How independent is Beast Academy in your home?

[blondeviolin]

Here, it is not super independent at all.  Abby's working through the area section of 3A.  At times, she needs me to rephrase or explain the question before she answers.  Sometimes she needs me to sort of walk her through the problem.  She's capable of the math, but some of the problems aren't as straight-forward as she is used to dealing with.  The curriculum has been good for having her think outside of the box and different about math.

[Spy Car]

Here, it is not super independent at all. Abby's working through the area section of 3A. At times, she needs me to rephrase or explain the question before she answers. Sometimes she needs me to sort of walk her through the problem. She's capable of the math, but some of the problems aren't as straight-forward as she is used to dealing with. The curriculum has been good for having her think outside of the box and different about math.

Here? Not independent. Don't really want it to be. Reading the Guide together is something we do as fun bonding time.

 

The Practice books my son generally does himself, unless he has a question. But sometimes I will watch him work as the (mostly silent) partner.

 

Bill

[Soror]

Not independent here either. I don't see independence as a goal though.

[mathmarm]

Why would an elementary math program be independent? It's not a workbook just of exercises for practice, is it? I though that Beast Academy (BA? Right?) was a complete Nth grade math curriculum?

 

It makes sense for a middle school text to be geared towards fostering independence and for high-school texts to be independent--at least in design. Not for elementary aged kids to be expected to read, learn and study something all on their own as a rule.

[Upward Journey]

It was mostly independent here, but that's because the child using it was also doing Singapore 4B with me at the same time. For him, BA was mostly stuff he was already familiar with, presented in a fun & different way. When my youngest starts using it later this year (he's just finishing up Singapore 2B) it will definitely be a together kind of thing. I think it would be very frustrating for him to do on his own.

[Dramorellis]

My 7 year old is doing the 3A guide and practice currently and it is not independent at all. I don't really expect any math program to be independent at this level. Whatever it is I expect to have to be there to explain the concepts and guide when necessary. I do occasionally walk away though and he may do a few problems independently while I'm away. He does read the guide totally on his own though and we just talk about it then do the practice together. He took the guide and read the whole thing the first day we received it because he was so excited. He's read it all the way through twice now. It's not our main math curriculum though. We use Math in Focus and BA as an advanced supplement.

[LMD]

She has become more capable of doing some of the work more independently as we progress.  In 3A, it was new, the 'having to actually think' was a big learning curve and she needed a fair bit of hand-holding.  We're just about finished with 3C and she can do a lot of it independently now - she prefers to work that way much of the time - but I'm generally right there next to her.  I like to discuss it with her, show her other ways it could be solved etc.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

DD is using 3B.  I read the guide to her (and she re-reads it to her siblings over and over) and she does the workbook mostly by herself.  Some days she doesn't need much help and other days the problems are extra tricky and she has more questions.  I'm enjoying the challenge of it, too.

[TracyP]

We read the guide together. The wb is somewhat independent. Some sections he has breezed through on his own (we are just starting 3C), in others he has needed to be walked through a lot of the problems.

[Farrar]

Semi-independent.  We usually read the guide together, but occasionally he reads alone.  I generally get him started on the practice, but he often takes off with it and does them without me.  However, he often needs a little guidance for the starred problems.

[Roadrunner]

It is mostly independent now that he is a third grader, but it wasn't when he was seven.

I still read the guide and ask him questions just to make sure he understands everything, but practice problems he does mostly alone. We are working through 4A right now.

[madteaparty]

Well, he is in 4th grade now and finishing 3C, so entirely independent, as a matter of fact he does Beast when he is at his babysitter on e a week and I am not there. He is also in Singapore 4a so most of beast is review. I expect 3D will be the same, and then 4a might need more parent involvement.

[TKDmom]

We're in the middle of 3C. It's not very independent here, either. DS and I read the guide together. Then I sit at his elbow and coax him through the problems in the WB. Once he has a good sense of how to do the problems I can walk away. Some days, I don't get to walk away, because the problems are longer or more complex, and he needs me  to keep encouraging him to plug through each problem.

[linguistmama]

It is not independent here.  If my dd were older and had already covered the material then I think it could be.  But I read the guide to her and sit near her while she does the problems in the workbook.  While she does the workbook I can usually work with dd5 as long as I am available to answer questions.

[blondeviolin]

Good to know!  Some problems I have to provide handholding.  Other problems she flies through just fine.  I wonder if it's above her level sometimes, but if she's capable of doing most of the problems, then I'm guessing it's not and I'm just second-guessing my advanced second-grader.  She can complete the workbook with me just sitting next to her (she's currently working through area problems), but there's no way she would complete it as independent "homework."

[Cheriwe]

With my DS7, it varies. We are in 3A. He reads the guide by himself (I read it independently before he starts).  I go over what needs to be done in the wb with him. Sometimes he can do it by himself; however, he usually needs a helping hand at first. 

 

Like a poster said above, most of the challenge involved so far is "having to actually think".  Certain parts have been very challenging for him, and he is not used to that.  This is our first year homeschooling and in K and 1st grade, my son was used to just breezing through all subjects without really trying.  The challenge is good for him :)

[idnib]

Here's a thread in which people helped me with a similar question:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/473562-my-son-doesnt-seem-to-get-beast-academy-problems-im-so-frustrated/

 

I think the crux of our problem was that I was used to going through Singapore materials with him and teaching him, but he would do the problems on his own. With BA we would go through the guide together, but I found I couldn't just give him a set of problems and walk away for 30 minutes. Actually that has changed for us because we moved on to other chapters. He really needed a lot of hand-holding in the areas discussed in the link.

[umsami]

DS1 read all the the BA books by himself, because he totally loved them.  BUT, he had no desire to actually go do the workbook.   So, we went back together and read together and then I assigned various problems in the workbooks. :)

[sunnyday]

I'm taking a Coursera course on mathematical thinking. The instructor emphasizes over and over that with problems that require this kind of thinking, it is crucially important to have someone to bounce your ideas around with. Though it's an online course he strongly encourages students to form IRL study groups or Google hangouts or something...anything.

 

So with that in mind, I anticipate always being available to facilitate my son chewing through the really interesting math he tackles, until/unless we form a math club or something so he can do it with peers.