MUS/Beast combo vs Singapore

[vaquitita]

I've been using Singapore PM with my oldest and we supplement with Beast. He's pretty good at math and usually 'gets it' easily but doesn't enjoy math. we just aren't into spending an hour on math every day so we don't get to beast that often, once a week at best. So it takes us a full school year to get through just one beast book. I've recently switched my 8yo to MUS and it's a great fit for her, who doesn't 'get' math the same way. It's so easy to use and has a much lighter workload. I'm considering switching my oldest to this too, it would be so much easier for me and free up more time to spend on beast academy. When I read reviews of MUS here, it doesn't get much love because it lacks 'depth' but I'm thinking beast would make up for that?

[sweetpea3829]

IMO, there's too much of a gap.  

 

They are completely on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of rigor.  I can't see how they would pair well at all.  If your student does well with Beast and is, in general, a good math student...you could just go with Beast...no need to add MUS.  What would he get out of MUS that he wouldn't get out of Beast?  

 

If you feel your student needs more practice than what Beast provides (this would be my own DS), you could always add MM on a spiral basis for review.  Or...you could even stick with your Singapore and add THAT as review for Beast.  

[nena3927]

Your right in that MUS doesn't get good reviews on here. I came from Singapore US Edition which I used from Kindergarten through the beginning of second and switched to MUS in Sept of this past year due to lack of retention and tears with Singapore. Both my first and second grader are doing great with MUS and retaining information learned, not to mention the workload it has taken off of me when it comes to teaching math. We watch the videos together and I make sure they understand the new lesson, and the rest of the week they can work on their own. It has just been wonderful here! The scope and sequence of MUS compared to Beast would probably make it difficult to try supplementing the two, but if you need some of your workload lifted (or even if you didn't) I wouldn't hesitate to switch. You know what's best for your children and there are MANY excellent reviews of MUS even if not found on this board.  

[kitten18]

My DS uses BA on its own. IMO it doesn't need supplementing.

[EthylPie]

I can add to this a little of our experience. I, too, felt MUS was lacking but liked it because I wanted my DS to listen to someone else besides mommy all the time. I wouldn't say my ds8 is advanced, but he flew through Alpha in K. So I had to supplement just to have a math curriculum that lasted us all year. MUS only has 30 lessons with 6-7 pages of problems per lesson.

That's when I added Singapore (slowly). It's been great! He is in 2nd and I couldn't be happier with the results of using both. We don't do everything in Singapore, but just the problems and concepts that aren't covered in MUS, and together they fill up our whole year. We do two pages a day, 1 MUS 1 Singapore or 2 MUS, plus speed drills. Sometimes I find extra worksheets online if a particular topic stumps him. For instance, he really struggled with adding 8 and 9, so I printed worksheets from the internet until he mastered it( it took three weeks). Same with some of the multiplication facts, we used flash cards too until they were mastered. This was just a memory issue not a comprehension problem.

 

Summary of things I like:

 

MUS: someone else teaches, introduces algebra (solving for an unknown) in 1st grade, introduces equivalent fractions without the student realizing what is happening, worksheets aren't overly burdensome

 

Singapore: teaches kids to think mathematically, different approach to solving problems, introduces fractions early, worksheets aren't burdensome

 

Cons: buying two curriculums (yak!!!), Mr Demme's method sometimes seems a little convoluted, ( I don't think we've watched a video this year, with minimal mom help, but if your student struggles to understand math concepts mr. Demme can help), Singapore requires mom explanations

 

I look at it like MUS and Singapore are two sides of a penny, same penny, totally different view.

 

Haven't tried beast (too expensive just to try), tried Saxon 2 and it wasn't great, but DS hates monotony ( which is another bonus for combining the two curriculums)

 

HTH

 

PS: DS is in 2nd working through MUS Gamma and Singapore 2a and b. I have Singapore challenging word problems that we will incorporate next year, but a grade below

[My4arrows]

I use and like mus, but wouldn't pair it with beast. I like that mus is mastery and it has been right for one of my children. He likes the DVDs and blocks and he has been able to progress very Mickey in understanding of what and why for math. But since it is. Astray I just don't feel that it compliments beast well.

 

I have another DS who is more math inclined than his brother and he uses beast and we also love that program. It is his main curriculum right now. We will usually spend about 20 minutes a day doing beast, splitting the lesson up. He will usually do 2 pages or so a day. We also supplement with mm. I use this mainly because he began in mus and finished alpha so quickly that I realized he needed something more, bought mm and he starting flying through that as well and then we picked up beast to slow him down a bit and challenge him. When he need a break from beast we will do a few days of mm to fill in gaps (he went from mus alpha to mm 3rd grade to beast) or just practice simple things. Mm and beast have complimented each other nicely and I've found it easy to go back s d forth between the two as needed.

[KSinNS]

I actually have done this for a year (paired MUS with BA) with my 9 year old, and I'm starting the same combo with my 8 year old. I actually think they are a match made in heaven, especially for kids like mine, who are good, but not spectacular math students, and who need a bit of extra drill. I like how MUS teaches arithmetic with minimal fussing and confusion. Love the big, wide open pages. The word problems are very standard, but they are the problems you need to be able to solve without thinking too hard. The big weakness is thinking mathematically and word problems. Fortunately, these are BA's strengths. Also they do lots of mental arithmetic with BA, another weakness of MUS. Also, BA has a ton of geometry to make up for MUS. The sequence differences just helps to do more review and consolidate skills. I was trying BA on it's own with my 8 year old, and it just wasn't quite enough, since he needs more practice with calculation, so I'm adding in MUS for him too.

 

For my 9 year old, we liked MUS and she begged to do BA, so we started it.  She loves BA (with puffy hearts), and it's amazing how strong her problem solving has become. We started off doing about 20 minutes of BA and maybe 30 mins of MUS later in the  day (usually 2 worksheets/day or 1 if they are long). Now, she's doing 45 minutes of BA with me and most of the MUS on her own (I teach the lesson rather than using the videos to speed things along). At that speed, we get through 1.5 books/year or so, so this approach gets pricey. But I'm really happy with it. 

 

Also, my oldest went into AOPS after mostly MUS (and a bit of MM because of the cost of the books at his speed of more than 2 books per year). I actually found him to be confident and well prepared. I did change certain things I didn't like how they were taught (like cross multiplication vs. finding common denominators). Obviously, there was a bit of a jump to much higher-order thinking, but he's done pretty well, all things considered. 

 

PS-my hubby is a math prof, and he likes the clarity, manipulatives and orderliness of MUS, too. He also likes AOPS/BA, though he gets frustrated when he has to go think about the problems for a while. It's good for the kids to see, though. 

 

Anyway, hope that helps. 

[LEK]

I agree with KSinNS, my dd8 is doing MUS and beast and it is a perfect combo for us. I love that MUS is giving her the drill in basic operations and it teaches in such a clear way. While she does not necessarily need a lot of drill (and we actually skip most practices pages in MUS) she does on occasion need reinforcement in the standard way of doing things and setting out a question as she is a very non standard thinker (hence our use of BA).  We both LOVE beast, absolutely love it, what beast is missing MUS covers and what MUS is missing is there in beast. For the record, dd is in 4th grade, she is doing MUS one (almost 2) levels ahead and beast half a year behind (that averages out right lol) due to me waiting to buy beast as I did not want her finishing level 4 before all of level 5 was released. My dd8 (2nd grade) is DYING to start beast, she is also doing MUS and will add beast to that once the first kiddo is completely through level 3.

[vaquitita]

I actually have done this for a year (paired MUS with BA) with my 9 year old, and I'm starting the same combo with my 8 year old. I actually think they are a match made in heaven, especially for kids like mine, who are good, but not spectacular math students, and who need a bit of extra drill. I like how MUS teaches arithmetic with minimal fussing and confusion. Love the big, wide open pages. The word problems are very standard, but they are the problems you need to be able to solve without thinking too hard. The big weakness is thinking mathematically and word problems. Fortunately, these are BA's strengths. Also they do lots of mental arithmetic with BA, another weakness of MUS. Also, BA has a ton of geometry to make up for MUS. The sequence differences just helps to do more review and consolidate skills.

This is what I was thinking! that BA's thinking skills and geometry would fill in MUS's weaknesses. I do not plan to correlate them in anyway, just work through each at its own pace. My son is good with math concepts, but certainly not spectacular, and he struggles with algorithms. MUS should give him the drill he needs on those. And he loves the big wide open pages.

[Momto4inSoCal]

The problem I have with MUS is the scope and sequence is so different than any other curriculim. It isn't really a curriculum you can try for a year and drop. We did that and I feel like we lost a year of math instruction. We came away from a year of multiplication and my daughter still couldn't remember how to multiply correctly. If you take it from kinder through jr high you will cover all the concepts math curriculums need to cover just at different years you would normally cover them. If you jump around you are likely to have gaps and holes. Most math curriculum generally cover the same concepts the same years so you can switch between them without causing major holes. Mus isn't like that so if you plan on switching I would plan in sticking with it all the way through.

[mommy2ella]

We love the combo of MUS and Beast, as well.  My daughter is one who really needs to feel confident with math.  MUS gives her that confidence.  She feels extremely solid on the basics.  She can then take the knowledge and confidence she has gained from MUS and use them to attack the BA problems.  Since she has learned the basic operations already, she can relax and focus on using her knowledge in new ways to attack problems from a different angle.  If I were to just give her BA, she would completely melt down.