Does your child love their math curriculum?

[Ann.without.an.e]

Because my "math" kid (meaning he is great at math), hates math :(  I am using Saxon because my other kids used Saxon, my other kids have excelled at math, and I am afraid to switch.  At the same time, he HATES math even though he is great at it.  

I have eyed Beast Academy?  I just don't know.  He is my last so I dread changing now.  If it matters, he is 2nd grade (doing grade 3 work).  Thanks

 

 

[HomeAgain]

Yes, but I write my own right now.  I'm trying to sell him on Beast Academy for next year. :lol: It's not working.

 

Currently we do Life of Fred to warm up, and then math play with whatever concepts he's learning/wants more work on.  Then we switch to a math notebook: a 1cm square graph paper notebook where I write a variety of problems and paste in puzzles from MEP.  So like today, we started a new LoF book.  Soon after I brought out the Montessori checkerboard because he doesn't like doing large multiplication problems.  Learning how to do them in a lattice-like method engaged him more and he could see the steps brought to life.  He played with that for a while, and then did fractions, metric conversions, exponents in his notebook, along with an addition problem (freebie thrown in as a warm up).

 

Working strictly inside a curriculum frustrated him because there were either too many problems or not enough of what he needed to work with.

[OneStepAtATime]

Saxon works great for quite a few. It can be the pits of hell for others. It was the pits of hell for mine. Oddly they did better with CLE coupled with Beast and now CTC coupled with CLE and other sources.

 

If your kid is really mathy then why not just try out the first couple of books of Beast as a supplement and see how he does. It may take time for him to adjust to a vastly different way of doing math so give him that time. Do it together as a fun side thing. Some lessons may take time to process through. The goal is not really getting a correct answer. The goal is thinking through and understanding the how and why behind it.

Edited February 27, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[Heart_Mom]

One of my four loves math. He's doing Horizons 1st grade. 

[desertflower]

I have a math loving child too.  He loves Beast Academy.  My child thought Singapore math was too boring and too many problems.  I hope there is a sample on their site that you can view.  We have really enjoyed it.  I'm hoping BA 2 will be out before my middle child needs it.  :) 

 

Having never seen Saxon, I think BA is vastly different from Saxon.  Just from my research.  

 

Good luck. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

I have a math loving child too.  He loves Beast Academy.  My child thought Singapore math was too boring and too many problems.  I hope there is a sample on their site that you can view.  We have really enjoyed it.  I'm hoping BA 2 will be out before my middle child needs it.  :)

 

Having never seen Saxon, I think BA is vastly different from Saxon.  Just from my research.  

 

Good luck. 

 

 

Do you supplement BA?  Thanks

[desertflower]

Yes with SM challenging word problems and SM Processing skills.  Not diligently though.  Just not enough time.  He's the type of kid who I don't think needs it anyhow.  But I'm anal and want to make sure he has a good foundation.  My weak spot is word problems.  And I believe those books will teach him well in that area is probably why I use them. 

 

My son is not typical, so I would ask around.  I don't know if one actually needs to.  We are only on 3D.  So, I don't know what's after that. 

[YsgolYGair]

We had quite a few tears with both Singapore and Math Mammoth. We've switched to BJU and my son loves math now!

[Bay Lake Mom]

My daughter was always frustrated with Math until we tried CLE Math.  We tried Horizons, Singapore, BJU, Math U See....  I had always read great reviews of CLE Math, but for some reason I thought it looked "odd".  Well, I decided to give it a try.  She is currently doing CLE Math 3.  She asked me the other day if she can please, please, please do their 4th grade math too!

 

My 8 yo daughter loves her math curriculum! ...finally!!

[Rosie_0801]

My dd loved CSMP and Hands on Equations. 

[SilverMoon]

Ha! No. Love is much too strong a word for my little mathy one. She is moving forward without too much angst so I call it successful. She's using Singapore currently.

 

Before that was Math in Focus, which she connected really well with. It's colorful, mastery, and challenging enough. She complained often about all the baby steps. Singapore expects more leaps, which means less baby steps, so we gave it a try. The plain, boring appearance irritates her but she's moving forward steadily.

 

The siblings before her used Horizons and really enjoyed that. It's a colorful spiral book that builds concepts stealthily. My youngest will use this.

 

Fwiw, DD/3rd does NOT like Beast Academy at all. We made it through one section of one book before she very adamantly refused to ever look at one again. Over a year later she still shudders at the thought. *shrug*

[MinivanMom]

My math kid *loves* Beast Academy. 

 

He uses Singapore Math as his official math curriculum with me - though I do a lot of compacting, because it moves too slow & has too much practice for him. He reads Beast Academy for fun in his spare time and completes the workbook exercises in a somewhat sporadic way. BA is his favorite bedtime reading.

[purpleowl]

My oldest loves BA--she would tell you that she doesn't like math, but she does like Beast Academy. (DD#2 loves reading the BA guide books and is counting down the days until she can start doing BA math herself.)

 

If you can, try getting just 3A (guide & practice) as a trial run. That was enough for me to see clearly that BA was a great fit for DD. I think it would also be enough to show if BA is a decidedly poor fit for a child.

 

I don't supplement BA with any other curriculum. 

[bensonduck]

DD loves math. She ADORED Singapore and always wanted to do "just one more page". I got Beast for her but, while she liked looking at the comic books, did not find the practice book fun at all. She did love the Singapore IP and CWP, though, so we used that for extra challenge.

[wendyroo]

My oldest *LOVES* BA.  My second *LOVES* reading the BA guides, and can't wait until he is old enough to get his own BA workbooks.

 

Both of them use Math Mammoth as their primary curriculum...skipping and compacting as necessary to tailor it to their learning.  Oldest also does Singapore word problems and Hands on Equations.

 

Wendy

[Lori D.]

Yes, my "math-y" DS loved:

- Miquon

- Singapore Primary

- Singapore New Elementary Math I

- Jacobs Algebra 1

- Jacobs Geometry

(math programs beyond that were "okay", but not as loved)

 

We used Saxon as a supplement review, and he did not care for it at all -- too much review, too much breaking a concept into tiny bits and then scattering them across too many lessons, too far apart.

 

If Beast Academy, Jousting Armadilloes, and a few other programs had been around when he was doing Elementary/Middle School Maths, I would have loved to see if those would also have been a good fit for DS as supplements.

 

 

In contrast, my "math struggler" DS hated everything. Miquon, and then MUS were the programs that clicked best for *him* to minimize the pain, with Hands-On Equations, some of the Keys To... workbooks, and a number of math manipulative supplements also helping out a lot along the way.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Lori D.

[Jackie]

My kid loves to hate Beast Academy; does that count? :)

 

She still grumbles about math, but any time I suggest switching, she changes her tune quickly as she strongly believes BA is better than anything else that she knows exists. (And she's been to curric show-and-tell with our homeschooling group, so she's seen quite a few options.) She would just rather only read about math, and not *do* math, no matter what the program.

 

ETA: She truly loves the BA guides. It's the workbooks that she loves to hate.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Jackie

[Insertcreativenamehere]

My kids don't love math but they protested when I tried to switch from CLE to Math Mammoth. 

[RootAnn]

None of mine would tell you they loved their math books.

 

Dd#1 loves math and has loved one math teacher, but not the math book.

 

Dd#3 used to sleep with her math book, but she would say she enjoyed it when it was easy. (It isn't easy anymore.)

 

Ds#2 preferred his K math (McRuffy) because it had games. Love would be too strong a word.

[UCF612]

My youngest loves math and really enjoys Right Start. He is begging to do Beast next year.

 

My oldest does Beast. He has a love hate relationship with it. He really enjoys it but since it pushes him to think he hates it. He doesn't want to actually work at his work.

[Farrar]

One of my kids has never outright loved math.

 

The other has loved, at various points... Miquon, Beast Academy, and Jacobs's Mathematics and Algebra.

[Targhee]

Yes! All my kids are mathy, but oldest is the most so. She loves AOPS. My next LOVED beast academy and is now working in AOPS preA and wouldn't choose anything else. My third also used and loved Beast Academy. We have also had kids use and love RighStart B (A too, but B is the bomb. C not so much).

 

ETA Miquon Orange and Education Unboxed were much loved too. And DreamBox as a supplement.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Targhee

[klaw]

We love BA here...I homeschool with another family, so we have five kids in total.  Four are using BA as their only math curriculum (well, a bit of Hands on Equation supplementation as well), and are thriving and love doing math.  My youngest (grade 2) is working on Miquon prepping for BA :)  There are incredibly advanced concepts in BA that are explained beautifully explained...I find myself finally understanding math concepts, and I definitely need to read the guides to get what the kiddos are up to.  The material is also ahead of most math standards...we have a grade 7 girl working through 5A, a grade six girl (who has never liked math before) using 4C, and two mathy boys in grade 4 doing 4B.  If you are going to do a trial level, I'd actually recommend 3B to start; 3A has some fairly abstract (and frustrating for younger kids) geometry work in it. 

[Arcadia]

Nope :lol: my kids don't love any curriculum regardless of subjects. AoPS was the least of the evils. They didn't fancy BA when it finally came out either. They love YouTube

Vi-hart https://m.youtube.com/user/Vihart

Numberphile https://m.youtube.com/user/numberphile

Matt Parker https://m.youtube.com/user/standupmaths

[rainbowmama]

Yes. My fourth grader loves Beast Academy, and as eager as I am for them to finish publishing the series, I will be sad when we have no more to do. My first grader loves Rightstart Math: however, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for a mathy kid. It has a lot of review.

[Ann.without.an.e]

My oldest loves BA--she would tell you that she doesn't like math, but she does like Beast Academy. (DD#2 loves reading the BA guide books and is counting down the days until she can start doing BA math herself.)

 

If you can, try getting just 3A (guide & practice) as a trial run. That was enough for me to see clearly that BA was a great fit for DD. I think it would also be enough to show if BA is a decidedly poor fit for a child.

 

I don't supplement BA with any other curriculum. 

 

 

I did this early this evening, I ordered just 3A.  He is currently in Saxon 5/4 (not too far in though) so I hope 3A isn't too easy?  I guess we'll see.

[Targhee]

I did this early this evening, I ordered just 3A. He is currently in Saxon 5/4 (not too far in though) so I hope 3A isn't too easy? I guess we'll see.

3A has some challenging geometry in it! And even if many things are review the approach is so different it may be novel to him.

[Cake and Pi]

I have three mathy boys.  My 3rd grader LOVES Beast Academy (and LOVED Right Start before that), my 2nd grader is tolerating Saxon in PS now and was only meh about RS and BA at home (but he now does BA sometimes after school for fun.  It just can't be his "main" math), and my pre-Ker has taken to MEP but also really enjoys games and activities from RS.  Every kid is different!

[Cake and Pi]

I did this early this evening, I ordered just 3A.  He is currently in Saxon 5/4 (not too far in though) so I hope 3A isn't too easy?  I guess we'll see.

 

My DS#2 is doing Saxon Intermediate 4 in PS and is still learning a lot from BA 3.  My DS#1 finished RightStart E (4th grade +) before starting in BA 3.  While he knew most of the concepts, BA applies those concepts in very creative ways, and he learned a lot about problem solving.

[Alice]

My oldest is my math kid. He loved Singapore. BA wasn't really out at the right levels for him at the right time so we didn't really use it much, just for a little review. He also really loves AOPS. 

 

My middle son tolerates Singapore, he does not like Math in general. He says he likes BA but I think he likes reading the Guide more than doing the Problems. And I don't see the Problems as giving him good retention. Singapore has been a better mix for him. 

 

My daughter who is also fairly mathy loves Singapore. 

 

We only use the Intensive Practice books for Singapore which seem to give the challenge that my kids who enjoy math like and to have enough review for the kid who needs it. Interestingly, even my middle son who says he hates math will say that the only thing he likes is the Word Problems and Challenging Problems in Singapore. He needs more help than the others do but he finds them kind of fun. 

[AndyJoy]

I use RightStart and Beast Academy with my mathy 1st grader and he loves them both. He adores games especially, so the RightStart card game plus Prime Climb, Rack-o, and S'Math make him very happy.

[SanDiegoMom]

Beast Academy for my grade level math kid.  She switched to Singapore briefly when it got a little overwhelming, but quickly switched back after two weeks.  She adores the puzzles and variety even though everything is super challenging and she's not a natural math lover. 

 

Her math advanced twin loves AOPS.  He would have done BA if it had been out in time.  

[CAtoVA]

DD #1 (3rd grade) disliked math when it was just Singapore; I tried Standards first and then Math in Focus (K-2) but both struck out. She didn't get excited until Beast Academy this year which she loves. I switch off with Math Mammoth for more practice which she tolerates because she gets Beast as well. Lastly, I rotate in MEP because it's different from practically anything else so it's a nice change in approach to topics. She also loves the puzzles and "situational" stories in MEP.

[Maryam]

My DS#2 is doing Saxon Intermediate 4 in PS and is still learning a lot from BA 3. My DS#1 finished RightStart E (4th grade +) before starting in BA 3. While he knew most of the concepts, BA applies those concepts in very creative ways, and he learned a lot about problem solving.

How do you find using BA as a supplement to Saxon? I've been considering it, but would it be too time consuming to do both?

[LMD]

Mine love Beast too. They get frustrated sometimes, but they love it. My oldest has moved on to preA but still asks for beast. I hope hope hope 2A is released soon as my 6 year old will be ready for it in a couple of months

[kitten18]

Yes, Beast Academy. We don't supplement.

[Colossians310]

My son *hated* math (RightStart) for 3.5 years. I heard about Beast and got 3c for him to try it out, since that roughly corresponded to where we were in Rightstart D. It seemed to be doing the trick, so we back tracked and did 3a and b. He doesn't complain anymore and has recently (4a) started saying lovely things like, "I'm good at this!" "This is easy!" "I like double digit multiplication!" So, yeah, we are absolutely sold on Beast for him. 

 

He LOVES Life of Fred, too, but I try to hold him off and use it for review, since I like how Beast teaches things.

[Cake and Pi]

How do you find using BA as a supplement to Saxon? I've been considering it, but would it be too time consuming to do both?

 

I think it would depend on how you use both programs.  My DS#2 is in PS and has math homework 1-2 days each week.  They only cover maybe 3 lessons per week from Saxon.  He does  BA another 1-3 days per week after school.  He wouldn't tolerate both in the same day, but on different days it's fairly well doing things this way.