Comments on: Math U See Alpha – An Honest Review

By: Lauren Schmitz

Lauren Schmitz

In reply to Jennifer.

Thanks for the sharing the resource, Jennifer!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer

I have been an educator and homeschooler for 15 years and know many homeschoolers who feel like you do about MathUSee. Brilliant blocks, badly designed program. As a special education teacher, I often need to practice 500 times for something to stick, and video games are the only humane way to get them to do that much math work. I had to tie the blocks to the math seeds program. So recently, I made my own Easel video game-type program to sell on TPT, but I want to give it away here for free to as many homeschoolers who want to try it. I put it in a Google Classroom. https://classroom.google.com/c/NjM5ODEyNTE4MTIw
With class code: laiekzc

By: Rebecca Schepler

Rebecca Schepler

My son like your daughter hated the black and white pages of MUSee so I did the spiral colorful route but I noticed he wasn’t getting the concepts. he was just memorizing. Plus becuase it was spiral it was harder to teach as a parent because it jumps from one concept to the next. My oldest who has ADHD tendencies enjoyed the lessons I felt, but he wasn’t grasping concepts. With Math u see when he was six, I had the same response as yours. I decided though instead of making him do the page I would just ask him the question and have him show me with the blocks and this worked amazingly. Now that he is older and watched a lot of odd squad lol which also reinforced these math concepts, beta level has been a hundred percent better and he has scored pretty high and math. I love that for some one who loves math it’s easy for me to teach and breaks it down in concepts. My youngest who started at 5 loves this book and actually we are half way done with the book. He doesn’t care if it’s black and white. I think remembering to break it down on their level and personality helps. The reason why I pick this curriculum is that reviewers who had taken this curriculum score higher in standardized test and that’s my ultimate goal is to make sure they are equipped to excel and any area they choose to go in so I want to make sure they have solid math foundations.

By: Katelin

Katelin

I know this is an older post, but I feel the need to jump in and leave a comment for anyone who may see this in the future.

I haven’t used the MUS curriculum, but I’m starting to look into it. I’m a special education teacher and last summer I bought a whole bunch of math manipulatives, and these manipulatives were in the bunch. I absolutely love the manipulatives for my kiddos. They are so much better than base 10 blocks, and can be used for so many different math concepts.

Like I said, I haven’t used the curriculum, but I do think that it would be a good supplement for my students.

The biggest thing I can say to those who may be dissuaded by this review, is not to let the repetitiveness tour you. Once a student has mastered it, move on. If it’s becoming boring, move on to another subject and go back to it later. Jumping around in math is fine. Work on some addition, go to subtraction, come back and do higher addition and then do more subtraction. You don’t have to follow this step by step. Do what is best for your child.

The biggest thing I’ve learned as a special education teacher, is that curriculums are designed in a way that students need to adapt to it instead of it adapting to the student. So don’t be afraid to adopt the curriculum to your student’s needs. Not all students learn in the same way, the curriculum can be used as a guide, but ultimately set your own sequence.

Now when it comes to so many tips and tricks being confused, you don’t need to teach every single one. If your student is getting the concept without needing it then don’t use it. Save those tips and tricks for the material that they are struggling with.

I also strongly agree with the parent who said not to use the tests. Not all students are going to do well on tests. Find a way to let them show you their mastery without taking a test. If they’re showing their mastery on the worksheets, why do they have to continue to do more problems? It’s just more of that repetition.

Ultimately, whatever curriculum you decide to use with your child, you don’t have to follow step by step. Use what works and leave the rest.

By: KB

Getting all the tips and tricks confused was our #1 problem. My 7 year old flew through alpha in 4 months, we did all the worksheets and yet I really don’t think any of it solidified in his brain. Taking Abeka at a slow pace has been much better, and teaching math facts by families instead of tricks has helped him really learn them!

By: Lauren Schmitz

Lauren Schmitz

In reply to Amy.

Amy, thank you for the comment and the ideas for my readers!

By: Amy

Amy

We use Math-U-See for all grades at our classical school, and several things address some of these issues and make it work, even for younger students:
1) If the student gets 100% on the first of the three “new concept” (A, B and C) lesson pages, then they don’t have to do the next two. S/he then skips to the D, E and F pages to review prior and current lesson material. Then, only if her test score is less than 90 percent, the student must go back and finish B and C pages. That eliminates some unnecessary work.
2) Enrichment pages are mandatory.
3) Students work in math books for 20 minutes, move to a practical math/games table for 20 minutes, then back to math books for the final 20 minutes of their math hour. Some students work for 40 minutes, then move to the game table.

Agree wholeheartedly with the “readiness”/developmental comments.

By: Elan

Elan

In reply to MotherOf4Girls.

OH! Love seeing you comment here AND mention Right Start Math.
I am deciding between MUS and Right Start for my 5th grader, next year.
Hmmmm…? Thoughts? 🙂
THANKS!

By: MotherOf4Girls

MotherOf4Girls

After working through 4 kids with Math U See we have learned to use ONLY the test booklet as the daily work (too many questions in workbook) and went back to the main workbook IF there was something we needed more practice on. We switched from MUS to Jump Math between grade 2-3 (after Alpha or Beta) as we are enrolled with the public system and must meet British Columbia learning outcomes. Math U See does not work with the BC LO. The benefits has been huge…MUS is a great foundation for math especially struggling learners, however, its limiting and repetitive. Parents must know when to skip ahead to the next lesson or stay the course, cut back on the number of questions (do only the odd questions, do every other page) and when to hit every question. Just because a curriculum offers many questions to practice, it does not mean we must do EVERY question in the workbook. I apply this piece of advice to every workbook. Right Start Math also has very good manipulatives to learn the foundations of math.

By: Lauren

Lauren

In reply to Danielle.

Hi Danielle! Our homeschool has gone through A LOT of math curriculum. We originally liked Math Lessons for a Living Education for my oldest. But we tried Teaching Textbooks (only for 3rd grade and up) and she was immediately hooked, so we switched and never looked back. My middle child learns completely differently so we have taken a different path with her. She loves Horizons Math and it was a perfect fit for her in 1st grade. She is now in 2nd grade, and I have her doing a little Horizons and a little Teaching Textbooks too. My youngest is in kinder and doing beautifully with Horizons. Here is my Horizons Review and my Math Lessons for a Living Education Review