MM Blue vs. Light Blue

[joyfulhomeschooler]

Hello MM co-op buyers

I am going to use MM as a supplement and I realize that the blue is supposed to be for this purpose. But looking through the samples, I think I like the light blue better.

Does anyone else feel this way? Is there anyone else getting the light blue for supplementing?

[Momling]

I've used both and prefer the blue -- I like to choose what areas of math my kids are ready for next rather than having to move on from topic to topic.

 

Keep in mind it is the same material, just organized in different ways.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

I've used both and prefer the blue -- I like to choose what areas of math my kids are ready for next rather than having to move on from topic to topic.

 

Keep in mind it is the same material, just organized in different ways.

 

Can't you do that with the light blue? From the samples I saw I thought you could. Since you have used it you would know better.

[sewpeaceful]

My friend is planning to get the lt.blue to supplement a program, even though it isn't designed to work that way. Her thoughts are as follows:

 

1. The material in lt.blue, since it is leveled, will tend to be along the lines of what the student is learning in the base program.

 

2. If the kid enjoys the MM more, she has a program she can move to full time without having to buy it again.

 

If you like the lt.blue better, get the lt.blue. YOU have to like and feel comfortable with it too.

[shanvan]

My friend is planning to get the lt.blue to supplement a program, even though it isn't designed to work that way. Her thoughts are as follows:

 

1. The material in lt.blue, since it is leveled, will tend to be along the lines of what the student is learning in the base program.

 

2. If the kid enjoys the MM more, she has a program she can move to full time without having to buy it again.

 

If you like the lt.blue better, get the lt.blue. YOU have to like and feel comfortable with it too.

 

I'm agreeing with this. I would rather have more to choose from and not use it, than have regrets and wish I had ordered the full curriculum. I like the light blue better, even though we already have a math curriculum. I think that's what I'm going to order.

[boscopup]

My friend is planning to get the lt.blue to supplement a program, even though it isn't designed to work that way. Her thoughts are as follows:

 

1. The material in lt.blue, since it is leveled, will tend to be along the lines of what the student is learning in the base program.

 

2. If the kid enjoys the MM more, she has a program she can move to full time without having to buy it again.

 

If you like the lt.blue better, get the lt.blue. YOU have to like and feel comfortable with it too.

 

Those are really good points! And if you have all 6 years of light blue, it should be easy to match things up when supplementing, even if the other program has a different S&S (for example, Singapore does multiplication in 1B and MM does it in 2B, so if you wanted to supplement Singapore, you could go to MM 2B's multiplication chapter in light blue).

[Momling]

Can't you do that with the light blue? From the samples I saw I thought you could. Since you have used it you would know better.

 

Sure -- I didn't buy the entire set though - I had only bought single grade levels (2a and 2b), but found myself wanting some material from 1b and some from 3a.

 

If you're buying the whole set, it's truly the same stuff and both work as supplementary or as a complete curriculum, so it's really just about how you like them divided.

[robsiew]

I would suggest Lt. Blue. I bought Blue, thinking I'd supplement only. I loved it so much I wanted to make it our full time math. I did get a discount on Light Blue when I bought it, but it would have made more sense to just buy Lgt. Blue from the start. Now I have a Blue I don't even use. I think the Lgt. Blue would be easy enough to use as a supplement. You'd just have to look through the contents to find the unit you want.

[chiguirre]

You can use Blue as a main curriculum. The topics line up very easily if you compare the TOC with Lt. Blue.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

Thanks, I am going with light blue:)

[momto2Cs]

I've been debating this very thing. I bought a few Blue, which I have been using with both kids, and am thinking ahead to next year with dd. I had been planning on just buying the Blue series while its on sale, but maybe I should go with the Light Blue instead... hmmmm.

[FairProspects]

Or you could just be like me and buy the All Inclusive Package that includes both Blue and Light Blue ;). I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use it yet, whether as a supplement or main program for some years, but this way I have lots of options as kids grow and their needs change. :)

[babysparkler]

I bought Lt. Blue for my dd9's full curriculum b/c I liked that it includes tests that the Blue doesn't. I like that it is leveled for her and she really loves it.

 

I have begun using it for ds5 who is a math whiz and I have found that I dislike the way it is organized because he doesn't need so much practice and he likes to go deeper in a subject (money, clocks, etc.) and not have to stop and wait for next year's level to cover it... so for him, I go through and print MM topically, crossing "grade level" lines so that he gets to keep going on those topics he can't put down. For him, the Blue would have been a better choice, but Lt. Blue is working just fine with a little extra work.

 

In short, I'm glad I have Lt. Blue for dd's sake (I love the assessment that it provides), and that it is easily workable for ds.