Should I supplement MUS?

[meggie]

Pigby is on the last lesson of MUS Primer. We'll be starting Alpha when he's done. I've heard that MUS lacks real world application. It might lack other things too, I don't know. At this point, should I be supplementing his math? And if so, with what? So far, he loves math; it's his favorite subject. It's always the first subject he wants to do and often he wants to do multiple pages a day. I would like to keep that love if possible. :bigear:

[morosophe]

My son loves MUS as well! We're just finishing Beta and are moving on to Gamma.

 

I think the manipulatives make MUS more concrete than the math program I used growing up. As far as "real-world applications" go, I think that's enough in the early levels.

 

I have lately been debating supplementing with Life of Fred. I do plan on switching to the Art of Problem-Solving PreAlgebra after we finish Zeta, since the upper levels of MUS are widely held to be very weak. This is probably where the "real-world applications" you're concerned about fit in. (AoPS is only one example of a program that starts only after basic arithmetic operations and concepts like fractions and decimals have been covered; trust me, there are a lot of them, and even the ones that cover everything from kindergarten to twelfth usually have a clear point where switching to their program is possible and/or encouraged.)

[tomandlorih]

My dd8 is doing MUS Gamma this year. She has just taken her second grade yearly testing(MAP).. She is not terribly mathy(despite being ahead:). I love MUS and she does too but I am going to supplement a little with test prep stuff.. Some of the word problems on the test were beyond her ability to "reason out".. If you write down a problem she can work it without difficulty .. but to figure out what the problem should be gave her some problems..

 

I don't know if this is a MUS failing or just a general lack of attention/critical thinking on her part.. I read a thread here once on "What is one mistake you wouldn't make again with homeschooling" and it had answer after answer that stated they would not jump around in their math curriculum.. I decided to stick with MUS.. since we both like it and she is learning the operations really well.

 

I was thinking about Mathematical Reasoning by Critical Thinking Co. if any posters after me have any other ideas I'm :bigear:.

 

Hope this helps.

[Stellalarella]

DS 6 just finished Alpha today. The story problems get more complex as the book goes on and he was doing multi-step addition and subtraction (or combo) word problems by the end of chapter 30.

 

We supplement MUS because our family enjoys math and we find it fun to just do math. Life of Fred has been an enjoyable add-on resource for us. We appreciate the narrative story aspect.

[Kathryn]

We supplement with Life of Fred. I don't know how necessary it is though. It does make math more fun and less abstract.

[3monkeys]

I've heard Daily Word Problems by Evan Moor is a great supplement. I personally haven't used it but planning on adding it after new year. We are currently in Beta, but figure it's worth a shot.

[acurtis75]

I used exclusively mus until we got to the Delta level. I have some Singapore books that I bought before we decided on mus and dd does problems in them occasionally and has problem translating what she learns in mus to another curriculum. I only started supplementing because dd loves to read and after seeing threads about living math books I decided to add life of Fred and other library books just to make things more fun.