Wondering if it’s worth it to keep going with Singapore through grade 3 and then switch to Beast or go ahead and make the leap. So, there is more than one road to Timbuktu and I think Beast is a fantastic addition to the map, however a family wants to use it. If your son passed the pre-test, I’d expect he’ll do just fine with Beast. Several months back Anna wrote an article titled Beast Academy and Art of Problem Solving Reviews. My son loves graphic novels and it’s about the only thing he reads. Silly, I know. I think during school, we’d want him to work as independently as possible, so his teacher can give her attention to the students who need more support in 2nd grade work. I’d also recommend reading Arithmetic for Parents by Aharoni to help you as a teacher. This is a vey different kind of mental attitude than normal school work where you everyone is supposed to “know” the answer. Like having a world-class tutor for your child, these videos model the skills and problem-solving strategies needed to excel in BA Online. Illustrated Guide Books . And how far back would we go? My son is turning 10 in july and will be moving to grade 5 in september 2018. If that sounds great to her, then go for it! Kids who use Beast definitely need to know the math facts well so they can devote their brainpower to problem-solving and not figuring out basic multiplication. Curious about the new online math program from the creators of Beast Academy and The Art of Problem Solving? My son is in 2nd grade public school right now. In some ways, this approach is more relaxed, and in other ways, it is more rigorous. Beast Academy Online includes over 700 instructional videos featuring Art of Problem Solving founder, olympiad winner, and math beast extraordinaire, Richard Rusczyk. I love Beast Academy, but I do agree that it is generally geared for pretty advanced math students. I got Right Start after taking the quiz, but I just ordered Shiller Math. So I’m wondering, for a Liberal Arts-loving, English major mom like myself, is Beast just too tall an order? Reading the guides and doing the lessons online could be a great way to build her confidence and make math more interesting. She gets A’s and as of her last standardized test, she is in the top 10% nationally. hi Kate! My favorite of the three is RightStart, but it’s not the best choice for every family. I am debating what to do about math for my 8 year old daughter. Those books are great math books for kids who are budding engineers and physicists at heart. I’ve recently discovered your website and some podcasts you were on and have found your insights to be so helpful! If Beast Academy doesn’t sound like fun for you and your child, don’t use it! My question is what are your thoughts about the 2nd grade book? I like your books. She is enjoying some free lessons at BA online right now; she started herself at 2nd grade. It’s a comprehensive curriculum for grades 2-5, with four guides and four practice books per grade. It might help to keep in mind that Beast is written for kids to be ready to start the very-challenging Art of Problem Solving’s Pre-algebra text after 5D. Not the best solution I know, but he was cranking out four or five worksheets without thinking about it and also I was pregnant with #6 and a little overwhelmed! Suggestions? In-depth and detailed Beast Academy review. So glad you enjoyed the episode, Danielle! Singapore 1A and 1B, RightStart B, and Math Mammoth Grade 1 are all great preparation for Beast Academy 3A, although they’re not the only options. Have you looked into the 2nd grade books at all yet? However she has sailed through easily and she just completed Gamma this past year and would be ready for Delta this year. The only thing I would NOT do is try to do both in their entirety. For your third grader, I think you’d be fine starting him in 3A. Hi Kate, It prepares a child well for all three of the curricula that I’d recommend considering before Beast Academy: RightStart, Math Mammoth, and Singapore Math. Enroll in the Beast Academy online math curriculum for advanced kids grades 2 to 5 and challenge your child with guidebooks, practice problems, and puzzles. My favorite resource for this is RightStart’s “Activities for the AL Abacus” book and worksheets. I know RS is recommended by MBtP, but my concern is that he will be coming out of 2 years of traditional math. Sure, maybe only the top 5% can do this at the grade level listed, particularly if they have to unlearn a rote memorization method from previous math curricula or school, but if you wait a couple of years for reticent math learners, this is a great way to start from scratch for anyone (see Youcubed.org) so that they learn how to think and not just follow procedures. The next two chapters are quite different, and they’ll give you a much better feel for how the program handles more traditional topics, like multiplication. They’ll likely review all those topics again anyway in Pre-Algebra, and she should be fine as long as she has some background with them. I know Singapore finishes teaching multiplication tables in grade 3 and some other fundamentals. While the guides introduce the concepts, the real substance of the program is in the practice books. More reviews please. I stumbled upon BA yesterday while researching curriculum for our upcoming school year. In fact, he gets giddy when he sees the starred problems! She would be in 7 th grade if in public school. He’s also expressed frustration with not being allowed to find creative ways to solve a problem. If you have a question, you can contact me here. And paradoxically it’s harder for talented kids when they first encounter real math problems because they are used to math being easy for them. Thanks, Kate, I agree that BA is a joy to use (especially after trying some less than joyful curricula in the past). My son has been doing BA since 3A. Definitely don’t let the shapes chapter stop you! In the meantime, he is begging to start multiplication. I think you’d probably want to look at the Levels 3&4 problems: http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/sample_questions.html. Beast Academy is meant to be very advanced. My original goal was to get her ready for competitions but honestly, while she’s good at math, after seeing Beast Academy, I don’t think she’s at competition level. She’ll still get lots of conceptual understanding and interesting practice simply through solving the more straight-forward problems. I’m more than happy to work through things with him at home. I will do the placement tests but generally speaking, even with the introduction of multiplication this year while he’s in second grade, I assume 3A would still be a good place to start next year? He’s great with skip counting math facts, counting ridiculously fast on fingers for + & -, but he doesn’t see the whole picture/ concept… He just heard in his mind’s song what comes next. For your first grader, any solid first grade curriculum will prepare him for Beast. (My math facts books would also be a good supplement if you’d like to remediate the basic facts and make sure she can do them without counting. I feel a kindred spirit with Becca above…I have boys ages 9 & 11. If you don’t feel comfortable with it after all of 3A, then maybe it’s not for you.r family. Discussion on our expectations of what learning really looks like vs what we’re comfortable with it looking like really rang true also. Your 6yo sounds like the perfect fit for Beast Academy (and he’d likely be impatient and bored with Singapore). I love the strategies you use for teaching math … Your preschool math book really opened my eyes to some of the very fundamental numerical skills very little kids have to learn. (I would like my my 9y/o to go into AoPS eventually, I'm hoping that BA will prepare him) Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions over there. I get the sense that the main challenge that the Pre-algebra book provides isn’t so much the math content, but the new textbook format and the challenging problems. My 7yo is good at math but becomes very frustrated when he doesn’t immediately grasp a concept. For example, Prealgebra 1 is an online class, which means that the format is totally different from working through the Beast Academy books or Beast Academy Online. I stumbled across this review while researching BA for my two older kids. She will sometimes need to show him the process of how he got there, but once he understands it, it’s solid. It’s relaxed because the focus is on thinking deeply about fewer problems, without much routine practice. It prepares a child well for all three of the curricula that I’d recommend considering before Beast Academy: RightStart, Math Mammoth, and Singapore Math. In this review, I’ll explain what makes Beast Academy so different from other programs and help you decide whether it’s a good fit for your family. I hit a wall halfway through my college math-major courses when I didn’t know how to struggle with proofs and mull them over without feeling discouraged. Children who are used to whizzing through a worksheet may be frustrated at first to find that they have to work much harder, and that they may not be able to solve every problem. There’s going to come a point (maybe very soon!) After a lot of review, I am leaning toward Beast Academy. Also plan to spend twenty minutes once or twice a week reading and discussing the guide, and at least five minutes a day discussing the problems your child has solved. Instead, basic skills practice is incorporated into the more complex problems. As I paged through it, I felt both thoroughly delighted and completely puzzled. Or your Multiplication Facts that Stick? The multistep, “deep” format of the questions had him very intimidated. The guides use many everyday contexts and visual representations to encourage children to think deeply and understand what they’re learning. He has a quick and logical mind. I have a 7.5 yo son whose mind loves solving problems and whizzes through his 2nd grade worksheets. We just started and she’s doing pretty well with the 5th grade Beast Academy stuff but I was actually getting really upset because I thought her school was failing her when I saw several topics they’re covering in Beast Academy that she’s not touched yet at her school. The cute comic book style is gone, but in its place are educational and entertaining videos done by the CEO and founder of Art of Problem Solving, Richard Rusczyk. BA problems require a lot of effort, but she is a willing participant now! (We actually started using your addition facts that stick book this summer because I thought she wasn’t getting it and she surprised me with how well she did. . He can certainly read along with your 9yo and enjoy the graphic novels, but it won’t have enough practice for him. The only other books for grade schoolers I know that use this approach of giving a small number of “thinking problems” instead of reams of “just apply the formula” problems are the Ed Zuccaro’s Challenge Math books. When I met with the Advanced Math teacher several months ago, I was told, my daughter will need to know integers, writing equations, balancing and some other things. I also have a rising first grader. In his words, TT is the most boring math ever. Beast Academy is more like a fun book than a math curriculum, but it is still incredibly educational. Instead of teaching lessons, the parent’s role is to discuss the material and encourage and coach the student as he or she tackles difficult problems. I also love that we can access all three grade levels in one subscription. I have been doing more research and thanks to your blog and others I’m starting to see that I shouldn’t be as stressed as I was. That said, if you are used to handing your child a Kumon book and having them bang out 6 or 8 pages while you cook dinner … this a very different experience. Because of this review I’m looking at purchasing the Activities for the Abacus book and the Abacus from RS to supplement the rest of this year and then using Beast Academy for 2nd grade. Conceptually he’s lost. He’s excited to do BA, and to see himself as a Math Beast. Each chapter has 100-150 practice problems, ranging in difficulty from very basic practice problems to “double-star” problems: challenging multi-step problems that often require quite a bit of time and thought. A full year of guides and practice books (four of each) costs $108. But there are some that do a better job than others! If your son loves math and is doing well with it, I think you’ll be fine starting in level 5.