Aludlam Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 We just started delta yesterday. We've done alpha, beta and gamma. My dd10 already knows all of her division facts (We also do Horizons and Xtramath.) Do you think I should just give her the MUS test until we get to a section that is new/hard? We've never really skipped ahead in MUS, but then again we've had a lot of MAJOR light bulb moments these last months. Any advice would be welcome! thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 We're in a similar spot. We just finished gamma yesterday. Dd doesn't know all her division facts but she knows some. My plan is to watch DVD & do tests daily until we get to a point where it's new material. She enjoys the DVD lessons and there are always cool tips on there so I figure it can't hurt to watch them. We did the first party of gamma the same way. I think we did the first 10 lessons in 2 or 3 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 :bigear::bigear: Same here. MAtter of fact, we're futzing around with times tables games while I procrastinate making this decision. I AM thinking of of running through it-a lesson a day and if they get stumped, we'll work on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I used Beta-Zeta over 6 months once. I had my son watch the videos and do the tests until we hit new material or something he needed practice on and then we slowed down. But we were coming from Saxon 7/6 so a lot of it really was review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 Thank you all for writing back. I just wanted to (if you are not already using it) point you towards Xtramath.org. It's free and worked WONDERS for our math facts. I think we are doing a MUS "Challenge Day" today. I'll let you know how we do at the end of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I am having my son watch the dvd (just to make sure he doesn't miss anything) and take the test. He knows most of his division but needed practice with the long division. He's slowing down now that he's on lesson 23. I did have him do some extra pages when the lessons had other things introduced like 'finding the area of a triangle' and such. I'm doing the same with Gamma with my son Brent. He knows all his multiplication but has trouble when it comes to long multiplication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjins Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 This is too late for you, but not for someone who may be working through a lower level and planning ahead. We did something very unconventional with our MUS. When DS got through all of the single digit multiplication in Gamma and started into the the more time consuming and multiply stepped lessons we allowed him to do some Delta as a reward for doing well on his Gamma. The thought of this was a few things, first he needed to see that the program did not just get MORE and MORE and MORE involved and time consuming. Plus, he was able to reinforce the multiplication tables by working the division. This year when we picked back up with school he was already well into the second unit and took the second unit test a couple weeks into our school year. I honestly do not see a down side to this and will repeat it with my DD about the time she completes lesson 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Our approach with MUS is to watch the video and do 1 page. If it's mastered, on to the next lesson. If she knows all her division facts, you could have her watch several lessons and then do either a test or a cumulative review page or two to ensure she knows it. But one caveat: there is much more in Delta than just division. We just finished lesson 12 the other day, and that is the final "basic division fact" lesson". And there have been lessons among the first 12 that were not about basic division facts, like parallel and perpendicular lines, finding the area of a parallelogram, finding the area of a triangle, and finding the average of a group of numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Our approach with MUS is to watch the video and do 1 page. If it's mastered, on to the next lesson. If she knows all her division facts, you could have her watch several lessons and then do either a test or a cumulative review page or two to ensure she knows it. But one caveat: there is much more in Delta than just division. We just finished lesson 12 the other day, and that is the final "basic division fact" lesson". And there have been lessons among the first 12 that were not about basic division facts, like parallel and perpendicular lines, finding the area of a parallelogram, finding the area of a triangle, and finding the average of a group of numbers. :iagree:This is why I had my ds do a few extra pages, although a lot of this was introduced last year in his Bob Jones 4 math but he needed more review. Again, agreeing and one should look at the scope & sequence in the TM to make sure one is not skipping something important that the child has not learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 This is too late for you, but not for someone who may be working through a lower level and planning ahead. We did something very unconventional with our MUS. When DS got through all of the single digit multiplication in Gamma and started into the the more time consuming and multiply stepped lessons we allowed him to do some Delta as a reward for doing well on his Gamma. The thought of this was a few things, first he needed to see that the program did not just get MORE and MORE and MORE involved and time consuming. Plus, he was able to reinforce the multiplication tables by working the division. This year when we picked back up with school he was already well into the second unit and took the second unit test a couple weeks into our school year. I honestly do not see a down side to this and will repeat it with my DD about the time she completes lesson 20. I really like this idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 You have all been so great with the suggestions and comments. She's asked to call it a day. We made it through 8 lessons. All test were A's - all mistakes were careless except for one. We did spend quite a bit of time this morning on parallel and perpendicular. We will probably review that more as we go along. But she did GREAT! We will probably do a few more lessons like this. thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfside Academy Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 How timely! My son just finished 2 pages from Lesson 6 in about 2 minutes. I went ahead and introduced Lesson 7 too but I was just thinking spending the next few weeks on basic division facts is going to be painful. He obviously understands basic division and has his multiplication facts down so I think I'm going to give him a couple of the unit tests then just skip him ahead. I'll flesh out any other non-division concepts to make sure he doesn't miss anything. I know he'll slow down considerably when we reach multiple-digit multiplication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 This is too late for you, but not for someone who may be working through a lower level and planning ahead. We did something very unconventional with our MUS. When DS got through all of the single digit multiplication in Gamma and started into the the more time consuming and multiply stepped lessons we allowed him to do some Delta as a reward for doing well on his Gamma. The thought of this was a few things, first he needed to see that the program did not just get MORE and MORE and MORE involved and time consuming. Plus, he was able to reinforce the multiplication tables by working the division. This year when we picked back up with school he was already well into the second unit and took the second unit test a couple weeks into our school year. I honestly do not see a down side to this and will repeat it with my DD about the time she completes lesson 20. A few weeks ago, this was exactly the method posted on Facebook by MUS itself. They said there is no point in having the kid do problem after problem after problem of 'busy work' since the idea is to achieve mastery, and repetition over TIME is what helps with that. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 This is too late for you, but not for someone who may be working through a lower level and planning ahead. We did something very unconventional with our MUS. When DS got through all of the single digit multiplication in Gamma and started into the the more time consuming and multiply stepped lessons we allowed him to do some Delta as a reward for doing well on his Gamma. what a marvelous idea! We've just started Delta; I think I'll try that with Delta & Epsilon, 'cause he's so eager to start fractions. Thank you for posting this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 This is too late for you, but not for someone who may be working through a lower level and planning ahead. We did something very unconventional with our MUS. When DS got through all of the single digit multiplication in Gamma and started into the the more time consuming and multiply stepped lessons we allowed him to do some Delta as a reward for doing well on his Gamma. The thought of this was a few things, first he needed to see that the program did not just get MORE and MORE and MORE involved and time consuming. Plus, he was able to reinforce the multiplication tables by working the division. I honestly do not see a down side to this and will repeat it with my DD about the time she completes lesson 20. I think I will try this with Epsilon and Zeta as well, as my son is already encountering many of the concepts in these books. With Gamma, I took a slightly different tack but with a similar effect: we moved along at the end of the book--aimed more for exposure than mastery--and started Delta (this year). While doing Delta, we've gone back and reviewed the relevant section of Gamma (watched the video, done a page or two). Learning division while reviewing multiplication works well for my son, who is a whole to parts learner. On a related note, he's started using xtrramath for some basic fact practice, and the program had this FAQ section where is talks about how they prefer you not change the operation the child is working on--they start with addition, then subtraction, then multiplication and division, mastering a given operation before moving on. There's a line in their explanation to the effect that "a child cannot master multiplication until they have mastered addition." I read that and thought--you've obviously never met my son! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calledtobehome Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 How could I accelerate through Beta/Gamma? Watch DVD, complete 1 lesson and review lesson, give test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjins Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 There's a line in their explanation to the effect that "a child cannot master multiplication until they have mastered addition." I read that and thought--you've obviously never met my son! :D :lol: I love it! Again finding myself thinking... this is why I homeschool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 How could I accelerate through Beta/Gamma? Watch DVD, complete 1 lesson and review lesson, give test? That's what we do! If he can demonstrate mastery, we keep moving. No sense in sitting still when they're ready to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 That's what we do! If he can demonstrate mastery, we keep moving. No sense in sitting still when they're ready to go! I agree. We have done TOO much sitting these last couple of years b/c the books/program "told" us to. :glare: It was a hard lesson to learn .... sometimes you need to camp out and sometimes you need to sail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I agree. We have done TOO much sitting these last couple of years b/c the books/program "told" us to. :glare: It was a hard lesson to learn .... sometimes you need to camp out and sometimes you need to sail. Or, as an experienced homeschooler told me when I was just starting out, "Teach the child, not the curriculum." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Just coming back to this ... we hit the tricky part of Delta last month, and so I started trying to alternate the beginning of Epsilon with the Delta, but it was a disaster: Epsilon (fractions) starts out with a presentation of problems like 2/5 of 15 that was horribly confusing for DS. Probably wouldn't have been so bad for a child of the standard age, but for a 6yo it was hopeless. So here's what we did: 1. To teach the complicated division from Delta, I'm simply working through this book of problems a few at a time, every day or every other day. We do 2-4 problems when the baby naps. Because we aren't getting the review problems this way we go over formulas that he memorized (area of a trapezoid, perimeter, other areas, average, etc.) every so often and do review problems once a week or so. 2. We do fact drills in the AM. Don't have a total solution on the materials we use here, but are drilling all facts. 3. I try to introduce multi-digit addition and subtraction regularly or he forgets how to do it. He re-learns very quickly, but at his age seems to need regular practice. 4. We've added MEP math, which Button just loves right now! It's free, which is super; and he enjoys the problems; and it hits things like mental computation, where I've found MUS is weaker than I'd like. We do a lesson every day or two. 5. I'm giving him Epsilon problems -- the complex fractions -- orally, while we're on a walk or in the car or whatever. Then he does some of the review & word problems later, at home. For the intro. this is working well. This may sound intense, but he's thriving and gets tons of time at parks, hiking, etc. each day; our school is actually stripped-down right now to the basics, b/c Bot-bot really benefits from being outside. -- hope this is of use to somebody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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