Question about Singapore Math and MUS

[ShariCA]

I am going to be starting my ds (almost 5) in LHTH in the fall and adding in the math, handwriting, and thinking skills. He is slightly delayed in understanding abstract concepts, but is great with concrete concepts. I would like to keep things as simple as possible and order everything from HOD, but I'm concerned that Singapore Math will be beyond him. I was going to order the Early Bird Math and then start the 1A and such in his first grade year. I know that there are math activities written into the HOD schedule, but what about the workbooks themselves? I have been looking at Math U See and it looks like it would be very concrete. Not a lot of variety in the manipulatives, but concrete nontheless. But I'm wondering if this would get boring after a while. ???

I really don't want to do two programs (time and money are the main reasons) and would like to stick with one or the other. Both seem like programs that would need to be coninuous since their scope and sequences don't match. So how hard is Singapore? And how tedious is MUS?

Thanks!

[kvmck]

I have many friends who LOVE math-u-see. It did not work for us for exactly the reason you bring up... my children found it very tedious and hated to do math. I didn't even require them to do all the math pages and they dreaded it. Both my kids enjoy the math activities that Carrie has written out, I think she does that up to 2b? My son, who is not in the 2s anymore, still loves to do the activities with his sister We did enjoy the primary math-u-see teaching dvds and still use math-u-see manipulatives since we already purchased them. We did not do Singapore's earlybird math so I am not sure what that is like. My 7 year old dd is just finishing up 1b. I bought her an extra singapore practice book from Borders to do a few months ago b/c I didn't feel like she was ready to move on. She finds math more difficult in general than her brother does... but she is learning without realizing it through doing Carrie's math activities, so much fun

[krismoose]

Welcome! We started with MUS and I soon learned that my ds needs variety, which MUS does not have. I have friends who love it, but the workbooks were too plain and the acitivities did get tedious for us. I really wanted to love it, but it wasn't working. When I found HOD and read about Singapore, I was excited to try it. The books are colorful and the activities in the HOD guide go very well with the workbook. Lessons are brief and leave ds wanting to do more. We're in 1a now and doing the activities in the Beyond guide. I found that I don't do math the Singapore way, so I went ahead and purchased the home instr. guide elsewhere to keep me from confusing my ds ;o) Most people don't need it at this level, but it's available if you do

[John'smom]

First of all, I am not familiar with Singapore at all. It is probably a wonderful program from what I hear and the activities that Carrie writes in the guides (from what I can tell from the week sample) look awesome as a go along.

Having said that, we use Math U See. My ds has gone through Primer, Alpha, and is almost finished with Beta. Last year when ds was tested at the end of the year, the results came back and he did not miss one problem. My dd is doing Primer this year and is almost finished with it. Both my dc love Mr. Demme, want to meet him, write him letters, and go to his house. My dc are like night and day when it comes to how they learn best, but both have never had a problem or complaint about MUS. In MUS, they're seeing it, saying it, and writing it. We do one page daily, and then 2 pages on Friday. I've never had problems with Math, but even I have understood some of the reasoning behind certain Math concepts better because of Mr. Demme's explanations.

I'm not trying to sway you either way. Just wanted to give our experience with Math U See.

[moedertje]

I was very torn like you in what to use for Math and I was very nervous to have to teach a subject that I know can be so challenging. We started MUS and flew through Primer and Alpha. My son was just flying through it and loved, but I felt the prompting of the Lord and after reading this post below to switch to Singapore.
Here is the link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2437
Now we are moving on to 2A and I am amazed at the different way Singapore teaches. This way of teaching is called mental math by many and being that I am not a mathematical person, I have learned so much and I have improved my math skills and we only just finished 1A and 1B. (To think that in school I finished all levels of math ). I read once from a seasoned homeschool Mom with 8 children that when the Lord guides you to do a certain program and it gets tough to stick with it. Sometimes it is to teach you as a Mom something in life even when your child seems to be struggling a little or a lot. Perhaps patience or humility, whatever it is we can always ask for grace So when math gets challenging I just pray and submit my fears to the Lord and He has been very gracious to me.
Singapore seems so foreign to most of, because of the way they teach, but as I have read Carries writing many times that book 1A and 1B are not for mastery! The hands on activities that Carrie has with the first 2 books are absolutely wonderful. I love using different counters and often math has turned into snack time for us
Before you decide to purchase anything bathe it in prayer, ask your husband's help to pray and help you make the decision as well and stick with it! May the grace of God guide you and be with you during your homeschool journey!

[ShariCA]

Thank you all for responding. I just checked out Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum at the library, and she has MUS and Singapore both as top picks. But she goes on to say that Singapore uses a three step process of understanding that goes from concrete, to pictures, to abstract. And that a lot of the concrete examples are presented in the teacher's guide. So if I go with Singapore I'll be using the teacher's guide for level 1 on up. Her book, which I picked up today, was very helpful.

moedertje, I have been praying and I think I'm leaning toward Singapore. Thank you for the link; I'll be checking it out.

[moedertje]

I prayed for you and will continue to do so, since it is a big step. Even though we should also encourage one another in the little things and pray about those as well
Actually if you have Carrie her guides you will not need the teacher guides for the first couple of books. Carrie does a fantastic job with hands on activities. Her hands on activities will be your Teacher Manual if you choose to use them and I know most Mom's would encourage you to do so. They actually bring math alive in and around your home
In Little Hearts you will have activities for Early bird K 2a and 2b.
In Beyond you will have the hands on activities for Prim. Mathematics 1a and 1b and in Bigger you will have the ones for Prim. Math 2a And 2b.
When you get to 3a and 3 b Carrie recommends getting the Textbooks as a Teacher manual.
So if your child is ready to move ahead in math, you could get the next Manual and do the math activities out of that.
I hope this makes sense and it is not confusing you.
Once again SUCCESS!

[my3sons]

I love opening my HOD guides and having the math all planned out for me. I especially enjoy the hands-on activities HOD has written for the younger years. Singapore paired with HOD's hands-on math is super short, easy, and fun to do. My oldest is now in 4A, and I am in awe of how math just clicks for him. He does a lot of it in his head and just understands the "why" behind the "how" of doing the problems so well. I think the absolutely best thing a child doing Singapore can do is to start with it. It teaches such excellent mental math that then when dc reach the older levels, it just clicks pretty effortlessly. You can always switch to MUS later, but I'd give Singapore and the hands-on math in HOD a try, as it is already all written out in the guide for you and is an outstanding math curriculum.

In Christ,
Julie