How does Math Mammoth compare with Math-U-See?

Disclaimer: At this point I have NOT personally seen Math-U-See. This review here is based on the samples and documentation on their website, and concerns mainly their first 6 levels.

Math U See (MUS) uses a complete mastery approach. I will outline their system for lower grades below:

Level	Focus
Alpha (1st grade)	Single-digit addition and subtraction.
Beta (2nd grade)	Multi-digit addition and subtraction.
Gamma (3rd grade)	Multiplication
Delta (4th grade)	Division.
Epsilon (5th grade)	Fractions.
Zeta (6th grade)	Decimals and percents.

I am not building my complete curriculum series to be as totally mastery-oriented as Math-U-See. My approach is more like a blend of some spiraling with mastery. I tend to include SOME ideas and concepts over several grades (such as addition/subtraction connection), whereas some are with mastery approach (for example addition facts or times tables).

For example, in Math-U-See, children learn multidigit addition up to 5 digits in level 2 (Beta). In my books, I have some easy multidigit addition in 1st grade, a lot on 2nd grade but not up to 5 digits, and then a little more with bigger numbers on later grades.

Another example concerning multiplication. MUS does single and multi-digit multiplication in level Gamma (about grade 3), which is indeed a good grade to study it. In my LightBlue series, multiplication concept is introduced in late 2nd grade. On 3rd grade, children learn single-digit multiplication AND division, and get started with multi-digit multiplication. Lastly on 4th grade, there is a large section on multi-digit multiplication.

Another difference I can see from the scope and sequence documents is that geometry, measuring, money, and time concepts are scattered or intermixed between everything else in MUS. Instead, I have written complete sections on each of geometry, measuring, money, and clock for the various grade-levels.

Actually, I happen to be a fan of geometry and I want to present it to kids as a UNIFIED body of knowledge, and start building that from early grades on. (You can read some of my thoughts on geometry here.)

Apparently metric units are introduced in level Zeta (6th grade). I introduce them and use them all the way from 1st grade on.

Based on the documents and samples on the website, I am not sure if Math U See builds in students an algebraic understanding of all the operations together. It seems to concentrate a lot on one operation at a time, for a long time (about a year). Will this enable students to tackle word problems that use many operations, or to understand the meaning of complex expressions such as 340 − 7 × 8?

In general, people praise the videos and the explanations presented in MUS (as you can see by reading reviews).

Of course, there is more to choosing a curriculum than just notions of the content or of the sequence. You need to consider the usability, "likability", price and such factors as well.

Disclaimer: I have not seen the curriculum. If you know better, can correct possible errors in this information, or otherwise have something to contribute to this page, feel free!

Both Maria's (with the disclaimer) and Angela's assessments of MUS are right on target, and will be helpful to all who read.

From one who was incredibly confused when algebraic concepts were introduced to me in 9th grade, (how can a letter equal a number?), I have been pleased to be able to introduce and use such concepts EARLY in math and believe this to be one of the most important aspects of a elementary math curriculum: both MUS and MM do this.

And yes, MUS incorportates measurement and geometry throughout the levels, (we just did quarts/pints in GAMMA) but I can see the importance of a separate focus as well, as Math Mammoth does.

Also, MUS has sections that focus on time, but I believe the graphics of MM will aid the student to grasp the concept more readily--as well as the graphics on money. I also like the fact you can choose different currencies. We will be moving to Europe, so the ability to study the Euro will be most helpful in our preparation.

Personally, we have been using MUS and Singapore,as together both are strong curriculums, but after seeing MM, we are DEFinately incorporating Math Mammoth's Light-blue curriculum into our learning and I believe it will quickly become our main math curriculum for the reasons stated above, plus its ease of use/teachabiility, convenience (downloadable), cost effectiveness and well, because it looks FUN!

Lisa Brouse
January 11, 2011

"Based on the documents and samples on the website, I am not sure if Math U See builds in students an algebraic understanding of all the operations together. It seems to concentrate a lot on one operation at a time, for a long time (about a year). Will this enable students to tackle word problems that use many operations, or to understand the meaning of complex expressions such as 340 − 7 × 8?"

I just wanted to state that I feel based on your available information you have given a fairly accurate summary of mathusee. I did want to address this concept. By no means am I a math expert. For the most part I wish at times (as I seem to mentally prefer spiral programs) the program covered time, money etc more extensively.

My dd started with Abeka math for K5 and 1st and made straight A's but had no real understanding of concepts learned. I switched to MUS and she started in Alpha. We are now working on Gamma. I have had my ups and downs with the program but feel I am understanding how it builds upon itself.

But back to the above quote and topic. The online worksheet generator is good but is not an all inclusive of what is available within the actual curriculum. The online worksheet generator does not cover word problems (at least not any I've ever gotten for extra review) but the workbooks do. It also will not generate worksheets for every lesson covered. ...

There are definitely problems which cover multiple operations (of course since we are only midway thru Gamma not one like your example yet). Solving for unknowns (early algebraic thought) is introduced in Alpha and continuously covered.

Mathusee has been great for my daughter and it works ok for my younger son but he prefers to use remnants of an Abeka workbook. So I have let him do worksheets from multiple places but his main curriculum is MUS. He loves the video and blocks but bores with worksheets (black and white and mostly the same problems each day).

I ended up at Math Mammoth as it was suggested as a supplement for those skills that seem to be lacking with MUS.
...

Angela Clark