Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: nature reader

This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 17 years ago by cherylramirez.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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April 26, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Blessed with seven
Member
Hi,
I am needing to get a child “caught up” in Math. I am not worried about grade level I just want my kids to understand Math! Math, like phonics, has been one of those things I have struggled with..as far as which one to use, therefore falling behind. I have tried Rightstart but just can’t spend that amount of money. Math U See I can do..does it work well for a child who needs “less talking” and more “doing”?
Just curious as to what you all think of Math U See.
Thanks!
Kim
Wife to Clayton for almost 18 years
Mother to: dd14, dd13, ds10, dd7, dd4, ds2 and baby Josiah 2 months
April 26, 2008 at 8:12 pm
odikens
Member
Kim,
My son and I both struggled with math for the first couple of years. Math U See has really saved us. I found that most curriculums do a ton of worksheets and memorization and the children don’t get around to understanding concepts and applications. Math U See requires them to build the problems so they can see what they are doing and, therefore, understand why the math is necessary.
I hope this helps.
Blessings,
Melody
April 27, 2008 at 11:50 am
Bookworm
Participant
Hi, Kim.
We’ve used MathUSee for eight years. It’s the only thing I ever bought at the very beginning of our homeschool and have never changed. I have one very visual kid, one who is auditory, and one who is kinesthetic (read: Wiggly) It has worked very well for all of them. Being able to “see” and manipulate the blocks has made a great difference for us. I wish I’d been taught this way, I believe I’d never have decided I wasn’t a “math person”!
Michelle D
April 27, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Blessed with seven
Member
Hi,
Thank you both for your reply. Do you feel they do well at retaining their facts w/ Math U See?
Thanks again!!!
Kim
April 27, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Misty
Participant
Kim,
We also have used this program. I had one son who could not remember his math addition or subtraction facts we tried everything (audio tapes, videos, other programs) but NOTHING worked. So we backed up got MathUSee and now!! He get’s it. He’s not fast but if I ask something like what is 9+8?? He might not yell out 17 but because he remembers “how” to do it he can say to me well 9 wants to be a 10 and he takes 1 from the 8 and that makes 17!! Yeppie he gets it and to me that’s all that matters. And I am a Accountant by trade and love numbers!! And I even felt like if I would have been taught like this it would have saved me a lot of work!!
This is the best investment I have ever made in one subject so far! Also, once you start by buying the blocks, video and teacher manual then it’s only $15 or $20 year for the younger kids for the workbook and test book. I don’t think it’s much when it works so well. I highly suggest it!
Good luck in your search!
Misty
April 28, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Bookworm
Participant
Yes, my children retained the facts well. The recurring review on the bottoms of the Systematic Review pages REALLY helps with that. It is well designed. It seems just when I begin to worry “I wonder if they remember how to do that?” then the Systematic Review pages have several of those problems!
We’ve been very happy. I’m in the midst of Algebra now with my oldest son, and oh how I wish I could have taken it the MUS way in high school!
Michelle D
April 28, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Blessed with seven
Member
Thank you all for your reply!
Michelle…do you feel that MUS is easy to teach, especially in higher levels. I worry about getting up in the higher levels and it being way over my head.
Thanks again,
Kim
April 28, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Bookworm
Participant
I was worried too. And, I do have to admit I occasionally rely on my dh as a backup. 🙂 My confidence is not high in the higher math. But yes, with the videos, I really feel I have the “basic idea” down pretty good at this point. The videos, and the manipulatives (at this point, I need them more than my son does, lol) REALLY help me. I had such an “Aha!” when I watched the video on factoring polynomials. I was hopping around the room, shouting, “So THAT’S what they were doing!!!” All those years, I never knew–I thought it was a torture device for teens. <g> Now I SEE the point. I’m really excited to move on to geometry next year to see if I can understand a little of it this time around! LOL
I’ll never be really confident, probably. I’ll always want to have my dh around as backup in a really snarly word problem (my nemesis in school) But yes, I feel I understand so much more than I used to. I don’t have much trouble with the regular text problems, but my son is also working through the Honors problems, and I’m definitely not an honors student at this point. 🙂 My dh has to rescue us occasionally there.
Michelle D
April 29, 2008 at 2:44 pm
odikens
Member
My son not only remembers the facts but he understands the concepts. In the beginning he really struggled with math and I really just thought it would never be his thing but it turns out that he was just not being taught correctly. He went from failing it on the standardized tests to the 74th percentile to teaching himself using the videos. Now I can’t keep up with him on it.
Blessings,
Melody
April 29, 2008 at 11:37 pm
cherylramirez
Participant
Michelle, your last answer cracked me up! I, too, can’t wait until my dd gets into the higher math, I am so excited about finally understanding algebra and geometry!! She’s finishing up Epsilon right now so we’ll be there soon!