kristinannie Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Does anyone use these? I hadn't ever seen them until today. Just when I think I have my curriculum figured out, I see something new and it looks great! I especially like the math because of the manipulatives. I love the manipulative aspect of Math-U-See, but don't want to have to watch the videos or just do addition for a whole year, subtraction for a whole year, etc. I had planned to you MM because it was cost effective and looked complete (I also liked the games that were offered in the samples). Now that I have seen McRuffy, this might be exactly what I am looking for. For phonics, I was going to use MCP, but now really like ETC or McRuffy. I want to use AAS so which program would compliment that better? Anyway, there are way too many good curricula out there. :tongue_smilie: And to think that I might have just sent my kids to PS without having any idea which one they were using.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 You should try it! I haven't used the LA, but we're in our first year of using the color Math, grades K (for my Ker) and 1 (for my 2nd grader who thought she didn't like math). Some things about McRuffy Math: It's fun, colorful, and the daily workbook page doesn't have an overwhelming number of problems. There is a lot of review. Seriously. A.LOT. This drives me a little batty, but the DDs love it. It goes like this: add in a new concept with manipulatives (e.g. base ten blocks) - but no writing about it yet... after a few days of strictly hands on practice, include some written problems about the new concept on the workbook page ... continue reviewing old and new.... more review... DD can now do both new and old concepts in her sleep with one hand tied behind her back... and then a new concept is introduced... rinse and repeat. I think older DD enjoys it so much because all the review has built up her confidence. Math feels easy to her now. One thing I appreciate about all the review is that both girls are learning thier math facts very well without us having to do separate drilling. Both DDs have learned a lot so far, and I feel like they have a strong math foundation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveBaby Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 You should try it! I haven't used the LA, but we're in our first year of using the color Math, grades K (for my Ker) and 1 (for my 2nd grader who thought she didn't like math). Some things about McRuffy Math: It's fun, colorful, and the daily workbook page doesn't have an overwhelming number of problems. There is a lot of review. Seriously. A.LOT. This drives me a little batty, but the DDs love it. It goes like this: add in a new concept with manipulatives (e.g. base ten blocks) - but no writing about it yet... after a few days of strictly hands on practice, include some written problems about the new concept on the workbook page ... continue reviewing old and new.... more review... DD can now do both new and old concepts in her sleep with one hand tied behind her back... and then a new concept is introduced... rinse and repeat. I think older DD enjoys it so much because all the review has built up her confidence. Math feels easy to her now. One thing I appreciate about all the review is that both girls are learning thier math facts very well without us having to do separate drilling. Both DDs have learned a lot so far, and I feel like they have a strong math foundation. :iagree: I am using K math right now and really enjoy it. I like teaching it and my son likes doing it. And he's learning a lot. He looks forward to it. My original plan had been to start him with MUS, but I just didn't care for the way it presented things in the younger grades. I *love* all the fun manipulatives with McRuffy K. It breaks up the week to work some with pattern blocks, some with games, some with writing exercises etc. No chance of getting bored. I haven't used the phonics portions thought because we use Phonics Road for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheApprentice Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 We used McRuffy Phonics in Kindergarten, and ds loved it. If you child is reading pretty well, this may be too easy. We are in our 3rd year with McRuffy Math (ds is in 2nd grade) and this is by far his favorite subject. There is a lot a review, but like the previous post stated, it has build my son's confidence as well. The top portion of the workbook page is review, and the lower portion would be work on the new concept. My son especially enjoys the games that go along with some of the lessons. And you can continue playing the games once the pertained lesson has been covered. I would say it is a gentle spiral approach, with meaty content. Definitely worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 McRuffy math is great. My kids are just weird and like Saxon better. I agree that McRuffy math is fun, colorful and has lots of review. If you want to use AAS, then I'm not sure the LA would be worth it. For K it would be fine, but in 1st and up they incorporate spelling into a lot of the lessons, so AAS would be overkill. I tried taking out the McRuffy spelling part, but it didn't leave much to the program then, they really tie the spelling words to the phonics sounds being worked on for reading. That said McRuffy K and half of 1st that we used for LA really helped my dd who is a struggling reader (she's 9 and if first now reading a Magic Tree house chapter book, although it's very slow going) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Does anyone use these? I hadn't ever seen them until today. Just when I think I have my curriculum figured out, I see something new and it looks great! I especially like the math because of the manipulatives. I love the manipulative aspect of Math-U-See, but don't want to have to watch the videos or just do addition for a whole year, subtraction for a whole year, etc. I had planned to you MM because it was cost effective and looked complete (I also liked the games that were offered in the samples). Now that I have seen McRuffy, this might be exactly what I am looking for. For phonics, I was going to use MCP, but now really like ETC or McRuffy. I want to use AAS so which program would compliment that better? Anyway, there are way too many good curricula out there. :tongue_smilie: And to think that I might have just sent my kids to PS without having any idea which one they were using.... Well you probably already know we use it, because I think I'm the one who linked you to it. :001_smile: Even though my dd is 7 and just started first grade here at home this month, we are still finishing up her K levels of McRuffy (I've been a bit laid back with this child, but that could be a whole 'nother topic). She loves it all (the SE Phonics, Color Math, and Science). I already have all the first grade stuff sitting here waiting for us to finish K and go right into it (I even have the 3rd grade phonics waiting here, since I got a great deal on it). I'd suggest, again, to print out the sample pages of the phonics and math and see how it goes. Request a catalog from Brian too. I think of ETC more as a supplement (but maybe I'm wrong). With McRuffy Phonics you'll get the teacher's instructions, resource pack with games and other things, and the readers. Even though it's more expensive than ETC, you get way more bang for your buck. I've tried MUS in the past. It was just so-so for my oldest daughter. My son HATED it....he could not stand to watch the DVD lessons. The only manipulatives are those MUS blocks. McRuffy has a lot of variety. Also, I showed my youngest dd the samples of McRuffy and then told her that another program we could try would be MUS and I showed her those samples. Well, if you compare samples I'm sure you can guess which one she really, really, really wanted and practically begged for me to get. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbw0817 Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 My son is learning to read using McRuffy K. He is only 4.5yo, so I don't do much of the handwriting yet. But we both love it! We are on the 4th or 5th reader, I think. I also started McRuffy K Math recently. Too early to give a complete review, but from what I see of it, it is just what we were looking for. I think because it is more traditional and has somewhat cheesy graphics (LA and Math), it might look less sophisticated than other curricula. But I think Brian does an excellent job at making it thorough and fun at the same time. Oh, and I have ETC too, but it seems like overkill now that I am well into McRuffy LA. He incorporates a lot of review in both these subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I also started McRuffy K Math recently. Too early to give a complete review, but from what I see of it, it is just what we were looking for. I think because it is more traditional and has somewhat cheesy graphics (LA and Math), it might look less sophisticated than other curricula. But I think Brian does an excellent job at making it thorough and fun at the same time. Really??! :lol: Funny! I think the pictures are just ADORABLE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 We have not used the LA. We have used McRuffy Color Math K and we are currently using the math for grades 1 and 3. I went with McRuffy (and stuck with it, unlike other things I tried) because: It has daily lessons. The lack of daily lessons is why I did not stick with Singapore. It has built-in review. It is colorful. The black and white pages are one reason we did not stick with Saxon. My kids have proven to do better with colorful pages of math. I know some kids are just the opposite. It has some scripting, but not to the extent that Saxon has it. There is a little bit there to get you started on something new, but not every word everyone says in every lesson. We do supplement with Math Mammoth. My kids do not seem to do well with timed tests so we don't use those. They are used in McRuffy for facts mastery. We use MM, oral drills, and drills on websites for that instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbw0817 Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Really??! :lol: Funny! I think the pictures are just ADORABLE! I do too, but I got the impression that some people thought they were too cartoonish for their taste. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I posted on McRuffy phonics K a few weeks ago. Here is my post: I'll jump in with a few thoughts. We are on roughly Lesson 70 (out of 175) in McRuffy K Phonics/Reading. I ordered several phonics programs before settling on this one. (Caveat: we did spend DD's Pre-K year using Jolly Phonics to learn her letter, vowel, and diagraph sounds.) Things I like about McRuffy Phonics: It features solid phonics with a few extra topics like rhyming, capitalizing proper nouns, and how to make a noun plural. I am not a phonics expert, but the instruction strikes me as traditional, incremental, and thorough. Granted - we are still on CVC words, but I have looked ahead to future levels and still been impressed. The author has obviously worked very hard to vary the materials and address a variety of learning styles. The daily worksheets are in different formats, and the supplemental games/puppets/coloring sheets are available for different learning styles. One can also ignore many of these supplements if one chooses. The light scripting works for me - there when I need it, but not so oppressive and rigid that it drives me crazy. The program is virtually open-and-go. Sometimes I do have to spend a few moments cutting out a game or making sliders. The thorough planning makes it easy to get phonics DONE every day. The kids read simple books starting fairly early in the year (maybe 4-5 weeks in?). We read a new book every week and then repeat it all week long. Obviously, beginning phonics books are extremely limited in vocabulary, but the McRuffy books are cute and often funny. My 5 yo gets a kick out of them. Handwriting and spelling are included, but it is extremely easy to drop one or both of them if you want. I personally use a different handwriting program, but find the simple spelling words are quite helpful in reinforcing phonics. I just don't have any dislikes at this point. Sometimes I find myself impatient to go a bit faster, but that's probably because DD knew her letter sounds before beginning. Every time I think about skipping a lesson, however, I look through the materials and find some little subtle nugget that I don't want her to miss. :) And they do cover a lot of ground by the end of the kindergarten year. Hope this helps! ***** I really do continue to enjoy McRuffy phonics. I think the best part of the program is the carefully controlled readers that tie in perfectly with the weekly phonics lessons. My daughter loves them, and that's a HUGE plus with me! I do foresee a problem going forward because of the all-in-one aspect of the program. I am a huge tweaker, and I'm already wanting to add in AAS. This is more because of my personality than because McRuffy is truly lacking. It is honestly a solid program that makes it easy to cover all the bases in a fairly fun way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 I posted on McRuffy phonics K a few weeks ago. Here is my post: I do foresee a problem going forward because of the all-in-one aspect of the program. I am a huge tweaker, and I'm already wanting to add in AAS. This is more because of my personality than because McRuffy is truly lacking. It is honestly a solid program that makes it easy to cover all the bases in a fairly fun way. I had planned to use AAS because it looks great! I guess it would be overkill to do both programs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim.4dogs Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I bought McRuffy Phonics K for my son this year. I really like the program, but he is young and he really didn't know all of his letter sounds as well as I thought he did. It was too difficult for him pretty quickly. I set it aside and we've been going through the Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code (ETC) workbooks to cement letter sounds for him. Once we've finished that, we'll go back to McRuffy K. I really like the program, but for us it feels like you need to know letter sounds pretty well before you're ready for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Well, Brian might have just made a sale! I emailed him with a few questions and received an answer within an hour! There is no substitute for good customer service!!! He answered all of my questions and it seems like he can offer some support if I need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well, Brian might have just made a sale! I emailed him with a few questions and received an answer within an hour! There is no substitute for good customer service!!! He answered all of my questions and it seems like he can offer some support if I need it. Brian is awesome in this respect. I've never had it take more than a day to get a response and that was because he was out of town for a funeral. A few years ago when I was using Science K with my dd, I found out one of the pages from the resource package was missing. I emailed him figuring I'd just push the lesson to the next day and went to make lunch. About 5 minutes into making lunch I heard my "you have email" signal and he had already sent me a PDF copy of the missing page to print out and use that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Brian is awesome in this respect. I've never had it take more than a day to get a response and that was because he was out of town for a funeral. Well, not to derail the thread or anything, but I sent him two unrelated emails months apart from each other and never got a response for either of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.