When I began homeschooling 5 years ago, a good friend recommended Math U See to me. I decided to give it a try and was very happy with it. At that time, Chelsea was in the 3rd grade and I thought Math U See adequately covered everything she needed to know for that age level. When Nick was ready to do Math I started using it with him also. There were a few things I believed were lacking though. In the younger grades Math U See fails to cover the calendar and money. In the older grades I didn't believe it to be moving as quickly as I wanted it to. So I decided it was time for a change. This year I switched to Alpha-Omega. Chelsea is using the 7th grade Life-packs and the boys are using Horizon Workbooks. I am very unhappy with both of these products. Chelsea's 7th grade Math started out with whole numbers on a number line ( a little simple for 7th grade) and even though it has moved on there still are places where it is ridiculously simple and a waste of time. Several of the topics cover things we have done 2-3 years ago. The Teacher's Guide is also hard to navigate. The workbooks for the boys cover the calender, money and clocks really well. It does spend a good amount of time on each topic and continues on with past topics to reinforce the information. But, it is very repetitive. Instead of splitting the year into 2 books, it could easily be covered in one. It is so repetitive that we are skipping over half the exercises.
So, I am still on the hunt for a great Math Curriculum. I know I will not continue with Alpha-Omega next year. In hindsight, I wish I would have continued with Math U See and taught the things I thought it was lacking in myself. I think when you find one that you like you should stick with it. No two Math Curriculum are the same and it would be less confusing to stick with what you know.
Choosing curriculum can be such a difficult challenge. And, as you mentioned so often you don't know if it will really work for you until you try it in your home with your kids, regardless of how much others loved or hated it.
ReplyDeleteWe've used A Beka and switch to Saxon in third grade, and it has worked well with all our kids. I do still skip a lot of the work though. We do about half the lesson each time. I remember often doing "odds" or "evens" from my school days, so we work similarly.
Praying for wisdom and direction for you as you weigh this out!
~Erin
I feel like I'm the queen of choosing different curriculum. I've used many, many different math programs. I will say that I felt that Bob Jones math did about the best job for middle school math. It is more a "thinking" type program instead of so much "rote" like Abeka. It does about the best job to teaching how to do word problems.
ReplyDeleteMany folks like the Singapore Math, but I think it's best started at the very beginning with the kindergarten age group. If you do jump in with it then you usually have to go back a year or at least a semester.
To be honest, I think MUS is a solid math course. Yes, it doesn't have things like calendars and clocks, but that is easily solved by picking up workbooks from Barnes and Noble or Walmart to add to your math course. You can also work ahead to where your child is at.
I like using Bob JOnes and then move into algebra with Foerster's Algebra I course.
HTH,
Jan
Thanks for your insights. Right now I am leaning towards going back to Math u See with the boys and switching to Abeka for Chelsea.
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