Math Decision

Well, I think I've made my decision. I'm going to stick with Math U See and supplement with Math Mammoth or another program. Math Mammoth only goes through sixth grade, so I emailed her to see if she had plans to take it all the way through high school. She emailed back and didn't really answer that question but said her recommendations for pre-algebra and algebra are to use regular textbooks. I'm assuming her advice is to do the same with algebra 2, trig, and calculus.

The only problem I have with this is that I am not comfortable teaching anything over algebra 1. I wasn't good at it when I was in high school; books and pencils were STILL thrown in college. I am not good enough to read a textbook and know how to teach it with all the variables. What I like about MUS is the videos that come with it, with the teacher explaining what to do. That is what I need. If for some reason MUS doesn't work out in the secondary years, we'll switch to Teaching Textbooks.

The pros of MUS are that it goes all the way through high school math, it does a very thorough job of teaching place value, and it uses three different methods to teach (video, manipulatives, and text) to help students with a wide variety of learning styles.

The con is that it's kind of dry and lacking on the real world application. Math Mammoth and Singapore math both have supplements to help with the real world application. Also, Math U See is pretty expensive. But I'm willing to spend a lot of money on it to make sure the kids get a thorough math education. If math turns out to not be their strongpoint, that's fine. But they will have at least what public school kids get.

It's difficult to feel the entire weight of a child's education on your shoulders. It is so easy in the homeschooling world to see a shiny new curriculum and think it is a must have. But in math especially, you want to do as little curriculum hopping as possible. And I like Math U See. Pigby likes Math U See. It's working for us now. There is absolutely no reason to change. I ought to keep reminding myself of that.