Ray’s Arithmetic, Ray’s for Today or Math-U-See???

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  • Candice
    Participant

    Ok, we started out wanting to be Classical homeschoolers, found it really wasn’t for us and have been diving into CM ideas. I bought Saxon Math 1 at the prompting of my sister-in-law, who does Classical Conversations and uses Saxon.

    My son HATES it. I mean hates it. I am bored to tears by it as well. I tried making it work, but we just can’t continue with it. He is 5 and would technically be in Kinder, but has high functioning autism and is academically advanced for his age, so he needs more than counting beans and things like that.

    Now we are stuck on what Math to use. I have fallen in love with Ray’s Arithmetic and just found Ray’s for today. My husband loves Math-U-See, but I don’t love the price or that it seems to be so segmented by levels and I’ve heard its hard to deviate from if it doesn’t work.

    Help!! Any suggestions?

    totheskydear
    Participant

    He’s still so little! My son was doing MUS at that age but I wish I had waited to do formal math with him. At that stage I think helping with baking, counting his toys, and other natural nunber-related activities are enough.

    The first couple of levels of MUS are good but it seems like the following levels depend a lot on tricks… and if your child doesn’t get the tricks, there is no alternative explanation.  My son doesn’t have autism but he does take things literally, as a lot of people with autism do, so the tricks don’t work for him. They just go over his head.

    Maybe try finding used copies of the teacher manuals on eBay. They sometimes go for $5! That and a set of Cuisenaire rods would give you a feel for MUS without breaking the bank.

     

    retrofam
    Participant

    I would work on figuring out his learning style preferences. This could take some time and study. For example, my son is in first grade, and I just figured him out.  He is primarily an auditory learner, who does well with rhymes, saying things out loud, writing them if we keep it short, etc.  I was confused at first because he loves workbooks, which are visual, and he is very wiggly.  With primarily visual curriculum, he struggled.  When I added auditory aspects, he improved.

    We are using Christian Light Education Math, along with other supplements such as card games, Miquon, etc.  We are taking it slowly and not doing Christian Light every day.  When needed, we do some orally or I scribe for him.

    He likes the traditional teaching part because it is interactive,  and he likes the workbook, as long as we keep it short.

    My daughter hates classroom type teaching and loves independent work.  She is hands on in life and play, but likes her school work visual, workbooks with short lessons.  I rush through the teaching parts of Christian Light with her, which get shorter with each grade anyway.  She uses supplements too, but not as often, usually weekly.

    You can try Rays free which is nice.  Cathy Duffy has a review of Ray’s For Today.  I keep Math U See as a backup for those kids who are good at math and want to skip ahead quickly. It worked well for my oldest.  He struggled with the spiral in Saxon.

     

    sarah2106
    Participant

    Your son is still quite young, but if he is ready you can move forward at his pace. Some kids are ready and able to start lessons other kids need a bit more time, and sometimes they are ready for a few months and then need a break.

    We use MUS, always have (except a brief try of something else when my oldest was in K). It is different in its scope and sequence but by the end of Zeta they have a mastery of everything from addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals and are ready to move into prealgebra.

    It can be challenging to switch to a different program (when using Alpha through Zeta) because it can feel like the student is “behind” because each level has a “focus” so while a student in 1st grade in other programs might be doing a variety of tasks with MUS they are focusing on addition and subtraction. I remember looking at a friends 1st grade math book for her daughter and they were doing clocks and counting money, I started stressing myself out a bit, but then I paused and realized that MUS will get to those but if I wanted to teach now, go for it, but don’t stop using what is working because it is a different sequence.

    It took me time to get used to the scope and sequence, but now we really like it. My oldest has started pre-algebra (with MUS) in 7th grade and she is doing really well. She is not overly “math minded” but has just plugged along. She started Alpha in 1st grade. My older son is a lot more “math minded” he gets number and always has. He started MUS primer half way through preK because he was ready and cruised through it with out me asking him to do it, and started Alpha in Kinder. We went at his pace and sometimes he moved through quickly and other times he slowed down. My other son he is a bit more like his sister and started Alpha in 1st grade, we just go at his pace. This is actually what I like about MUS, since it is mastery the student moves at his/her speed. Also since it is mastery they are focusing on one type of thing at a time, instead of being introduced to multiple types of new problems and they might struggle with one thing but excel at others making it hard to know if you need to slow down or keep moving forward.

    With so many options I do agree with above post about thinking about your students own learning styles. So far MUS has worked for all 3 of my kids, but I know that it does not work for every child. Why we are so fortunate to have so many options, thought making decisions does get hard with all the options. Along with that you can read review after review and get very different opinions. Oh and yes, I always buy DVD and teacher guide used and usually get both for around $20 and the older guides (with a comb binding, not hard cover) work with the new student books and I have gotten a few of those with the DVD for $10.

    CrystalN
    Participant

    We have used mostly MUS but have had stints in multiple other curricula.  I kept switching around because I thought there was something “better”.  Then I realized I needed to make the curriculum the slave rather than the master.  MUS is different in scope and sequence for sure, but like sarah2016 said you get where you need to be by pre-algebra and then its pretty much on track with other publishers. I have three kids 4th, 7th, 9th this year and they all do really well with MUS, mathy and unmathy alike.  Buying used in a great option, or borrowing the dvd/teacher guide from a friend.  Keep in mind also if you have multiple kids the cost becomes less of an issue.  I only need a student book for my younger two each year.  We did try Rays Arithmetic for a bit, my oldest son found it far too wordy, and it is EXTREMELY teacher intensive, which didn’t work for us.  I love teaching my kids, but I only have so much time in a day. I have never used Ray’s for Today, perhaps it is easier to use than the original.  I used the free version, and purchased an inexpensive teacher guide from Mott Media. Your son is still super young, I bet  you could get away with printing out a Table of Contents from any math book curriculum and teaching the topics yourself with whatever you have on hand. There are tons of free math worksheet printables, or even a fun math practice book from Walmart would be enough at his age.  In 1st grade my kids all used “The Big Book of Math.” It is fun and colorful and I could easily teach the topics without help.(after 1st or 2nd grade they have passed my math abilities and I need curriculum….lol).  Good luck with your decision!

    Candice
    Participant

    Thank you all for your suggestions! We sat down and looked at everything and finally decided on Math-U-See. While he does seem to understand most of what Primer offers, we decided to go ahead and get it and start there. He is a young 5 (May birthday) but really loves “doing school”.

    I want him to get a good, solid foundation in math and so we thought if we started with Primer, he could still “play” with the manipulatives, do minimal worksheets (that he hates) and not have it mastery like the following levels are. Reading more CM stuff, I think even though he seems “ready” according to placement tests, I feel like he does need a more gentle introduction (seeing as Saxon really made him not so happy with math) and not too much “school time” this year.

    So I bought Math-U-See Primer, we’re planning on doing letters in sand and working through the first McGuffey book, with lots of read alouds from Sonlight A we were given and some science because he loves it so much.

    Now I’m off to read A Charlotte Mason Companion during quiet-time for my littles 🙂 Thank you all again!

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