momchiroto2 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Could we please discuss MUS. Your thoughts on it. Pros and Cons? Thanks so much Shahnaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I only recommend it when absolutely no other math program works for your child. If you'd like details you can PM me, since I have been accused of "trashing" MUS before, whenever I have shared specifics of the problems I have with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 When I first decided to homeschool, this was what was highly recommended to me by friends. However, I didn't like the fact that the kids have to watch a DVD. I might like that when more of my kids are HSing, but I want to teach math. Also, I don't like how they only do one skill for the entire year. I have heard great things about this program though and know more than one family who swears by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I've used Alpha through Algebra. I really like the program for those levels and have found only one con, for my family. I tried it out after a friend recommended it for my math phobic, math hating daughter. Saxon took about 60 minutes a day to go through their script, and most of those minutes were tear-filled. It was horrible; I had to try something else. MUS took anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes a day, and my daughter rarely cried over it. I was hooked. I decided I wanted to stick with the same program for both of my kids, so I switched my math accelerated, math loving son to it. Because it is a mastery approach, he has been able to zip through it at his own pace. (Kids that need more practice just add extra pages printable from the website.) He has had no trouble mastering, with complete understanding, all of the concepts. He is now working on algebra with no problems. With two opposite kids using the program, I can say I love it with one exception. I love how it is strongly rooted in place value. To fully understand math well, you have to have a strong concept of place value. This is something so many kids don't get. It helps to understand so many other things, too. For example, I've tried several times to understand binary but never could. With a few years of MUS under my belt, I got binary without a problem and was able to teach it to my then 7 year old son in under 15 minutes. When you understand place value, you can understand any base. Even algebra is rooted in place value. I also like how one major concept is covered over a year. Gamma, for example, is multiplication. You don't just cover the basic multiplication facts over that year, though. You start with the basic concept of what multiplication means, learn the basic facts, cover multiple digit multiplication, learn about conversions, and a few other related concepts. By the end of the year, you have a really good foundation of multiplication. The DVDs were mentioned. They are suppose to be viewed by the parent, not the child, though they can be viewed by the child. The point is to show you how to cover the topic with the manipulatives. It models the lesson for the parent. You can also follow the teacher's manual, though, I have found that the DVD can really clarify things if the TM leaves you confused. The only con I've found is that it lacks problem solving skills. Sure there are word problems, but they are very basic. Even the two step problems are very basic. However, this is pretty easy to supplement, especially as the student gets older. My plan is to introduce problem solving by doing algebra again with the Art of Problem Solving textbooks. We've also done logic puzzles, Math Olympiad problems, and math mysteries. One other thing that can be a con is that some topics (ie. multiple digit multiplication and long division) are taught in place value notation. It's very different from how we were taught, but if you can grasp the method, it reinforces not only place value but why the short cuts work. The short cuts are taught after the student gets the first way worked out. For the algebra and below years, I've been very pleased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Could we please discuss MUS. Your thoughts on it. Pros and Cons?Thanks so much Shahnaz We used MUS for three years and switched. I love the explanation on place value. My kids hated only covering one fact for an entire year. Because the scope and sequence for MUS is very, very different than most (all?) other programs, your child will have holes unless you complete the sequence and/or supplement. Tears every day prompted me to switch my second dd. She does very well with Christian Light Education, which is spiral. I switched my older dd about six months later because she just wasn't understanding. She uses Math Mammoth now, which is my favorite math program. It is mastery-based, but still covers more than one topic per year. There is a major sale right now (you've probably seen threads). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 We really love MUS. My dd really thrives being able to stay on one topic for a longer period of time--it cements her understanding really well. When she was on a spiral curriculum prior to MUS she had a harder time retaining concepts because of the constant switching of topics. I intend to keep dd on MUS all the way through high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I have 3 kids and they are all using MUS....after a long list of other math programs we tried. I started using MUS when we first started hoeschooling. It was working for the kids, but I was getting bored, so then I started my math adventure.....we tried 3 other programs...and now we are back to MUS...why? well, becasue my kids needed the intense, in depth immersion of the same concept over and over and over again....but it is nice to know that we can skip a few pages....if they get it faster. We tried the sprial approach, and althought that worked really well for some kids, there simply wasn't enough initial practice for my kids to get it and they were SOOOO frustrated...MUS allows for LOTS of practice of the same thing. as far as the DVD's are concerned...they are meant for the parent's eyes....although the kids could watch them. I rarely watch them myself...but if I don't understand something in the TE, then I watch the DVD to learn myself first...and then I teach my kids. My kids have been much happier since we returned to MUS....and the one thing I have learned is if it is not broken, don't try to fix it....we should have stayed with MUS from the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralloyd Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 MUS is awesome! We decided to use it the first year we went to a convention and heard their talk. I understood the way they presented the concepts! This is big since I am a hsed with Saxon, math phobic, graduate. My dh who is very good at math and loves it, thought it was great. He said it was the way he thought about math. The DVDs make it so easy for me to teach. My girls watch it with me. They usually get it right away, and go and work on their worksheets. If I have to explain further it just take a few more minutes. I feel confident teaching after I have watched Mr. Demme. I love that each year is "one" topic. It really cements the concepts in the girl's minds. My oldest adds and subtracts long columns of numbers in her mind fairly quickly. I want them to be confident in math and really know it. I could careless if they are "behind" other programs scope and sequence. Right now my oldest is writing her multiplication facts because she wants to teach them to her sister. We haven't started school yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxie Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 We love MUS! I didn't have a great math education so the videos explain to them (and me:glare:) everything we need to know in a way that is really easy to understand. One of the drawbacks is that, since it is a mastery program, not everything is covered. I'd like my children to take a standardized test at some point but I worry that the math score will be artificially low. For example, my 4th grader has had very little fractions yet and I'm sure PS kids have dabbled in it. I also add in telling time in 1st grade because it isn't covered well enough, IMO. I've made peace with these issues and plan to continue with MUS through all of my children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuzi Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 We recently switched from MUS to Math Mammoth. The math was getting too easy for DD to do, and the blocks were a *huge* distraction. She'd rather play with them than use them to do her math worksheet, so even though the math was easy for her to do, it too longer for her to do an assignment because I had to keep reminding her to stop playing with the blocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I am using MUS Beta with my son. It is very easy to teach with, and my son likes it. But I am switching back to Saxon next year. Because it is a mastery program it isn't working for us. I noticed last month that my son had lost many of his math facts. With Saxon there is constant review and pushing ahead at the same time and he felt accomplishment and stretching all in the same lesson. With MUS we covered multi-digit addition, place values, carrying, and many other things with addition before doing anything with subtraction. So when we did get to subtraction he needed to count on his fingers and we lost the wonderful work and time we spent last year learning all of the math facts. When I mentioned that as a concern I realized that I should/could have had him complete math fact drills while using MUS. I have decided that a mastery program is not what I want in a math program. I believe my son basically lost a year of math by using it, and I am using the rest of this year to cobble together a way to get him ready for Saxon next year. I am not happy with myself for choosing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 My kids both started in ps. They were using spiral curriculum and were A students, but they did NOT understand math. I started dd in BJU last year, but switched to Epsilon when she didn't understand fractions (she could do them, but she didn't understand them). I started ds in Epsilon last year at the beginning of the year. He did Epsilon & Zeta. This year he has done pre-Algebra and is currently working on Algebra. Both of my kids (with gifted IQs) thought they were stupid and couldn't do math. Dd HATED spiral. She wanted to completely understand a concept before she moved on. MUS has been the perfect answer for us. It does a great job teaching understanding. My kids do watch the videos. Steve is a good teacher, I'm not, at least not in math. We supplement wit LoF to get more thinking math in, but I wouldn't trade MUS for anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdeno Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 One way I cope with the one topic per book issue is to add Math Mammoth or something similar where needed. Kariann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 It didn't work for us. Dd didn't retain what she learned, and the manipulatives were distracting--for dd5, she took for.ever. to build anything with them, and preferred to tell stories with them & treat them as Legos. My other dd was absolutely OCD about lining up each block EXACTLY in the square on the page & couldn't get past that. The only time math actually got done were the parts with no blocks--like 4+6=___. So I sold MUS and am using Singapore with one dd and MEP with the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 We LOVE MUS. LOVE it. We tried a couple of other programs before find it. My Ph.D engineer husband wanted the kids to really be able to "think" mathmatically. The other programs we tried did not do this. I've used Primer and Alpha twice now, and Beta and Gamma once. We just love it and plan to continue with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I started using Math-U-See this year with my 4 year old (Primer) and my 8 year old (Beta). My son was in PS last year and didn't understand anything he did in math despite getting A's. They have both done very well with Math-U-See and I'm very happy with the mastery approach. My son is on the last chapter of Beta and he can do anything from the book. He gave up using the blocks a while ago because he understands it. I think it's a solid program and I wish I had been taught that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crl Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 We really love MUS. My dd really thrives being able to stay on one topic for a longer period of time--it cements her understanding really well. When she was on a spiral curriculum prior to MUS she had a harder time retaining concepts because of the constant switching of topics. I intend to keep dd on MUS all the way through high school. This was my DD too. She was having a hard time with the constant switching of the spiral programs. MUS lets her really learn the information before moving on. I also like the the kids can move through at their own pace. I know the DVDs are to be used by the parents, but my DD likes Mr. Demme so we usually watch it together, pausing when needed and then going over it together. My son loves that the blocks remind him of Legos. So he's willing to "play" with his math. While my DD doesn't use the blocks, it's nice to have them in case we need a more visual view of the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2blessings Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 My dd is in Epsilon, ds in Beta. In Epsilon, I'm starting to supplement with Life of Fred for more 'thinking problems' and to see the math in a different context. Since MUS isn't real time consuming it's doable do do both. I watch the DVD with my kids (my eldest says she never understands it, but it's not meant for her:) Then I help with the initial problems of the new concept, and she's pretty much independent from there. Blessings, Gina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 We love MUS! I didn't have a great math education so the videos explain to them (and me:glare:) everything we need to know in a way that is really easy to understand. One of the drawbacks is that, since it is a mastery program, not everything is covered. I'd like my children to take a standardized test at some point but I worry that the math score will be artificially low. For example, my 4th grader has had very little fractions yet and I'm sure PS kids have dabbled in it. I also add in telling time in 1st grade because it isn't covered well enough, IMO. I've made peace with these issues and plan to continue with MUS through all of my children. FTR, my kids have taken the Iowa standardized tests yearly and have always scored grade level or better on the math sections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 We used MUS and now we're using Math Mammoth. I taught Primer through Epsilon. At first I really liked MUS because it was different than anything I had ever seen. I had a horrible math education and this was refreshing. As my oldest went through the levels though I noticed my "kid who loves math" was starting to not like it. It bored him. The sheets are all the same type of problems and the word problems didn't make him think much. The last straw was when I threw Life Of Fred at him and he found it very difficult because in my son's words, "they didn't tell me how to do this!" Yet, when I looked at what he needed to do, he knew all the skills, but couldn't figure out how to actually put them together to use them! After thinking we'd supplement with MM, we ended up switching over. It's also a mastery program, but there is much more variety in the lessons. Each lesson presents the topic in many different ways and asks the child to do many different things so they don't just blindly fill in the blanks. The word problems are challenging and the puzzle corners are GREAT! The teaching is done right on the page so it can be done independently if your child is at a level in which he/she can do that. My younger guys don't do it independently yet, but my older two are mostly independent. In the end, MUS started us on our journey, but I found a more complete curriculum in MM.... FWIW! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 The last straw was when I threw Life Of Fred at him and he found it very difficult because in my son's words, "they didn't tell me how to do this!" Yet, when I looked at what he needed to do, he knew all the skills, but couldn't figure out how to actually put them together to use them! After thinking we'd supplement with MM, we ended up switching over. It's also a mastery program, but there is much more variety in the lessons. Each lesson presents the topic in many different ways and asks the child to do many different things so they don't just blindly fill in the blanks. The word problems are challenging and the puzzle corners are GREAT! The teaching is done right on the page so it can be done independently if your child is at a level in which he/she can do that. My younger guys don't do it independently yet, but my older two are mostly independent. In the end, MUS started us on our journey, but I found a more complete curriculum in MM.... FWIW! :001_smile: We had a similar experience. Prior to switching away from MUS, I knew there were little quirks that bothered me. Once we switched to MM, however, I realized how incomplete MUS was. Not so much in the amount of topics (though there are some issues there), but in the depth of those different topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsutsie Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 We like this program a lot, but I'm not sure if I will use it as our only math program. It is, however, as many other have said, rather boring. I think it is really good for struggling students or kids who need more practice in every topic. I think that combining it with another program, like Singapore, makes it fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 We had a similar experience. Prior to switching away from MUS, I knew there were little quirks that bothered me. Once we switched to MM, however, I realized how incomplete MUS was. Not so much in the amount of topics (though there are some issues there), but in the depth of those different topics. :iagree: For example, dd could move the blue rods into the "tens house" and the red into the "hundreds house," but she did not understand place value. It was like a game that didn't relate to the numbers. Singapore is a much better fit for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susankenny Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 We did not like MUS. It was a bad fit for my daughter & we ditched it after 6 months. Susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I switched about halfway through 1st grade from MUS to Singapore. My daughter's ITBS scores in math went up 25% the first year and another 25% after a full year and a half of using Singapore. With Singapore, my daughter understands math. She still is not mathy, but she gets a good understanding of math. Singapore is also a good fit for my mathy son. I do like their manipulatives, I kept them and drag them out on occasion to use with Singapore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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