Sequence for Math Supplementation - advice?

[eternalknot]

My student is bright, but not gifted. He understands the material and can successfully apply to real life situations. I'm looking for supplementation to do two things:

 

(1) buy me another year's worth of work before moving ahead with pre-algebra, and

 

(2) expose him to other methodologies and offer challenges for application of knowledge.

 

We've always used MUS. In the past, we supplemented Gamma and Delta with Singapore's CWP. My substitute teacher doesn't "get" Singapore, so it's not a viable option for regular supplementation. We're just finishing up Epsilon (fractions) and will very soon begin Zeta (decimals); we school year-round and are just barely at our half-way point.

 

I've considered the Key To ... series, and also Life of Fred, but am open to other suggestions. Whichever supplement we choose, I'm trying to determine which sequence makes better sense:

 

SEQUENCE A

This year - MUS Epsilon (fractions), MUS Zeta (decimals)

Next year - Supplemental* fractions, Supplemental* decimals

 

SEQUENCE B

This year - MUS Epsilon (fractions), Supplemental* fractions

Next year - MUS Zeta (decimals), Supplemental* decimals

 

*Supplemental being LOF, Key To .. series, or other recommended program

 

Should we finish the MUS series, then spend our extra year supplementing it? Or should we finish fractions (MUS, then supplemental) before moving on to decimals (MUS, then supplemental)? Any cons or pros to doing it one way or another?

 

Thanks for any advice or insight! I've searched a million math threads and learned a lot along the way ... just not this particular aspect of math supplementation LOL.

 

Signed,

Overthinking Homeschool Mom

Who Hates Math

And Dreads All Related Decisions

[Ali in OR]

I'm not familiar with MUS materials but will offer an opinion anyway! I think I would do fractions and decimals in one year, and then the "supplement" year would perhaps include those topics, but others too. We are enjoying LoF Fractions this year and I will get Decimals and Percents for next year. We use that as a supplement to Singapore and Horizons, so we just do it in sporadic chunks when we finish a major Singapore unit. If I was really trying to make sure my dc's math skills were solid before moving forward, I would be tempted to do an all-encompassing choice like Horizons 6A/6B. Horizons is our supplement with Singapore being our main program. It does a nice job of continually bringing up previous topics and it has a broad sample of problems in each lesson. Since MUS is a mastery approach with just one topic at a time, something like this would be a good review to make sure all skills are sharp. I think focusing only on fractions and decimals for two years would be a bit limiting. Horizons would make sure your student can still do long division, multiplication, geometry, etc.

[wapiti]

I don't know MUS either but apparently I'm in the mood to keep opening my big mouth so I will :lol:.

 

How about MM, which should be relatively easy for your substitute to teach since it is written to the student (i.e., there is no TM)? It's also asian-style math like Singapore, but a bit more incremental. While you can buy it organized by topic, the grade-level version has decimals and fractions pretty thoroughly covered in 5A/5B. Then you could move on to 6A/6B to fill your needs for next year. Take a look at the TOCs of grade levels 5 and 6 to see if there are any topics that might be missing from MUS that you might strongly consider covering before pre-algebra. Oh, and there are lots of word problems, though I have no idea how they compare to Singapore in terms of rigor.