Beast academy as supplement or stand alone?

[mcaskey826]

I'm loving the look of this and I really think my son will enjoy it. He's a little discouraged and unmotivated to do school (recent diagnosis of dyslexia) but I thought the style of this might be more fun for him, of course I would have to help him read a lot of the dialog.  We have been using CLE and I love it and really don't want to replace it. Would it be too much to do both? Has anyone used this just as a supplement?

[desertflower]

I think it depends on the child.  I am currently using it as a supplement.  My ds loves math, so it's not a problem for him.  On a side note, my nephew hated math until I showed him BA.  I'm told that he is now doing both his original math curriculum and BA.  So, I supposed that is something.  :) 

 

Even if you take it slow, I think it's worthwhile. 

[sweetpea3829]

We use it with Singapore. Sometimes I run it concurrently. Sometimes I follow a Singapore chapter with the corresponding Beast chapter. Sometimes I shelve Singapore and use Beast as my primary. Sometimes I use Beast as a summer bridge. Just watch for burnout.

[Carrousel]

We use it with Singapore. Sometimes I run it concurrently. Sometimes I follow a Singapore chapter with the corresponding Beast chapter. Sometimes I shelve Singapore and use Beast as my primary. Sometimes I use Beast as a summer bridge. Just watch for burnout.

Same at our house.

[Farrar]

I think the number one reason to use it as a supplement is how few books are out. Of course, that's becoming less and less of an issue.

 

It really is not the right math for all kids - it's challenging, it expects them to really get it without doing a ton of practice. But for the right kid, I think it's great as a standalone.

[wintermom]

We use it as a supplement, to mix things up and add some fun into our regular math. It definitely is challenging and can get overwhelming, though the learning possibilities are definitely worth the time and effort.

[shernandez]

We use CLE and use BA as a supplement.  My non-mathy daughter really enjoys it, because she likes the comic-book look and being able to read it like a story book (she is a reader and would much rather read than do math).  When it comes to the worksheets, I always sit with her and think out loud and lead her through some of it.  I do not do this with CLE, so she enjoys getting that time with me to work on math.  

[shernandez]

Meant to add that BA is in our loop time, so we just do it when it comes up in the loop.  CLE is our daily math program.  Sometimes, we do BA 3-4 days a week.  Sometimes, it is just once.  She will often secret away the book, but the worksheets are done when I bring them out.  

[Coco_Clark]

Ive used 3a as a stand alone so far this year. It's been great and we just cracked open 3b.

 

That being said I'm using it with a second grader, so the release schedule is far enough ahead of us to not be an issue. And we do have occasional review/rest days via Dream-box.

[blondeviolin]

I've used 3 as a standalone for two students. My oldest is running 4 as a challenge and extra to Saxon 54. My second grader is dropping in favor of Teaching Textbooks (because he wants to do something "easy"); he'll do level 5 of TT and jump right back into BA 4.

[ikslo]

Stand alone here.  Was planning to do along with MiF which we were using before, but as soon as DS started BA, he didn't want to go back to MiF.  We do review with iPad apps. 

[eternallytired]

I use it as a stand-alone for my oldest, but I'm planning on easing my second child into it by doing BA once a week or so along with Singapore once she starts level 3.

 

If your child loves math and enjoys a challenge, this will be great.  It is definitely HARD math, though (especially that first chapter of 3A!).  All of the problems involve some level of deep thought, many of them require you to deduce multiple steps, and the guide books show you lots of really cool tricks to figure out hard problems, but you have to be able to do the mental gymnastics to understand them.  This is not to discourage you--because I think the books are super cute and really awesome--just to warn you that it won't be fun, "light" math if that's what you were hoping for.

[T'smom]

We only started this a couple weeks ago and I only ordered 3A because I wasn't sure how my son was going to handle it. He hates anything that is "too hard". He doesn't like to put effort into anything. But he is LOVING Beast! In fact, we are traveling to visit relatives tomorrow and when I told him to pack things in his backpack to do in the airport/airplane, he wanted to take Beast! He has begged to do it, even on days when I wasn't planning on doing school at all (like today, when I needed to pack and get things ready for our trip). On the problems that have stars, he wants to try them before looking at the hint. This is NOT like my kid at all.

However, we are also using Singapore (previously used RightStart) because I think we need more practice and explicit teaching. But, so far, BA has been so wonderful in showing ds that it can be enjoyable to work hard at something. And there can be pleasure in problem solving- and that is worth more than gold! I just hope that he continues to enjoy it!

[Cake and Pi]

I've been using it as a stand-alone for my oldest DS.  He's very auditory and needs me to read the comic books to him in order to really get it.  Sometimes he needs me to read the questions on the worksheets too.  But he grasps concepts quickly and doesn't need much review, so it's been working well for him thus far.

 

I'm just starting to ease my second son into BA.  His main math is RightStart, but we're starting BA as something fun to mix things up once or twice a week.  He's excited and likes it, but it is much more challenging than he's used to.  He has a low threshold for frustration, so I'm hoping to help him work up a tolerance for difficult, frustrating problems that require real thinking.  My plan right now is to continue doing both RS and BA with him until he finishes RS level C (1st edition), and then move him to BA as his main math.  We will have to find something to supplement with for extra practice though, because he needs a bit of repetition to move information into long term memory.

[abba12]

I intend to use beast as a supplement, alongside a number of other supplemental programs/books to make up a full course (I'm picky, I don't like any of the elementary core homeschool math programs enough to commit to them lol)

 

If you want math done in 20 minutes a day it'll be too much, but if you're happy to spend time on it I think it's fun enough that a lot of kids don't get burnt out, or overwhelmed.

 

The one thing to keep in mind is that it's ok to skip a page/chapter here and there if it's covered in another program. If he displays competency in BA doing a concept, you can skim over it in CLE once you ensure he has retained it. I have a program I am using as a spine with my K/1st (Mathematical Reasoning)  but we are doing two plus two does not equal five for math facts, so we skip over most of the math fact pages in MR, doing one occasionally just to give her practice in a different format. We aren't doing two complete curricula in their entirety, but drawing from them both (and other resources)  to create a full program. Next year when we add challenging word problems as a supplement we will probably drop most of the word problem pages from MR, and when we begin the singapore speed math program we will probably only do half as many practice pages from 2+2 (but we will keep it in the rotation for memory rules).

 

Don't be afraid to work the curriculum to suit you, and don't feel you need to do every single page of both.

[KSinNS]

I started using BA as a supplement for dd9, and it has worked very well with MUS. She loves it so much, and is doing so well, I'm starting to make it a primary and supplement with MUS when she needs more procedural work (which she likely will). 

 

With ds 7, I'm using it as the primary (for now, we just started), but again, I will likely need to supplement with procedural work here and there. He also loves it (which surprised me because he is impulsive and does not tolerate frustration). I do read it to him, since he does not read at that level yet, and I read the instructions. The downside for both of them is that I do need to be there to support/help pretty much every step of the way. But I am blown away by how much their patience and problem solving has improved, even in the month since ds started. 

 

I'm particularly surprised, because neither are stellar students, though D finds math easier than T. This approach has really appealed to both of them. Oh, and start with Chapter 2. Then go back to chapter 1. 

[redsquirrel]

FWIW, I have a friend whose son is dyslexic and he has thrived with BA. It just works for his brain, and he is very happy.

 

I started using BA as a supplement to SM.  But, my son was very unhappy with SM, lots of arguments and starting to think he 'hated math'.  After a lot of trepidation we committed fully to BA and it has been great. We have used SM CWP as a supplement, but using it a year behind to shore up skills. However, this year we are using LOF three or four times a week in addition to BA. I am hoping to get through LOF Fractions and also Decimals this year.

 

So, yes, BA can be used as a supplement, but if he's the kind of kid who wants math over quickly that might be more difficult. And be aware that you only use the guide (the comic book) to introduce a lesson.  When we got it, both my son and I thought you would read in the comic almost every day and then work in the practice book.  It doesn't quite work that way, lol.  It's more like you read in the guide once a week, or once every 7 or 8 days and then work thorough a section in the practice book. It really depends on how quickly your student works through the practice book.  I am sure there is someone here whose kid gets through an entire section in a day or two.  The concept gets introduced in the guide and then taken further and deeper in the practice book.

 

If you are using it as a supplement is going to take that much longer before you need to get back to the guide. I know my son would have found that frustrating. Even using BA every day we don't get to the guide as often as he would like, lol.

[mcaskey826]

FWIW, I have a friend whose son is dyslexic and he has thrived with BA. It just works for his brain, and he is very happy.

 

I started using BA as a supplement to SM.  But, my son was very unhappy with BA, lots of arguments and starting to think he 'hated math'.  After a lot of trepidation we committed fully to BA and it has been great. We have used SM CWP as a supplement, but using it a year behind to shore up skills. However, this year we are using LOF three or four times a week in addition to BA. I am hoping to get through LOF Fractions and also Decimals this year.

 

So, yes, BA can be used as a supplement, but if he's the kind of kid who wants math over quickly that might be more difficult. And be aware that you only use the guide (the comic book) to introduce a lesson.  When we got it, both my son and I thought you would read in the comic almost every day and then work in the practice book.  It doesn't quite work that way, lol.  It's more like you read in the guide once a week, or once every 7 or 8 days and then work thorough a section in the practice book. It really depends on how quickly your student works through the practice book.  I am sure there is someone here whose kid gets through an entire section in a day or two.  The concept gets introduced in the guide and then taken further and deeper in the practice book.

 

If you are using it as a supplement is going to take that much longer before you need to get back to the guide. I know my son would have found that frustrating. Even using BA every day we don't get to the guide as often as he would like, lol.

 

This is great to know! I'm actually glad we won't be reading in it daily since I would have to read it to him and I'm already having to be hands-on with everything he's doing right now. Thanks for your input!