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Looking ahead--MUS


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I think this is the first time here!

I will have 9th grade ds next year.

I am looking ahead and considering MUS for high school.  I've read about every post I can find from the very worst to the very best and everything in between.  IF we go with MUS, is there anyone who ever got 'stuck'?  Is there a 'help line' if you don't get something?  This has been a toss up with a on line class, and at this point, having a live teacher is the only thing tipping the scales.

 

Pam

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Welcome to the "big kid" board!  :laugh:

 

DS#2 has mild LDs in spelling, writing, and math. He got stuck in MUS on the graphing linear equations, but he got stuck on that *topic* both when using Jacobs Algebra 1 and then when we re-did Algebra 1 the following year with MUS. He finally sort of "got" the Algebra 1 level of that topic when later doing MUS Algebra 2. The abstract math topics of Algebra 1 and 2 were very difficult for him throughout homeschooling. I had him re-do Algebra 1, so it ended up taking 1.5 years. And we had to re-do so many sections of MUS Algebra 2 (two, three, and sometimes 4 re-dos), that Algebra 2 also took all school year and all of the following summer to complete.

 

Finding and hiring good local tutor who is esp. good with math strugglers and who is willing/able to walk alongside with whatever math text and you go with would be very helpful.

 

I've heard wonderful reviews of WTM board member Jann in Tx and her My Homeschool Math online classes -- she works with a lot of math strugglers and goes the extra mile tutoring students through the rough patches.

 

Good luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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Welcome to the "big kid" board!  :laugh:

 

THANKS! As you know, I have older dc I've homeschooled, but I didn't have access to forums like this back then.  :)

 

DS#2 has mild LDs in spelling, writing, and math. He got stuck in MUS on the graphing linear equations, but he got stuck on that *topic* both when using Jacobs Algebra 1 and then when we re-did Algebra 1 the following year with MUS. He finally sort of "got" the Algebra 1 level of that topic when later doing MUS Algebra 2. The abstract math topics of Algebra 1 and 2 were very difficult for him throughout homeschooling. I had him re-do Algebra 1, so it ended up taking 1.5 years. And we had to re-do so many sections of MUS Algebra 2 (two, three, and sometimes 4 re-dos), that Algebra 2 also took all school year and all of the following summer to complete.

 

Was there anything you got stuck on that you couldn't help him with?  I think I would be able to figure it out with the video lessons, but I just don't know for sure.  I never took Algebra 2, Trig.,  or Calculus.

 

Finding and hiring good local tutor who is esp. good with math strugglers and who is willing/able to walk alongside with whatever math text and you go with would be very helpful.

 

I've heard wonderful reviews of WTM board member Jann in Tx and her My Homeschool Math online classes -- she works with a lot of math strugglers and goes the extra mile tutoring students through the rough patches.

 

I actually was just about to have ds start in Jann's math classes, but I am still wondering if he wouldn't do better with fewer problems and make sure he understands the concepts.  I don't think spending 2 hours a day will make understanding more effective.  Not saying Jann assigns tons of work, I appreciate her and her willingness to offer classes for such a reasonable fee.

 

Good luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

Pam

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 Was there anything you got stuck on that you couldn't help him with?  I think I would be able to figure it out with the video lessons, but I just don't know for sure.  I never took Algebra 2, Trig.,  or Calculus.

 

No, I didn't find the math hard to understand for myself, to try and explain it. And with many things, even Math, I can often find alternate ways to explain things if the student is not getting it with the program's explanation. The problem is, that by Algebra 2, I reached the limit of my ability of my understanding of the interconnectedness and grounding of the math to understand how to come up with alternate explanations to help my very visual-spatial DS#2 click with the concepts.

 

I had no problems with the clarity of the materials and explanations, and no problem in learning along with DSs, using MUS (DS#2) and Jacobs and Foerster's (DS#1). But when we needed to find alternative ways of explaining/showing the concepts, I not able to "go off script", and math programs only provide one way of explaining things.

 

 

 

 

I actually was just about to have ds start in Jann's math classes, but I am still wondering if he wouldn't do better with fewer problems and make sure he understands the concepts.  I don't think spending 2 hours a day will make understanding more effective.  Not saying Jann assigns tons of work, I appreciate her and her willingness to offer classes for such a reasonable fee.

 

Don't know what to suggest here, other than to strongly recommend that you NOT SKIMP or do too LITTLE with Algebra 1, as it is absolutely foundational to the rest of your high school maths. JMO: Far better in 9th grade to take a longer time (say, two 45 minute sessions of Math a day, one in the a.m. and one in the p.m.) and thoroughly understand the concepts, because it will be an absolute nightmare later on in the high school grades if you get into a higher math and realize your DS is missing the fundamentals, and in order to do Algebra 2, you have to go all the way back and re-do chunks of Algebra 1 first to get that solid, and THEN try and move forward at a scrambling pace to catch up again. I have seen several families on these boards have to go this route. :(

 

Edited by Lori D.
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Oldest dd tried MUS Algebra 1 and got stuck.  To be fair, I think it was more a learning style problem than a program problem.  Saxon fit her learning style better.  She wanted to try something new, so we tried MUS.  MUS Algebra 1 starts with graphing.  It is assumed the dc is proficient in powers and square roots and ready for graphing.  Dd was not as prepared as she thought and returned to Saxon with much success.

 

Youngest dd picked up MUS (after TT Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2) at the PreCalculus level and did both PreCalculus and Calculus 1.  We did get stuck a couple times and called MUS.  They were very helpful. 

 

Did you take the MUS placement test?  I think that is very important because MUS, like many other curriculum houses has its own scope and sequence.  I think had I started oldest with MUS pre-algebra, she would have been fine with MUS algebra 1.  The graphing through her for a loop.  Saxon introduces graphing later. 

 

 

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Don't know what to suggest here, other than to strongly recommend that you NOT SKIMP or do too LITTLE with Algebra 1, as it is absolutely foundational to the rest of your high school maths. JMO: Far better in 9th grade to take a longer time (say, two 45 minute sessions of Math a day, one in the a.m. and one in the p.m.) and thoroughly understand the concepts, because it will be an absolute nightmare later on in the high school grades if you get into a higher math and realize your DS is missing the fundamentals, and in order to do Algebra 2, you have to go all the way back and re-do chunks of Algebra 1 first to get that solid, and THEN try and move forward at a scrambling pace to catch up again. I have seen several families on these boards have to go this route. :(

 

Do you think MUS covers the fundamentals?

 

I didn't mean to skimp, but I was thinking if MUS works in the way I've been reading it does, it makes concepts more clear without just having the dc do more problems and hoping they catch on.  Does that make sense?

 

Thanks you so much for your input, Lori D.!

 

Pam

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Whatever program you decided to use, if you anticipate that your student will need your help, I recommend that you work ahead of him, watching the videos, reading the text, and, most important--doing the problems yourself.  Don't expect to be able to pop in and out.

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I actually was just about to have ds start in Jann's math classes, but I am still wondering if he wouldn't do better with fewer problems and make sure he understands the concepts.  I don't think spending 2 hours a day will make understanding more effective.  Not saying Jann assigns tons of work, I appreciate her and her willingness to offer classes for such a reasonable fee.

 

Just curious... Why are you anticipating that it will take DS 2 hours a day??

 

I'm assuming the class meets 2x/week for 1 hour/meeting, and that DS would then do the practice exercises/homework for about 1 hour/3x week, on the in-between-class-days... That would be a pretty typical 1 hour a day, 5x/week, and then a little extra time studying for the weeks that there are quizzes or tests.

 

 

Do you think MUS covers the fundamentals?

 

I didn't mean to skimp, but I was thinking if MUS works in the way I've been reading it does, it makes concepts more clear without just having the dc do more problems and hoping they catch on.  Does that make sense?

 

Yes, I do get it. :) DS#2 could only handle so much workload a day with math -- Dianne Craft calls it "brain battery energy" -- once you've used it up, no amount of pushing will make more knowledge go in -- done for the day, until the brain re-charges overnight.

 

I think MUS is the most hands-on/visual program I've seen for teaching the abstract topics of Algebra. However, I also think it is a LIGHT program, and so not as thorough as other programs. The WTM board member 8FillTheHeart often uses MUS as the first exposure for her children to make the concepts clear, and then has her students do a more thorough program for each of the high school maths. So that might be an option for you -- first pass via MUS, and then make sure you don't have any gaps by doing a speed skim-review of a second math program.

 

Because MUS is "light" I tend to recommend it more for students who are strongly "right-brain" or visual-spatial or who have struggled with math throughout the elementary/middle school years. If you have an average (or advanced) math student, there are a number of options you might want to check out, that might be a better fit, but certainly would be more thorough, without overkilling with too many problems:

 

Jacobs Algebra 1 and the Dr. Callahan go-along DVDs

For each lesson, Jacobs has 4 problem sets:

set 1 = review

set 2 = gentle incremental building up of using that lesson's concept

set 3 = identical to #2, just with different problems, for additional practice if needed

set 4 = optional challenger problem

 

With Jacobs, you can keep the amount of problems at your student's level of need by just circling selected review problems (set 1), then do the problems in either set 2 OR set 3, and student can choose to do/not do the optional set 4. I think Jacobs is more thorough than MUS, and because of the teaching example in every single lesson of how each concept really is used in real-life, it makes the abstract/intangible concepts much more understandable.

 

Teaching Textbooks

Closer to Saxon in the traditional teaching method, but not as many problems for overkill as Saxon. A video teaching for every lesson, and every single problem of the practice exercises are worked out in the videos, if needed, or can be skipped if not needed.

 

Video Text -- DVD lessons, and an online help option

Math Relief -- DVD lessons for Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 only

Kinetic Books -- digital traditional textbook with animations, interactive simulations, etc.

Tablet Class -- video tutorials, done at your own self-paced speed (so schedule it or take as many days as needed per lesson)

Lial's Basic College Math textbook and Digital Video Tutor supplement

 

There are also alternate explanations for math concepts through the free video tutorials at Khan Academy.

Edited by Lori D.
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I agree that whatever you choose, you'll want to be engaged and be able to work the problems. That said, I found MUS very easy to teach--the solutions are thorough and really help to see where the student got off-track in thinking (even if they chose to do the problem a different way, I often found the solution manual was helpful in analyzing what they needed to do, and/or showing them an alternate way to solve something). There was only one time that I got stuck, and I simply emailed MUS and they were a great help. You can also call them or have your student call them. Neither of my kids had trouble testing into college math after doing MUS. It was a good fit for us.

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