Condessa Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 You may remember I mentioned months ago that dd10 was angry with me for planning on not using AOPS for her for Prealgebra. She has been upset about it all this time, certain that my choice is sure to be inferior in every way, because her big sister used AOPS. My explanation that I chose a curriculum for dd12 that I thought would work well for her learning style and I wasn't going to do differently for dd10 did not help. Well, the Math-U-See curriculum arrived today. Dd10 is in love, exulting that she "gets to play legos for math". Months of sulking, and now she adores it at first sight. Ds9 and ds7 have been doing math all morning. Ds9 is about halfway through BA5 and decided to do extra because he's excitied to get to Prealgebra. Ds7 tells me he is doing the same thing because he wants to be allowed on the AOPS boards because he wants to play a Warriors game on there "while it is still in fashion" (???). He is only at the beginning of BA4. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Would you tell me more about switching your daughter to math-u-see? I've been contemplating this switch for a while with my dd10. It's clear that BA is a horrible fit for her, so no way would I do AoPS next. She's currently doing Singapore PM 5, but I'm not convinced it's what's best for her. We've tried ST math, and I think she's learning from it, but she says that looking at a screen so much gives her headaches. I think the main reason I haven't switched is just because of my own capacity - I feel like I don't have it in me to learn another program (been feeling stretched pretty thin lately). I'd just be interested in hearing why and how it's a good fit for your dd10, if you don't mind sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 DS11 started with MUS algebra this year. It was fine, he didn't particularly like the explanations because there were gaps. For example, lesson 1 or 2 covered PEMDAS in that order, but neglected to talk about how the M & D, or the A & S are whichever you come to first, not necessarily addition before subtraction, kwim? I actually stopped it and gave him the last few topics from Math Mammoth to play with for a bit. We may restart in December, but my main reason for the MUS this year was so he could be more independent, not so I could continue to be the primary teacher. And that's how it ended up being as I kept adding the information he needed to remember, not the partial explanations he was getting. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 11 minutes ago, HomeAgain said: DS11 started with MUS algebra this year. It was fine, he didn't particularly like the explanations because there were gaps. For example, lesson 1 or 2 covered PEMDAS in that order, but neglected to talk about how the M & D, or the A & S are whichever you come to first, not necessarily addition before subtraction, kwim? I actually stopped it and gave him the last few topics from Math Mammoth to play with for a bit. We may restart in December, but my main reason for the MUS this year was so he could be more independent, not so I could continue to be the primary teacher. And that's how it ended up being as I kept adding the information he needed to remember, not the partial explanations he was getting. Ah, that's good to know. My dd10 is very 2e and math is really hit or miss for her and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what would actually help her. (Someone on here gave me a "slot machine" analogy that really rings true for this child, lol) I don't think partial explanations would work for her at all, so this is a bummer to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 6 minutes ago, 4KookieKids said: Ah, that's good to know. My dd10 is very 2e and math is really hit or miss for her and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what would actually help her. (Someone on here gave me a "slot machine" analogy that really rings true for this child, lol) I don't think partial explanations would work for her at all, so this is a bummer to hear! DS has poor fine motor skills, so I thought the clean pages of MUS would help. He doesn't do partial explanations, either, which made the lessons particularly stressful for him because he would rage against the video and then be angry doing the work. I do appreciate how Math Mammoth is overly explicit at times, erring on the side of too much rather than too little. But he does a lesson in about 5-10 minutes and is just enjoying the practice. It also means we have to make a decision about algebra rather quickly and decide if it's just better to go through and rewrite the MUS lessons/not use the video or work with something different again. On the upside, this is his last year at home, I think, so my goal is just to keep him enjoying math as a subject. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 4 minutes ago, HomeAgain said: It also means we have to make a decision about algebra rather quickly and decide if it's just better to go through and rewrite the MUS lessons/not use the video or work with something different again. On the upside, this is his last year at home, I think, so my goal is just to keep him enjoying math as a subject. Yeah, I'm not up for rewriting the MUS lessons. I just don't know what kind of program would be good for this kiddos (dyslexic, autistic, very bright, super high processing, poor working memory, gets headaches watching screens) combined with my own capacity limits (four 2e kids means not as much time as I'd like to do all things 1-on-1.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, 4KookieKids said: Yeah, I'm not up for rewriting the MUS lessons. I just don't know what kind of program would be good for this kiddos (dyslexic, autistic, very bright, super high processing, poor working memory, gets headaches watching screens) combined with my own capacity limits (four 2e kids means not as much time as I'd like to do all things 1-on-1.) I was thinking that maybe Crewton Ramone's House of Math which used the Mortenson method like MUS. Just ignore his politics... However it does mean watching instructional videos...do you have blue light glasses for your kiddo? This helps a lot with headaches from screens. However the rest of it is not screens. Edited September 27, 2021 by calbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 1 hour ago, calbear said: I was thinking that maybe Crewton Ramone's House of Math which used the Mortenson method like MUS. Just ignore his politics... However it does mean watching instructional videos...do you have blue light glasses for your kiddo? This helps a lot with headaches from screens. However the rest of it is not screens. I will look into it! We did buy blue light glasses, but she says wearing them gives her even more headaches. I’m open to the amount of screen involved with watching an instructional video, certainly; just did not want to stick with something like ST math that is 100% on a screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) He's quirky...but gets great reviews from families with non-NT learners. Edited September 27, 2021 by calbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 On 9/26/2021 at 7:58 PM, 4KookieKids said: Would you tell me more about switching your daughter to math-u-see? I've been contemplating this switch for a while with my dd10. It's clear that BA is a horrible fit for her, so no way would I do AoPS next. She's currently doing Singapore PM 5, but I'm not convinced it's what's best for her. We've tried ST math, and I think she's learning from it, but she says that looking at a screen so much gives her headaches. I think the main reason I haven't switched is just because of my own capacity - I feel like I don't have it in me to learn another program (been feeling stretched pretty thin lately). I'd just be interested in hearing why and how it's a good fit for your dd10, if you don't mind sharing! Sorry I didn't respond sooner. My dd actually loved BA, though it was a big challenge for her. She is dyslexic, and while she now reads quite well after years of working on it, it is work for her and grasping complicated concepts from text is difficult. I didn't think that AOPS's huge blocks of text with their wordy explanations would be a good fit for her at all. She also still frequently gets answers incorrect on topics she fully understands and knows how to solve due to inattention to detail or minor calculation mistakes, so I thought she could use a slower introduction to the next level while we spent time focusing on attention to detail, reading the questions carefully, organizing her work etc. The video lessons and visual/hands-on demonstration of concepts work well for her. We're still quite early in the Math-U-See Prealgebra book, and everything she has done so far has been review, but I am wondering if I should have gone straight to Algebra. I knew MUS was too easy for a full Prealgebra course, but I didn't expect it to be so far below the level of Beast Academy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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