Professor B Math

Heather-Thanks, I am considering using the free trial as well. We’ll see how that goes:)

Simplehome-I am trying to decide between mathusee and professor B. Are you saying they can be used along side each other or should they be used following each other.  I have looked at both of them and they both seem to use the Mental Math concept but I was not sure if they would confuse each other. We have been using life of fred so far this year but my younger children are not strong enough readers to work through LOF on their own.  I need something where I can introduce a concept and then let them practice some. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Thanks for your help. Have you ever looked at MEP math? Maybe too much work I’m not sure but I have a lot of kids and time is precious.

I seem to be coming in again with a different perspective.  I am using the Professor B program this year with my ds; but the book and not on the computer. My husband was unemployed until recently, and I was able to find the book, workbook, and charts used on Amazon. Anyway, it seems to be working well for ds, who was pretty behind where he would like to be at 9 1/2. Our main area of struggle with math has been with the basic addition and subtraction facts. I would think he had it, and then find when we got into harder problems, that he did not, and was having a difficult time. It seems to have finally stuck and we are moving on with more success. It is my idea to go through book 1 and 2 as a remedial catch-up program. I would ultimately like to move into TT for more independant math. So far it seems that it will work out well. I am undecided if we will need to use the third book. But I am very gratefull to the person who originally started this thread a year ago. I can honestly say it seems to have helped us a great deal get over this hump.

I used professsor B last year with my three kids (3rd, 2nd, &1st graders). My oldest hated math and when we switched to this she loved it. I would not use it alone as a curriculum, but rather as a supplement also. It is a different approach to learning math facts that is refreshing and something I would not have thought of on my own. We used a white board to teach the lessons (I used the books, as I found a good deal for them on eBay).

This year we are using Christian Light math, but I keep the professor B handy to refresh ideas, especially with my now 2nd grader.

One thing that I realized this year was that I should have spent more time on some things, like skip counting, especially with now 2nd grader as that would have helped her more this year. I thought she had it down good but now she doesn’t seem to get it. I know I can go back and I will review this, but just thought I would mention that!

Hi.  I just saw this and thought I would add my 2 cents.  I recently got the Professor B books–  Mathematics Power Learning for Children.  They really intrigue me.  I love LOF and want to use them along with that.  I don’t have a lot of experience with them yet.  We have been using Math U See.  I think all the advice you have gotten here is good.  Just looking at them, I think that the Mathematics Power Learning books (Professor B) would be enough for a stand alone currciulum.  However, IMO it makes more sense to use them with LOF, than to use them with Math U See if you are going to use two.  MUS and ProfB each have their way of explaining the why of Math.  I think it might be kind of confusing to learn both methods.  In each of these curriculums you are going to learn a lot more than just how to do the math operations.  I have to say I really, really like the ProfB way of explaining things better than MUS.  The difficult part of ProfB, I feel, is going to be the commitment of working through it with my children.  I fully expect that I will sit with each child and work through their math with them!!  I feel it is more teacher intensive than MUS.  MUS is just set up to be easier to use.   

HOWEVER!!  I like ProfB enough that I decided to give it a try.  I may go back to Math U See….

When my daughter was learning long division with MUS, I thought there was a little too much emphasis on the “why”.  It started to get more confusing for both of us… and I thought it wasn’t THAT important.  I think it is good to understand and think mathematically, but after a while they also just need to practice how to do it.  I don’t work through in my mind all of steps of “why” when I’m doing a long division problem— I just want to find the answer.  I thought MUS took it too far and made it confusing.  Just my opinion.  🙂  

Yolie

Binky, I also think that LOF needs something else.  If I could use only LOF and feel good about it, that is what I would do!  LOF is really my first choice– the one I do not plan on stopping.  So, what I am looking for is something to do along with LOF that will help them get the basic operations down.  I also want them to understand the “why” in basic math problems, but I don’t want it to be overdone.  I was using LOF and MUS together.  Now I want to try ProfB books instead of MUS.  

I’m almost afraid to say that I’m wanting to do this because it seems so many started out with good feelings about ProfB, but decided it wasn’t for them.  I’m really hoping I won’t regret it, but it just seemed to click with me.  

We’ll see in a year, I guess.  I hope it all goes ok for you.  Oh, and thanks, Melissa, for the good report from your homeschool. 

Yolie

Jo, my dd12 struggled mightily for years with her facts. We began using Rapid Recall from Little Giant Steps and made amazing progress and she has them down now! It was pricey, but her progress and success is worth it!