Math U See - Epsilon ?

[Jess4879]

My oldest is using TT and it works quite well for her, but she needs more help with fractions.  I was going to try Key To series, but after seeing a video, I am thinking she might do really well with Math U See Epsilon.  It says it's only 30 lessons - is it reasonable to use as a supplement?  And if we've never used it before, is it relatively easy to jump in for fractions? 

[Butter]

It is 30 lessons, but every lesson has 7 pages (you don't have to use all of them) plus a test page (each page is double sided).  You can jump in anywhere with Math-U-See.

[Jess4879]

It is 30 lessons, but every lesson has 7 pages (you don't have to use all of them) plus a test page (each page is double sided).  You can jump in anywhere with Math-U-See.

Forgot to ask, what do I absolutely have to buy?  I have a set of the blocks & overlays that I can borrow, so I don't need those.

[Butter]

You don't need the blocks for Epsilon.  The overlays are "required" but I think my son (just finished lesson 16 I think) has used them like twice.  You absolutely need the student pack and the teacher pack.  The student pack has the main workbook and the test book.  The teacher pack has the DVD and book with detailed explanations of every lesson (I've only used one once in Algebra I) and the answer key (which I use daily).

[kolamum]

If your child needs help with fractions, I wouldn't skip the overlays. They are a key component to the programme, especially for visual or tactical learners. Depending on what needs she has for improving with fractions not obtaining them may make things harder. I've used Epsilon with more then one child & while some used the overlays more then others, all used them at some point. :)

[EKT]

We're not at Epsilon yet, but we have used Math-U-See for the past five years (and we love it!). So, I highly recommend the program in general, but it's important to note that each packaged set (Alpha, Beta, etc.) is a complete math curriculum in itself that takes my kids an entire school year to complete, so I wouldn't think of it as a "supplement" to something you're already using. (In other words, if you did your entire TT curriculum and then the entire Epsilon curriculum on top of that...that would be a heck of a lot of math to tackle in one school year.) I'd think of it more as a replacement than a supplement. 

 

I suppose, however, you could do something like TT four days a week and MUS on the fifth. For instance, on Fridays (or whatever), you could watch a MUS video lesson and then just do, say, two or three pages of practice. That could work. But then...you'd be paying for a lot of curriculum and using only a small portion of it. But that could work. The only thing I definitely wouldn't do is randomly choose a handful of lessons in an attempt to strengthen fractions skills. I say this because I've generally found that in MUS, each lesson builds on what was learned in the previous lesson, so if you picked a random lesson out of the middle of the book, it might be hard to follow it without the context of the previous lessons.

 

Long story short, you could definitely weave MUS into what you're already doing; I would just go into it with a bit of a plan so you make the most of your efforts. Good luck!

[Jess4879]

We're not at Epsilon yet, but we have used Math-U-See for the past five years (and we love it!). So, I highly recommend the program in general, but it's important to note that each packaged set (Alpha, Beta, etc.) is a complete math curriculum in itself that takes my kids an entire school year to complete, so I wouldn't think of it as a "supplement" to something you're already using. (In other words, if you did your entire TT curriculum and then the entire Epsilon curriculum on top of that...that would be a heck of a lot of math to tackle in one school year.) I'd think of it more as a replacement than a supplement. 

 

I suppose, however, you could do something like TT four days a week and MUS on the fifth. For instance, on Fridays (or whatever), you could watch a MUS video lesson and then just do, say, two or three pages of practice. That could work. But then...you'd be paying for a lot of curriculum and using only a small portion of it. But that could work. The only thing I definitely wouldn't do is randomly choose a handful of lessons in an attempt to strengthen fractions skills. I say this because I've generally found that in MUS, each lesson builds on what was learned in the previous lesson, so if you picked a random lesson out of the middle of the book, it might be hard to follow it without the context of the previous lessons.

 

Long story short, you could definitely weave MUS into what you're already doing; I would just go into it with a bit of a plan so you make the most of your efforts. Good luck!

Thank you for this info.  My DD typically does 2 TT lessons per day, so I was thinking I would cut that down to 1 and then do 1 MUS lesson, just the teaching and then some practice problems.  I don't think we'll utilize their review sheets, as she's covering the same stuff in TT right now.  Do you think it would work this way? 

 

It's definitely a pricey supplement, but I've got three kiddos, so trying to justify it that way...also thinking it would be worth it if it helps fractions "click"... 

[Butter]

A lot of people use Math-U-See along with something else.  It's definitely not unheard of for people to use two complete curricula.  Especially since she does 2 TT lessons a day it probably wouldn't be too much.

 

I think you could definitely use the review sheets as long as she is understanding the concepts.  That's the most important thing.  Perhaps even just get the teacher pack for the DVD.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Butter

[EKT]

Thank you for this info.  My DD typically does 2 TT lessons per day, so I was thinking I would cut that down to 1 and then do 1 MUS lesson, just the teaching and then some practice problems.  I don't think we'll utilize their review sheets, as she's covering the same stuff in TT right now.  Do you think it would work this way? 

 

It's definitely a pricey supplement, but I've got three kiddos, so trying to justify it that way...also thinking it would be worth it if it helps fractions "click"... 

 

I've never used TT myself, so I can't say for certain, but it sounds like that would be fine!

 

In our house, what we typically do is watch the MUS video lesson on Mondays, do the various workbook pages M-Th, and then do the test on Fridays. The first three (double-sided) pages in each MUS lesson contain only the new material, and the next three (double-sided) pages combine the new material plus review. So, if you skipped the review pages, you could do only the new pages and the tests (a total of 4 MUS pages each week). That could work well.  

 

 

So, a possible weekly schedule:

 

Monday:

• TT - 1 lesson
• MUS - Watch new video lesson do some teaching and hands-on practice.

Tuesday:

• TT - 1 lesson
• MUS - 1 double-sided workbook page.

Wednesday:

• TT - 1 lesson
• MUS - 1 double-sided workbook page. 

Thursday:

• TT - 1 lesson
• MUS - 1 double-sided workbook page. 

Friday:

• TT - 1 lesson
• MUS - test

So, that's a way you could successfully combine both programs (tweaking as you see fit). But this plan would get you through the 30 MUS lessons in 30 weeks. Again, I haven't used TT before, but it sounds like that would work fine. Hope this helps! Good luck! :-)

[Peaceful Isle]

Well, we love math u see...all except epsilon, lol.

 

It has always confused my kids. We do something else(like BJU ) for 5th grade, and then jump back in to zeta and then prealgebra and so on.