Beast Academy ??

[Moxie]

Is it stand-alone or a supplement? 

 

We currently use MUS but I can see how BA would be the perfect fit for my difficult rising 4th grader next year.

[Dramorellis]

It can be stand alone but we use it as a supplement. My 3rd grader uses MiF as his main spine but once a week or couple times a week if he is motivated he also does BA. We end up just going more slowly through it which is fine. We are about a month away from finishing 3B. The only issue I would have with using it as a main is we might out-pace the schedule since 4D was just released. But since we are going slowly, once our "new school year" rolls around we will still be working on 3c.

[kateingr]

A lot of people use it as a supplement, but I use it as a comprehensive stand-alone curriculum. It fully covers the standard, grade-level topics, but with much more deep thinking and problem-solving. I have a full review here and an example of a lesson here. Any particular questions you have about it?

[Peaceful Isle]

We use it as a supplement and MUS as our main math. My son really enjoys reading the guide book, and is learning a lot from BA. I still would not want to stop using MUS because it works so well with my kiddos. 

[Sherry in OH]

It was designed as a stand-alone program but also works nicely as a supplement.

[SereneHome]

Would it still be a supplement if we use Singapore?

[Julie of KY]

It is designed as stand alone program, but it is not completely published so it is hard to use as a stand alone yet.

 

My daughter has done each book as it has come out. The pace of publication made it where it couldn't be her primary curriculum. My 8 year old is now doing Beast 3 - I'll probably use it as his primary math and supplement it as necessary. Beast would not have been necessary to supplement with my oldest, but my daughter would have needed some supplementary work just to add more problems to reinforce. I'm not sure I'll need to supplement it with my youngest, but I'll have to see.

 

 

[FairProspects]

For those who used it as a stand alone program, did you have to supplement the multi-digit multiplication and division sections? My older ds completed through 4A and then did both Math Mammoth Multiplication 2 & Division 2. Younger ds is now working through BA but I would love it if he didn't have to do so much additional work.

[SereneHome]

What is the earliest age/grade that BA has?

[Farrar]

For those who used it as a stand alone program, did you have to supplement the multi-digit multiplication and division sections? My older ds completed through 4A and then did both Math Mammoth Multiplication 2 & Division 2. Younger ds is now working through BA but I would love it if he didn't have to do so much additional work.

 

That's tough to answer. I did supplement because it moved so slowly compared to the rest of the program. And we jumped from Beast to pre-algebra by filling in with extra resources and topics that were needed. But if the fifth grade books had existed then I wouldn't have needed to supplement because those sections would have hit a higher level in the end and it would have been irrelevant.

[Farrar]

What is the earliest age/grade that BA has?

 

Currently 3rd grade. But a second grade series is planned as well eventually.

[Porridge]

I originally planned to use Singapore 3 as the main curriculum, BA 3 as a supplement, but we've been slowly shifting to making BA the main curriculum. 

I didn't like the way BA approached multiplication and how they didn't address long division, so we used Singapore mostly at the beginning of the year.  My daughter finds BA more interesting and more challenging. We just finished the fractions section of BA 3D. I looked back over Singapore 3 fractions just to make sure nothing was missed, but it would have been waaay too easy for my math-loving DD.  I'm planning now to use BA as the main curriculum, with Singapore as a supplement (only because I already bought Singapore 4A).  

[Guest]

Can I just jump in with my 4th grader on level 4 or do I need to start at 3?

[Rosie]

For those who used it as a stand alone program, did you have to supplement the multi-digit multiplication and division sections? My older ds completed through 4A and then did both Math Mammoth Multiplication 2 & Division 2. Younger ds is now working through BA but I would love it if he didn't have to do so much additional work.

 

Every once in a while I print out some problems for my girls to do as review, to make sure they still remember how. Long division has seemed to need more review than multiplication for them. Looking back, to make it more systematic, I probably would/should have given them one problem per week of division as review. Hopefully I'll remember to do that with my third!

 

Every child is different, though, so I can't say what would work best for your particular child....

[Farrar]

Can I just jump in with my 4th grader on level 4 or do I need to start at 3?

 

You can jump in anywhere. There is a loose story line, but it's very loose - more like recurring jokes and plot ideas (in particular, the saga of whether the little beasts will win various math meets against various rivals) - so you won't miss anything in the story really. And the basic math covered in the third grade books will be things that a solid 4th grader will already know. However, the "third grade" books include a LOT of math that most 4th graders won't have been exposed to yet and take a lot of the third grade math deeper - not just farther ahead like most programs. And the puzzley tricky ones are hard enough that many people use it with slightly older kids. That's why many people start with the third grade books.