Math U See Long Term?

[hands-on-mama]

Can someone help reassure me that doing Math U See long term for one of my kiddos is fine? Just tell me she'll learn what she needs to. She's in 7th now and is truly math phobic. Math U See has given her some confidence after so many years. She's in 7th and zooming through Zeta. I'm guessing she'll do their pre-algebra come next semester at some point. We move through it at her pace. Any other families used MUS for upper level math long term? She is against changing it at this point. I wasn't planning to even try until she was solid enough for another pre-algebra or algebra anyway.

[Rosie_0801]

Confidence is the most important thing. Without that, she's not going to learn anything.

[Not_a_Number]

If you have a math-phobic who's finally getting math, stick to it. 

Is it a very rigorous program? No. But rigorous is worth NOTHING is you wind up with a math-traumatized kid. Confidence will serve her far better. 

And I say this as a mathematician. 

[almondbutterandjelly]

I have a degree in Math, and I really like MUS.  My dd is a big picture thinker, and Mr. Demme is GREAT at that part.  We switched to MUS in high school, starting with Algebra and used it through PreCal.  Probably should have switched earlier, but oh well.  Live and learn.

[Lori D.]

Totally agreeing with previous posters -- use what is working and what gives her confidence.

Our experience: DS#2 is a severe math struggler -- he is a highly visual-spatial learner and abstract math concepts do NOT click for him. We used MUS up through Algebra 2 for him. (Alg. 2 is as high as we went for him.) While we still had to spend extra time -- Alg. 1 and Alg. 2 EACH took 1.5 years -- and there was a lot of re-doing of chapters when he wasn't getting a concept, it worked.

When he took community college placement test in order to do dual enrollment classes (for foreign language), he placed as eligible for College Alegbra -- no need for remedial maths.

[Lori D.]

PS
NOT to overload her or "punish" her for moving through MUS at a good pace, but you might consider adding in a supplement to help with problem-solving, and to show concepts from different angles to help build math connections and seeing more than one way to get to an answer.

With our math-struggling DS#2, in those middle school years, in addition to MUS, we used excerpts from some of the Keys To Math workbooks (fractions, decimals, percents), as well as excerpts from Singapore Primary 4A/B, 5A/B, and 6A/B. We also found Hands-On Equations to be very helpful for visualizing keeping equations balanced while solving for X.

BEST of luck in your Math adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[MamaSprout]

Also agreeing with the others. Don't mess with success. 

Also a vote for the DragonBox Apps. They really help automate algebra rules for later... and they are kind of fun. 

If she really catches her groove later, some families do MUS through Algebra 1 and Geometry, then start another Algebra 1 program and go through the high school sequence with a standard/ rigorous program.  Homeschool is the gift of time. No hurry, no worry.

[Lori D.]

7 minutes ago, MamaSprout said:

... Also a vote for the DragonBox Apps. They really help automate algebra rules for later... and they are kind of fun. 

That's another great supplement!

[Calm37]

I used MUS all the way through PreCalc with my two youngest. One went on to be an accounting major. We never used any other math or supplements. I think you can be confident if she completes the sequence. I did it with them up through Algebra 2 and learned enough to test out of College Algebra.

[hands-on-mama]

20 hours ago, Lori D. said:

PS
NOT to overload her or "punish" her for moving through MUS at a good pace, but you might consider adding in a supplement to help with problem-solving, and to show concepts from different angles to help build math connections and seeing more than one way to get to an answer.

With our math-struggling DS#2, in those middle school years, in addition to MUS, we used excerpts from some of the Keys To Math workbooks (fractions, decimals, percents), as well as excerpts from Singapore Primary 4A/B, 5A/B, and 6A/B. We also found Hands-On Equations to be very helpful for visualizing keeping equations balanced while solving for X.

BEST of luck in your Math adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Thank you! I actually just purchased the Singapore Fan Math Process Skills for Problem Solving books (levels 3–6) to start working through with both my girls. Is there anything else you would recommend from Singapore just to do on the side for problem solving?

15 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

Also agreeing with the others. Don't mess with success. 

Also a vote for the DragonBox Apps. They really help automate algebra rules for later... and they are kind of fun. 

If she really catches her groove later, some families do MUS through Algebra 1 and Geometry, then start another Algebra 1 program and go through the high school sequence with a standard/ rigorous program.  Homeschool is the gift of time. No hurry, no worry.

We’ve actually been playing around with this app lately. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Lori D.]

2 minutes ago, hands-on-mama said:

Thank you! I actually just purchased the Singapore Fan Math Process Skills for Problem Solving books (levels 3–6) to start working through with both my girls. Is there anything else you would recommend from Singapore just to do on the side for problem solving?

I am old (lol) and so only had older versions of materials -- The Fan Math Process Skills books were not available when we were homeschooling, so no familiarity with those. 😉  I especially liked that DS#2 was getting reinforcement of topics from a different angle by just doing selected problems straight out of the Singapore workbooks -- so problem-solving problems, yes, but also seeing how the topic was approached from a different angle than the MUS way of explaining things. I felt that really helped him develop a bit of "math connections" so he wasn't reliant on just a single way of seeing a word problem and plugging in an answer...

[hands-on-mama]

Just now, Lori D. said:

I am old (lol) and so only had older versions of materials -- The Fan Math Process Skills books were not available when we were homeschooling, so no familiarity with those. 😉  I especially liked that DS#2 was getting reinforcement of topics from a different angle by just doing selected problems straight out of the Singapore workbooks -- so problem-solving problems, yes, but also seeing how the topic was approached from a different angle than the MUS way of explaining things. I felt that really helped him develop a bit of "math connections" so he wasn't reliant on just a single way of seeing a word problem and plugging in an answer...

Thanks! I might keep my eye out for some old workbooks/textbooks to have a variety of options on hand.