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!!

We've been doing Singapore Primary Mathematics (standard edition) for the last two years. I purchased the Beast Academy 3A guide and practice book this year and my son loves it! He wants to switch, and I've read of others switching to Beast Academy as a stand alone math curriculum. Should we just keep plugging along to 3B, 3C, 3D, etc. or should we skip to level 4 or 5 after he finishes Singapore 4B? I'm also open to doing both as we have Singapore 5A and 5B already. I'd love to hear your experience. Thanks!

We have been using TT3 this year with my 3rd grade daughter (this was our first year at home) and she's not super excited about it. I thought it would be a great fit bc it's on the computer and I loved it bc it was hands off for me. I will say that I'm not super impressed with the rigor of it and it hasn't gone as deeply into some subjects as I wish it would have (fractions for example) so we've been supplementing a little bit with just a workbook. I'm trying to decide what to do for 4th grade - do we continue with TT4 or change to something else? I've been looking into Beast Academy bc she loves graphic novels - but I'm not sure where to start with it bc it seems much more rigorous than what we've done this year with TT3. I'm curious how people feel about it and if it can be a stand alone or if I would need to find something else to use with it? I've thought about switching to Right Start, but I'm worried that the financial investment for starting it in 4th grade wouldn't be worth it. And honestly I'm not sure that I'm up for the intensity of that program.

Anyone have any information on plans for Beast Academy 5 series? Will there be one? Or do they plan to stop at 4D? Thanks!

Hooray, Beast Academy has posted a FAQ!

Is there anyone else who is disturbed by Beast Academy and its satanic connotations? I remember when it came out and how much praise it received. The name was a bit perturbing - Beast Academy - hmmm, sounds familiar...mark of the beast in Revelation? Then, I viewed the materials: demon-like, dragon, monster creatures, but made to look "cute". I tried to shrug it off. After all, the materials looked as if they would really boost my child's interest in math and she loved Life of Fred, so maybe this would be the ticket. However, I have hesitated to buy them. I have searched far and wide on the WWW to find someone else who had the same concerns that I I do - that BA is making the satanic seem palatable to young children (like Harry Potter did with witchcraft). But my search yielded more mothers, and Christian mothers, who actually pooh-poohed or ignored these concerns and actively embraced the curriculum for their children. So right when my resolve not to buy it was being worn down, by my child's (hopefully temporary) hate relationship with math, I decided to pray about Beast Academy. I subsequently did an internet search and the Lord led me to a Wiki run by the publishers of Beast Academy (Art of Problem Solving) and to this passage explaining about the Golden Ratio and the Pentagram (scroll to the bottom or the page to see it): http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Pentagon&oldid=60815 Am I reading more into this than is there or does it seem that the author assumes matter-of-factly that the pentagram really does do as he/she describes. I guess that I have made my decision to not purchase Beast Academy. I now open up the floor for discussion. Please keep it friendly :laugh:. What do you all think about Beast Academy?

I'm just curious, what is the publishing plan for Beast Academy? I know that they published 3rd grade first, but their website says the program is grade 2-5, so I take it there are no plans to publish a first grade curriculum, right? Will they do 4th grade next or 2nd grade?

My DD(8) was doing SM Standard Ed. Right when we were done with SM 3A, I introduced BA just to get some variety. It really clicked with my DD, at least for now. BA took our math education to a new level. My DD is engaged and she does not even want my help. She wants to solve all the problems by herself....it has been very slow but I am super happy with what BA has done for her. My question to you all is that how do I reintroduce SM again. My DD already told me she enjoys BA more than SM. My problem is that I also like SM and I kind of like what SM teaches as well. In a perfect world, we would do both SM and Beast. What do you folks think? Should I just do BA and not worry about SM at all? Or should I talk to DD and see if we could do SM as well. How are you folks using BA? Oh, forgot to tell you we are doing math as afterschool. So, time is also limited. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks

Hi! We are using Beast Academy 3A and are having problems with the first chapter- Shapes. He did fine with the rest of the chapter, but we have 2 main sticking points and I need some ideas for extra practice. First problem is with toothpick addition/removal/ rearrangement. You are given toothpicks in a shape and asked how you can use x number of toothpicks to make more or less of the same/different shape.I sat down with him and we played with them for a bit and discovered how to solve the first two problems together. He sat there on his own for awhile and couldn't figure ANY out. I've had him try on more than one occasion. He also struggled with figuring out how many of a given shape could be made when given a group of dots. He could see the small shapes, but he could not see the larger ones or the ones that used diagonal lines. Any fun supplements out there for this kind of thing? I'd like to find a little more practice so he doesn't leave the chapter frustrated. Any one else have a child that struggled a bit in the shapes chapter? Thanks for any help!

:D For those who where wondering, it is on high quality paper. It's sturdy, for a paperback book. And it's funny. That's all I have right now.

As the title states if you didn't like Beast Academy I am curious why? Or if it worked for 'some' of your kids but not others I would like to hear about that. There are so many 'fan' threads that I'd like to hear the other side of the story as well since no program, no matter how wonderful, works for every child. Thanks,

Appearance and Organization: Each Guide is a slim (100 page) book printed in full color on semigloss, high quality paper. The Guides are divided into three chapters, which are further divided into short comic book story sections. The story sections are interspersed with pages of "notes" written (and sometimes illustrated) by the characters, and with instructions for math games. There are breaks in each story, marked by a stop sign, for students to stop and try to figure out the answer to a math question or puzzle. The characters solve the problem in the next panels, so for the full educational effect it is important to stop and think at the stop signs. Each Guide opens with a tutorial about how to read a comic book, but few kids should need it. The panel design is straightforward. Characters' speech bubbles are in different colors to make it clear who is speaking. The Practice books are monochrome and printed on standard-weight workbook paper, perforated for easy removal. Each Practice book has 100 pages of text and 25 pages of solutions, many fully worked/explained. The most difficult questions are marked with a star, and at the back of the book there is a page of hints for the starred problems. I chose to remove the solution pages from the book, but leave the hints. The Guide and Practice books are well linked together. Each chapter of the Practice book begins with a recommended sequence: Guide pages 18-25, then Practice pages 10-14, then Guide pages 26-33, and so on. The bottom of each Practice page lists the relevant Guide pages, and at the end of each Guide section there is a note of which Practice pages correspond. Beast Academy is not divided into lessons at all. Advance planners will have difficulty here. From my inspection, it looks as if sometimes it will be easy to complete a Guide segment and the accompanying Practice pages in one session, whereas other times it will take several days to complete the Practice pages associated with one Guide story. How long it takes to complete a single Practice page will vary considerably based on the page content. I suspect that at our house we will simply have to set a time limit for math, and do as many problems and sections as will fit in that time period. Story Content: The story content is extremely engaging and well done. The main plot follows four little monster students and their diverse collection of teachers. There are interludes in which the janitor(s), a two-headed beast which has discussions with itself, attempts to work out math concepts. In "shop class," the beasts are building pirate ships using concepts like area, perimeter, and square numbers. In "math lab," their kindly teacher, Professor Grok, is repeatedly kidnapped by "Calamitous Clod," who presents them with a much more difficult math problem which they must solve to win his safe return. (Alex quickly noticed that Calamitous Clod looks a lot like Professor Grok wearing a disguise.) In "Math Team with Fiona," the beasts go head-to-head against a team of robots in a math competition. In "gym class," Sergeant Rote harrangues them about the vital importance of memorizing their times tables. Throughout the stories, the beasts model problem-solving approaches and teamwork. It is often emphasized that there is more than one way to solve a problem correctly. The stories are sprinkled with tiny cultural references which many students won't notice. The two-headed janitors are Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, a Mo Willems pigeon appears in a flock of more realistic birds, and one of the beasts proudly announces that his hundreds chart is better because "this one goes to 11." I love these bits. There was some advance concern that a program called "Beast Academy" was being marketed to boys and would not appeal to girls. My very girly girl disagrees. The female characters are appealing and the cuteness quotient is high. The content seems balanced to appeal to both sexes and a range of interests. Math Content: Beast Academy is linked to the Common Core standards, so at some point all material that is designated for third grade will be presented in the Guide and/or Practice book. However, the standards are just a point of departure. It looks to me as if the chapters begin with grade-level content and then rapidly introduce more complex concepts. For example, by the end of the chapter on perfect squares children will be mentally finding the square of 65, finding the difference between the square of 92 and the square of 93, and expressing various numbers as the sum of four or fewer perfect squares. Much of the additional content is completely outside the standard curriculum. For example, children are taught how to figure out whether a complex geometric shape can be covered by dominoes, find the largest weight that cannot be balanced with a given set of weights, and dissect squares into combinations of smaller squares. Beast Academy students will be not be moving more quickly through the standard elementary sequence, so much as they will be dramatically expanding their understanding of number, spatial relations, logic, and problem solving far beyond what is normally considered "elementary math." They will also learn a number of shortcuts and tricks that are used in math competitions. If you're looking for a maximally accelerated route to completing the standard sequence, BA may frustrate you by including a lot of "irrelevant" things. (Considering that it is designed to get children to Pre-Algebra in 6th grade, I'm not too worried.) The most baffling question for people waiting for BA has been gauging its difficulty or level. From the moment the table of contents came out listing a skip-counting chapter, some people have worried that BA would be too easy. Reviewers of the sample chapter complicated the picture by raving about its depth and difficulty. The samples posted on Facebook seemed to be all over the place. If you only look at the Guide, you will come away with the impression that Beast Academy is entertaining math enrichment, but not very substantial. The full weight of the program comes in the Practice book. There is additional teaching in the Practice book, in addition to problems that range from the very simple to the fiendishly complex. Most of a child's learning will come from working through the Practice book problems, not from reading the Guide. Additionally, it is important to keep in mind that the puzzles and games are important pedagogical tools. They're not intended to be fun, skippable enrichment; they're part of the program. The Art of Problem Solving philosophy values the act of sitting in confusion with a difficult problem. This is not an incremental program which systematically builds on existing skills and confers a comfortable feeling of mastery. I suspect that many children will experience both frustration and exhilaration while working through Beast Academy. I suspect that many parents will feel the same way. It will take a certain amount of faith that, when your child is trying to build a complex shape out of Tetris game pieces (a.k.a. tetrominoes) or is making shapes out of toothpicks and changing them into other shapes, "math" is happening. From what I've seen of levels 3a and 3b, I believe that faith will be amply rewarded. Alex's Review (the 7yo perspective): I think it's good because the characters are funny. There are places where it's "Grog's Notes." His notes are funny because he draws pictures on them when he's just supposed to draw regular shapes. Some problems are hard and some problems are easy. They also have games. The games are cool! They are hard, but not too hard. The guide also has pictures of the cutest animals: pandakeets, slumberbees, and elefinches. Mom, can I do some more Beast Academy? Pleeeeease?

The Beast Academy Facebook page just printed pictures of the table of contents for the "guide," or textbook, to 3a: Three chapters, and about 100 pages. I'm assuming that this means there will be more than two books per level? This can't be half a year's work. Help me! I am feeling doubt. Is this going to be good? Is it okay that it's mostly geometry? Is my kid who knows her times tables going to be peeved about going back to skip-counting?

My dd8 is finishing up SM3B. This year we've done four days of regular math (SM) and Thurs. are fun math days (LOF elementary and/or logic puzzles and/or some FAN math/CWP). I think it's a good rhythm for us. We have all of LOF elementary-PreAlg. Biology. But, I'm not sure we'll buy any more. It's more in the read-aloud category than math at this point. It's starting to feel more and more scattershot. She really likes the story, but the math is often way too easy or so abruptly intruduced that it's not discovery, it's just frustrating. She really liked the look of the Beast Academy samples online, and I'm wondering if using level 3 for summer/next year would serve basically the same function as incorporating more of the IP/CWP combo that some people like with SM. (I'm planning to continue with SM for this child till she's ready for preAlg. or Alg. She does well with it.) Also, she's really vocal about liking fractions right now. And her birthday is coming up. Is there any big story-flow reason that someone might have to advise against doing D before A, B, or C? I don't think I can swing $100+ for a math book set birthday present, but we might start out with D (since it contains fractions) and see how it goes in real life (how fast she charges through, how good of a fit they actually are, etc.). Any thoughts? TIA, Sarah

http://www.beastacademy.com/store/4b :thumbup: ETA: oof, I see someone already announced it. Sorry! I looked, but didn't see another post, but that should teach me to make a thread while holding a whiny baby (geez, hope my taxes turned out okay). The last chapter is on Logic? Hmmm.... I've already done lots of grid puzzles with CP, though I'm sure BA will make it interesting. Our problem solving book keeps falling out of the rotation, so knowing this is coming up eventually I won't have to feel so anxious about that. :thumbup1:

I've purchased 3A for my rising 3rd grader and I'm trying to work out the scheduling for our year. I cannot find anywhere on the website a list of how many total lessons there are for the entire year (3A, 3B, 3C, 3D). I also can't seem to figure out if each lesson is supposed to be for one day or one week. Can someone help me out here? Thanks!

This makes my shopping so much easier--and saves on shipping too! http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=408