Math-U-See vs. Teaching Textbooks vs. Saxon

I have 3 ds and we have homeschooled from birth.  My oldest is going into 7th grade.  He is going into Zeta this year.  My middle son is 5th, using Delta.  3rd ds is 1st, using Foundations (Classic version).  We have used MUS from the beginning.  I am VERY HAPPY with it.  They all have done wonderfully well. 

I love the fact that with MUS they UNDERSTAND the CONCEPTS.  They don’t just MEMORIZE facts.  They understand what they represent.  I was a math whiz in school, but I wish I had been taught this way also.  It just makes sense.  I love that they have to master a concept before they go on to a new one.  That way if they are having a problem, I KNOW that it is with the new concept and not the others we have already covered.  It also builds my confidence in teaching them because I know each step that needs to be taken to solve a math problem and how to explain it to them and why.

The manipulatives are great.  I am so impressed that they have manipulatives for every level.  I would never have been able to figure out how to show adding and subtracting fractions with manipulatives.  The manipulatives made it very easy to SEE WHY you got the answer you got.

-Jennifer