Math U See and Mastering Essential Math Skills...

[Kim in SouthGa]

My son, who is 12 and will be going into the 7th grade, has always struggled with math. I think that is partly my fault-he was my first, and I changed curriculum on him way too much in the early years, and with the babies and some other difficult situations, it was easy to put it on the back burner. So, a couple of years ago, we started MUS, beginning with Gamma since he did not have his multiplication facts down. He is now about half way through Epsilon. He is doing pretty well, but gets discouraged sometimes with the way the teacher teaches all the different ways to get the same answer. For example, when learning to find the common denominator for working with fractions, he taught 2 or 3 different ways. My son is a very black and white, just get it done kind of boy (hmmm, where does he get that?:glare:) and he really just wants to know how to do it one way and be done with it. So I found Mastering Essential Math Skills the other day, and it claims that after finishing the Intermediate (grades 6-8) workbook, your child will be ready for Algebra. Would I be crazy to skip MUS Zeta and PreAlgebra and just use this workbook, so he can go into Algebra at some point in 8th grade? As of right now, he will probably finish Epsilon by Christmas, start Zeta, finish it maybe by the end of next summer, and do PreAlgebra in 8th, the start Algebra in 9th. My dh thinks this is fine, but he is going by how things were when we were in school. It seems there is a lot more pressure to start Algebra sooner now. What would be your advice, especially from those that have used either or both of these programs?

TIA

[lori in tx]

We have had the same problem with MUS, the epsilon book took us 19 months to get through:001_huh: Fractions were not our friend. I have seen mastering and I like it, if he can get through it I would go for it. I would finish Epsilon than do mastering what PreAlgebra are you planning on using?

 

We are finish up Zeta and then moving on to something different, dd just wants to know how to work the problem too. So please don't feel you are the only one, she could care less about the how.

blessings

lori

[Stacy in NJ]

My ds has used the Mastering Essential Math workbook, and while it's a great practice workbook, I don't think it's adequate for teaching the concepts. Two ideas for you; see if you can find the old classic verion of MUS Advanced, or do Lial's Basic College math over two years. I wouldn't rush him through arithmatic to get to Algebra. Whether he does it in 8th or 9th isn't as important as feeling confident in his math skills.

 

Just a thought.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Would I be crazy to skip MUS Zeta and PreAlgebra and just use this workbook, so he can go into Algebra at some point in 8th grade? As of right now, he will probably finish Epsilon by Christmas, start Zeta, finish it maybe by the end of next summer, and do PreAlgebra in 8th, the start Algebra in 9th. My dh thinks this is fine, but he is going by how things were when we were in school. It seems there is a lot more pressure to start Algebra sooner now. What would be your advice, especially from those that have used either or both of these programs?

TIA

Hmm. This is JMHO.

 

I think you should be more concerned with what will strengthen your ds in math, not what will speed him through. Your ds needs to have a solid foundation in the basics more than he needs to start Algebra in 8th grade. Use what you think will give him that grounding.

 

It has been my experience that Zeta and Pre-Algebra go very smoothly. Zeta is all addition, subtraction, multiplication, division with decimals. It's so much easier this time around because all you have to do is learn about the decimal point.

 

I have a degree in math. I started Algebra in 9th grade.