Math-U-See ~ I Sing Its Praises

Math is not my best subject.  Actually, it is my very, very worst subject.  I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide, but that's about as far as it goes.  Fractions, algebra, geometry.....not so much.  I struggled in school with math from day one.  Dawson has always gotten decent grades in math, but it was easily his worst subject and as the years went on I could see that he struggled more and more.  Reagan seemed as though she might be pretty good at math, but as a first grader it was hard to tell.  And poor Griffin.  Griffin takes after his mother and has always struggled - a lot - with the dreaded math.  He has always hated it.

Enter Math-U-See. 

We started a new math curriculum this year that uses blocks to teach CONCEPTS rather than memorizing facts.  We have been using it for a month now and..... (cue angels singing).... WE LOVE IT!!  There has been light-bulb moment after light-bulb moment with all three of them over the past four weeks.  Especially with Griffin.  The curriculum doesn't go by grades, but rather by levels.  Each level focuses on one concept instead of jumping around from one thing to another.  For example:  Reagan is in the Alpha book, which concentrates fully on addition.  Really, she probably should have done this in first grade, but I wanted to go back and make sure she really understood what she was doing.  The good part about it is that if she is understanding what she's learning she can test out of it and move on to the next thing.  We hope to have her out of this book by Christmas break and then she will move on to the Beta book in January.  I went back a level for Dawson also (he's doing fractions) just to make sure that the concept was truly understood. 

 Hopefully he will finish by Christmas as well and move on to where he technically should be in 7th grade.  With Griffin, I moved him ALL the way back to the Beta book which focuses on subtraction.  It's very easy for him, but I felt that he needed to go back and solidify those concepts.  Again, he is moving quickly through it, so he should move on to Gamma (multiplication) next semester.  For a kid who, at the beginning of the year, could barely add and subtract if it involved regrouping......he is now adding three digit numbers - in story problems, no less - in his head!  I never thought I'd see the day!!  So, if you want a review of Math-U-See........RUN TO GET IT!!  Run, I tell you!