Is Beast Academy worth it?

[elmerRex]

Is Beast Academy worth buying and using for a child who knows (most of) the material? We are on a budget and with our limits these books would be costly but we could afford them.

 

Please give me examples of why you feel that Beast Academy is worth it for a child who has already mastered (most of) the topics that it teaches? I read muchly on these boards looking for more options in maths for my son and many people talk about the teaching of BA is really wonderful, but from the website, there is only 1 topics from the whole Beast Academy grade 3 and 4 that my son has not covered well already and the problems in the samples were not that good except for the ones with stars. My son could do most of the problems in the samples easily.

 

This is a list of everything covered in Beast Academy 3A - 4D according to the website:

shape classification, skip-counting, perimeter and area, multiplication, perfect squares, distributive property, variables, division, units and measure, fractions, estimation, area, shapes, multiplication, exponents, counting, division, logic, factors, fractions, integers, fractions

decimals, probability

 

The logic chapter is the only thing my son does not have much experience with.

 

These books are not too expensive, but not cheap either. I don't want to buy it, but if it is truly worth it...

[Incognito]

You can always buy one guide and its matching practice book and try it out before committing to the whole thing.

 

For one of my learners, YES, it has been extremely worth it.  For another of my learners, I'm not sure if we will do it (for a variety of reasons.  However, even though the concepts have been met in other materials, I think the approach taken in BA is unique enough that there would still be a lot learned). 

 

YMMV - it looks like you are about to start Algebra 1?  So this would be stepping back a couple of levels.  It could be useful, but if you want AOPS materials, there are other levels that could match up better with where you are now.

[kathkath]

I had my older dd do it alongside her younger brother (who was age appropriate) because she wanted to. It is worth the price alone for the interest it ignited. Then again my philosophy is that if you sell them on loving the subject your job is more than half complete.

[Dmmetler]

My DD did 3A and 3B after SM 5B and while we were on our bridge year at age 7, and loved it. She did 3C and 3D while doing AoPS Intro Algebra and loved it. In both cases, there were still things she hadn't done in that way. If I can manage to borrow the later guides/practice books, we'll go through them, too, even though she's now not only beyond them in skills, but past the typical age as well-they're that good.

[deerforest]

They were great for us and if you have used Saxon all along, they are dramatically different in their approach. But if you are doing algebra already and are on a budget, I wouldn't bother.

[Halcyon]

we are using it with my ds10 and love it. I WISH it had been around for ds13. He took an Aops course earlier this year and I can really see how it would have helped prepare him. It's super fun and really encourages kids to think about math and numbers in a different way than most math curriculums.

[Roadrunner]

I will be the only one to disagree. If your child knows all the material, why not just go to prealgebra? My older is in algebra and despite having all the beast materials at home (my second kid is using it), my older didn't use it last year. It would have been redundant alongside preA.

[SoCal_Bear]

We are using it a year behind SM. It's very stretching for him. The topics are similar to SM, but it is so different and much more challenging. I have learned things about math in the 3A book that I have never seen in my life, and we aren't even halfway through 3A. You can easily sell the books for a good price if you don't write in the practice books. 

 

 

[Crimson Wife]

I will be the only one to disagree. If your child knows all the material, why not just go to prealgebra? My older is in algebra and despite having all the beast materials at home (my second kid is using it), my older didn't use it last year. It would have been redundant alongside preA.

 

I agree with this if you're on a budget.

[OneStepAtATime]

Sometimes you can get a good deal for them on Amazon if you don't want to pay full price.  As mentioned, you could just buy one, run them through it on the side to see how your child responds and if you feel it is worth it to invest more time and money.  

 

Or you could just move on to AoPS Pre-Algebra and do that alongside Saxon Algebra I.  Saxon is sooooo different in approach that the AoPS Pre-Algebra would definitely not be a step back, more like a step sideways into a very different way of looking at math.   Do it as a side thing and see how it goes.  That book is also usually available on Amazon used, in good condition, for less money.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I think Beast Academy is incredible and, yes, it goes beyond most instruction. But if your child really has mastered all the material, I wouldn't get it. In your shoes, I would supplement with Mathematics: A Human Endeavor and/or competition math problems. And I would definitely do formal logic with this child.

[Nart]

Here is a link to the pre-assessments for each books plus the solutions. https://www.beastacademy.com/resources/assessments.php

Your child could probably solve most of the problems but you will see if you look at the solutions that the questions are well crafted so if you understand a concept you can often solve a problem quickly instead of doing a long computation. For example if the problem is 9 x 79 x 9, they want the student to see that it is 79 x81 which in the perfect squares chapter you learn that it can be solved by (80 x 80) -1= 6399.