some of the stuff in there. My DD, who is doing the old MM5 this year, is doing stuff that is in BA4, so I think we'll be fine here.

 

I am still a bit worried about my DS missing some of the addition and subtraction work in MM3, but he can add and subtract just fine, so maybe he doesn't need all of that, and if he has trouble, I'll just have him do some MM worksheets. We own the complete MM set, so I have all the colors...

 

I'm feeling better about BA every day, especially since it puts a smile on my son's face and he doesn't complain about math anymore. ;)