Does MUS move to slowly for anyone?

[mo2]

I like the way MUS explains things, but at the same time, a whole year on one topic seems to bore my child. Has anyone else had this problem?

[SkateLeft]

The couple of times that we've used MUS, we've gone through a single book in a semester or less. My ds used epsilon and zeta to review fractions and decimals, and completed them both very quickly. I didn't have him do all the worksheets. For many of the lessons, I just had him do the tests. My daughter used MUS pre-calc to review trig, and completed all 30 lessons in about 10 weeks.

 

I don't see any reason why you can't move more quickly than one level a year, if that's what best fits your child. MUS wouldn't be my main choice for my kids, because moving through it that quickly would get expensive, and I really prefer something that doesn't do one main topic per book.

[mo2]

That's what I'm afraid of.....the expense! And I'm not sure there is enough review built in. For example, when we will start multiplication, it seems there is no more reivew of the subtraction regrouping we just finished learning.

[Clear Creek]

That is actually the one thing that I like about MUS...if my child knows the material, we can do a lesson in one day (usually the A worksheet and then the test). If my child takes a while to grasp the material, we can stretch it out to seven days or longer for a lesson. If my child needs extra review of a topic, I go to the MUS website and use the worksheet generator to print an extra (free) worksheet on that topic. Both of my children that are using MUS are working at a quick pace (the first finished Alpha in about three months, the second will finish Alpha in much less time than that), but I keep an eye out for used Instructor Guides and DVD's and buy the workbooks ahead of time when they go on sale on the MUS website. I figure the point is to teach them math at their speed, and if they go faster than one level in a year, that is fine. My oldest regularly finishes more than one level of math in a year and my youngest seems to want to follow in her footsteps. My middle child is behind in math, but using MUS at her speed is slowly catching her up to grade level.

 

As far as the quality of MUS, today the first lesson of Beta explained our number system (referencing clock/modular addition) more clearly than my oldest child's math (Elements of Mathematics: Foundations), which had extensive work with clock/modular additon. Mr. Demme also referenced a work similar to Liping Ma's book about the difference between the English way of naming numbers and the Singaporean way, and why he uses the English form of the Singaporean numbers in order to teach place value accurately and give his students a proper number sense. In his example he said that when told to use MUS-type blocks to illustrate 42 objects the American students lined up 42 unit blocks in one long line, whereas the students in Singapore used four ten-blocks and two unit blocks. This is why he teaches names like "onety-one" instead of eleven (he says that onety-one is the proper name and eleven is our nickname for it), since "onety-one" means one ten and one unit, and eleven is just an arbitrary word.

 

To me the expense is justified, considering the quality of what I get and the fact that I can tailor the lessons to the individual student.

[mo2]

That is actually the one thing that I like about MUS...if my child knows the material, we can do a lesson in one day (usually the A worksheet and then the test). If my child takes a while to grasp the material, we can stretch it out to seven days or longer for a lesson. If my child needs extra review of a topic, I go to the MUS website and use the worksheet generator to print an extra (free) worksheet on that topic. Both of my children that are using MUS are working at a quick pace (the first finished Alpha in about three months, the second will finish Alpha in much less time than that), but I keep an eye out for used Instructor Guides and DVD's and buy the workbooks ahead of time when they go on sale on the MUS website. I figure the point is to teach them math at their speed, and if they go faster than one level in a year, that is fine. My oldest regularly finishes more than one level of math in a year and my youngest seems to want to follow in her footsteps. My middle child is behind in math, but using MUS at her speed is slowly catching her up to grade level.

 

As far as the quality of MUS, today the first lesson of Beta explained our number system (referencing clock/modular addition) more clearly than my oldest child's math (Elements of Mathematics: Foundations), which had extensive work with clock/modular additon. Mr. Demme also referenced a work similar to Liping Ma's book about the difference between the English way of naming numbers and the Singaporean way, and why he uses the English form of the Singaporean numbers in order to teach place value accurately and give his students a proper number sense. In his example he said that when told to use MUS-type blocks to illustrate 42 objects the American students lined up 42 unit blocks in one long line, whereas the students in Singapore used four ten-blocks and two unit blocks. This is why he teaches names like "onety-one" instead of eleven (he says that onety-one is the proper name and eleven is our nickname for it), since "onety-one" means one ten and one unit, and eleven is just an arbitrary word.

 

To me the expense is justified, considering the quality of what I get and the fact that I can tailor the lessons to the individual student.

 

 

All very good points; thank you!

[Arboreal TJ]

I love the MUS approach but the expense turned me off too. Crewton Ramone uses similar methods. Both CR and Mr. Demme were trained by the creator of Mortensen Math.

 

My low budget solution to math is to use manipulatives with OLD MUS books purchased from eBay combined with Crewton Ramone's House of Math. All that backed up with MEP or Singapore as a spine so we don't miss anything. It's working well, I have 2 Kindergarteners that couldn't recognize numbers out of sequence when we started in the Fall. They can now factor polynomials. My boys are not gifted nor are they brighter than average, they know how to play with blocks and how to count to 9. Math is just counting :)

[tomandlorih]

That is actually the one thing that I like about MUS...if my child knows the material, we can do a lesson in one day (usually the A worksheet and then the test). If my child takes a while to grasp the material, we can stretch it out to seven days or longer for a lesson. If my child needs extra review of a topic, I go to the MUS website and use the worksheet generator to print an extra (free) worksheet on that topic. Both of my children that are using MUS are working at a quick pace (the first finished Alpha in about three months, the second will finish Alpha in much less time than that), but I keep an eye out for used Instructor Guides and DVD's and buy the workbooks ahead of time when they go on sale on the MUS website. I figure the point is to teach them math at their speed, and if they go faster than one level in a year, that is fine.

 

 

Yes, this is how it works for us also..

[Kyr]

At their current rate, my son is going to finish 3 MUS books, this year, my daughter 2. We use other materials to supplement where I think they need more review. It is not my favorite curric, but both my children asked for it and they are doing really well with it; much better than they were with Math Mammoth or Singapore. I've also gotten all our teacher books, DVDs and manipulatives used as well as a couple of the student books. I've gotten some student books from their clearance section which helps with the cost.

 

I think it might be a learning style thing too. My two really like sticking with one topic and doing it thoroughly. They do not do well with spiral type programs at all and even other mastery type programs they felt moved on just when they were getting it figured out.

[dereksurfs]

I like the way MUS explains things, but at the same time, a whole year on one topic seems to bore my child. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Yes, our two dds got very bored with it and weren't retaining what they were learning, especially with so little review. We switched to CLE for its spiral approach which works much better for them now. While ds11 did fine with MUS its was a flop for our dds. So I think it really varies per child as each learns differently.

[kristi26]

That's actually what I like about it! I can take a concept very slowly if necessary or, as is often the case for my middle DS, we can do a lesson in a day if necessary. ODS and DD actually NEED the slower pace! So I like that about it. :)

[serendipitous journey]

I like the way MUS explains things, but at the same time, a whole year on one topic seems to bore my child. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

It can be boring in terms of working with the same operation; but the child should be challenged by, and not bored by, the work. Have you tried letting the child test out of some lessons? And/or only doing the review pages? If you want to zoom you can assign just 1/2 the problems on the review sheets -- I found it unwise to skip them entirely .

 

MUS will bring the subtraction, etc. into the review pages of later books, and usually offers a refresher example to remind the student how the operations work. I did worry about Button forgetting things during MUS multiplication, b/c we really went slowly for a while there, so I pulled a couple of problems from Master Multi-Digit Subtraction (which is simply a book of problems, arranged by complexity, and solutions in the back -- absolutely no "teaching" in it) and gave them to Button. You could also print a worksheet on subtraction from the MUS worksheet generator for a weekly review; and that would, I think, be sufficient to maintain the child's skills.

 

Just be sure to do the review pages :) -- at least one of them per chapter.

 

Now, you may not like MUS for various reasons and that's totally fair! But it is one very good way of teaching math, and if you follow it as designed you shouldn't have to worry much about retention.

 

ETA: I was thinking about WendyK and kristi26's point RE the benefits of the "slow pace" ... I agree that the pace can be a real advantage, and even though it seems slow, I think it can often allow children to move ahead quickly because the problems are clear and the work is so systematic.

[mo2]

Thank you all. I think we will go with MUS after all, at least for my older DD. It's a great idea to let her "test out" of lessons she already knows. :)