Miquon and Math-U-See

[bass chick]

Has anyone used Miquon Math and Math-U-See together?

We are doing Math-U-See right now (Alpha) and my son is starting to "get it", but he isn't thrilled with it.
I am looking to supplement with something and I keep coming back to Miquon. I see a lot of people combine Miquon with Singapore, but what with Math-U-See? And would I be able to use the Math-U-See manipulatives instead of the cuisinaire rods?
I don't want to quit Math-U-See because he likes playing with the blocks and he has learned addition, subtraction and solving for the unknown (he really likes solving for the unknown using the manipulatives) with them. I just think I would like to implement more math concepts and the creative side of math since he is very creative along with the concrete math ideas.

I hope I'm not out to lunch!!

[Lisa1970]

Miquon looks neat, but I would not supplement MUS with Miquon. This is because the blocks are too similar while being too different. It would become too confusing.

For MUS, I would add in, if you really want to add something in, Singapore Math Challenging Word Problems. It might go by a different name now. But, since scope and sequence are different, you will want to test your child before adding it in. I would say wait until you hit Gamma in MUS before adding it in and then try level 2. Level 2 in Singapore Math is when they introduce multiplication. Challenging Word Problems actually gives higher level problems so if you purchase level 2, it will actually be working on level 3. This could be complicated too as level 2 really is more of US grade 3 so if it works on the level 3, it might be equal to US grade 4. But I think you could get level 2 when you get to Gamma and try to see what you can do with it.

I hope I have not confused you!

[bass chick]

Haha! I had to read that several times to get it!
Thanks for the advice.

I actually dug through my books and found a Singapore Math 1A workbook. It is intended to supplement the Singapore curriculum. I flipped through the first little bit. It says it's for Grade 2, but the beginning part looks too easy for ds who is in Alpha MUS.

I'm going to see if he will enjoy some of the problems and am excited to be able to introduce more math instruction to him. I think he will like it. I can't figure out where it came from though! Haha!! Must have been on one of my curriculum buying sprees.

[naturegirl7]

We started out with MUS and have switched to Miquon and Singapore. I like MUS but it isn't working at the moment. The C. Rods are just a tad smaller than the MUS blocks - so they don't fit exactly into the pictures. That said, you can easily build number trains and such using the MUS blocks. We LOVE miquon, but DS definitely prefers to use the MUS blocks over the Rods. He likes the visual and tactile bumps of the blocks. So he plays with both kind and loves it. The number trains have been very helpful here.