MUS question about going back a few grades...

[Kari C in SC]

I was going to buy MUS for this current year for my dd. She is in 4th and I guess I would have put her in Delta. Due to a number of things, I didn't go with MUS. I have been not thrilled with that decision all year. Now we are about 10 weeks from the end of 4th grade. She is still struggling with basic addition and subtraction facts. She is doing pretty good with multiplication thanks to Times Tables the Easy Way. I am wondering if I should go back to Alpha to start over. I fear she will FLIP OUT on me. I know from talking to the reps at convention that they say you should go back until they master their facts. I just don't want the meltdown and I don't know that we have the luxery of time. Although, I am not sure we have the luxery of NOT doing it either. I hope this makes some kind of sense. For those that went to MUS later, what did you do? Thanks.

[Heather in NC]

It is exactly what I did last summer. Half-way through 3rd grade Saxon was such a disaster that we quit doing Math for a time. I then spent about 2 months doing Times tales with ds and multiplication flashcards.

Then I saw MUS at the midwest convention. I bought Alpha and Beta and the blocks. I went home, tossed out Saxon and started with MUS. We whizzed through Alpha in about a month or so and we did it all aloud...no writing...just the blocks. Then we started Beta and we took our time because of all the regrouping and multiple digit problems.

We are now in 4th grade in Gamma and we are whizzing through it and probably will finish in about 4 weeks from now and then we will go straight into Delta and I figure we will finish Delta by July? So he will be in Epsilon for the start of 5th grade.

It's the best thing we ever did and my ds wasn't upset at all to go back to Alpha because we made it fun and relaxed and it was easy for him so it gave him confidence. I say go for it!

[Audrey]

One of the the nicest things about MUS is that there are no "Grade" levels. You start where you need to start and there's no big 'ol 2 or 3 or whatever staring your kid in the face everyday.

[Sue in St Pete]

My son loved doing the test first. If he did fine, we skipped the lesson. It really made him feel good to be able to skip the lesson.

[EKS]

We went to MUS when my son was halfway through Saxon 7/6. He placed into Beta! So we started with Beta. We ended up going quickly through the levels, but it was just what my son needed at the time.

[Lori D.]

We found MUS for our math struggler on entering 5th grade. Instead of going all the way back to Alpha, we went with the old MUS Intermediate (which covers math topics for gr. 4, 5, and 6).

Perhaps consider getting the old MUS Foundations (gr. 1, 2, and 3 math concepts) which would allow you to get the feel for how MUS works, but the option to buzz through it at a faster rate. While you have to find the teacher book & videos used, the MUS website still sells the student workbooks for the old MUS levels from their website.


Also, that's a tough call about going ahead or not if the child doesn't have their math facts down. My math struggler (even now at age 14) has to skip count to get to the multiplication facts; he is just not going to ever get them fast through "drill and kill". I finally made the decision to go ahead with the math topics and go on with the MUS even though he couldn't reel off the math facts, because we just couldn't afford to to not keep moving forward any longer.

Side note: A very responsible and intelligent adult friend of mine says she was absolutely *never* able to memorize math facts -- it wasn't out of rebellion or boredom. She said that in 7th grade, she finally had to get a skip count tape and learn the songs and use the songs to key her into the math facts because she had tried for years to memorize them and just couldn't. I've read that Einstein literally could not say the entire alphabet from beginning to end at one time. There are some people just can't do some skills in the standard way and have to find a work around.


BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Pegasus]

Just confirming all these great posts you are getting. Your daughter needs a strong foundation in early arithmetic. Don't worry about going back too far, she'll zip right through anything that is easy for her and you'll both KNOW that she has it mastered when she can teach it back to you.

I like the idea of using the older version of MUS because it will be much less expensive than buying so many levels of the new version in a short period of time. Even the name "Foundations" emphasizes your goal and should be acceptable to your DD.

Pegasus

[training5]

My kids struggled with the basic facts until I bought some Upper level TouchMath wkbks for them to work through. I am one of those people who never could learn the facts, either. See www.touchmath.com (http://www.touchmath.com) for more information. We still do the flashcards and I made them a skip counting chart for the multiplication sequences but generally, especially my oldest, they still use the TM method. It was the only thing that worked here.

editied to add: MUS reps do NOT like TM but it is what works for some kids.

[mcconnellboys]

I went back to gamma this year with my fourth grader, as I just wasn't satisfied that he was mastering his multiplication facts. I've been happy that I did. I think by the time he finishes with delta next year, he'll have those down solidly.

So I think you could certainly go back. I think of it more as a drill program and a supplement to any regular math program. She shouldn't feel that she's being held back or put into a "first grade" program.

Regena