Anyone started all over with Math?

[parias1126]

I have a DD8 who struggles with math. We have not even attempted multiplication as of yet. I don't think (well, I KNOW she isn't ready). I am getting ready to start ALL OVER with her. I am using MUS and starting with Alpha tomorrow. Has anyone done this? How did it turn out in the end? My DD has already finished Alpha and Beta, then we went to CLE. CLE was just way too much for her and we had nothing but tears in the end. It was okay for 3 months, but as it started to get more difficult, the tears and frustration started to get extreme.

 

Anyway, I plan on starting this tomorrow afternoon. I am going to take out my Alpha book and see how far we can get with it in 30 minutes. I am assuming she will speed right through Alpha and we will slow down a bit when we get to Beta. I am trying to work my way towards Gamma which I bought long ago, but just don't think she is ready yet.

[sevknorr]

started over AND used new curric every yr with my daughter until we reached highschool math and teaching textbooks came out.

 

I did not use MUS with her and wish i had! we have used it with great success and then went on to TT and LOF with three sons. NO math majors here but our son just socred very high in the ACTs.

 

my ten yr old is still in gamma and he is just getting multiplication.

long ago he could get the answer but not be able to tell me how or

understand the underlying concept. i could have scooted him ahead..thinking what a bright boy but i know better now.

if there are no learning disabilities to worry about then take your time and shoot for

understanding. take a deep breath. YOU are a great educator and will

find what works for your dd!!!!

teresa ;)

[CariS]

Yes! When we pulled our dd out of ps in 1st grade the school had attempted to teach her using dreadful "Everyday Math." I tried a couple different things when we began HSing and nothing worked. One of the things was MUS. I finally gave up, for two years we did virtually no math other then times I would casually show her how I used math in everyday activities like cooking . About 6 months ago she began showing a real interest in math, even figured out a few things on her own. That was when I pulled out the Alpha math you see again. This was just before her 9th birthday. Now she is enjoying it, and actually learning it. She just wasn't ready before. My daughter is very strong in LA and visual arts, I guess her brain wanted to concentrate on that first. LOL!

 

Hope this helps some. ~Cari

[classics4us]

I am doing this now with all my dc! We started MUS, Beta for my two youngest and Epsilon and MM with my oldest. I have nothing helpful to add, just want to lyk ;)

edited to add,

 

Okay, so I guess I am not literally starting over but ya know. :)

Edited February 27, 2011 by classics4us

[twoxcell]

My sister is doing this with her two oldest. She pulled her dd, and ds out of PS when they were in 1st, and 3rd. She then attempted to place them in 1st, and 3rd Horizons, which was too advanced for them, and the TM are worthless. After almost a full year of floundering with that she purchased MUS. Her ds started with primer(he had learned almost no math in PS), and her dd with Alpha. 1 year later her ds(almost 8) is finishing Alpha, and her dd(10) is in Gamma. I think it was an excellent move for them, and she really likes MUS.

[Mom22ns]

I didn't go all the way back, but when we started MUS with ds I took him back to Epsilon even though he tested into Pre-Algebra and should have been there. That was last year. He did Epsilon and Zeta. This year he has done Pre-algebra and is now working on Algebra. It was a great decision here. He was weak in understanding and lacked confidence. Now he really gets it and believes he can!

 

I can't tell you how it will come out in ACT scores, but I sure don't have any regrets.

[MyLittleBears]

We did the switch the summer after 2nd grade in private school. They used saxon and it was serious tears! We started in Alpha in the summer and went through to Gamma by the begininng of 3rd grade. In retrospect I wish I had not moved so quickly. His understanding of math had become so poor with saxon (not saying it is a bad program, just a learning difference for my son) that when we rushed through math u see, and I skipped some things I thought he already had a grasp of, it ended up coming back to haunt us. Like time, for example. Now I am having to go back and reteach it. Actually, we are doing both MUS and singapore. On the other hand, my 1st grader started last year in the primer and is currently in Alpha with success but I believe it is because we are not rushing and it's building a stronger foundation. I guess if you try to build a foundation in a hurry, you're bound to leave holes.

 

What I am saying is MUS really builds on itself and you shouldn't try to rush the process like we did. Remember, it is the foundation that the building will sit on. A weak one will only cause problems later.

 

hth!

Edited February 27, 2011 by MyLittleBears

[kchara]

We did this! I started with R&S, and that didn't work. Then we went to Ray's, hoping maybe something more gentle would work, and it didn't. Then TT came out with their Level 3.. and that didn't work for us either.

 

Then we started MUS Alpha (kids are 8 and 9 1/2 at this point), and it's FINALLY seeming to sick!!! I don't know if that part of their brains just got functional or what, but all of the sudden, they're getting it. Thank God. Because I was seriously about to lose it. We're zooming through Alpha, and I'm planning on ordering Beta on Friday.

[AngelBee]

:grouphug: We had to start over and chose to go with MUS. We are almost back up to speed. :)

[razorbackmama]

I'm sort of doing this now. We moved AWAY from MUS, and I found that I had to take my 8th grader back to 3rd grade in several different topics. He was nearly done with MUS Zeta and about to start Pre-Algebra. But now, due to MUS not covering what he needed to cover to start Pre-Algebra, I'm having to play catch-up big time with him. I have no idea when he'll be ready to start Pre-Algebra, but it will certainly not be when he's in 9th grade in the fall. Sigh.

 

Kind of frustrating, but I guess at least he'll know the basics of math, right? (He won't get to Pre-Calculus in high school due to lack of time, since we wasted so many years. Sigh.)

[Veritaserum]

Yep. Dd10 started fresh with MM level 1 back in November. She is nearly done with 3a now. MUS, TT, and CLE were all misfits. MM is not as extreme mastery as MUS, but it has enough review to cement the concepts. It is the most cost-effective remediation because I own all the levels and can print the pages I need. :)

[razorbackmama]

Yep. Dd10 started fresh with MM level 1 back in November. She is nearly done with 3a now. MUS, TT, and CLE were all misfits. MM is not as extreme mastery as MUS, but it has enough review to cement the concepts. It is the most cost-effective remediation because I own all the levels and can print the pages I need. :)

 

How are you getting her through it so quickly? Does she do a bunch of pages a day, or are you skipping stuff that she knows?

[EKS]

My son was halfway through Saxon 7/6 and I put him back in MUS Beta. He went from Beta through Zeta in 6 months and it was an excellent review.

[Veritaserum]

How are you getting her through it so quickly? Does she do a bunch of pages a day, or are you skipping stuff that she knows?

 

We are skipping stuff she knows and slowing down for topics that she needs to learn or review. We will do anywhere from 2-10 pages per day, depending on if it is a new concept or review of something she already understands pretty well. On average we do about five pages per day, but I don't even print out the whole book. I only print the pages that I think she needs. I'd guess I end up printing 50-60% of each book.

[Dolphin]

We started in 3a of Singapore this year, he tested into it (just). I found there was a lot he didn't know. I ended up getting the 1A text and HIG and we went through that mostly orally. It took about 3 weeks, so then we did 1B and 2A, we are now on 2B and going to restart 3A probably in the next month. I think it was great. If they aren't really comfortable in the basics, the rest is going to be a struggle for them.

 

We also started KUMON. They start really easy too, he is just working on addition. It seems too easy, but it has made his Math with me much smoother, so I am going to keep with it for at least 3 more months. I think part of what he likes with that is having someone other than me teach him for a subject.

[parias1126]

I'm sort of doing this now. We moved AWAY from MUS, and I found that I had to take my 8th grader back to 3rd grade in several different topics. He was nearly done with MUS Zeta and about to start Pre-Algebra. But now, due to MUS not covering what he needed to cover to start Pre-Algebra, I'm having to play catch-up big time with him. I have no idea when he'll be ready to start Pre-Algebra, but it will certainly not be when he's in 9th grade in the fall. Sigh.

 

Kind of frustrating, but I guess at least he'll know the basics of math, right? (He won't get to Pre-Calculus in high school due to lack of time, since we wasted so many years. Sigh.)

 

This post scares me. Are you saying that he has "holes" because you used MUS for so many years? This is why I left MUS and went to CLE, but MUS is the ONLY math my DD really understands and can do with no tears.

[Guest aquiverfull]

I agree with Christina. I'm about to take my 12 year old through MUS Epsilon and Zeta and then we'll continue with MUS through High School. In the past we used Horizons 1-4, 1 year of CLE, tried a few chapters in Saxon, and this year did some MM blue. All those programs were the wrong programs for both me and my dd. They didn't help me to teach, and like Christina, I have very little confidence in my ability to teach the math. Those were also all incremental/spiral programs (other than MM) which did exactly as she described--- touched on a whole lot, but never mastered anything. As a result my child is all over the map. She can do some Algebra, some fractions, some decimals, etc... The problem is that she does not fully understand ANY of the concepts. Most of the time in Math she barely keeps her head above the water. I believe it is because of the lack of true understanding of what she is doing. This incremental approach has made it very hard for me to know just where the gaps are. People here raved about MM so I thought we'd give the Blue series a try to fill in some holes. Both my dd and I feel there is not enough instruction in MM. We're often still left with confusion and questions.

 

As far as jumping into other curriculum, Christina is right again. It is very hard to go from one to another because the scope and sequences are very different. My dd tested back in MM 3 when we did the placement test and she tests all over the place with Saxon (maybe in 87, but it's really hard to tell since she knows a lot of some things (that incremental approach showing through again). She tested into Pre-Algebra in TT.

 

I believe that Christina is exactly right, it's important to pick a curriculum and stay with it. I also believe it's important to truly understand, and I went too long just going through the motions for fear we'd get behind instead of stopping and shooting for true understanding.

[Guest aquiverfull]

This post scares me. Are you saying that he has "holes" because you used MUS for so many years? This is why I left MUS and went to CLE, but MUS is the ONLY math my DD really understands and can do with no tears.

 

If MUS is the program that your dd understands and causes no tears, then stay with it. Don't worry about her being "behind". Really! There is a lot of talk about MUS not being rigorous. Who cares? Children can go through a "rigorous" program and still have no idea what they are doing. TRUE understanding is MORE important. Trust me, I chose Horizons because I heard it was rigorous, it was the best out there....blah, blah. I stayed with it for 4 years even through tears and knowing that my dd wasn't getting it. I was afraid to get behind, so we kept moving through that workbook. I wouldn't switch because I was afraid what ever we moved to would be "less rigorous, and 'behind' ". I see my error now and we're paying for it.

Other families will have no problems with Horizons, or CLE, or MM, or whatever. It's important to pick the one that you can teach and your child can understand-- like Christina said so adequately above. If MUS is working don't change for fear of missing something! MUS will get your dd where she needs to be, it just might not be in a certain time frame with another curriculum.

[Veritaserum]

If MUS is the program that your dd understands and causes no tears, then stay with it. Don't worry about her being "behind". Really! There is a lot of talk about MUS not being rigorous. Who cares? Children can go through a "rigorous" program and still have no idea what they are doing. TRUE understanding is MORE important. Trust me, I chose Horizons because I heard it was rigorous, it was the best out there....blah, blah. I stayed with it for 4 years even through tears and knowing that my dd wasn't getting it. I was afraid to get behind, so we kept moving through that workbook. I wouldn't switch because I was afraid what ever we moved to would be "less rigorous, and 'behind' ". I see my error now and we're paying for it.

Other families will have no problems with Horizons, or CLE, or MM, or whatever. It's important to pick the one that you can teach and your child can understand-- like Christina said so adequately above. If MUS is working don't change for fear of missing something! MUS will get your dd where she needs to be, it just might not be in a certain time frame with another curriculum.

 

:iagree: MUS is an extreme mastery approach, so it doesn't cover topics in the same order. We stopped using it because it wasn't working for my kids. I've settled on MM or CLE as the only math programs we will use in elementary school because they work for us. I have no need to look around and no desire to, either. :)

 

But if MUS works for your child, stick with it! :)

[razorbackmama]

This post scares me. Are you saying that he has "holes" because you used MUS for so many years? This is why I left MUS and went to CLE, but MUS is the ONLY math my DD really understands and can do with no tears.

 

 

Yes.:blushing:

 

We switched away from MUS for several reasons, but mostly because I felt they were getting an incomplete view of math - sort of surface level. It was working GREAT for my kids - they liked it a lot (though they aren't picky about math programs). But as we went along I found myself saying more and more, "That's not correct," and like I said, they just had sort of a surface view of mathematical concepts.

 

Now, that said, if MUS is the only program she will use without totally losing it, then by all means do it! I'm very glad that my kids haven't minded a switch away from it, but if they did then I'd just have them continue (and then I'd try to supplement with some deeper math concepts whenever I could).

[parias1126]

Well we just finished our first morning of "starting over". We completed the first 4 chapters in MUS Alpha and it was so much fun! This is the first morning we have done math in a long time with complete understanding, no tears, and no frustration! My DD literally had a smile on her face and even giggled a few times while doing math. I will never leave MUS again for my DD! My DS, on the other hand, only wants to build towers and bridges with the blocks. :lol:

 

I get what your saying, Christina, about not ever switching curriculums. But, at the point where we were in MUS (the end of Beta), my DD was not ready to move on and she could not tell time or count money. After all the rave reviews on this board with regard to CLE, I decided to try it. My DD did learn from it, but it was just too much switching from one concept to the next and too many pages to complete. Im glad I tried CLE because if I hadn't, I wouldn't had seen where my DD was really having trouble. It just wasn't evident with MUS. I have since had her tested to see if she has a disability and she definitely does. So this is why I thought it was best to start over. It was also suggested by many on this board that I start over with MUS from the beginning. I gave her a break for about three weeks from math and today was our first day back. It went WONDERFUL!

 

Thank you to all those on this board that gave me the advice of starting over a few weeks ago.

[boscopup]

For time and money, you could just get the MM blue topic workbooks on those subjects. Use manipulatives to teach it. You could do those topics once a week. (I'm assuming here that MUS doesn't teach them at all. If it does, but just in a later level, I wouldn't worry about it and just get to them when MUS does.)

 

Yay for having a great first day! Stick with what your child learns from! :)

[parias1126]

For time and money, you could just get the MM blue topic workbooks on those subjects. Use manipulatives to teach it. You could do those topics once a week. (I'm assuming here that MUS doesn't teach them at all. If it does, but just in a later level, I wouldn't worry about it and just get to them when MUS does.)

 

Yay for having a great first day! Stick with what your child learns from! :)

 

It does teach both, but didn't get in depth as we needed it to and when we were done, she still didn't get it. I did use MM for time and it made a world of difference.