by Jessica Peterman
Our family has been homeschooling for six years now, and I
must confess, we’ve done our fair share of curriculum hopping. But there is one area, however, where I’ve
been happy from the start. Enter
Math-U-See.
Math-U-See was created by Steve Demme, a math teacher and
homeschooler of 4 boys. In my
estimation, it is very different than many of the mainstream math textbooks out
there.
First (and perhaps most important for me), the program
includes an instructional DVD to teach the parent how to teach the
lessons. Or you and your child can watch
the DVD together, which is what we do most of the time. This is a step not to be skipped, because
although I did fairly well in math, I’m learning so much more of the why’s and
how’s from Mr. Demme’s methods. He also
gives you a few different ways to solve problems that you most likely didn’t
learn in school.
The program only covers one new skill at a time, and works
on review after the first few pages of introducing the new topic. This worked well for my kids who would be
thrown off by busy math pages that skipped from addition, telling time, and a
couple other skills all at the same time.
The program’s goal is for the student to practice the skills, master the
skills, and ultimately, be able to teach them back to you.
My kids’ favorite part of the program is the blocks. Starting with the first level, the Primer,
the kids work with and solve problems with colored blocks. They build large numbers, learn addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and even fractions with these
manipulatives. (The fraction ones are
especially cool!) All of which is great
for hands on or visual learners. After
they get the hang of things with the blocks, they move towards regular
computations.
I would say that the only areas that aren’t covered as
thoroughly as I’d like are money, time and measurement. He does touch on these things, but if these
don’t come easily to your child, then you might want to supplement a bit.
Check out the program and get a free sample DVD at
Mathusee.com
