Nojo317 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Actually, I think we're all tired of MUS. I like the idea of mastery math, but my kids are hating it, and I hate that they hate it, kwim? DD is in Beta and DS is just about finishing up Gamma and ready to move into Delta (which I bought already.) I'm thinking of moving the kids out of MUS, but am in a dilemma because it's a mastery curriculum. There are some things my kids haven't studied yet compared to grade-level schoolmates, but on the other hand, they may be ahead of grade-level counterparts in what they have studied. I'm considering sticking with MUS through Delta for DS (he's almost there anyway and I bought the books last summer), but then after Delta move him into Life Of Fred. Do you think that transition would work? Should I supplement LOF with something else? Will MUS through Delta even prepare him for LOF Fractions? For DD, when we finish up Beta, I want to move her out and into something else. She'll have a good grasp of all addition and subtraction facts as well as problems with regrouping. Suggestions on where to go from there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Removed by the Author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rootsnwings Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 We went from MUS Gamma to Singapore with great success. Singapore is a soft spiral, but it stays on one subject for a fairly long time. For instance, in 4B we've been working with Decimals since starting in January. We'll be doing all things decimals (working with decimals & all 4 operations) until April, then we will work on geometry and graphing (using what we've learned with decimals) for the rest of the year. So in essence it's a mastery program (mastering decimals) but there are tons of spiraling exercises (converting from fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplying, dividing, graphing and working with geometry) that get it done. It doesn't *feel* like a mastery program, but it is. And that's what I like about it! (and DS TOO!!!) :) HTH!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin in VA Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 My older son (5th grade) finished Gamma and then I purchased the fractions and decimals modules from MM (about $4 a piece vs $90 each for MUS). We're almost done and then we are skipping 6th grade math and moving into Teaching Textbooks 7 and will continue from there with their program. He'll see negative numbers and square roots and such in a text for the first time. I've lightly covered those subjects with him on my own and feel confident he'll pick it up. He is not "mathy" btw. My younger son (1st grade) is doing a combination of MUS Alpha and MM 1st grade. I'm debating how to handle next year so that he'll be ready for TT3 the following year. I'll most likely order MM 2nd grade and use the MUS resources again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parias1126 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 My older son (5th grade) finished Gamma and then I purchased the fractions and decimals modules from MM (about $4 a piece vs $90 each for MUS). We're almost done and then we are skipping 6th grade math and moving into Teaching Textbooks 7 and will continue from there with their program. He'll see negative numbers and square roots and such in a text for the first time. I've lightly covered those subjects with him on my own and feel confident he'll pick it up. He is not "mathy" btw. My younger son (1st grade) is doing a combination of MUS Alpha and MM 1st grade. I'm debating how to handle next year so that he'll be ready for TT3 the following year. I'll most likely order MM 2nd grade and use the MUS resources again. This is such a great suggestion! My son was begging me this morning to teach him multiplication. Maybe Ill just do the same and purchase just the MM Multiplication for both my kids and then move on to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlestonmom03 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 We switched in January from MUS to Singapore and we are all really glad we made the change. My oldest was moving very quickly through MUS and was about to start Epsilon, which I had already purchased. In looking at how fast he was moving through these books, I realized that a year from now we would be starting pre-algebra, and I felt there were some gaps in his math knowledge and that we needed to make a change. So, I sold Epsilon, I was able to get the full price for it and just took a hit with the shipping. I started him in Singapore 2B, which is mostly review but does have some new information, and I also bought the Challenging Word Problems (he thinks this is great fun). My second boy is doing Singapore 1A, which I anticipate will not get done this year and we will pick it up again in the fall.... But he is learning the math facts very well and I think it is teaching him to think differently than the MUS approach. He is not as naturally talented at math as my oldest. SM is certainly more work on my part, as I have to actually teach the concept, but I think it is worth mh efforts and I plan to use it for all my children. I can't ever see myself going back to MUS in the future, though I do not think it is a bad program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuff Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 We switched from MUS to MM. I made up review books for the two older ones. I just took the pieces of the previous grade stuff that I thought they needed work on and then moved them into the book they needed. It worked pretty smoothly. MUS taught me that I like mastery when it's spiraled. :) (And the only reason I tried it was for DD who likes to touch things. She hated the blocks because they slowed her down. Well, why are we doing this, then?!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 We were tired of MUS, as well, and switched to MM. Now we are doing MM and LOF together. Fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nojo317 Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 MM = Math Mammoth? I'll check into that one, as well as Singapore. It's reassuring to hear that others have been able to successfully leave MUS without too much trouble. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yep, MM = Math Mammoth We are starting to supplement our MUS with MM, and I'm actually toying with the idea of switching. Seems like we've been in Alpha FOR-E-VER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Two of my kids switched to Math Mammoth. One switched to CLE. MUS was way too mastery-minded (one operation for the entire year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveBaby Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 MUS helped my DD turn a corner in math and I will be forever grateful to it for that reason, but like others...we just weren't moving forward fast enough. My DS (who is very mathy) was very frustrated by the same thing all year long. Right now we've been using a lot of online math programs. I'm still researching what I want to do for next year. I do like the online programs for my older students because if frees up some time to teach other more mom-intensive subjects with the younger ones. I do have MM and like it a lot, but the online aspect of other programs is really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nojo317 Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 What on-line programs are you considering/using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCJessieRN Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I'm contemplating switching my oldest as well. He is almost finished with Gamma. I was thinking of MM b/c of the price! I've also thought of Singapore. I looked at the placement test and I think he will only place in 3A though. So, I'm not sure what to do. I did switch my dd from MUS (Alpha) to MM and it has been so much better for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 We added Singapore Math back in. Neither program alone seems to fit our needs, but the two together are awesome. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn- Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I was bored with MUS for my daughter and at the rate she was getting through levels (usually 2 a year), I pulled her after Delta and switched to Teaching Textbooks. We are going back to MUS because she is begging for it. Apparently sticking to 1 subject for an entire book is right up my unofficially diagnosed ADD child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyCamper Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 We started with Singapore, but it was too hard for me to teach AND wasn't the right fit for DD8. She isn't excited about MUS, but it seems like a solid foundation, it is easy to "teach", and I bought the curriculum through Epsilon. We supplement with Mathwhizz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveBaby Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 We've tried: ALEKS TenMarks America's Math Teacher I was able to review all of the above with the TOS Crew. My blog has my thoughts on them. I liked AMT, but it still required me to be there and organize the lessons. ALEKS is awesome because it is intuitive to what the students know/don't know and we would continue with it, but it's pretty spendy, IMO, for 2 students for a year. We may just do 6mos. and then re-evaluate. TenMarks was O.K but it didn't seem as intuitive as ALEKS. My kids didn't like it much at all, which kind of surprised me. The video tutoring was nice, but the video's didn't always correspond to the question being asked, which was frustrating to my kids. Right now they signed up for the free trials of Math-Whizz and my younger ones are signed up for Dreambox Homeschool Buyer's Co-op is offering hefty discounts on both TenMarks and Math Whizz until the end of the month. I would have never considered online math until we were able to try it with the Crew. I also wouldn't have realized how much my kiddo's were missing with MUS. I know that they get everything they need with MUS eventually, but I discovered that I just really wasn't comfortable with the scope and sequence the longer we used it. I much prefer that they follow a standard scope and sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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