How Math-U-See Works

When we discovered Math-U-See homeschool curriculum and began using it to teach our children the "why" as well as the "how" of math, suddenly there was much less anxiety concerning math in our home.

We have tried various homeschool math curriculum choices during our years of home educating such as Abeka Math, Saxon Math, and others. But, this program was really different.

The Journey

Initially when we began using Math-U-See, our student books were called by names such as Introduction, Foundations, Intermediate, and Advanced workbooks. Then came the revised editions which were called by some of the Greek letters like Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta.

But, it wasn't how they looked that mattered most. It was the way that Steve Demme explained math to me so that I could easily explain it to our children that mattered most and kept us coming back year after year.

An earlier version of their brochure states:

Tell me, I forget
Show me, I understand
Let me do it, I remember

Later, they added..."Let me teach you, I have mastered"

The Difference

MUS is different from the traditional workbooks because it teaches YOU to teach the reasons behind math concepts to your child.

It really encouraged me when I knew that I fully understood the concept and wasn't just reciting what had been told to me years, okay decades, earlier.

Math-U-See uses incremental ways of explaining concepts that initially may seem foreign to a child. But, they "get it" through the use of the manipulatives and instructional dvds.

For example, the parent-teacher is instructed to teach skip counting in the early grades(skip counting by 2s would be 2,4,6,8,...). Later, when you have to teach how to make equivalent fractions, your child can clearly see how 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, and 4/8 are equal.

The fraction overlays pictured above are terrific, too, for demonstrating fractions. By using this compact set, you can show how to convert fractions. When you place another fraction overlay over the 1/2 you see how it becomes 2/4.

Our Experience

We have used all of the MUS student and teacher sets with the exception of the Trigonometry and Stewardship books. Our children and now grandson, Ezekiel, enjoy spending time using the blocks. This is a great home school math curriculum and parent and child will gain confidence as they go through this program.

Visit their website to get more specific information about ordering.

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