Why Do You Use More Than One Math Curriculum?

[Slache]

I've seen several people on the board who are using Beast Academy and Math Mammoth or Saxon and something. Why would you supplement Saxon? Doesn't it take an hour?

 

Splain. : )

[crazyforlatin]

MM doesn't have the puzzles that BA has nor the most difficult word problems that SM has. And, I'm assuming, neither does Saxon. I don't think any elementary math book can provide the variety that a child needs to thrive, at least not for my child. I wish I didn't have to supplement, but I liked Miquon when DD was very young, SM CWP, MM's incremental approach and work text format, BA's in-depth problems, living math books, etc. But it's easier to eliminate books once you hit pre-algebra and algebra. I haven't really found the need to supplement AOPS unless I feel DD needs some extra practice, but it hasn't happened often. I'm so glad I'm done with elementary math.

[kirstenhill]

I'm not sure about Saxon specifically, but I am using two math curricula with my DS7 because he loves math so much and grasps concepts quickly. I can cover the material in a Right Start lesson to the point where he grasps it in 10 or 15 minutes. Beast Academy is fun for him and more challenging. He gets review through RightStart and I am pretty sure RightStart coves at least a few topics that BA does not. We typically spend 30-40 minutes on math daily.

 

I know some people have been hesitant to rely on BA as their main program because the series is not complete and production is somewhat slow on new books. My DS7 is young enough that I don't think he will get ahead of their schedule. Some people want to keep up with another program as as fall back if they get ahead of what BA has available.

 

I'm also using multiple math curricula with my K'er...but that is mostly because he thrives on variety and I am trying to figure out what program will best suit him in the long run.

[Dory]

We only do half the questions in MM with my youngest. He starts getting hard to work with if I do more then that. That means that we move through things even faster (he goes through the material twice as fast as they plan it out on the website). He's usually done MM for the year by Christmas. We LoF on Fridays because they love it and I have made Friday our fun for each subject day. For the second half of the year we do BA because it comes at things from a different angle and requires a lot of problem solving skills. I don't require him to finish the years work with BA though.

 

All my kids do LoF on Fridays so everyone has two different math curriculums. My youngest really has three with MM, BA, and LoF.

 

 

Even with Saxon, I would never require my kid to do every problem.

 

[Targhee]

Because math is fun

 

 

I sometimes use a second math to reinforce or teach a different strategy. For example, before moving on to exponents in BA I wanted DS to be more fluent in standard multiplication (and division), so we worked in Singapore. I also wanted to teach estimating before calculating, Singapore again. But he prefers BA, because of the format and interesting problems. It isn't like we are completing both curricula in entirety.

[Soror]

Because there is no one thing to fit my son, it is all either too hard or too easy, too little or too few problems and review. Oh, how I miss our days when one curriculum worked for my son. 

[....]

We use multiple math programs for a couple of reasons.

 

1.  I need to slow some of them down.  Sometimes, they will move so quickly that they start reaching concepts that are above their ability.  For example, my oldest started Algebra 1 at the end of 6th grade.  I added Lial's to slow her down, because I started to worry we were moving WAY too fast - especially after reading the Calculus Trap article on AOPS' website.  I also worry that because she is so young, she'll forget things that we did in the past more easily...

 

2.  My son uses two math programs, because he thinks one of them is fun (Life of Fred).  He's also doing very well with Lial's Basic College Mathematics, so we are doing both.

 

3.  My 9 yro is using Singapore Math, Beast Academy and Life of Fred.  Singapore is solid, but sometimes it's a little too easy for her.  She also finds patterns in the problem sets and then doesn't actually solve the problem, but finds the answer.  Soooo, I added Beast Academy on the side.  She has worked through a number of Life of Fred books, but she reached a point where it was going over her head and she was starting to miss questions, so we've taken a break from LOF for a few months (until her brain catches up).  She doesn't work on all of these programs at the same time.  She may finish a Singapore workbook and then start a Beast Academy book/workbook.

 

4.  My 7 yro is using Miquon, Singapore and Life of Fred.  I just put it all in a plastic bin and she just picks out whatever she wants to do that day.  Sometimes, she wants to do a page of Miquon...sometimes she wants a LOF story.

 

So, all three of my girls really like math.  I wouldn't do all this with a kid who didn't like math.  We would just use Singapore or whatever and be done.   

[Rosie_0801]

To increase the chances that something will work.

[Chrysalis Academy]

MM doesn't have the puzzles that BA has nor the most difficult word problems that SM has. And, I'm assuming, neither does Saxon. I don't think any elementary math book can provide the variety that a child needs to thrive, at least not for my child. I wish I didn't have to supplement, but I liked Miquon when DD was very young, SM CWP, MM's incremental approach and work text format, BA's in-depth problems, living math books, etc. But it's easier to eliminate books once you hit pre-algebra and algebra. I haven't really found the need to supplement AOPS unless I feel DD needs some extra practice, but it hasn't happened often. I'm so glad I'm done with elementary math.

 

Pretty much what she said.  Just adding that my younger dd really thrives on variety and likes to have choices, so by having two strong math programs going at once, I can say, "What are we doing for math today, MM or Beast?" and she gets to choose, which immensely improves her attitude from the get-go!  

 

We could do just MM, but we'd need to take breaks, it does get tedious day in day out.  We couldn't do just BA, I don't think - some days you feel up to it, and some days you just want the reassurance of doing something that doesn't make your brain hurt!  The combination works very well for us at this point.

[AimeeM]

We're using CLE as our core Algebra, but the word problems are rather terrible, so we supplement there. I've seen many people do this with a more traditional math program - supplement with something more conceptual and/or the word problems. 

With my middle kiddo (DS5) I go between CLE 1 and Miquon. I keep wanting him to like Miquon, because I want to play with c-rods and the layout is nifty, and that's why I use it. He doesn't seem to, though, so I probably need to drop it, lol :P

[Farrar]

The main reason is to break up the math. For one of my kids in particular, he really needs to have different options, otherwise he gets stuck in his thinking. Having more than one book helps make each little bit seem quicker and helps him focus. Or if something is hard in one book, we can drop it for a week and come back to it. That's so useful.

 

Lesser reasons include having a different perspective on math and a different phrasing of questions or style of presentation.

 

Math *does* usually take an hour here, but my kids are in fifth grade, I think it should take that long.

[wapiti]

IMO whether one supplements or not, it is important to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of a program and how well that fits with the student's individual needs.  Not recognizing a program's weaker aspects can potentially lead to trouble if the parent isn't paying close attention to the student's understanding of the instruction or performance with particular math topics.  On the other hand, an involved parent can compensate for certain types of weaker aspects of a program, e.g. by offering additional instruction on-the-fly.

 

Some programs focus more on procedures and certain students need the amount of practice offered therein but could also benefit from supplementing with more depth.  Some programs may be the opposite, focusing on concepts and challenge, and certain students might do best with that approach but occasionally need more practice than is within the program.  Some students may do best with a variety of presentations and/or types of exercises.  Some students might find a happy medium in a program as written.  Some programs are much more flexible than others in terms of what exercises are assigned or when topics are learned.  The great advantage of homeschooling is the math education can be custom-fit to the student's needs through careful program selection and sometimes through thoughtful combining of pieces of more than one program.

 

In particular, I think that close parental involvement makes it easier to determine a just-right amount and type of challenge.  Insufficient challenge may be one of the more difficult aspects to notice; how much is enough, etc.

 

I don't think I've noticed many posters who do two *entire* programs though there might be a few.

 

Eta, maybe I should have said that sometimes we may choose "good enough" and sometimes we seek "optimal for my top-priority subject"

[Korrale]

We do a variety of things for several reasons.

My son is advanced and rather than accelerate him we do a variety of programs for breadth and depth. He learns many methodologies.

We have the time to do it. And frankly he likes math and he asks for more. He have a variety of books and he chooses to do math for fun in his free time.

[Crimson Wife]

Saxon wouldn't be a good "fit" for my kids at the elementary level. Long story short, it is something I'm considering for Algebra 1 & 2 for my oldest.

 

My DS is using BA and Singapore but he's only using some of the components of Singapore. Doing all of SM and BA would be overkill, even for a kid who loves math like my DS. He is using the SM textbook, Challenging Word Problems, and Intensive Practice books. I'm staggering the topics in BA so that he's reviewing & extending what he learned in SM. So I started BA 3 towards the end of SM 3, and will start BA 4 after he finishes SM 4A. The goal is to be hopefully ready for Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra by the time he runs out of BA books.

[Dmmetler]

WHen I taught in PS, we didn't use just the math book and only the math book there, either. We had a range of supplemental books and activities to pull from. I do the same for DD, where we have one main math curriculum, but use parts of others and extra activities as needed. We do the same in every subject. Math Mammoth and MEP are good because I can just print what I need.

 

 

[Melissa B]

I supplement Saxon with Beast Academy for dd 10 because she loves math and needs the challenge. But, she doesn't do as well with the mastery approach of math where she only sees a topic once or twice a year. Once she finishes up BA we plan to supplement Saxon with the supplemental AOPS books - Number Theory and Probability. That way she gets the solid foundation with Saxon and the challenge of AOPS without so much overlap of subjects. She also likes that both Saxon and AOPS are fairly sell teaching. Math is one subject where she enjoys progressing on her own whenever possible.

 

My other two are doing only Saxon. Neither is currently interested in any extra math - so just the basic foundation for them. :)

[Gil]

Well, I teach/introduce math freestyle/spur of the moment to the boys at the white board we used things that are typically considered "supplemental" for them to practice and better understand the lessons that I gave them freestyle. For example, we used the Keys to... series after I'd been teaching them fractions and decimals informally for a while. Using those books really helped to draw home some points and gave them the chance to turn their intuitive understanding into solid skill and sound knowledge of the topic at hand. We did Decimals, Fractions and Percents first, but I liked the series so much and we already hand it on hand, so I had them continue and do Measurement, Geometry and Algebra.

 

Their main math program though was Math Mammoth. We started MM from 1A well below their ability level because it was to teach them more than just math. They learned to read and follow directions, practiced handwriting and got explicit instruction that laid a solid foundation for math. Math Mammoth took them from getting how to do something, to understanding why they can do it many many many ways.

 

I have always hated "PreAlgebra" and it was my intention that my boys skip it entirely and go straight to Algebra, so we used Algebra Readiness Made Easy for graduated problem solving skills and a gentle introduction to algebraic thinking and problem solving. We did Sunshine Math as a Math Circle activity.

 

So, yeah.

 

Math Mammoth and ARME combined were largely a "fail safe" curriculum. It allowed me to teach freestyle and I knew that they'd get everything they needed from doing MM and that anything that was ambiguous would be made clear and understood. ARME was fun and easy to do, and the boys liked the little puzzles.

We used Keys to... Because it allowed me to teach broadly/freely and gave them something to practice on for immediate feedback and everything was duly explained and the history notes made for some neat discussion/research. We used this to work at their level/on our current topic.

Sunshine Math was a fun supplemental activity that really put our problem solving skills to the test.

[EmseB]

We do Saxon M-Th, and then I assign him a section of BA on Fridays (our light, "fun" school day).

 

I do it because I like the solid foundation Saxon provides, but I also know that at this point it's not terribly challenging for him and I'd like him to develop different ways of thinking mathematically and BA does that for us.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I think we're pretty much going to do all of MM and all of BA.  I'd rather go deep than fast.  Now, when I say all of MM, I don't mean every single problem, of course.  And we'll probably not do the geometry part of MM because we like BA's presentation of geometry better.  But it seems like we can do a whole level of MM in much less than a year.  So I don't think it will be hard to do them both.   I don't mind if BA lags behind a bit.  We actually did most of BA 3A last year, so this year we'll do BA 3B-D plus all of MM3 except geometry.  At least, unless her brain breaks or something.  That's the current path.

 

I say this not to argue with wapiti! But because it brings up another reason to use more than one math.  One math might not take a whole year.  So then you have to decide whether you are going to accelerate and get ahead of yourself grade level wise.  I'm happier with adding in a 2nd hard math than with moving ahead and running out of MM halfway through 5th grade.

[Tanikit]

My DD7 has touched on a lot of Math curricula - we did Horizons K and 1, SM1a-3a so far, MEP mostly year 1 (the harder problems) and LOF - my DD is very Mathy and we are now entering olympiads with her. Horizons K worked very well for her when we tried it, but by 1 it was becoming too repetitive, SM has the word problems I feel are important and my DD thrived more on word problems originally so I wanted this to continue since all real life Math is really a word problem. LOF is fun and she enjoys it and she has managed to do some more challenging Math earlier than she would have reached it going through more standard curricula. MEP has a different way of asking which was good for my DD. Maths does not take her long and usually after we finish a certain book (of any of the curricula) then we take a break and switch to something new. We do NOT run all the curricula at once and do not do the full curricula of many of these options - on any one day she will only do 2 of them.

[MiMi 4under3]

Because we can, we like it, and nobody can tell us what to do or not do!  :thumbup:

[Coco_Clark]

To reinforce/slow us down.

 

Last yr in kinder my older son blew through Singapore Primary K and 1st, most of Miquon Orange and bits of Red, and Life of Fred Apples and Butterlies. Phew! Now, a lot of that is because we were finding his "level" and filling odd gaps. He has slowed way down now that we've reached new material. But even so we would finish way more than a "year" of math every year if we just used one program and reach concepts before he's mature enough to grasp them. And honestly, at that speed he wouldn't get the practice, practice, practice he needs to really solidify facts.

 

We aren't math freaks. He does 20-40 minutes a day, 5 days a week, 40 or so wks a year.

 

This year in first grade he's on MIF2 (spine), Life of Fred Cats and Dogs (for "fun" conceptual math), and Two+Two is Not Five (for fact memorization). He may or may not finish all of them, most likely not.

[RootAnn]

I've done it for a couple kids for these two reasons:

 

I sometimes use a second math to reinforce or teach a different strategy. 

 

To increase the chances that something will work.

 

[Tranquility7]

We use multiple curricula in several subjects. We use 4 maths (SM mainly, but also LoF and BA, and now starting Khan Academy for review), 3 Latin programs, 2 Chinese programs, 2 history programs...

 

I use multiple programs because we school year round and DS learns quickly, so if I don't use multiple programs, we end up flying through too much curricula. Sometimes I don't necessarily want to constantly keep teaching him *new* material, but rather would like to tread water for a while, you know? I want to reinforce what we have already learned and not forget it (I don't want a "break"), and a second or third program is a great way to do that. Just redoing the original program would obviously be boring (and less effective) . But getting a new presentation of material that is already familiar can be a great reinforcement, and DS enjoys it.

 

FWIW, I wouldn't double up in subjects that DS doesn't enjoy. If he hated math I'd find the best program that he hated least and just work on getting that done. But DS is a happy and quick learner, so for him, doubling up keeps it fun and interesting.

[LucyStoner]

We don't use Saxon but we do use multiple curriculums for math for our older son AND send him to a math enrichment class. Our reasons:

 

-I love math and like comparing the different problem sets and approaches.

-My son has strengths that are best nurtured by some materials and weaknesses that are best addressed by other materials.

-My son is very geared towards science and math is crucial for all of his interests. It's unlikely that he will pursue a field that doesn't involve math in some way.

 

We, happily, spend an hour a day or more on math. It's rarely a chore. He is not self teaching either, I provide instruction and we discuss problems at length.

[TracyP]

My oldest seems to need two strands of math: one procedural with lots of review, the other conceptual with more fun/interesting/challenging problems. Whenever we dropped one of these, she would flounder in the other.

 

Since it worked so well for her, it is a path I plan to follow for all my kids.

[Soror]

My oldest seems to need two strands of math: one procedural with lots of review, the other conceptual with more fun/interesting/challenging problems. Whenever we dropped one of these, she would flounder in the other.

 

Since it worked so well for her, it is a path I plan to follow for all my kids.

Ditto! I say count your blessings if you find one program that is meeting all of the needs of your student. My dd1 seems to be doing ok with just one program and I'm not looking to add anything for her, unless things change, but for ds I've not found just one program for him (at least not for the last couple of years).

[Slache]

I honestly never expected the response "because it's fun".  I only know two families homeschooling in real life and they both hate it. It's very discouraging. Math seems to be their biggest complaint, so this thread had been very enlightening and encouraging. Thank you hive.

[Soror]

Goodness, you need to listen in here more. If I hated hs'ing I wouldn't do it. Today I was thinking of the slogan, "Its the hardest job you'll ever love." We have a blast most of the time, yes it is work but usually fun work. Math has been a stress for me at times, trying to find the right program for ds especially, but we still have lots of fun and learn a lot.

[Slache]

 Today I was thinking of the slogan, "Its the hardest job you'll ever love."

 

I love that! I think a big problem with these families is that they keep to themselves, don't reach out, and don't plan. They decide what to do the next year in the summer without ever having read a book or spoken to a friend about homeschooling. I have learned so much from TWTM, CM books, and the hive. It brings a peace to me to have a big picture, several ideas, and over 1,000 HS parents here to ask questions of. I think I might lose my mind if I was going to attempt this alone.

[....]

I only know two families homeschooling in real life and they both hate it. It's very discouraging. 

 

Awww!   :sad:   That's not good!  

[LucyStoner]

Don't you live in Portland? There have to be more positive examples of homeschooling near you than the two families you know. Connect with some homeschool groups as your kids get older and you'll find some simpatico people I am sure.

[idnib]

We use both Singapore and Beast. We like the basics of Singapore and enjoy the challenge of Beast. Beast adds 2 hours/week, an hour each Saturday and Sunday. We do Singapore during the week. We use Beast as review, too, plus spending limited time on it keeps us from catching up with its too-slow-for-us publication schedule.

[*****]

We have used Saxon and MUS both at the same time. I like how MUS teaches the 'why' of each topic. Also, because each book in MUS is fairly narrow in their skills set, I wanted to make sure enough was covered to help on any standardized test. I felt the review in Saxon was good for my 1 daughter, who did best with consistent review (my oldest didn't need the review). 

[Guest]

Back in the day...

 

I used Singapore and MUS at the same time. I can't tell you how many gaps we filled, misunderstandings we identified by using programs that approached the same concept from a different perspective.

 

I was adamant about this after pulling my son from school in second grade. He had 100s on every math thing he ever did at school using Saxon. But when I played a math game with him, I realized he did not understand some very basic concepts. BASIC.

 

I went all the way back to the beginning with SM (better fit for his brain) and he GOT his math. I used MUS to confirm mastery.

 

I think it paid off. He got super high scores on his SAT maths.

[....]

At what grade level did most of you start using two? Or did you do that from the beginning?

 

One of my daughters is a 1st grader and she uses multiple programs: Singapore Math, Life of Fred and Miquon.  The Life of Fred goes a little over her head sometimes (especially the set theory), so I've actually been skipping some of the questions that I know she won't understand.  Miquon and Singapore...you could even use that with a Kindergartener that really liked math (just moved very slowly).  One of my daughters used Singapore Earlybird and I think that is their Kindergarten program.

 

My 1st grader has a plastic bin with all of her math books, phonics workbook, handwriting workbook and readers in it and every day, I just let her pull whatever she wants to work on out of the bin.  She does change what she uses.  The last couple of weeks she's been using Singapore, because *I* missed one of the problems (Doh!  I wasn't paying attention) and she got the problem right.  She thought that was hilarious, so she's hoping that will happen again.   LOL.

[Targhee]

We started multiple curricula from the beginning. I think it is most helpful in those concept-forming years. Combos we have done:

Singapore with Miquon

RightStart with Singapore

Beast Academy with Singapore

ALEKS and AoPS

 

Additionally we have used EducationUnboxed and DreamBox, as well as Lots and lots of games.

[WahM]

I've only ever used one curriulum. Too much trouble/money to use more than one. One of mine is very math and since that's her interest her life is surrounded by math naturally. I haven't felt the need to add another entire curriculum. I do always add fun math games to our life, but that's it.

[Soror]

I started ds with 2 curriculums the year BA came out, coincidentally that was around the time RS stopped working as well for him. I've done multiple programs with dd just trying to find the best fit for her. I think we've finally settled on Horizons so she she only has one math program for the time being, any other math and logic she does is just games and fun . We have several different resources around here and I like to pull something out nearly every day but I'm not looking at adding another formal program at this time. 

[CrunchyGirl]

I'm in the process of transferring the primary responsibility for HS to my partner so he was just asking me this the other day (or more like "Why on earth are you using multiple math programs? Can't we just use one?") We have an accelerated "mathy" kid who loves math so we use several programs, because 1) he gets bored and does better if we switch around often and 2) each with it's own focus. Currently:

 

Life of Fred: Having a highly accelerated, yet very young child has some serious issues like the constant need to present new concepts (driven completely by him) but in a manner which corresponds with the parts of him that are still quite young. Thanks to the sheer silliness, Fred works for this (he considers Fred to be a friend and literally sleeps with his Fred books). We continue to work through increasingly difficult books simply to provide new concepts to sink his teeth into, knowing full well these topics will be revisited in more depth and a more rigorous fashion at a later date.

 

Beast Academy: We use the Beasts for the puzzling challenge. For diving in deep into already understood concepts and learning to view them from an entirely different perspective.

 

Challenging Word Problems: Word problems are still a bit of a struggle and lag behind arithmetic and mental math skills so we are slowly plodding  through every problem. We just do a few a day.

 

Right now we simply let him pick what he works on each day. That works for us at this time. The only thing I "force" is to make sure we make progress (even just a little bit) through CWP most weeks.

 

 

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

 I just wonder if people are using 2 programs... do you finish both? I hope we would have time to finish both in one school year.

 

We're using three and may even add a fourth. No, we do not do all of each one. We use virtually all of Miquon, most of CSMP (I skip calculator lessons, those based on picture books I don't have,) and most of MEP.

 

I'm doing this because it seems necessary, not because I think it is the ideal!

[Miss Mousie]

In a word:  paranoia.  :leaving:

 

 

 

 

And because it's fun.  We have a ball with Life of Fred, and I wouldn't willingly give up that bonding for anything.

 

 

[UnsinkableKristen]

I use three different math programs because my DS8 is ADHD and he needs different approaches to learn different concepts. CLE is to give him the daily review that he just HAS to have to retain the information.  Beast Academy is just plain fun and it assists with the more cerebral-type math, Life of Fred is just hilarious and reminds him that math is fun and isn't just endless rows of addition and subtraction. 

[Wind-in-my-hair]

I had purchased programs that I didn't like at first, and have found myself pulling them out for variety's sake. For example, I got stuck with c-rods that I couldn't return, but in recent math lessons I have pulled them out, and now that my son seems to enjoy them, I am contemplating getting him a Miquon book so that he can use them more. In homeschooling I think a lot of parents choose a curriculum they like to each, only to discover that their children may like a different perspective. 

[Caviar]

Does anyone use Khan Academy exclusively for math?