anyone use Math U See for algebra?

[Donovans4]

my 8th grade dd is struggling a bit with Lial's algebra after breezing through Basic College Math. A friend suggested Math U See, but before I commit to purchasing a new program I would like to hear how other folks felt about this math program, both positive and negative. All input is most appreciated.

 

LauraD in MN

[Bula Mama]

I have a dd using it currently and plan to use with with my 2nd one next year. I can't say that my dd loves it (she's not a math person!) but it's going well and I think is a good program.

[JennW in SoCal]

I used MUS with my oldest son for several years, mostly because of the big blank spaces on the work book pages for working out problems. Half-way through Algebra we abandoned it because the uncluttered workbook space seemed to shrink and become more cluttered, and the way the program explained of graphing equations was really confusing. We floundered over the next 2 years (I kid you not!) through several other Algebra programs, none of which ever worked for that kid (who has some learning challenges that made the subject extra hard for him).

 

I didn't try Foerster's until this year with my younger son, who is in 8th grade, and I have to say I really like it. Really really like it because it is slow, incremental and logical with lots of problems to use if you think your student needs more practice on one concept or another. I find the explanations to be quite clear, too. Math U See only had a small set number of problems, so I'd have to look for more if a concept didn't seem to "stick".

 

An inexpensive alternative might be to pick up the "key to" series, use it to work on some Algebraic skills and continue on with Lial's if it seems the concepts are beginning to make more sense to her.

[LadyAberlin]

I tried using it and I thought that it was not very good. It would set up a problem like 9X x 2X which is very confusing. At this point they should have started using either a dot or parenthesis for multiplication since they are using variables. I have never seen a math program do it like that at that level and I've used BJU and Saxon and took a lot of math in college. I really like MUS primer that I'm doing with my prek, but I know that I'm going with something else for pre algebra and higher. Also there is no index in the back of the book to look things up which I found inconvenient. I think I would use Key to algebra before I would use MUS Algebra. My mom used Key to last year with my brothers and really liked it. This year she is using Video Text Algebra and likes that.

[8filltheheart]

I have taught MUS's alg/geo combo book to 4 of my children. It is a very simplified, concrete approach to algebra. I use it as a pre-alg/pre-geo program followed by an additional yr of alg and an additional yr of geo.

 

I do not believe it is on par with a standard alg program. (FWIW, I was told by the distributor yrs ago that the "new" MUS alg and geo textbooks are the same as the classic but divided into 2 texts vs being lumped together. I do not believe they altered their high school level courses other than to offer the "honors" books. That is an entirely different conversation, but to share my bias, it does irritate me that they offer a book and call it honors when it is really simply trying to bring it on par with standard texts.)

[Sunshine State Sue]

We are on lesson 16/34 of MUS Algebra. We started with MUS in K, so we've used it for many years. I really like the lower levels. However, I must agree with momof7 in that MUS Algebra is very simplified. I think that the lessons are presented clearly. The tests are all multiple choice. Ds thinks the tests are so easy. We are using it in conjunction with Life of Fred which has less problems, but the problems are more challenging. I have also looked at Foerster's and plan to use that next year (ds is in 7th grade now, so another year of Algebra won't hurt).

 

From lurking on the high school boards, the high school levels of MUS seem to be considered acceptable only for those students who will not be attending college in the math/science/engineering fields.

[G5052]

My oldest will be starting the pre-algebra sometime this summer, and I'm hoping to stick with it all the way through.

 

That said, I plan to use the honors books and he'll be doing the Life of Free books in the summer as review after each Math-U-See level. This is my "mostly likely to be an engineer" kid.

 

I basically like their approach and need something fairly self-teaching because of my work and family committments. I'm not thrilled with the upper levels of Saxon or Teaching Textbooks, so we'll see how this goes. Being a techie myself, I'm perpetually a skeptic when it comes to math programs.

[Lori D.]

Trying 2 programs due to being in a similar situation to Jenn's, in attempting to muddle through Algebra with a abstract-math challenged, visual-spatial learner 9th grader.

 

I like the real-life examples and the gentle, slow, incremental pace of Jacobs.

I like the lots of white space on a page of MUS and the very visual, clear explanations of the video lessons. I also like the extremely gentle pace of MUS.

 

 

Downsides: I'm having a little trouble making the 2 programs "jive", as they are very different approaches; MUS is much less detailed and covers fewer of the topics than Jacobs. We're also discovering that the MUS video lessons don't cover everything that is presented in a lesson, so that my son suddenly sees a problem he doesn't know how to approach and he becomes very frustrated.

 

It also doesn't help that we did 7 weeks of school, and then took off 3 weeks to do a big "trip of a lifetime" to visit all the historical sites on the east coast -- and now he remembers nothing and it's like starting all over again. (: 0 I'm going to continue to muddle through for another week or so and see how it goes, but I may end up just going with the Jacobs and reducing the number of problems he has to do per day to bring it to a level he can manage (which may mean spreading 1 lesson out over 2 days). And then we can just add in the occasional video lesson explanation from the MUS, and do some of the review problems from MUS. And that's okay, as the ultimate goal is comprehension -- plus I mentally started this school year with the plan that Algebra would take us 1-1/2 years.

 

 

Just my rambling experiences so far with MUS Algebra! BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Lori D.
fixed error; added info

[8filltheheart]

GVA,

 

If you really believethat your child might major in engineering, you might want to look at other options. I am very serious about the difference in difficulty/comprehension/and application. Foerster now has accompanying DVDs or CDs (I don't know anything about them other than seeing them mentioned on the high school board.)

 

The best "teacher-assisted" high school math I have seen is Chalkdust. There is absolutely no comparison between MUS and CD.

 

Algebra is the key to all higher level math. It is one subject that I wouldn't scrimp on for an aspiring engineer.

[G5052]

GVA,

 

If you really believethat your child might major in engineering, you might want to look at other options. I am very serious about the difference in difficulty/comprehension/and application. Foerster now has accompanying DVDs or CDs (I don't know anything about them other than seeing them mentioned on the high school board.)

 

The best "teacher-assisted" high school math I have seen is Chalkdust. There is absolutely no comparison between MUS and CD.

 

Algebra is the key to all higher level math. It is one subject that I wouldn't scrimp on for an aspiring engineer.

 

Well, it's a long, drawn out analysis that I won't outline here, but I am aware of the issues you bring up, and still plan to go with the course I've outlined. Having been a research mathematician/computer scientist for 15 years before children, I am well aware of how critical math skills are, which is why I plan to combine programs versus using Math-U-See alone.

 

Thanks for pointing that out for others who may read this thread.

[sweetbaby]

My oldest uses MUS and it works well for him. He has a learning disability and this is the only program which we have found to work. Mr.Demme explains the lessons very well on the DVD and there are practice problems for each day of the week before taking the test and there are 30 lessons for the year. You don't have to complete all of them if the lesson has been mastered.

[JeannineW]

Is everyone talking about just Algebra I? The MathUSee website says this ---

 

"Algebra 1 was compared to other first year algebra courses and found to “not cover as much territoryâ€. Our aim is to have students focus on the essential topics, and master them, rather than be exposed to other less important material and fail to understand what they are studying. Perhaps you had a similar experience when you were in school. You covered a lot of territory but retained very little of the material you were exposed to. Duffy’s review correctly observes that our Algebra 2 moves more quickly than traditional books. She goes on to say that after a student completes our Algebra 1 & 2 they have covered similar material. Our observation is that not only will they have studied the same “content†but they also will have understood the “conceptâ€. A bird in the head is worth two in the textbook."

 

Are you finding this is not true or are you just confirming what they say on their website about Algebra I? I have a ways to go since my oldest is on Gamma but I'm curious.

[8filltheheart]

Is everyone talking about just Algebra I? The MathUSee website says this ---

 

"Algebra 1 was compared to other first year algebra courses and found to “not cover as much territory”. Our aim is to have students focus on the essential topics, and master them, rather than be exposed to other less important material and fail to understand what they are studying. Perhaps you had a similar experience when you were in school. You covered a lot of territory but retained very little of the material you were exposed to. Duffy’s review correctly observes that our Algebra 2 moves more quickly than traditional books. She goes on to say that after a student completes our Algebra 1 & 2 they have covered similar material. Our observation is that not only will they have studied the same “content” but they also will have understood the “concept”. A bird in the head is worth two in the textbook."

 

Are you finding this is not true or are you just confirming what they say on their website about Algebra I? I have a ways to go since my oldest is on Gamma but I'm curious.

 

No, that is not what I am referring to. The problems are extremely simple. They do not have to be able to apply concepts in unique ways that requires complete understanding. They just regurgitate the same type problems as the simplistic teaching problems.

 

Having taught it 4 times, Foerster 4 times, and going through teaching upper level math with my kids until I outsource at pre-cal, the above quote actually disturbs me. It bothers me when poor quality and content are excused under the guise of it will make them understand it better. No, it means that they are justifying the content.

 

My kids all have aced MUS alg/geo w/o much effort. They have had to work their little brains into many a scowl in order to complete standardized textbooks.

 

The other question that begs to be answered is if they are covering typical alg 1 concepts in alg 2, since a school yr is limited, what is being omitted in alg 2 that is typically covered? That is a question I cannot answer.

 

To give you my scenerio......I bought MUS for my oldest after he finished Horizon 6. He was beyond standard pre-alg texts but was too immature to leap from a workbook approach to a high school alg text. I had thought that MUS was the perfect solution. However, as we worked through it, I immediately recognized that it would not be fair to progress my son on to alg 2 after completing it b/c he wanted to major in engineering.

 

Fast-forward.......my kids have continued to use it as pre-alg/pre-geo. My oldest is in college and has finished all his engineering math courses with high As. I know that he wouldn't be where he is today with only MUS. Ditto with the other kids.

 

If you have a child that wants to follow a liberal arts avenue or some other career path not involving math, MUS will be fine. However, if you have a child that is planning on engineering, MUS will not provide solid application problems that require independent comprehension of the concepts. They will be able to solve the given simple problems in MUS.

 

My honest assessment. :001_smile:

Edited October 29, 2008 by 8FillTheHeart

[JeannineW]

Thanks for the answer. I am an engineer by degree and have one dc that may be a budding engineer so that's good to know. Ok, he's not yet 5 but we'll see. He is our resident Mr. Smarty Pants so who knows what he'll be when he grows up.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Is everyone talking about just Algebra I?

I will admit that I haven't looked closely at MUS Geometry or Algebra 2. However, I've heard that MUS Geometry doesn't do much in the way of proofs.

 

I also have compared MUS Algebra 1 to Foerster's Algebra and (as momof7 says) there is no comparison. The word problems in Foerster's are challenging. I highly doubt that they have the quality/quantity in MUS Algebra 2 to make up for the lack in MUS Algebra 1.