The first year I started homeschooling I chose Math-U-See to use with my first grader. Fourteen years later and I’m still using this excellent math curriculum. I love using Math-U-See and so do my kids. I’ve used it from Primer through Calculus and in the process I’ve discovered a few helpful tips.
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No Need to Do Every Worksheet
Math-U-See is a mastery based approach which means once your child has mastered a concept they should move on to the next lesson. Some kids need extra practice as they learn a new math concept while others catch on right away. That means that some students will need to do every worksheet for a particular lesson while other students may only complete one lesson practice and one systematic review sheet.
It can make it difficult for the parent to lesson plan far in advance when they are moving at their child’s own pace but it is a huge benefit to the child. Kids who are struggling in a lesson can slow down and take time to really learn it before moving on. Students who find the new lesson easy can move to the next one without being forced to complete worksheets just for the sake of completing all the worksheets.
Some Days You’ll Just Instruct and Review
I know it is tempting to assign a worksheet every day. It’s easy to check a completed worksheet off of our lesson plans. However, some days you won’t get to the worksheets. Instead, you will need to spend time with your child, working with the manipulatives to teach, practice or review a challenging math concept.
The success of the Math-U-See curriculum is not in completing worksheets but in helping your child see and understand various math concepts. Sometimes playing with the blocks and working along side the parent on a white board reaps more rewards than trudging through one worksheet after another.
Some days you will need to set the worksheets aside so your child can focus on seeing the math concept. That’s why it is called Math-U-See.
DVD is Meant for the Parent
My children love watching Mr. Demme on the DVD’s. They usually grasp the new concepts just by watching the videos. However, the DVD’s were meant to be an instructional example for the parent. They weren’t designed to explain in detail a new concept or provide adequate examples and practice for the student before moving onto the worksheets.
Many kids do grasp the new concepts from watching the short lessons. I think that is the amazing method of Math-U-See at work. It makes math click with the child a lot sooner than it would in other programs. But, sometimes kids need more instruction and examples than what Mr. Demme provides on the DVD’s.
That’s why it is important for parents to watch the lessons. If your child is struggling after watching the video lesson then you will want to give additional instruction to your child. Lots of kids can use Math-U-See with minimal parent help but it’s good to be prepared to answer questions and offer more teaching when needed.
Practice Math Facts Outside of Math-U-See Lesson
It is best to master a new math concept before moving on but memorizing math facts is a little different, in my opinion. Your child might understand the concept of addition, subtraction, multiplication or division but struggle to memorize a particular set of facts. I think moving on to a new lesson, even when they haven’t mastered a set of facts, is fine. Just make sure you are practicing those math facts outside of the regular math lesson.
There are lots of ways to practice math facts. I’m sure Pinterest is full of fun games and activities to help cement those facts into young minds. Flashcards are a simple way to work on math facts. You can create your own or purchase a set. There are also apps for your mobile device with fun math fact games. Xtramath is another great way to practice drilling facts. It is free if you use it in a web browser or you can purchase it as an app for your mobile device.
Store Manipulatives in Plastic Containers
The best way, I have found, to store all those blocks is in a clear plastic container. It makes it easy for kids to dig around and find the blocks they need. Multiple sets can be stored together in one large container or divided between smaller ones.
Frixion Pens Add Color and Interest
Sometimes those colorful math curriculums seem tempting when compared to the black and white pages of Math-U-See. If you need to add a little more interest and color to your child’s math lessons then try the Frixion erasable pens. They come in different colors and erase easily.
I share many of these tips in my YouTube video below. You can also read my Math-U-See curriculum review here or watch me unbox my Math-U-See curriculum for the new school year here.
Since you have taught multiple children with Math u See do you buy a new student workbook for each kid or do you save and copy the pages for each kid? I have a 6,5,2 and 1 year old and I was just thinking ahead. Also have you used Primer for first grade or kindergarten?
Thanks so much!
Hi Joy!
Yes, I buy a new student pack for each child. The workbooks are copyrighted which means you cannot make copies of them even for your own children. The first half of Primer is fairly easy so I use it for pre-K at a slow pace. Then I finish up Primer in Kindergarten. For some of my children, they just weren’t ready for Primer or any type of formal school work until kindergarten so we did all of Primer in Kindergarten. Hope that helps!
It does help thank you so much! It makes sense that they would be copyrighted. My oldest just about finished up with Alpha last year which was kindergarten. She seems to be having a hard time mastering some of the addition facts. She can figure them out by counting on her fingers or using the blocks but doesn’t quite know them instinctually yet. (if that makes sense) Would you recommend going back and making sure she masters those, or would you recommend pushing forward with the rest of Alpha?
I’d suggest taking a break from MUS for a few weeks and doing some fun activities and games to work on her math facts. The facts should click over time as she using them in future lessons but she is young and some time to slow down and work on facts might be enjoyable for her and beneficial. I’d take a positive approach to pausing the MUS lessons. Let her know that she has done such a great job in Alpha so far and you want to reward her for her great work by taking a little break and playing fun math games. This approach usually motivates kids to memorize their facts more than telling them that they have to stop moving forward in math lessons because they aren’t getting their facts. š
Ok thank you so much!
Awesome tips!
I just wanted to mention that the frixion pens are great, however be aware of where you store your supplies as extreme temperatures can mess with the ink.
For example, if you leave the math book in a hot car, you may come back to find all the work erased!
Thank you for pointing that out about the Frixion pens. Good thing to make note of! The kids have to do their tests in pencil for that very reason. However, we don’t keep the other worksheets so the disappearing ink in hot temperatures hasn’t been an issue.
Do you have any suggestions for kids who hate worksheets. We are on lesson 29 in alpha(So basically done) and she has mastered her math facts but we’ve had plenty of tears and its been a struggle because she says it’s boring. She likes the enrichment/ application page but the rest she doesn’t like at all. We don’t do all the worksheets, just enough to master but I’m trying to find ways to make it more fun
You can have her work the problems on a whiteboard or chalkboard or even do the easier problems in her head and answer them orally to you.
Iām considering MUS for two of my children who will be doing Geometry next year. Since they have never done MUS before, do you think it would be too challenging to start using MUS at that level or is it pretty easy to start at whatever level?
Geometry should be an easy one to transition to with MUS.
How necessary are the DVDs for pre-algebra? We just discovered this curriculum and my daughter is sort of between pre-algebra and algebra 1, leaning towards the latter. I was thinking of getting the algebra 1 set, and just buying a used teacher manual for pre-algebra to go over anything she might not know before doing the algebra book. I read that the manuals include the information, so is is vital to have the DVDs?
I think the DVDs are important to have but if you are just doing pre-algebra as a quick review or to fill in gaps then you should be fine with just the teacher’s manual for pre-algebra because it does include instruction on how to teach the lesson.
I am getting ready to order MUS for my three children. Do you think I need a set of manipulatives for each child? Are the manipulatives used so regularly that it would not be good to share?
I think one set should be fine.
Awesome. Thank you so much!