How long does Your child spend on 1 page of Math U See ? Do you fit one whole lesson into one week? Do they do one or two pages a day? Frustrated with the time I have to spend pushing him to get it done! I can’t tell if my child is bored, frustrated, or just plain the king of procrastination. I know that every child is different, but I just need a hint of what other children are doing. Please give me some HONEST feedback, so I know if we are headed in the right direction.
By the way, we are not new to Math U See. My 3rd child (girl- “the baby”, this ought to be interesting) will soon start Primer. My 2nd child (Girl who gets her work done in a good amount of time, but grumps like an old man through it…lol) has done Primer and is now at the end of Beta. My oldest (Boy- who would rather stare at the wall for hours, but can move much faster when pushed) has done Primer and is now toward the end of Delta. Gray hairs are coming in quickly!! Help!
It really depended on my kids. My kindergartener did Primer last year. He is very “math brained” and loved it and zipped through 2 or more worksheets a day. We finished way ahead and did the Kumon time and money books.
My 3rd grader (Gamma) would do 1-2 a day. Some were shorter or when she picked up a concept super fast we did 2 a day. When we got to the really complicated multiplication we did 1 because that took a decent amount of time.
My 5th grader (remedial gamma, delta, her math issues were a big part of the reason we pulled all the kids out) did usually 1 a day. She gets very frustrated and struggles with concepts so it always dragged on with her. Some days it took 15 minutes, others up to an hour. It would get frustrating. Something that seemed to help was we would work on the ones she understood. Then go back to the harder ones. Sometimes we would take a break and alternate other subject less mentally taxing (handwriting, science) and come back to it. I think it depends so much on the kids. My other two love math and it just clicks for them. My oldest struggles and gets frustrated
I should add last year was our first year homeschooling for all of them. Math U See is the only thing we have used. We all liked it so we are staying with it. But I really have little to compare it to.
For us it depends on the concept. My kids used math U see in their school before I pulled them (this is our third year) and they would do one page a day there. if the concept is understandable to them, I have them do 2-3 pages a day. “Come on! This is easy to you! Get 'er done!” If it’s harder (like multiple digit multiplication was for my 9 year old) it was one page/day…sometimes less! I also try to change tactics based on his mood “when you finish one math page then you can go outside and play for a while” or make it a competition: time them (in a fun way) “bet you can’t finish this page before I’m done with the dishes…”) etc. I also try to have him do it first before anything else. Hope this helps!
I agree with the previous comments in that it depends on the child and the concept. When we began full time homeschooling last year, we took a step back in math to ensure mastery. Some of the early concepts were easy for my oldest daughter so she finished both Delta and Epsilon in 11 months (we homeschool year-round and allow for vacations and breaks throughout the year rather than 10 weeks in the summer). I also have twin 9 year olds, boy and girl, and that is where I see the biggest difference. My son moves around a lot and gets easily frustrated (I think more for attention than because the work is hard) so his work takes him longer. I finally set the expectation that when he starts math, he doesn’t get up or do anything else (not even chit chat with me) until it’s done. Then once it is done, he can take a break. All of my kids typically do 2 pages a day, 1 practice and 1 review. If they get the concept quickly, we do that for two days and then they take the test on day 3. I use the test as another review page. If it is a more challenging concept, like multi-digit multiplication for the 9 year olds, I took it down to 1 page a day but then also added in some math facts practice or completing a blank multiplication table (which they can then use as they do the problems). My 12 year old is a self starter and moves at her own pace. I’ve given her similar guidelines and she decides when she’s ready for the test. Maybe your son is bored with it. If he gets the concept more quickly, by all means don’t require him to do all the practice pages and all the review pages. There’s no reason to do every page if the concept is mastered.
This answer will echo many others, yet Math U See has been more effective than other math curriculums we have tried (K12, Saxon and Singapore). We started with the Primer and then briefly tried K12 which got us off track. We wish we had never left Math U See as we eventually came back to it anyway!
No matter how easy the concept seems I have them do at least one of the concept focused pages (A-C) and one review excercise page (D-F) before moving to the test page (pass at 80% or higher). So, we will spend at least 3 days finishing a section. If a child does not pass the test, we will go back over the lesson concept and do more pages until I can see that it is clicking. Then we retake the test. Most of the time, I can see from their work or their teach back to me that they are not getting it. So, then we spend more days on the pages for that section before we get to the test.
Ironically, my son who is most mathimatically challenged drags his feet less than my son who has a lot of math sense. Boredom? We will see how this coming year goes for him. I may have to get a little creative with him .
First of all…your kid descriptions sound a lot like mine. My son (oldest, 4th grade, pro procrastinator) likes math u see, but my daughter (2nd grade, loves worksheets) hates it. I won’t even get into the other 2. My daughter prefers Math Mammoth. I have tried everything (MUS, Math Mammoth, iXL, Time4Learning, Teaching Textbooks, Horizons) with my son and have ultimately gone back to MUS. I initially left Math U See because I thought it was leaving huge gaps in his math skills. However, I have gone back to it for mastery and use other things like iPad Math Apps, ST Math and/or Time 4 Learning for more math review. ST Math is really awesome - visual math program with group buy price on homeschool buyers coop. Back to Math U See though. I usually have him do the A, D, and G page. Sometimes we do the G together. MUS recommends that you do all the D, E, F Systematic Review pages, but since we are kinda trying to catch up due to all our jumping around we have not been doing all of them. Hope this helps. I’d love to hear any tricks anyone has for a procrastinator that can make math take up the entire day!!!
Oh wow, it varies for my kids VERY widely too! My oldest just finished up pre-algebra. It varied for him. Anywhere from 5-25 minutes maybe? Next son, TRYING to finish us Delta. If he sits, usually 20 minutes. He’s my super challenging one though so sometimes it’s an hour to drag him through. Good at math for the most part but he hates to sit and work through longer division. My third just finished Gamma and he’s super focused. 20-25ish minutes as well.
Here’s how we do it, video on Monday. One page a day except they usually have to do 2 pages 1-2 days a week. We rarely do the “G” pages unless it’s something that I want them to do. We do tests as a review. Sometimes we’ll do a week of tests here and there. We work through some of them when they finish their main book. Do a little in the summer. Then I really actually see how they retain it. And, let me tell you, for pre-algebra it’s not looking real good in the “retaining” aspect.
I can totally sympathize with you…my son that’s a challenge is BRILLIANT in so many ways. Very artistic. He’s just stubborn and wants to to his own agenda.
.
My son (oldest, 4th grade, pro procrastinator) likes math u see, but my daughter (2nd grade, loves worksheets) hates it. I won’t even get into the other 2. My daughter prefers Math Mammoth. I have tried everything (MUS, Math Mammoth, iXL, Time4Learning, Teaching Textbooks, Horizons) with my son and have ultimately gone back to MUS. I initially left Math U See because I thought it was leaving huge gaps in his math skills. However, I have gone back to it for mastery and use other things like iPad Math Apps, ST Math and/or Time 4 Learning for more math review. ST Math is really awesome - visual math program with group buy price on homeschool buyers coop. Back to Math U See though. I usually have him do the A, D, and G page. Sometimes we do the G together. MUS recommends that you do all the D, E, F Systematic Review pages, but since we are kinda trying to catch up due to all our jumping around we have not been doing all of them. Hope this helps. I’d love to hear any tricks anyone has for a procrastinator that can make math take up the entire day!!!