In our early years of homeschooling, we tried so many math programs: Saxon, Math Mammoth, A Beka, Christian Light Education (CLE), Master Books, ACE Paces, Life of Fred, Beast Academy, and others I’m probably forgetting. I kept defaulting back to Saxon (unsuccessfully, I might add) until my husband told me to get rid of it. (My background is in engineering and in teaching high school-level math, so it’s ironic this was such an issue for us.)
It was in my search for a high school-level advanced math course that we landed upon Math U See. Our oldest son was planning to go into a STEM field in college, and we wanted something that would provide a solid foundation before he tackled college-level calculus. He had finished Algebra 2 in 11th grade and needed a precalculus course. Our options were limited. Math U See PreCalculus was one of them.
At first, I was concerned Math U See would not adequately prepare our children for college-level math (because I’ve always carried Saxon guilt, thinking that it had to look like Saxon for it to be successful), but Math U See Precalculus proved to be sufficient to equip our oldest for entering Calculus I as a college freshman. It was actually the best math curriculum he used throughout his middle and high school years!
The following year I decided to swap the rest of our sons to Math U See, and I couldn’t believe how well it had worked for all of them (one in high school, one in middle school, and one in grade school). Since then, our second son also completed Math U See Precalculus as a senior and then entered an engineering program at a local university. Our third son started Math U See Pre-Algebra in 7th grade and liked it more than any other math curriculum we had used. (He is now taking a calculus course as a high school junior). And our youngest has been working methodically through the elementary series. (He has completed Alpha (1st grade), Beta (2nd grade), Gamma (3rd grade), Delta (4th grade), and Epsilon (5th grade) and is currently in Zeta (6th grade), the last level before entering Pre-Algebra.
Now that we’ve used Math U See for over five years, I’d like to share five reasons why Math U See has been the best math curriculum for us…
Five Reasons We Use Math U See
1. The “See” in Math-U-See. Math U See builds conceptual understanding using consistent, hands-on manipulatives, then proceeds with visual representations (on paper) followed by the symbolic form. And it’s not an extensive list of manipulatives. Math U See uses the same manipulatives from Primer through high school-level math: integer blocks, fraction overlays, and decimal inserts.
2. A simple mastery approach. Math U See provides an adequate balance of practice and review. In other programs, either there wasn’t enough focus on new concepts (as was the case for us with Saxon’s spiral approach), or the assignments were too short (as was the case with Master Books), or the assignments were too long (as was the case with A Beka and several other programs). Math U See provides enough sheets for you to customize the amount of new-concept practice and systematic review to incorporate.
3. Teaching videos. Although I’ve found the instructor’s manual easy to use, we’ve used the teacher videos for convenience. The videos explain the concepts in a classroom setting, and they’re fairly short. The videos have provided autonomy for our high schoolers, and it’s helped me to learn to use the manipulatives correctly for our younger son. The videos are not required by our a great add-on, especially for parents who aren’t strong in math themselves.
4. Honors and/or application lessons provide real-world examples or puzzles/challenges for the student to complete. These are optional but build problem-solving skills and provide some great math discussion opportunities.
5. The progression allows for Calculus in high school. If students start in Pre-Algebra in 7th grade, they will be able to take Calculus before they graduate from high school. That’s with taking only one math course per year. If students start in Alpha in 1st grade, they will end up in Pre-Algebra their 7th grade year. In other words, children don’t have to be advanced math whizzes in order to take the most advanced math course normally tackled by honors students in high school. It’s the natural pace/progression in Math U See. And if a student struggles, you can slow down the pace and still get to Algebra 2 and/or Precalculus in high school.
If you’re interested in learning more, you can explore each level, download samples, and watch sample video lessons at the following links:
<li”>Calculus
Need help (or convenience) with planning for high school?
Our High School Truth Trek plans include lesson plans for Math U See Algebra I through PreCalculus. And… we are now dividing up the Truth Trek series into subject-specific lesson plans so families can choose individual subjects and better customize what their students are taking. Our first subject-specific lesson plans are High School MATH Lesson Plans which include an entire suite of high school-level math lessons scheduled out for grades 9-12 with Math U See Algebra I through Calculus. Click here for more details.
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