sailorswife
Puritan Board Freshman
Someone was telling me about http://www.mathusee.com/ tonight. Anyone else use it or heard any negatives about it?
Anyone use Math U See for homeschooling?
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jenney
Puritan Board Freshman
We have used MUS primer, alpha, and delta. We also used the Foundations and Intermediate before the greek system was in place.
The way it works:
You watch a DVD (with our without your child) where Steve Demme stands at the whiteboard and teaches the lesson to a bunch of children. You never see the children but you occasionally hear them answer. The point of that is to demonstrate how you will teach the lesson to your child. You also read the Teacher's Manual (TM) and look over the examples.
Then you explain the lesson to your child. You work together, using the blocks to solve problems (there are samples in your teacher's manual). Then you give them problems from your TM, showing the child how to solve it and write out the answer as you "build" it with the blocks and say what you are doing.
When the child truly understands the concept, he works on the workbook pages. This will be the second or third day of a lesson. The number of probs per page vary, but it is only one page at a time. These are practice pages. They only have to do them until they "get it" and there are three per lesson. If you use them all, you'll finish them on day four. We rarely use more than one, but some parts require more practice and we need all three.
At the end of each lesson there are three systematic review pages. We always do all of these. They cover that week's lesson, plus review of previous lessons. We spend a day apiece on them. For us, each lesson takes a week on average. With finding area, it took two weeks.
There is a test booklet which you may optionally use, either for tests or for more practice. I actually don't use them at all.
Pluses:
Weaknesses:
The selling point for me was the really helpful explanations of the concept. My girls who've kept with it (two of the three who started with it) have understood math from the MUS method of explaining, while the one who switched to something else has never seemed to grasp the topic fully.
I hope that helps, because it's so long! I can't seem to answer this sort of question in 25 words or less.
The way it works:
You watch a DVD (with our without your child) where Steve Demme stands at the whiteboard and teaches the lesson to a bunch of children. You never see the children but you occasionally hear them answer. The point of that is to demonstrate how you will teach the lesson to your child. You also read the Teacher's Manual (TM) and look over the examples.
Then you explain the lesson to your child. You work together, using the blocks to solve problems (there are samples in your teacher's manual). Then you give them problems from your TM, showing the child how to solve it and write out the answer as you "build" it with the blocks and say what you are doing.
When the child truly understands the concept, he works on the workbook pages. This will be the second or third day of a lesson. The number of probs per page vary, but it is only one page at a time. These are practice pages. They only have to do them until they "get it" and there are three per lesson. If you use them all, you'll finish them on day four. We rarely use more than one, but some parts require more practice and we need all three.
At the end of each lesson there are three systematic review pages. We always do all of these. They cover that week's lesson, plus review of previous lessons. We spend a day apiece on them. For us, each lesson takes a week on average. With finding area, it took two weeks.
There is a test booklet which you may optionally use, either for tests or for more practice. I actually don't use them at all.
Pluses:
Really excellent explanations of "how" math works, not just the method to follow for solving the problems
- My children have all understood the underlying concept before moving to the next lesson
- Not a million problems each day, like Saxon, which totally overwhelmed my oldest daughter
- Word problems that are practical and realistic
Weaknesses:
- Not a million problems (didn't I just mention that as a plus???) so your child might need extra practice. This hasn't actually been a problem for us because they've always gotten it without more practice, but it is a potential weakness.
- Drillwork (math facts) is not built in to the extent that they are in Saxon
- Boring looking pages. I debated putting this as a plus, since we found the colorful pages of MCP and Horizons to be distracting, but some kids thrive on the graphics of that sort of thing and wouldn't like the "boring" MUS pages. We haven't found this to be a hindrance at all.
- It doesn't seem to fit very well with standardized testing. The concepts are solidly presented, but if you are in a state that requires yearly testing, you might want to use something more rote.
The selling point for me was the really helpful explanations of the concept. My girls who've kept with it (two of the three who started with it) have understood math from the MUS method of explaining, while the one who switched to something else has never seemed to grasp the topic fully.
I hope that helps, because it's so long! I can't seem to answer this sort of question in 25 words or less.
sailorswife
Puritan Board Freshman
Thanks for the information! I am thinking about it for our son who will be 6 this summer. I think the visual aspect of the blocks might be good for him.
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