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Math-U-See question: Do you really need two manipulative sets as recommended?
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I am getting ready to purchase Math-U-See for our upcoming school year. For those of you who have used it, would you recommend purchasing the “Completer Blocks” (http://tinyurl.com/mq359g) as recommended on the site? Or will the Starter Blocks suffice?
Also, has anyone purchased the Skip Count and Addition Songs CD or is it unnecessary?
We will be starting from the beginning with my 6 yr old who is naturally good with math, even though I haven’t formally taught it to him yet.
mrskatie,
I have used MUS since my 17yos was in first grade. All of my boys have used it and I’ve only ever purchased one set of blocks. I would say that the skip counting CD is necessary. It is key to understanding the multiplication facts.
hth
I have used MUS with 3 boys for 10 years. We’ve only ever needed the original set of blocks. We rarely all need to use them at once.
The skip-counting CD depends. My visual learners didn’t really like it or use it much; my auditory son loved it. The CD is much better than the first one they did “way back when” that sounded like the Chipmunks. 🙂 But I’ve only had one child who really benefitted from it.
I have the skip counting CD and my dd’s (6th & 4th) don’t like it. They prefer to practice their facts on their own.
In regards to purchasing another set, that would depend if you need it and your budget. I have only used the main set so far with my one dd (Gamma) since my other dd is using the fraction overlays. I did purchase the second set since my youngest will be doing primer and they build a clock, although you can use other bars to equal 5, e.g., 4+1, 2+3. I also like simplicity. My girls also like playing and building with the blocks so I just purchased the second set this year.
HTH
We do use blocks from both boxes often, but then I have 2 in nearly the same place and we do math at the same time.
We do NOT like the cd, and just practice skip counting on our own together.
So, it may depend on the child for the music cd. My children (ds 7, ds 4) do enjoy it and listen even outside of “school.” If you grew up listening to School House Rock on Saturday mornings you’ll know how those melodies stick and can help in remembering things.
We are just going into Beta so can’t answer whether or not the completer set is needed. We have it because I purchased them from another hs’er and our 4-yr-old enjoyed building with them during his older brother’s school time (priceless).
The best advice I got for MUS was from my sister who encouraged me to invest in the wooden box (found in accessories) for keeping the blocks together. It is like a printers’ box with a plexiglas lid. This keeps the manipulatives neat and looks pretty nifty in your house as well 🙂
Yes, I agree that the music really depends on the child and family 🙂 Those boxes for keeping the blocks together are great! I agree that it is well worth the investment!
Ditto not liking the CD. My goodness, couldn’t they have gotten a better singer? Yikes! lol
I have two sets of blocks only b/c I have so many kids. We use them all.
Thanks so much for these replies. I think I know what I’m going to purchase now. It’s so nice to get a better perspective from people who have really used it.
~ Katie
I’m bumping this thread up because I noticed just today that the Math-U-See website no longer lists a “completer” set of blocks. I’ve looked at MUS in the past, but decided to use Saxon instead. It did not work with my 10 yod, so I am agian considering MUS for her and for my younger two possibly as well.
I was surprised to just see one set of blocks because I had seen the completer set in the past.
If I have three kiddos in MUS, would I need two sets of blocks?
Mary in CO
Mary, in my experience, no. I have three kids all using MUS, and we simply never all need the blocks at once. None of my children need to use the blocks every day; I usually have one child watching the video, for example, maybe one working with blocks, and one doing worksheets. And if you have kids in different levels doing different things, it just never seems to happen that one needs the blocks all the time. My experience using the blocks is that we use them the most right after wataching the video–for a day or two, until I am sure the concept is down. Then we move on to do a worksheet or two, and most of the time there is not much block work required then. That’s our experience.
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