Why you Need to Consider Utilizing Math-U-See Curriculum
Why Math-U-See Works
Math-u-See curriculum at its core is not your standard math textbook and workbook with worksheets. The purpose behind this curriculum is driven by excellence in every facet – it integrates a scaffolded math discipline in a easy to use and kid-friendly, kid-driven format. Based upon mastery of skills at a pace that is adaptive to your child, this curriculum is the most reliable way for your child to not only succeed, but succeed with confidence. Don’t be fooled by its simple or plain look. While no curriculum is perfect, we find this a gem and resource for a lifetime.
Textbooks
Website
All about Math-u-See Curriculum
Pros
- Scaffolded
- Easy to see format
- Clear lesson topics
- Useful concrete examples of questions
- Affordable
- Great workbook
- Simple and concise lessons
- Manipulatives are durable and colorful
- Most lessons are a 5-day cycle
- Great word problems
Cons
- Some of pages don’t have a lot of space to work out the problems.
- Website can be difficult to navigate.
- Answer key in teacher manual is somewhat choppy and hard to reference.
- Not a lot of upper level resources (for Algebra and beyond)
- Unit tests can be long.
- Upper level workbooks are dense.
How Math-U-See Curriculum is Effective
Our family has used this curriculum over the years with all three of our children who are all at different levels and proficiencies with math. While one of our children who struggles with ADHD goes slowly through the lessons, the other can complete multiple lessons in a day. What we have found over the years is that this math program is effective and intentional in all the right ways. Beginning with Primer, your child will learn the core concepts of math in a fun and creative way.
A Structured and Scaffolded Approach
We like how the levels are structured in terms of introducing concepts. It’s not about grades, it’s about learning the subject. These books introduce the concepts of everything including addition, time and even multiplication as early as second or third book. This is monumental for a child’s success in the future. By introducing multiplication early on, the later and more challenging lessons become easier to complete with success. It also aids the child in the multi-step problems by allowing less struggling and more fluidity from start to finish.
However, the best part of this program is that over the course of the lessons, there is deliberate scaffolding in the concepts. This means that each time your child starts to grow weak in a skill, that concept is being reviewed again within the new lesson. By interweaving the old concepts with the new, it allows the concept to stay in their mind and sharpens their skills, anything from basic rounding to long division.
Some Minor Complaints with the Curriculum…
…because no curriculum is perfect. Though this math curriculum focuses on mastery, it doesn’t give you too much in the way of extra resources beyond worksheets and manipulatives.
On the other hand, the lack of current resources may be challenging if you have someone really struggling with math because it can be difficult for your child to get extra practice or variations of problems in this book set. But if you have a child who is very good at math, it can be kind of cumbersome to try and find extra or more challenging resources for them.
However, if you use the manipulatives and stick with the curriculum, over time the main concepts will show progress and you will benefit. The company is currently working on a new Legacy edition of their curriculum and we hope to try this out and see if it improves in resources and extra practice.