MUS Delta Question

[nena3927]

We have used MUS the past 3 years after a fail with Singapore. We like it ok and I know we have to tailor curriculum to fit our needs. I am wondering how important it is for my son to do problems in Lesson 17 exactly as Mr.Demme instructs. He does not understand the upside down multiplication with place value notation the way it is taught in the DVD. He does understand place value notation just not as it is used in this particular lesson. I honestly can't see the point either. 

Would you just move on? I don't want to miss a critical step here but I'm tired of the tears when even I can't see the point behind it. Sometimes I really wonder if this is the right program for us because the blocks do not help my kids understanding and more times than not actually confuse them! I wish I would have started with a more traditional program like CLE. I know though that switching is not a good thing esp with math unless there are serious issues, so we just keep plugging along.

[nixpix5]

It doesn't come up again with any significance. You can successfully skip it and it won't make or break anything. In fact, if you call MUS about this they will assure you that they are used to getting calls about this particular topic. Many MANY people dislike this way of doing it. What makes sense to one person is another person's bane of existence. If he gets the idea without needing to break it into the notation pieces then carry on. Quite honestly, that way didn't make any sense to me either until I was working in a Montessori environment and saw the same explanation laid out differently. It is cumbersome. 

[Peaceseeker]

We did Math U See for elementary school and switched at middle school. It gave them a solid background in place value.  My kids struggled with that lesson too, and I ended up skipping those sections.  We all found it confusing and not helpful as well so we just skipped it.

 

[EKT]

We have happily used MUS all along and my oldest is currently in Epsilon (fractions). We absolutely love MUS. That said, my daughter also was confused by the "upside-down multiplication" in Delta, so I just let her skip that part. I told her that as long as she understood how to do long division and could get correct answers (which she did!), she did not have to check her division using the upside-down method. (I found it a bit confusing myself!) I let her check her division by doing multiplication "the regular way" or by just skipping the checking step altogether. I feel completely confident that she finished Delta understanding division, so I haven't lost a bit of sleep over it. 

My two cents: If Math U See is otherwise working for you, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just use the parts that work and move on; don't fret about these small details! (Mr. Demme teaches similar little math tricks from time to time; some of them help us and some of them don't resonate, so we just keep the ones that work.) :-)

[nena3927]

Thank you so much everyone! I was on the verge of thinking we might need to switch publishers! It relieves my mind to know that this particular lesson is hard for others to understand too. Thank you, thank you! We will just move on ahead then as my son definitely understands the process and hopefully all will be well :)

Paradox, we must have been typing at the time. I just saw your response! I hope we can stay with MUS but as we move forward, only time will tell :)