feeling annoyed with MUS...

[vaquitita]

I'm feeling annoyed with MUS. I switched my two oldest to it two years ago and for awhile it was wonderful. SO easy to use! But this year I am kind of fed up with how many topics are not covered. I've already switched my oldest to Math Mammoth. He did well with Singapore math before we switched to MUS, but now that he's older he can handle the more crowded pages and MM is easier to use.

 

I thought I'd leave my daughter in MUS because Singapore did not work for her. MUS helped her with all its drill and practice, and she started feeling capable again. She seems to do better with the conceptual stuff/mental math stuff coming AFTER she's learned stuff in a more traditional way. Tho she'd still rather just write a problem down and do it that way than figure it out in her head (total opposite of my boys, who'd rather do all kinds of mental gymnastics than WRITE! :D ). When she worked thru Alpha and Beta, it was cementing concepts already learned and it went very well. Now that she's learning something new, things aren't going as well. She needs more time and practice at things. But with MUS's extreme mastery that means just parking it and drilling the same stuff. Way boring and she's getting further behind. It's making me wish for a more 'normal' curriculum where we could move on with some other topic while continuing to practice this stuff. I'm not sure if I'm just having the 'grass is greener' syndrome and should stick with MUS or if this is really a problem and should switch. I just want to pick something and stick with it! Ugg. We've switched too much already.

 

I am currently looking at CLE, study time math, and strayer upton. In all of them she'd have to start a year behind because there's just so many thing MUS hasn't covered yet. :(   CLE looks like it might be really good for her, but I would have to purchase it myself instead of using charter school funds which is a down side. Study time math looks similar? The pages are definitely more crowded (a con) but my charter school would buy it (a plus). And strayer upton... I have book one. I like it, but I think I need the independence of a workbook. One thing that has made MUS work so well is that I only need to do one on one teaching once or twice per week with each child. I am not trying to make math independent, I intend to teach it, but I do need it to not require large chunks of my time every single day.

 

Somebody tell me either not to fix what isn't broken or reassure me that something actually is broken here. :o

[prairiewindmomma]

We switched to CLE for these reasons. It's remarkably affordable compared to other programs.

[mykidsrmyjoy]

We also switched to CLE from MUS. for many of the same reasons. I did have to start DD about a year behind but by skipping quizzes and doubling up on lessons the last few weeks she has finally caught up. We LOVE CLE math!

[tdbates78]

We switched from MM, to MUS, to CLE this year. I usually choose secular materials but we really love CLE so far. My girls struggled with MM so we had to backtrack in CLE butthey finally seem to be picking up the concepts.

Edited June 4, 2017 by tdbates78

[mommyoffive]

Hmmm

I was just about to switch to MUS.  

[Garga]

When we switched to CLE, we had to start 1.5 or 2 years behind as well. We'd skip the 2 quizzes and 1 test per book, plus I think there was another lesson that was just fluff in each book, so there were 4 lessons that could be skipped per book.

 

It took a bit of time, but we're all caught up now. I have my son work on math through the summer as well so it doesn't fall out of his head.

[vaquitita]

I can't find a lot of reviews of study Time Arithmetic. Does it seem comparable to CLE?

 

Samples: https://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Study_Time_Arithmetic/

[Peaceful Isle]

I love math u see for gamma- Zeta . I do feel it misses some things though.

[vaquitita]

I was looking at the samples of CLE from 5th and I don't think my oldest would be able to go into it at grade level (and he's my more mathy kid). Is CLE advanced? Maybe I won't worry about catching up to grade level. If I switch. I love the way CLE teaches adding positive and negative numbers! With pictures of hills and holes. :D 

I wish the samples of study time were better. The teaching boxes give just a few bare facts with little explanation. Since the samples are so short, it's hard to get a real feel for how things are taught. But after looking through a few different years, I must say it doesn't look as good as CLE...

 

eta: fixing typo, clarifying

Edited June 5, 2017 by vaquitita

[KeriJ]

Hmmm

I was just about to switch to MUS.

We're switching from CLE to MUS for one of mine .😊

[mommyoffive]

Is teaching textbooks better than MUS?

[vaquitita]

I have all of CLE math 3 sitting in my cart :D 

 

Maybe I should buy just a couple light units to try first. Tho I hate to pay shipping twice. I'm not sure whether to get the +/- flash cards

[mommyoffive]

Would MUS be better with something else too?

[nixpix5]

Would MUS be better with something else too?

I love MUS and it does eventually get to most things but it does it on its own schedule. Due to this I supplement. I don't find the unit pages very taxing so I do not feel like it adds too much to throw in some extra pages of something else. My kindergartener who is working through alpha is also doing some Kumon money/time workbooks as well. My daughter finished Horizons 1 and Singapore 1 so I moved her into MUS Beta to see if she would like it. She loves it but she asked next year to do both MUS and Singapore 2 together for second grade.

 

What I have read is that if you carry MUS all the way through you don't miss anything and have kids with strong math. If you don't though, it could create holes and transition issues. I am playing it safe and supplementing in case we do a switch later.

[Guest]

Study time<CLE 1000% Especially for getting caught back up.

[tdbates78]

I have all of CLE math 3 sitting in my cart :D

 

Maybe I should buy just a couple light units to try first. Tho I hate to pay shipping twice. I'm not sure whether to get the +/- flash cards

That's what I did. I purchased the Teachers Manual for light units 101-105 and the 5 light units that went with the book. The shipping wasn't too bad. i want to say somewhere around $5. It was worth it for me to actually have the books in my hands and be able to see them, and the instruction manual, prior to making the entire purchase. Then when I made the decision to switch I added all of the other light units I needed for the 100 series, the teachers manual for books 105-110 and the flash cards (I do think they are necessary, imo. They are expensive but it's a nice, sturdy set of heavy flash cards and the flash cards coincide with the lessons and are moved around as the children progress). The box was heavy (I have twins so I needed double light units) and the shipping for that box was only $10 and arrived in less than a week. So if you buy an initial few books and then decide to purchase the remaining you would only be out about $5 shipping for that first package. 

[vaquitita]

That's what I did. I purchased the Teachers Manual for light units 101-105 and the 5 light units that went with the book. The shipping wasn't too bad.

Yeah it really helps to have something in your hands. I wish the math 3 TM came in two parts. Well I found a used one, that'll help. I went through and printed out some samples from the end of the 200's to try out with my daughter right now. See if she likes it. Or at least tolerates it. Lol

 

She's only doing half a math lesson twice a week right now, just to prevent too much brain leakage. So I don't know if I want to start 3 now or in the fall... If I switch. Tho I am really leaning towards it. Otherwise, my option is to just park it at multiplication facts till she's got those down. With MUS there's no moving forward with other topics while working on those. 🙄

 

MUS was great for enforcing and mastering previously learned topics, but the more I reflect on this past year the more I'm thinking it isn't working for teaching new concepts well for us. For some of my kids because it's slow and boring and for my daughter because it's not enough practice and review and just long term percolating with a topic.

Edited June 6, 2017 by vaquitita

[mommyoffive]

This. MUS gets to everything, it just does it on a very different sequence.

 

yes, if you switch you will have to back up but that is because the sequence is different, not because information is skipped.

 

 

There are only 30 lessons per book and only 6 books in the Greek set, meaning if you managed to take a full year of each book, you still have a kid doing Algebra in 8th grade. Some books we went through easily. Delta we did twice with ds.

 

Ds used only MUS 2nd-8th grade. We got about 1/4 of the way into Algebra. Then he went to ps for High School where I was told by two different math teachers that he was the most prepared student they had (they each taught over 200 students) and he is not a math-focused student.

 

You will need to tweak pretty much any math program and frankly, you are at the very beginning of the MUS sequence. It's hard to see what it really covers when you are only in Beta.

 

If you want to switch, switch and don't worry about getting "caught up". But if you like MUS then go back and watch the introduction video, then teach it like they say to (you teach, do examples until she can do them, practice with the blocks and have her teach it back) add in the extra stuff from the Teacher's Guide and use the tests from previous levels (because who uses "tests" for a 6yo!) as review of older concepts and to give her a break from new stuff.

 

As with anything a child is learning, if it gets to be too much, you back up and have another go. Use MUS, use something else, but you will have to do that at some point regardless.

 

 

Thank you for that.   

 

 

 

I am thinking about switching my will be 6th grader to this. 

 

 

What do about my will be 4th grader.  This or RS?

 

 

And then my 1st grader. 

[prairiewindmomma]

So, oldest did MUS primer-epsilon and for geometry and we purchased Algebra 2.

 

I disagree that MUS covers everything. It is very weak on time, weights, measures, calendaring (elementary concepts) and very weak in algebra 1&2. I just got done lining up the concepts covered between MUS algebra 2 and chalkdust algebra 2 (Larson) and the Texas state standards. Chalkdust lines up perfectly. MUS does not cover all of the topics (breadth) or go to the same depth.

 

MUS will be perfect for my LD son who needs shallow and narrow. For my other (very average in math)kid, I think I would be doing him a disservice to put him through MUS.

 

I mention this not to pick on MUS or harp on all

Of the bright shiny of CLE....but to point out very real differences you may not know about if you haven't taught both through many levels.

[vaquitita]

This. MUS gets to everything, it just does it on a very different sequence.

 

.... and frankly, you are at the very beginning of the MUS sequence. It's hard to see what it really covers when you are only in Beta.

 

Well, actually my oldest was in the middle of epsilon.

 

I know it gets to fractions​ and decimals later. But what I'm not seeing is the stuff like metric, geometry, time, measuring. In MUS these seemed to be only very basic problems or are confined to a few G pages. Time was only basic clock reading and even that stopped being included in the review pages after a short time. Are these topics gotten into in greater depth in zeta?

 

But if you like MUS then go back and watch the introduction video, then teach it like they say to (you teach, do examples until she can do them, practice with the blocks and have her teach it back) add in the extra stuff from the Teacher's Guide and use the tests from previous levels

I actually do all those things. Other than the tests, we haven't used those. It's not that she doesn't understand the lesson, she can teach it back. It's that she isn't getting as much practice she needs on previously mastered topics.

 

you can move through MUS while still working on multiplication facts. My son has some memory issues and eventually, I just put a multiplication table in his binder and called it good.

 

Dd moved through Gamma at a reasonable rate and we just continued to work on drilling math facts separately. MUS says not to, but that was best for my kids and it worked with three of them do far.

That might work. It would take care of my immediate issue. I didn't want to switch her, MUS has been a way better fit for her then Singapore. But I'm seeing a pattern with her, in all subjects, that she needs lots and lots of review. Even things she masters she will forget if she doesn't keep reviewing.

 

Well I printed out the samples from the CLE level before the level she would do next year. I'm going to use them for her summer math and just think on this for awhile. I don't need to decide till August.

Edited June 6, 2017 by vaquitita

[vaquitita]

Are these topics gotten into in greater depth in zeta?

Found the answer to my own question. It looks like these topics are covered more in zeta and prealgebra. I wouldn't have thought to look for adding/subtracting measurement and time in a prealgebra book.