I'm wanting to switch from MUS.. I'm used to assigning the short teachers lesson on the dvd and then they did the lesson.. I Just feel like there's not enough variety in concepts taught and now that I only have one left homeschooling, I can spend more time teaching the lessons myself.. I want to make sure I understand how it works before I buy it and then decide I really don't want it.. There's flashcards,puzzle work, and some other things that I don't normally use.. I'm assuming that this is not all done the same day.. The sample lessons were a little bit confusing to me.. Much different than I'm used to.. If someone could explain how this works I would appreciate it. It's a toss up between Mcruffy Math and Horizon.. We will be doing the 3rd grade set of either. Thanks!!
No advice but I'm curious about the answers you will get. We started out with MUS and didn't make it past Alpha. My daughter was too busy playing with the blocks to pay attention to the lesson. When looking for a different math program I was on the fence between McRuffy and CLE. We switched to CLE and I am happy with it but I still peek at McRuffy once in a while.
I don't have a ton of time now, but I have grade 3 here and can look tomorrow at it. I will tell you how 2nd grade works, I bet 3rd is similar, because other than bumping up to the mental/oral math each day, there hasn't been a whole lot of change from 1st. First, the teacher's guide lists what you need for the lesson (response book, workbook, counters, timed test, journal). Then it will walk you through the days lessons, even putting in bold font what you are to say to the kids. It will tell you almost exactly what to write "on the board" for working on the learning aspect. Most days is like this" Response book... this is a book that is made to do mental/oral problems. I read the problems and they use a dry erase marker (or colored pencil now... those things are AWESOME) then they flip their book to check their answers and record it on a paper that is in the resource pack. My kids both love doing this, even Rylee who does not like math! Then there is a lesson that will tell you to write something on the board, we use a little expo dry erase board we got at Staples last year. Then they do some of the workbook. This gives me a minute to look ahead. Then there is some more lesson and they do more workbook. Sometimes there are 3 parts, sometimes 2, sometimes only 1. Then you do the timed test. You can decide how you want to do them... keep doing the same one day after day till they get to a time you accept or whatever. Then it suggests putting things in the journal, which is optional (we don't do it), write a list of facts, write definitions ,etc
Crazymama gave you a good run down. The one difference is that I do not see a journal suggestion for 3rd grade this year (but like she, we did not use it anyway). We did 1st and 2nd grade and just started the 3rd grade one this week. I like the oral exercises, and so does she (my daughter), its usually anywhere between 5-10 problems and then my daughter can check her own answers. The timed tests for this year focus on multiplication and they are not scheduled like last year (I think they were for 2nd), so you need to pace it out- depending on your child. In the coming weeks they introduce memory work- short term and visual, where they have these cards to memorize- a set of several numbers, and/or a visual pic (like shapes) in which they study for 30 sec. and then look away and draw what they remember. This is new for 3rd grade as well. Overall it has a great variety of hands on, memorization and skill practice incorporated. And there are games- those are more spread out though. My daughter loves it! I will say Horizons is also a great program- I used it most of it for 1st and 2nd grade with my son (for tutoring as he was still in public school then) and it was very thorough and had some hands on activities, however I prefer McRuffy because the worksheet is 1 sided (Horizons is double sided, which got overwhelming for my son) and it includes more variety in the lessons- oral, hands-on, etc. (I should note too, that when we started homeschooling we learned my son does better with MUS, which he loves! But my daughter was in 1st grade when we started and I wanted to find something that reminded me of Horizons but not as much problems on a worksheet and more variety, and that was McRuffy!) Anyways, we are going to stick with McRuffy for my daughter until there are no more! Good luck!!
It sounds like McRuffy is kind of teacher intensive. Can the child (3rd grade) do the lessons independently?
McRuffy is not meant to be independent, but honestly I don't consider it teacher intensive either. It's very painless for me, it takes us about 20-30 minutes to do a lesson all the way through. Everything is laid out and there for me. Even a kid doing Teaching Textbooks should not be doing math alone, but many think it takes mom/teacher out of the equation.
I am TOTALLLY getting the math AND spelling!! I'm LOVING the way it's layed out and can't WAIT to get started on it!! We officially start our school year the day after Labor Day.. So I still have some time to get it ordered.. SoOoOo ExCiTeD!!
Where do you order McRuffy Math? I was all set to choose Right Start for #5 because it is what we use(d) with #4. But McRuffy seems a little better and less expensive.
www.mcruffy.com Click homeschool, then across the top (and the 2nd row down now too for 5th grade), then just below that bar section you can choose the subject they don't really stand out.. you have to kind of look. The site could be slightly easier to navigate that's for sure But the math is amazing, so I won't complain too much
I trust you all have seen www.xtramath.com It's just drill but essential in any math program. did I mention free?
Now that Rylee is doing TT, I have her doing xtramath since she lost the extra "drill" that McRuffy has built in. It's a great site, but doesn't always work quite right.
We use xtramath too.. Probably won't use it as much this year since we are using McRuffy.. I decided to get the Language Arts set along with the Math Instead of just the spelling.. It's built into the program from what I understand.. I can't WAIT to get it!! I have to wait to order until next week though.. Got school clothes and supplies to buy for the other kiddos.. :/
So is the McRuffy website the best place to get the student workbook? And I would need 1 "Resource pack" or 1 per student?
Unless you find it used, you can only get the McRuffy Color stuff through McRuffy's site. There is an older version of McRuffy that isn't as great (good, not great) that others sell (Rainbow, CBD, etc.) You only need 1 resource pack, that stuff is copy-able. If it's laminated you only need one. I will warn you, his shipping rates suck, he really makes a killing on them, so I think ahead and order... like I know I will need an extra workbook for this in a year and need one for K for Cameron in 2 years, I order all of it at once to save on the shipping.
