Guest counterculturalmom Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 We have been using Math U See since the beginning. My son is finishing 7th grade now, and about to complete the MUS pre-algebra book. Should I stick with MUS for Algebra and beyond, or switch to something else for high school? MUS is working fine for us. He gets mostly A's and B's in spite of not being a math-lover. My son is definitely college bound and he is an excellent student. He does well on his standardized testing. He will NOT be studying math or science in college beyond the normal requirements....he will probably be studying English or History or foreign languages. Will MUS be enough to prepare him to do well on SAT/ACT and to be prepared for college level math? If you think it won't, what would you suggest instead? Thanks in advance, Molly@Countercultural School Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 No problems with the ACT math for my son who is in college. He is not a math person, and only took through Algebra 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 We're using it for high school but I don't have the end result yet :) It's nice to hear from Cathie above that her son did well with it on the ACT. My son really doesn't like the Geometry - he thinks it's too easy - LOL - so I am considering that for my next son we may use something else for just that class but I'm very happy with the Algebra I and am planning to move into Algebra II next year for my oldest. Did you know that they are going to release a Calculus class this year, also. I'm looking forward to that because some of my younger kids may be enough ahead to be able to complete that their Sr. year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 As a high school math teacher, I don't think that it is a very rigorous approach. I know that it works well for some, but I would not be satisfied with it. I don't know about what it is like with the honors material added in, but I'm not wild about it for college prep without the honors material. Could you supplement with Life of Fred or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyce Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 We also used it from the beginning and dd didn't want to switch to anything else. We did find two issues with the upper grade levels: Sometimes they will give problems that they didn't address in the lesson. These were not problems that the student was to extrapolate from examples these were just sudden concepts thrown in. Dd was able to handle them but just wanted to give you heads up. The other issue (although minor one) is that you don't learn to use a graphing calculator. When dd got to college it caused some frustration at beginning of calculus because of that. She is not a math major but decided to take Calculus anyway. She got an A and ended up with the highest final grade in her class. She ended up tutoring two of her friends so they could pass. She said the thing that helped her the most was that she had learned how to do things without the graphing calculator and when she hit some bumps she could actually work them out faster on paper than with her calculator (that is why the earlier issue was minor) I too had heard bad reviews about using MUS in higher levels but now we are happy we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 As a high school math teacher, I don't think that it is a very rigorous approach. I know that it works well for some, but I would not be satisfied with it. I don't know about what it is like with the honors material added in, but I'm not wild about it for college prep without the honors material. Could you supplement with Life of Fred or something? Mindy - Can I ask you to be a little more specific on why you don't consider it rigorous? I'm just curious as to what areas you believe it be lacking. We do supplement with Life of Fred but only because my kids love that series and don't really even consider it school work - LOL. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 My son is doing the Geometry with the honors supplement. It seems "easy" IMO because the explanations are superb. I have always liked geometry, but am fully understanding some concepts for the first time due to how they are explained. The honors supplement does tend to put stuff forward "out of the blue", but I feel that that is the entire point - the student has to work their brain, look for the connection to the original lesson, and sometimes seek outside sources to answer the questions. This, in my opinion, is exactly what an honors program should do. asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Mindy - Can I ask you to be a little more specific on why you don't consider it rigorous? I'm just curious as to what areas you believe it be lacking. We do supplement with Life of Fred but only because my kids love that series and don't really even consider it school work - LOL. Thanks, I guess because they will solve 15 equations, but none of them will be with fractions with uncommon denominators, where they have to do intermediate steps before they can actually get to the place where they can solve the equations. And, when they teach factoring, they don't give any of the "ugly" problems. They give the ones where there are only a couple of choices. I also do not see many high level problem solving in the lessons. I will say that I have not seen the honors supplement yet. I'm hoping that they remedy some of these issues in the supplement. Again, this is just my opinion. Many have used MUS successfully. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kloumc Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 We're just about to graduate our first student in June and we've been faithful users of Math-U-See from the very beginning up through Pre-Calculus! We've seen the program improve so much over the years! I remember thinking that we should change to another program when we came close to the higher level maths. Yet, b/c MUS seemed to be working for us, we persevered. We did use the Honors supplements which were difficult b/c there wasn't much instruction/explanations given besides the answers in the key. Yet, I've heard that has all changed in their most recently improved version, and now there are fuller explanations in the keys. Also, the honors questions are mingled into the lessons. It was with fear and trepedation when our dd took the SAT. To our great surprise and pleasure, she scored 690 on the math portion! I've heard what Mindy has said and I greatly value her input b/c she is a high school math teacher! Her assessment of MUS makes me feel insecure in our continued use of the program. I, too will watch for further posts about MUS esp. after various ones have been able to see the new upgrades to the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 It was with fear and trepedation when our dd took the SAT. To our great surprise and pleasure, she scored 690 on the math portion! I've heard what Mindy has said and I greatly value her input b/c she is a high school math teacher! Her assessment of MUS makes me feel insecure in our continued use of the program. I, too will watch for further posts about MUS esp. after various ones have been able to see the new upgrades to the program. Why would you suddenly be doubting your decision when your daughter just scored a 690 after having used the program? I'm a firm believer that the best program for a child is the one they understand. Your child obviously understood and greatly benefitted from MUS. asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I should have mentioned that we do use the Honors Supplement books as part of the math program. Second son just got a practice test score of 26. He's almost done with Alg. 2. Will do Pre-Calc. next year. Cathie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I should have mentioned that we do use the Honors Supplement books as part of the math program. Second son just got a practice test score of 26. He's almost done with Alg. 2. Will do Pre-Calc. next year. Cathie Durr.... edited because I didn't realize you were referring to the ACT. asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4wildberrys Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I should have mentioned that we do use the Honors Supplement books as part of the math program. Second son just got a practice test score of 26. He's almost done with Alg. 2. Will do Pre-Calc. next year. Cathie So...this is a good score, right? :confused: We are not quite there yet---so excuse my ignorance :001_huh: Now that MUS has revamped their books to include the honors in the worktext AND they are going all the way through Calculus---I am now having a hard time making my decision between Saxon through Calc or MUS through Calc with DS. I want to make my decision NOW in Pre-Alg so I can follow ONE sequence all the way through high school------Anyone want to jump in and make my decision easier????? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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