Beast: Can I go straight from 2A to 3A?

[poppy]

2B, C and D dont' exist yet but we are nearing the end of 2A and it works for my son.

He is in 2nd grade but ready for multiplication.  I know some 7 year olds who are intuitive about math start with 3A.

What do you think?

 

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

There's a placement test on their website. We started with 3a before 2 came out. It's my understanding that 2a seems a lot easier than the other levels we have seen. Take a look at the placement test and samples to see if your son is ready for it. I see no issue in skipping if he is ready.

[Jackie]

We started with 3A, just as many people did because 2 wasn’t out yet.

 

Be aware that 3 assumes that the child already has multi-digit addition and subtraction completely down and doesn’t review these at all. If needed, build in your own teaching/review for those concepts. Otherwise, go on ahead.

[Barb_]

At first glance I thought you were talking about bra sizes.

 

Carry on.

[fralala]

We went straight into BA halfway through second grade (instead of going into the second half of Singapore Math). I love it, partially because I have Strong Opinions about how much time should be spent mastering mental computations before learning algorithms. I haven't seen 2A, though from the reviews I've heard I do suspect 3A is a big step up in terms of challenge. 3A's multiplication starts out deceptively easy (skip counting!?! my kindergartener can do that!) but does really ramp up.

 

I find it helpful that to have a workbook from a different, spiraling 3rd grade curriculum so that I can rip out a page a day and we can review or go over some of the topics not given a lot of (or any) time in BA3. And it's also helpful to think about the fact that many kids don't go into BA3 until they've completed a different grade 3 curriculum, so starting earlier may require extra hand-holding and attention to potentially missed topics, whereas starting later may make it a more independent program and no less valuable.

[reign]

Some of my kids started Beast at 7 but had already completed MM3. I found it easier if they were already fairly fluent in multiplication.

[Xahm]

I'm planning to use y2 of MEP with my daughter who is almost done with BA 2A, but not yet ready for 3A.

[MeaganS]

I agree that it totally depends on the kid. I have a dd who has been slowly working on level 3 of beast while she finished up miquon. I'm having her go back and do 2a for fun and extra practice as well. I also have a dd who has done a 1st grade level math program but not 2nd who is working on 2a. There's a world of difference between them.

 

Dd7 didn't start 3a until she had completed about half a years worth of a third grade math program, and she still found it challenging.

[Targhee]

DS started 3A halfway through 2nd. He'd been using RightStart up to that point and solidly knew addition and subtraction (multi-digit) and the base ten system. He had som very basic understanding of multiplication as well. Mostly, his mental math was exceptional, thanks to RightStart.

 

You CAN go into 3A, just make sure the foundation is tgere.

[4KookieKids]

I agree that the placement test is really good, if you can somehow keep yourself away from the room while they're struggling with it. In my case, I pulled it out and read through it at least two separate times I *thought* my kid was ready, only to realize that he definitely was not. In particular, my kiddo was almost completely *finished* with Sinagpore grade 3 before he could pass the Beast 3A entrance test... lol.