My 8yo son is currently using Horizons 3rd grade math. We both like the worksheets and that it has built in review. He's moving through it fine, but I feel like we're reaching a point where he is looking for more of the "why" not just the "how". I'm not looking to abandon the curriculum entirely, but I'm looking for something to add to round out the conceptual side of math that I feel is lacking. I've seen a lot of people talking positively about RightStart, Singapore (I see there are 2 options, Dimensions Math and Primary Math - happy to hear about both of these), and Math in Focus and would love some feedback. In my mind, the ideal situation would be for him to complete 1 page of Horizons a day as review work (he really goes through them quickly) along with 1 lesson from something more in depth. I don't mind spending 30 or so minutes a day of active teaching time on math, so if something is more teacher-centric that's not a deal breaker. We tried Beast Academy and he was luke warm about it, and to be honest I was too. I think it's a great program, just not a good fit for us. I had seen in another post that someone was using a RightStart/Horizons/Singapore Challenging Word Problems combination which (without actually doing it) seems very well rounded. I'm open to any thoughts and suggestions! Thanks!

I'd love some advice from seasoned math curriculum users! I have three kids, 9, 6, and 6, (about to turn ages though..) who will be 4th/5th grade and 2nd grade next year. We've been using Right Start and Life of Fred from the beginning with all three. They all adore Life of Fred as a supplement, as do I, and so that is not a problem at all. The question is Right Start. My oldest is not a math lover, though she's competent and does ok. But it's so SLOW. We struggle to get through all the lessons and I feel we are falling behind. It just doesn't seem to be a curriculum that is easy to move through more rapidly, and I fear we will be bogged down in doing all the things and be more behind. She's very bright but math is not her strong point. She's also had some health issues that have set her back, affecting her concentration and work habits. I feel we've not made as much progress as we should have and that we're behind where we need to be. She has trouble getting things done independently too and she's still working on finishing level D. I love the approach, but wonder if we should continue with this program down the road. Advice? I don't want to have her get too far behind grade level and still feel like we're forever plugging away. It would make us feel better to have something achievable on a schedule front, where the amount of time spent seemed manageable. I know it may be considered a "mastery based curriculum" but I still feel like there is pressure to get through. I don't want her to be in 6th grade and still working on 4th grade math. We also have a part time tutor to help us implement some of the math, and I don't think she is too comfortable "skipping things" and I don't know exactly how to advise her. When we started with Right Start, the lessons in the old edition were three a week, and that was easier to accomplish, but the five a week plan isn't working schedule wise, especially since one lesson often seems to take her two days, sometimes three. Do we jump ship after this level and try something else? If we do, what? I have heard good things about Horizons Math, but don't know how it works and haven't seen it. Does anyone have experience with this? My twins are using different things and we separate for math due to different levels of instruction. For my son (6) who is naturally proficient in math, Right Start is way too slow and has too much repetition. He just gets math without effort. He does Life of Fred also, but also works in Beast Academy. He's worked through most of BA level 3 and is about to move into BA 4 and it has seemed the right level for him. But, as we jumped into BA at a higher level to give him something that would challenge him, we've been trying to spot check through R.S. quickly to make sure there were no holes, and do things we needed to work on. But I feel it's not easy to skip through RS quickly. I looked at Singapore, but didn't care for it. Any other suggestions? Should we abandon R.S with him and just keep going with BA and LOF alone? Or add something else as a supplement? Even though he can do the multiplication, division and pre-algebra things in BA 3 without much difficulty, I want to make sure he is super solid on the basics. He is unusually gifted in math, - he just gets numbers and relationships. He can do it all in his head, but I want to make sure he has more work on writing it down in the traditional way. Or do I need to worry so much about that? Is there a curriculum that goes at a really quick pace without much busy work to just spot check? For my twin daughter (6), R.S. works perfectly for. Suits her to a T. So I want to keep going with it - She adores the games, begs to play it, and it's really working for her. So no questions here. Do I invest in more math curriculum? Any suggestions that might be a good fit for my oldest daughter? At what point is a good point to move to something else? I have heard that in the older levels, Life of Fred can be used as the only curriculum, instead of a supplement. Does anyone do that? Or is it better as a supplement? Does it incorporate enough drills and repetition? I feel we'd have much more joy in our house with my oldest if Life of Fred was every day:) But we don't want to compromise a solid foundation. Any thoughts? So much for my plans of using the same curriculum with everyone, but that is the blessing of homeschooling anyway. Even if buying extra curriculum is not economically efficient, I don't mind spending to find the right fit for each child. I'd like to decide before I have to buy any more R.S. levels! Thank you for reading this long winded inquiry - I value your time and opinions and appreciate this community of fellow homeschooling parents!

My dd is just finishing up Beast Academy (sob!). We have all loved our time with the Beasts, the graphic representations of all math concepts, the sneaky review games, even the corny jokes. But she is not a math whiz and needs a fair amount of support with the more advanced problems in the text. So I'm just not thinking that she's going to be quite up for AOPS. I'm wondering about taking the leap from Beast to Elementary Algebra by Jacobs. Has anyone done that? How did it go? Or any other suggestions for post Beast?

I'm considering using Beast Academy to supplement our main math curriculum Saxon. We do every part of Saxon--every part of every lesson, test and investigation--and my boys, (using 5/4 and 8/7, next year) benefit from the spiral/repetition/practice problems. I really believe Saxon is a solid, thorough program but I'd like to supplement with something more conceptually based for my 2 very math-inclined boys. I'm thinking to just get the BA Guide books for their correct level and have them read through that once or twice a week. Has anyone used BA as supplement? How did you structure it? Would the guide books alone accomplish our goals of teaching math more conceptually? or are the practice books truly needed for that? I've never had the opportunity to look at either "in my hands" so I can only look at what BA has posted online as samples--not really helpful to me. I really don't want to invest a ton of money if not necessary in a completely new math curriculum.

Just wondering if anyone here has any experience with Beast Academy and if you could share your experience. I'm thinking about trying it out over the summer to keep reviewing. Do you have to get the guide and practice or can you just get the guide? Any replies are very much appreciated.

We received our shipment of BA and CWP about 2 months ago, after a few members highly recommended them for us to try as supplements. My goal is to add more word problems to my dd's math learning. So far both of my girls love doing CWP. Depending on the problem, we might go hard 3,4,5 of the easy problems, or just 1,2,3 of the medium-hard problems. 7yo dd currently uses the Miquon Math Blue Book and CWP has become her favourite. I can see that Miquon - CWP is a really good fit for her and we mostly do the problems together as she is very social and vocal. Question The reason why I'm considering BA is that my oldest dd is pretty mathy. The material looks like it will greatly challenge and benefit her. But I'm reluctant to tackle it, mainly because 5th grade is about my math level and, again because of time. I like BA and it's word problems, and I wouldn't mind setting CWP aside so that my oldest dd can try out BA (she loves the cartoons and has expressed a desire to try it). However, we're also having so much fun with CWP and it's so easy for me to use that we've just stuck to it. We're afterschooling, and we want to make good use of our time - so far CWP has met this need. My oldest dd is using MM 5A, so would BA be a good fit? Should I leave out BA and just stick to CWP, or give BA ago - maybe 1-2 months? How would you schedule BA, do you go from start to finish with BA or by topic to align with mm (current 5A)?

Hi all, I need help cutting down on busy work for my 10 year old. What should I cut? What is redundant? What would you keep (or add)? Math U See (epsilon)- 1 sheet daily Mad Minute (1 minute fact review) 6 Mental Math problems (singapore) daily 1 Process Skill problem (singapore) daily I want to add in Beast Academy. That feels like it will be too much. What can I take out? Thanks so much in advance!! Jennifer

I'm looking to move my son into Beast Academy for next year. He will be 10 and in 5th grade. Right now we use MEP and are about 2/3 of the way through Level 4 and will finish by the end of this school year. He loves the puzzley, logic kind of math, but he has requested to do something a little more independent. I love MEP and the topics it covers and the depth of knowledge it gives, but I too hate the time and paper juggling involved, so I'm not adverse to a change. So, internets, what level should we start on? I already own BA 3A and 3B from when they first came out and I tried it with my DD. It was a bust with her, but she thinks totally different than DS. I kind of hate to just jump in on Level 5 and miss all sorts of good stuff, but I'm also not sure we need to go all the way back to 3. Would starting with Level 4 be a good happy medium? Or do we really need to go all the way back to 3? Or would starting with 5 be fine? I looked at the placement test they have, and I'm fairly confident he could answer all the questions that would place him in Level 5, since MEP teaches a similar way of thinking, and the one problem I thought would throw him I asked him orally and he said, "Oh, that's easy." And proceeded to explain how he would do it. I don't care too much about pushing my kids to be crazy ahead in math, so if we did BA 5 next year, that would put him on track for AOPS pre-algebra in 6th, maybe, and I don't know if he'll be ready for that. He likes a bit of a challenge, but really freezes up if it's too hard. I know we don't have to do AOPS, but I think he'd thrive on it at the right time. Well, a long novel later, opinions? Thoughts? Advice? Love that I can come here for help! This place is the best!!