If you left MUS...

[mom2maddie]

Where did you go and why?

[Xuzi]

We went to Math Mammoth.

 

Why?

*You don't need blocks. They were SUCH a huge distraction for my DD. Some MM lessons have games you can play using coins or beans or whatever to "see" the concept, but they're not required to do most or all of the lesson on a particular concept. There are often pictures right on the page that help the student visualize the concept.

 

*I liked that there's more time spent trying out the math problems in various different ways throughout the same lesson, rather than spending a whole unit practicing just one method of solving a problem, and then some (very little) review at the end of the unit of the other ways previously learned. (we only did Alpha though, so I can only speak to that level)

 

*It's a heck of a lot cheaper. I bought the 1st-6th grade curriculum for less than I paid for my MUS Alpha materials.

 

*My DD likes it a lot more. She did MUS without too much whining, when I could get her to stop playing with the blocks, but she *looks forward to* Math Mammoth.

[HerdingCats]

We left because we hit a wall with fractions on a conceptual level. My dd had a real dread of math and it just wasn't clicking anymore. I went with Math Mammoth just supplementally at first, along with Life of Fred. LOF was a bust, but I started to see some improvements with Math Mammoth. To be fair, I could attribute some of the eventual success to all the repeated presentations within the different curricula we tried. However, I ended up switching and sticking with MM for all my kids because of the clear explanations and varied conceptual angles it uses to teach.

[Veritaserum]

We went to Math Mammoth.

 

*I liked that there's more time spent trying out the math problems in various different ways throughout the same lesson, rather than spending a whole unit practicing just one method of solving a problem, and then some (very little) review at the end of the unit of the other ways previously learned. (we only did Alpha though, so I can only speak to that level)

 

*It's a heck of a lot cheaper. I bought the 1st-6th grade curriculum for less than I paid for my MUS Alpha.

:iagree: Also, I like MM's scope and sequence, the word problems that really make the child think, and how easy MM is to teach (worktext). :)

[ElizabethB]

To Singapore. I kept the blocks, though! She was not truly understanding math with MUS.

 

My daughter is doing very well with Singapore, she's learning to a very deep level. She is not mathy, but it is making her good at math. It's work getting new concepts into her brain, though.

 

My son also is doing Singapore. It's less working getting math into his brain, but more work getting phonics into his brain, my daughter is better at language.

[felicity]

I went to Singapore when my oldest got stuck on division. He worked really hard, but the way MUS taught long division just didn't work for him. The processes didn't "stick." It was a very frustrating time for both of us. We ended up just putting the book away and playing math games for awhile

 

He's now doing very well with Singapore, we had to go back to book 3a and that kind of depressed him. He likes the more interesting lessons and that the year isn't just one subject. I just noticed yesterday how much more confident he is with math in general and mental math in particular. I didn't expect that.I'm thrilled with SM and so glad we changed.

[NCJessieRN]

We switched to MM. My oldest recently finished Gamma. I downloaded Division 1 to work on with him before starting 4A. I looked at the MM end of grade 3 test and saw where I needed to fill the gaps before 4.

After trying two other programs for dd, including MUS, I purchased MM for her and math finally clicked.

 

MUS works for my son but found MM does also and you can't beat the price (especially now with the HSBCO discount)!

 

HTH:001_smile:

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[rieshy]

We switched after doing MUS for 10 years with my oldest 3. They started in it when the intermediate book was spiral bound and used for 3 years. Back then it was very inexpensive.

 

I switched after my oldest ds graduated from h.s. He felt like he missed some things because MUS just didn't cover it. He ended up doing a cc math his senior year to fill in his gaps. My high school dds are doing TT because that's the text their tutorial does. I know it's considered lighter too...

 

My 3rd and 5th grader are now doing Saxon 5/4 and 6/5 respectively. That was a big switch. Saxon looks so dry to me- but they love it and are doing well. The language of the new early MUS didn't make sense to them. Saxon is their first formal program. We've been doing "Mom" math up till now.

 

Honestly though, part of the switch was simply that I couldn't bear the thought of teaching through the same program again- especially double digit multiplication.

[edelweiss]

We switched to CLE. My older DD had used Primer through the start of Delta. Younger DD did Primer and Alpha. They really weren't retaining the information like they should. The mastery approach really doesn't work well for them. They used to dread math and now they don't mind it at all anymore. They really like CLE. I do as well. :001_smile:

 

We also supplement with MM (although we haven't been using it lately), and I think that is a great program as well. My DDs just don't like it nearly as much as CLE, so that is why I don't use it as our primary math program.

 

Currently we are supplementing with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems, and DD is working through LOF Fractions as well.

 

We're much happier since we switched. :001_smile:

[Hedgehogs4]

We go through the pink book and started the yellow (is that epsilon?) and I switched to MM. When I encountered the "upside down" multiplication, that did it for me. I couldn't understand it and therefor had no interest in teaching it. I also found that it was too easy for ds, who definitely needed to be challenged in word problems. We switched to Math Mammoth, and he has been doing great with that. We are currently doing MM fractions along with LOF, and Khan Academy. I am going to allow him to do Khan academy as much as he wants this summer, just for fun. I've been working through it too, and it is a lot of fun and a fantastic review for me.

[DONOVAN7]

My oldest (dd11) used foundations and intermediate, she needed it and liked it-the younger 3 (dd6, ds8, ds8) started with the primer then began the foundations ( classic) and after about 1/2 the year protested that they "hated the boring pages". We looked at tons of samples and THEY chose Abeka 1 & 2 and LOVE it! My oldest finished both levels early (found & Int) so i got Horizons 6 for her to use as daily skill practice to finish out the year and she LOVES it. She could not have handled it early on. I think MUS gave her what she needed- but she started older and moved faster in the classic version, so that alone helped her with concepts. I really think things are taught too young in other 'spiral' curriculums... that being said, i cannot believe how much we never even touched upon with MUS that she is doing in the first 6 weeks of Horizons! But, like i said, i still think MUS gave her the tools to figure much of it out on her own. She is loving Horizons, but it ends this year- so where to next i have no idea?!~ Dawn

[AngieW in Texas]

I started my oldest off with MUS and thought it was great. When she was about 2/3 of the way through Foundations, I discovered that she had memorized her way through the program to that point. She knew all her math facts and could repeat back all of Demme's explanations word-for-word along with moving the block appropriately, but they might as well have been in Mandarin because they didn't mean anything at all to her.

 

I ended up abandoning MUS and floundering around for a few months and then got her started in Miquon. That program was a revelation for her. She'd get to the end of a page and shout out that she finally understood why you were supposed to do whatever that page had you do. She did Singapore after Miquon.

 

MUS taught her to go through the motions, but she didn't get the concepts. This was my dd that could memorize at the drop of a hat.

 

I am currently using MUS prealgebra for my youngest. She is dyslexic, so memorization and recall are hard for her. I still don't like MUS for learning, but I do like the systematic review pages and that's the primary reason I have her using MUS this year.

[Moniksca]

We used beta and switched to Saxon. It was too repetitive and brought tears, ds needed the incremental approach.

[mom2maddie]

Those that switched to MM, did you go with the full curriculum series (one of the blues...is it the Light Blue???) or did you just supplement?? I'm not 100% sure of how MM works.

 

Those that went with SM...is it hard to teach? Are the concepts foreign for Americans who are not sure of what Asian math is??

 

Those that went with Saxon. Do you teach the lesson everyday reading a scipt and the kids work in their books?

 

Thanks a million!

Susan

[Moniksca]

We did saxon 3 last year, I just read through the lesson myself first and then taught it my own way, I don't like using scripts. Then I helped ds fill out the work sheet (one side), and we didn't use the drill sheets (too repetitive). We're now in Saxon 5/4 which is a textbook format.

[justamouse]

Singapore. Because though they were mastering the concepts, they weren't able to apply them in different situations.

[SEP]

I've never used MUS, but I have used Singapore with my children from the start. My children do not struggle with math. My middle dd can be difficult sometimes, but she gets it. It is usually more of an attitude problem than a math problem.

 

I like it and my kids do well with it. They have the 'US' edition, so it's not 'Asian' Math.

[Oakblossoms]

My older two went to Teaching Textbooks. I needed them to be a bit more independent. My oldest liked MUS. But, he is behind in Math. I felt like it would be easier with TT. We have less levels to get through now. My second child didn't like the repitition on MUS. He does TT without any nagging, which is always good with boys;). My third child is doing MUS. It works well for now. I Will probably move him to TT when he is capable of doing the lowest level which is 3. I doubt he will be ready for that next year.

 

I still think MUS is awesome. I don't think most students need to do all 6 worksheets per lesson.

[SnMomof7]

 

... no Bible story on every page. (Don't get me wrong ... I'm a Christian, but I don't need it in my Math book!)

 

Math U See doesn't include Bible stories or scripture verses. My edition certainly doesn't! The only Christian content is some of the skip counting songs, but there are also secular versions of those songs.

:confused:

[curlygirlzx2]

We started with Beta and ditched if after only 2 tries. DD cried each time and I didn't see the point of making her stick with it. I think it was just too repititious for her and she didn't like the lack of color. We also switched to MM and she's doing great with it. We are using the full curriculum but I might add CLE for 2nd grade.

[robsiew]

We switched from MUS to MM. Mostly because I was finding my kids would do great on their MUS sheets, but when asked to actually USE the skills in a different way, they couldn't. The sheets were all the same, one after the other with no varying exercises. The word problems were too straightforward and only required number plugging in and not deeper thinking.

 

I bought MM Blue thinking we'd supplement MUS, but I liked MM so well that I ended up buying Light Blue and making it our only math curriculum. We had some holes to fill because MUS is such a different sequence. Huge holes in geometry because MUS doesn't do any geometry beyond basic shapes. Maria is big on geometry in the younger grades.

 

My suggestion, if you're going to switch is to go with Light Blue.

[ChristusG]

We did MUS Alpha and then switched. I didn't like how some of the things were taught....it was sort of confusing for DD. Also, I think DD works best with a spiral curriculum. MUS is mastery.

[NCJessieRN]

Those that switched to MM, did you go with the full curriculum series (one of the blues...is it the Light Blue???) or did you just supplement?? I'm not 100% sure of how MM works.

 

Those that went with SM...is it hard to teach? Are the concepts foreign for Americans who are not sure of what Asian math is??

 

Those that went with Saxon. Do you teach the lesson everyday reading a scipt and the kids work in their books?

 

Thanks a million!

Susan

 

I switched to MM and went with the light blue series (this is the grade level one 1st through 6th). I did purchase one of the blue series (this is the one that is divided by subjects) to fill the gap from MUS Gamma to MM4A. So, I purchased the Division 1 book because Gamma only covered multiplication.

[Xuzi]

When I made the switch to MM it was to the Light Blue series.

[luvnlattes]

We went to Teaching Textbooks. We left for a couple of reasons.

 

First, my middle son really struggled with the way Demme presented multiple digit multiplication, like 36 x 17. I couldn't get it to make sense to him for the life of me. He eventually got the hang of it but he became quite math averse for a while. I was worried about the same thing happening with his younger brother.

 

Second, my oldest started to struggle. It was tough for me to come along side him because Demme's way of doing things was completely new to me. I would have to watch the video, make sense of Demme's way of doing it, and then regurgitate that to my son. If he still had questions about "why," I didn't feel confident with my explanations because often it was so different from the way I'd been taught.

 

So we finished up last year and switched to TT in September. I've never looked back.

[Sugar Fly]

When I encountered the "upside down" multiplication, that did it for me.

 

Lol:lol: "Upside down multiplication" should have been where I drew the line - but I continued with Delta and then there was the "dividing with all the zeros" (sigh) We have modified this curriculum so much, we are ready to go to MM.

 

In all fairness, I have to say MUS was great for us at first, up until chapter 21 in Gamma.

[EKS]

I used MUS with my older son but I chose to use Singapore after a year of RightStart for the younger one (and I wish I had done the same with the older one as well). I like Singapore's more varied approach and I think that it teaches math to a higher level than MUS. I do still use the blocks and fraction overlays from MUS from time to time though.

[rafiki]

.

[CanaryMelody]

We left Horizons and went with MUS. It's been a much better fit for my dyslexic boys. I've now used Primer through Zeta between the three of them. Nothing will fit everyone.

 

:iagree:

 

MUS is a perfect fit for my oldest daughter. She has ADHD and needs that white space and black/white simple layout. She understands Mr. Demme's DVDs and does well with the exercises. We don't do all 6 pages. I like that it is mastery approach. The only thing I would have done differently from the beginning is supplement with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems and supplement a few topics from Math Mammoth Blue Series to give greater depth to them (such as time and money). These are taught but not as deeply as I would like.

 

With DD2, I do plan on moving from MUS to Singapore (and supplementing that with MEP, Miquon, and a Japanese math program). She was already bored with MUS Primer. She needs the color, her learning style is completely different than her sister, and she is very much more analytical and mathy. Because Singapore is tried and true, I am going with it. :)

 

With DS1, I'll start him with Miquon and Singapore very gently. He is very much like his sister (DD2) in learning style. We'll see how it goes from there.