Supplementing Math U See?

[kchara]

We're using MUS this year, we haven't been at it too long. We started in Alpha, because the kids were so far behind, and between that an a TON of drill, they finally started getting their facts down. Now, we're about half way through Beta, and they're more or less working and understanding a lesson a day, so we'll be through that soon, as well. Now that they're starting to understand it, I'm wondering if I shouldn't supplement maybe? I worry that at the upper levels, I've heard that MUS can get quite confusing in the way it presents things. Already, I've had to tell them to pretty much ignore the way the teacher presents one topic (adding with hundreds), and show them how to do it my way. (In the next lesson, he did explain that he was providing a smorgasboard approach to learning the concept, and that if one thing didn't work, it was OK to stick with whichever approach did. But... he didn't say that on the lesson he originally introduced this, and had I tried to have these kids do it his way for a week or so, they would've been really confused.)

 

Anyway, I've heard great things about Saxon, and when I was a teacher's aide, we had one kid who had been homeschooled, whose mother made us use Saxon for him (he brought in his own book) instead of what the school used. (Worked OK for him... he was the only 4th grader anyway. ;) ) I'm thinking of maybe using both MUS and Saxon next year for math. In my head, they'll have both a mastery approach with MUS, and be getting more concepts with Saxon, and getting used to a short spiral approach at the same time.

 

ETA: Does Saxon have a placement test? I'm not seeming to find one, but I might just be overlooking it.

 

Is this making sense to anyone but me, or am I rambling? LOL Would this be too much?

Edited April 21, 2011 by kchara

[wapiti]

Yes, I believe Saxon has a placement test.

 

No, IMO, Saxon is not designed in such a way that it would be easy to use as a supplement. Not only are the lessons incremental, but they are spiral at warp speed. A massive tangled web of topics. It is nearly impossible to look at the table of contents and choose some appropriate pages to use as a supplement. This is not meant to be a criticism; it is simply how Saxon is organized.

 

In fact, my dd10's teacher at her former school tried to use Saxon as a supplement in their Montessori classroom (she was past Montessori math, and using the Key-to books). Guess what, he couldn't do it. So he decided, late in the fall, to go straight through, lesson by lesson. And there's no way they'll finish those books by the end of the school year. (Math nonsense is a large part of why I pulled her out of school.)

 

I don't see a way to use Saxon without using it as your main math program, and it has so many exercises that there isn't much time left to supplement it or use it alongside something else, if you're after a different instruction approach.

 

IMO, it would be easier to choose another mastery program to use as a supplement. It's fairly simple to choose exercises from earlier topics if you want to build in more review. The various Singapore workbooks, and MM, are what come to mind. I don't know anything about MUS.

 

that's my two cents :)

[Stellalarella]

When I read Liping Ma's book about teaching math, one of the things that she saw as a strength was the ability to understand how to solve a math problem from a variety of positions. I see it as a strength, not a weakness to know different ways to solve a problem. Yes, I can see how it would take a student longer to learn different ways to solve a problem, but I am trying to caution myself against getting my kids to just "learn the trick" fast.

There are moments I have felt dissatisfaction with my MUS curriculum, but in the course of time, I've seen it pay off.

My ds was really, really struggling with Singapore Math for kindergarten. I took him aside and we spent a long time going through the beginning chapters of MUS. Because of MUS, he really began to UNDERSTAND numbers. I don't want to do ALpha with him yet, so we've headed back to the singapore kindy math and it is so much more doable.

I think next year I am going to start him on Alpha and if he finishes before the end of the year we'll leap over to the singapore math books 1A and !B books I have hanging around here.

I'm going to have dd10 finish up Delta and then we will likely add in LOF Fractions. DS12 has LOVED, LOVED, LOVED LIfe of Fred. I think LOF is a great supplement to MUS.

[joannqn]

I felt the same way about how MUS handles multiplication and division but I've really come to appreciate MUS's methods. Once you understand it, you have a really good grasp of why we do math the way we do. Teaching long division the old way, for example, doesn't explain why it works. Same with dividing fractions and the old flip and multiply method. But why? If you follow MUS's lessons, you'll be able to divide fractions without flipping and multiplying, and by the time the lessons show you the short cut, you'll understand why the short cut works.

[Twilight Woods]

DH was looking at LOF to us with MUS once we get through Delta with DD.....I just wasn't sure how the "reading" about it in a story makes sense...........I probably just don't understand it. LOL. We are also looking at supplementing with TT.

[kchara]

It wasn't the regular method that confused them, it was the "trick." I think it's partially because they already had a good grasp of place value. (He was having them seperate the number, and then add, then put it back together, probably to understand place value, I imagine. I can't think of any other reason to do it that way.) Anyway, it confused them to death. But, MUS is finally working for them, so I'm not going to dump it, just wondering if I should add more?

[lexi]

I'm just starting to supplement with Math Mammoth. So far so good. They are different enough to keep things interesting and I like the mental math in MM. :001_smile: So that's what we're doing!

[Hen]

I've been supplementing with Flash kids workbooks, you can get them at Barnes & Nobles. They are colorful and I just cross out some of the busy work. I started doing this because my kids are tested every year and I was worried about the odd scope & sequence of MUS resulting in low scores while they are young. It's going ok, but I am thinking about trying out Horizons next year- I'm looking for more explanation of things like division. I had a real hard time with the different ways some things are taught on MUS, also- my brain just can't quite grasp some of it.

[RobinF]

I am looking at supplementing this next year with Math Mammoth and Life of Fred. I think my ds will like the story aspect of LOF and I like the extra help and mental math of MM.

[parias1126]

We are most likely supplementing it with Teaching Textbooks in the Fall. By then , we should be starting Gamma.

[MerryAtHope]

As to whether it's too much--that's going to depend on the kids. You're basically talking about doing 2 complete math programs, unless you are going to pick and choose from each (which leaves the potential for gaps) or do all of one and only do the other if you finish one early or something along those lines. I like the *concept* of doing two different math programs (getting two different approaches to things) but in practice it just didn't work out here time-wise for either of my kids. It was just too much math for them to do. My kids are solid in math and score well but are not speedy, and only one enjoys math for "fun." The other ranges from hating it to tolerating it to liking some parts (and depending on the year & how hard the concepts are!).

 

We didn't use MUS in the early years, we tried a few things & ended up with Horizons, but my son is now using MUS pre-algebra and it's going very well. I don't know about confusing explanations (maybe that happens later?!), so far we haven't experienced that. We've also used the Epsilon DVD a few times for reviewing fractions, and I love the added approaches that has given us. Yesterday we did a lesson on multiplying polynomials and he did a quick review of how he teaches multiplication--the one makes sense of the other in a very concrete way, I really liked his approach.

 

Merry :-)

[Roxy Roller]

We have been using MUS for a few years, and I 'think' that I am going to supplement next year with Horizons. I am going to place my DC in Horizons a year behind, so that it will be a complete, easy, spiral review. I do not have time in my day to 'teach' another math curriculum, but I think doing Horizons this way would cover some of the other topics that MUS does not cover. And from what I understand, Horizons is about a 1/2 year ahead of its written level, so in actual fact, the review wouldn't necessarily be a whole year behind, but maybe a half a year. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[MerryAtHope]

We have been using MUS for a few years, and I 'think' that I am going to supplement next year with Horizons. I am going to place my DC in Horizons a year behind, so that it will be a complete, easy, spiral review. I do not have time in my day to 'teach' another math curriculum, but I think doing Horizons this way would cover some of the other topics that MUS does not cover. And from what I understand, Horizons is about a 1/2 year ahead of its written level, so in actual fact, the review wouldn't necessarily be a whole year behind, but maybe a half a year. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

 

I'd do the placement tests and make sure it's a good fit. Some years I felt were about half a year ahead (Level 2 would be a light 3rd grade year I think), but others might even be a full year ahead (I compared Level 4 with Ruth Beechik's scope & sequence recommendations for 5th grade--from her book, You CAN Teach Your 4th-8th Grader Successfully--and they lined up exactly.)

[nicholsonhomeschool]

I'm just starting to supplement with Math Mammoth. So far so good. They are different enough to keep things interesting and I like the mental math in MM. :001_smile: So that's what we're doing!

 

 

:iagree:this is exactly what we do. i use the yellow books as a supplement...

[Paintedlady]

We are just starting to supplement with MUS, but mostly b/c my dd, who's dyslexic, needs constant review of previously mastered material. MUS has plenty of built in review for the average bear IMO, but she needed more. Since MUS is mastery based (which I wholeheartedly believe it) I needed her to have a way to keep working forward with MUS and another program that would allow her to keep those older concepts fresh in her mind. We've tried a few different things, all of which have worked, but the one she likes the most is Teaching Textbooks. She thinks it's fun to do math on the computer and hey, if that works for her, it works for me. Gives me a bit of a break from a kid who needs tons of extra help and "elbow time".

 

Now my ds, who has no problems in math, was jealous that dd had a "fun math" program on the computer so he's also supplementing with TT, just at a higher level. hth!

[SnMomof7]

We are supplementing with Math Mammoth. I use a level behind in the blue series to what we are working on in MUS to keep review and mastery high. We've also thrown in extra clock and geometry for fun.

[Roxy Roller]

I'd do the placement tests and make sure it's a good fit. Some years I felt were about half a year ahead (Level 2 would be a light 3rd grade year I think), but others might even be a full year ahead (I compared Level 4 with Ruth Beechik's scope & sequence recommendations for 5th grade--from her book, You CAN Teach Your 4th-8th Grader Successfully--and they lined up exactly.)

 

Thank you! I have looked at the samples and the placement tests, and for the most part it almost looks too easy for my boys. There are a few things that I will have to teach that haven't been covered in MUS, but I think it will work out fine, because my boys are fairly 'mathy'.

[RobinF]

We are supplementing with Math Mammoth. I use a level behind in the blue series to what we are working on in MUS to keep review and mastery high. We've also thrown in extra clock and geometry for fun.

 

This sounds like what I want to do this next year.