beast academy, are we missing something?

[LEK]

I will start this by saying we love beast, love it! My daughter begs to do math daily, even on weekends and I love the problem solving aspect, so fun!

 

Now onto the issue. It is easy, really easy! (at least it is so far lol, I could be on here asking for help in a few weeks you never know). Everyone seems to be talking about how hard it is, how parents and kids alike found some/most chapters really challenging. So far we have just finished 3A so it is early days but we have both found it so easy. DD is 8 and in 3rd grade, she finished book 3A in only a few weeks while also alternating days with another math program. I have seen many threads and discussions about how hard the geometry and skip counting chapters were, to us they were so simple! Are we missing something? We have loved every minute of those chapters and will not be moving away from beast, I believe dd has learned some great problem solving skills and it has made her think about things in a different way, but the problems themselves have actually been really easy and quick for her (and me). Seriously, are we missing something or is beast just easy for us?

[Jackie]

I am guessing Beast is just easy for you. Lucky you! :)

[SanDiegoMom]

My daughter (9 turning 10) is just starting 4B and we have worked all the way through 3A-3D.  Our most difficult sections were the perfect squares in 3B, division (she's just not a fan yet) in 3C, and estimation in 3D.  But while she loves BA, none of it comes naturally to her -- its usually a struggle that we work through together every day.  Her twin is much more mathematically inclined -- if I had known about BA when he was working through 3rd-5th grade math, I would have used BA.  He used Singapore instead, and is now working through AOPS Intro to Algebra.  If your daughter is whizzing through, just let her go as fast as she can until she starts to slow down! Finding the right level of challenge is so important!  

[Mozwo]

We had a similar experience with Beast Academy as well. DS 10 started summer' 14 and finished all of Beast 3 over the summer. He finished Beast 4 in 4 months ( beginning of 4th grade) while doing his school math curriculum. He completed AOPS Pre-Algebra ( he took the AOPS class) rest of 4th grade and this past summer while also doing AOPS Python course. He is currently doing Algebra A. I think that Beast really helped him get a strong foundation and he has not much of a problem with Pre Algebra and Algebra so far.

 

He loves the Beast so much that he had me order Beast 5A ( which arrived today) though it might not be of much use to him :)

 

Let your daughter dictate the pace and find her own appropriate challenge level!

[blondeviolin]

My older two kids completed BA 3 in second grade. One is mathy, one not. My oldest is doing BA 4 on grade level this year, but it is easy for her at this point. YMMV.

[SeaConquest]

A lot of us are using Beast a few grade levels ahead. So, I imagine that BA looks different with a Ker or 1st grader vs. a 3rd grader. Having said that, your DD sounds especially mathy. :)

[4Kiddos]

My son (7) is finishing up 3D and we just started in September and we are using MEP Year 4 too. Since Beast Academy was supposed to be ahead I started him in the 3 books. I kind of wished I had started him in the 4 books instead. But he really enjoyed the 3 books despite the being easy so I guess it was not a waste. My plan is to start 4A in January.

Edited November 24, 2015 by 4Kiddos

[MrsWeasley]

My eight year old is waiting for 5A to come in the mail. I go back and forth whether Beast is worth the price, as she blows through it in a couple weeks. She likes it, though, and can do it almost completely independently: I just check it and play the occasional partner game or whatever. Besides, hopefully I'll get to reuse the guides with one of her younger siblings. I will say, though, I probably wouldn't have bought Beast for her if I had to read the guide with her and then buddy work problems like some parents do. Math is not a passion for her. With three kids, I only have so much time and energy to do school, so I try to save that for things my kids struggle with or things my kids are passionate about. If she couldn't do this easily by herself, I'd probably have her in a different math program that she could. 

[BooksandBoys]

I just allowed my 7 year-old 2nd grader to start Beast 3A last week. He hardly blinked and is flying through it. I've been holding off because I don't think he had the tenacity for problem solving (based on what I have read about it), but I guess the concepts are easy enough that he can handle the problem solving? I don't know. He's does Miquon and is in Singapore 4A and has yet to hit a level in Singapore that is challenging (except the writing down of problems part, but I think the ModMath app might be the solution to that. He's been using it for two days and his problem solving speed has dropped exponentially).

[Cake and Pi]

I agree with letting her work through it as fast as she likes.  Perhaps she'll find it a bit more difficult as she moves forward in the curriculum.  Or, perhaps not -- maybe your DD is just super mathy, and that's okay.  It seems like it would be easy to move on when she's finished with BA.   Maybe it's about time for pre-A?

 

I haven't run across any problems (yet!) in BA 3 that I didn't know how to figure out.  I often think the problems are quite clever though.  My 7yo DS has never said that BA was easy (his first week involved a lot of crying about how hard it was, in fact), but so far it has taken him 6-8 thirty minute sessions per chapter (except the one on estimation, somehow that took 10).  I don't think he will continue at this pace though.  He'd already finished Right Start A through E before I moved him to BA, so the only thing new he's really learned is a basic understanding of variables and how to persist in solving genuine problems.  I'm expecting him to find BA 4 much more challenging.

[LTBernard]

My DS6 has started BA.  He is about done with 3A.  The first chapter did have some problems that he struggled with, but the skip counting he flew through.  Now on the perimeter and area he seems to be moving fairly quickly also.  I asked him just now how he felt about it and his only answer is he likes it more than Singapore.  And back in the day he told me he likes Singapore more than MathUSee.  So it might just be the newness of it, or might be that I am getting better and better at getting things he likes :)

[Dmmetler]

I think BA is a better fit. My DD wishes if had been available when she was at that level, and hopes that someone we know finishes the 4 books soon so we can borrow them (she's also borrowed most of the elementary LOF books to work through). Like the rest of AOPS, it seems well designed for the kids who need more. One thing I wonder is whether, if BA had been out, if she'd have demanded to move quite so quickly. It wasn't until I finally gave in and started her on AOPS at 8 that she slowed down. It would have been nice to have had that level of comfort earlier on-and more comfortable for mom!

[LTBernard]

Dmmetler is she just wanting to read the books or work the math?  Gray writes in workbook part, but there should be time between when Gray finishes them and when Clara starts them.  We could easily let you borrow them if you just want to read the guides.

[Dmmetler]

I think she'd be glad to just read the books. For her, there's really nothing new in the math, but she loves the little monsters.

[spudboy]

DS got stuck on some Beast Academy problems and we let him put the (much-erased) scrap paper and pencil aside, build the answer out of Legos, and then copy it to the paper. Legos don't work for all of the problems but where they did they were much faster and less stressful.