Compacting Math U See

[lamppost]

Does anyone have experience with compacting Math U See? I have Alpha through Delta- DD did part of Alpha about a year ago before we got distracted. She's currently using EPGY and is around mid-third grade level in that. I liked the way MUS dealt with concepts like place value so I'd like to make use of it but clearly it's not going to work for DD to make her do all of the work. EPGY has already introduced simple multiplication and division. Any advice which lessons to use in MUS and which to skip? Just hoping to get some use out of the materials and maybe let her have a chance to see the concepts in a different way.

[serendipitous journey]

I'd do at least one of the review pages from every lesson. This shouldn't be too onerous; depending on the child, you could assign it in addition to another bit of math for that day, or you could do just a few problems each day, if you don't want to pause the other program.

 

I actually didn't like MUS's approach to teaching multi-digit multiplication and long division. We hammered in the multi-digit multiplication over a summer, using problems of increasing difficulty as Button mastered steps but just 1 or 2 of them each day, until Button got the idea down. For division we finally had success with the approach in Kitchen Table Math 2.

 

What I did like about these MUS books was the extra bits -- the geometry, and learning to take an average, that sort of thing. We dropped MUS partway into fractions -- though I dabbled in their algebra. I did fractions with Life of Fred & the Key to Series -- mostly Key to, then we transitioned to mostly Singapore. One program I didn't know about, and wish I had, is Galore Park's Junior Maths (1-3) and So You Really Want to Learn Maths books; we're through Singapore primary now but too young for AoPS, and I'm going to tackle SYRWTLM as our next math program.

 

-- all that part, except the very top bit, isn't really advice but just Math Musings in case anything might be useful. :)

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

If you like the concept of MUS, but don't want your DD to redo math that she's already mastered, take a look at Crewton Ramone's videos. MUS stems from Mortensen Math, which is based on the ideas you'll be seeing in these videos. You can teach your daughter any level of math just by playing with the blocks, including algebra!!

[lauracolumbus]

I just have my dc watch the dvds and do one of the later worksheets. If it's something I'm pretty sure they get, I don't even have them do a worksheet. I do skip some of the stuff like the long division b/c I don't like the way they do it either. I do like for them to use manipulatives b/c I think it helps them cement the concepts in their brains. I use other math curricula alongside MUS.

[EKS]

I did MUS Beta-Zeta in a little less than six months with my older son. He had done Saxon 3-the first half of 7/6 already, so a lot of the material was review. We would run through the first many lessons of each level very quickly--sometimes even five per day. On those days I would have him do five worksheets. Once he slowed down, I would add the review sheets as well.

 

MUS is probably the easiest curriculum to compact I've ever used.

[kohlby]

ODS started Alpha at the start of first grade. He was in Alg I at part-way through 3rd grade. (However, we dropped MUS Alg I and switched to AoPS Introl to Alg for the first part of 4th grade). My plan wasn't to accelerate, we figured it out as we went. We skipped very, very few lessons. We often skipped the first or second lessons in a new book, but that was it. If I felt he knew it, then he went right to the test. Often, he would do one day learning it and one day test, for two days. There were some sections that he sped through and some that needed several days. I loved MUS's mastery approach since it made it so easy to speed up and slow down as my child needed. Since your child has already learned some of the concepts, I'd just flip through and have her do the ones that you think she needs more review on or hasn't learned. Like for mult, you can skip all the simple mult in Gamma, or review if she needs more practice. I can't remember if it's Alpha or Beta that has place value, so look that up and just do those lessons. I'd do some of the units conversion lessons if she hasn't done them already as well. As for the teaching style, the mult way worked well for my kids. However, I taught the division traditionally to ODS since MUS's way confused him too much. It was pretty easy to do those our way. DD is nearing the end of Gamma and though MUS is teaching her math, she's not loving it. I ordered Life of Fred to give it a try. I read somewhere that MUS and LoF line up well. So I'll do LoF with her but have my oldest's MUS books around for more practice as needed. (We're starting with the first LoF book).

[acurtis75]

We have taken a similar approach to others with mus. We watch the video, do one worksheet and then the test. For some of the easier chapters we didn't even do the worksheet. Dd watched the video and was ready to test. In our case it won't that she already knew material she just doesn't need a lot of drill so we move quickly and supplement with other more challenging stuff like Singapore CWP and beast academy. We started this process in beta and are now in zeta.

[prairiewindmomma]

Ds is finishing up MUS Epsilon and Singapore Math 5a....and is complaining that he's bored. I put him through the AoPS and MUS pre-algebra placement tests....and his test scores indicate that he's ready for the material. I'm hesitant to just jump him a level, so I spent some time today with my printer and printed off some worksheets from the worksheet generator for MUS Zeta and MUS pre-algebra just to make sure that he knows every concept. I see some things we haven't formally covered but that I think he'll quickly grasp (like how to handle negative numbers). He answered those questions correctly, except for one, in the placement tests.

 

I probably could just jump him there, but spending a couple of weeks doing a fast-forward isn't going to hurt him and it will help me feel better about the process. It will also give me a chance to order pre-algebra books. We are ditching MUS when he finishes up the last few worksheets he has. I'll have him do SM 5b workbook only (it'll take him a couple of weeks) and we'll likely skip 6a/6b.