My Ker is flying through MUS primer

[midwestbelle]

We just started about 6 weeks ago and he wants to do several pages a day. Today he completed lesson 18 in Primer. Should I let him go that fast or slow him down? He seems to understand the material. Once I explain the concept, he can do the problems correctly without my help or the blocks. When he finishes Primer, I was thinking of getting him a K curriculum from another publisher instead of moving on to Alpha. What do you think?

[Mesa]

If you plan on sticking with MUS just go onto Alpha. He'll be ready.

[SABE]

My K son is flying through Primer as well. He's really enjoying it, so we plan on sticking with the series. I'm planning to move him into Alpha as soon as he finishes Primer, whenever that ends up being. I imagine that he'll slow down at some point!

[HomesteadMommy]

I used MUS Primer for my dd when she was prek/k and she went through it quickly to. We finished it at her pace to build confidence and she thought it was fun. She's almost finished Alpha now, would have sooner but we took some school breaks. Anyway it's working out great for us. If your son really likes it then I would finish it and move on to alpha. :001_smile:

[midwestbelle]

His sisters are not going to be happy if he catches up to them in Gamma! Maybe it will keep them on their toes.

[Sunshine State Sue]

We finished the MUS K book in 5 months working 2x per week maybe 30min per day. This was in 2000 with the classic program. We just moved on to the next level. Finishing earlier will give you more options as they get older. You may want to supplement with Singapore's CWP. But, not at K level.

[ChemMommy]

Child #1: skipped primer. I'm a typical hsing mom with a first child who is convinced that her Ker is too smart for primer. He bogged down in Alpha really quickly when he had to solve x + 2 = 3. Many tears.

 

Child #2: daughter of more experienced mom. We did primer. She was happy as a clam, but still bogged down in Alpha. We were in a tough time as a family so I wasn't my best and our hsing wasn't the best. Tough to do a good job when you hang out at the hospital ward with a child.

 

Child #3: sailed through primer in about 5 months. Loved math, never cried. Is half-way through gamma at the end of 2nd grade!

 

Child #4:sailed through primer in about 5 months, also. Loves math. Never cried. Is almost done with beta at the end of 1st grade.

 

Primer is GOOD GOOD GOOD for introducing math concepts in a fun way. Child 3 and 4 were allowed to do as many pages a day as they liked. They slowed down when it got harder and sped up on the easy stuff. They both developed a love of math. Alpha was substantially easier for them than it was for #1 and #2.

 

Let them enjoy the book. Then, start Alpha. Skip the tests if they are still in K or 1st. Let them just enjoy the experience of doing a good job in math.

 

Primer seems so easy that, at first, I questioned spending the money on it. It really sets them up well for math. IMHO

[FriedClams]

We did primer a few years ago, and if I remember correctly, we screamed through the first 10-14 lessons and then really slowed down as the concepts got a lot harder. I would stick with Primer and add in stuff that MUS skips - money, measurements, etc.

[Alison in KY]

We sailed through primer for awhile. I really thought it was a wonderful math book. It looked way easy in front, but it really got involved towards the end. IMHO what will slow you down is that when you get about halfway through alpha, before you start subtraction, Mr. Demme suggests you make sure your kids know their addition facts. Math facts always slow us down. IF I waited for my kids to know them perfectly I'd still have my 9 yr old in alpha :glare: but at some point you just decide to surge ahead.

 

Alpha is good stuff!

 

Alison in KY

[JeannineW]

Thanks for posting this question. I was planning on asking the same question. I have a K-4 doing Primer and he is already on lesson 6 and this is our 3rd week. He doesn't even wait for me to explain or put on the DVD. He just keeps going. He loves his math book.

[LadyAberlin]

My prek is sailing through it too. I think we're on lesson 20 and we started in June. I had my mom pick the primer up for me in June at the homeschool conference. Well our second homeschool conference was 2 weeks ago and she was going to that conference and I had her pick up Alpha. She thought she must have not got everthing I needed when she did it the first time. I said no she got everything, but my ds is almost through with it. We do 2 pages a day 7 days a week. I looked through Alpha and I suspect we will slow down to 1 pg a day 5 days a wek. We are also doing Singapore primary 1A and bits and peices of Horizons K.

[WyoSylvia]

My ds is flying through it as well. I would encourage you to let him continue. I think that, especially at this age, having a sense that school work is easy is a good thing. When it begins to gradually get more difficult you can both draw on the confidence that he is building right now.

[Heather in Neverland]

If you plan on sticking with MUS just go onto Alpha. He'll be ready.

 

:iagree:

[Tess in the Burbs]

well I wanted to slow it down. so we did. both mine zoomed through the first 10 lessons and I wanted it to last a little longer so we slowed down. I think you can do it either way and be fine. my oldest wasn't ready to jump into Alpha just yet but the youngest was and we could have moved faster. just have fun :-)