Anyone uses Beast Academy to supplement math?
My son is in public school and I am constantly looking for math books, activities, etc. to help with math enrichment since I don't feel that his school is doing enough. I have just recently learned about Beast Academy but saw that is mostly used by homeschoolers and the books are very expensive (over $100 for books per grade level). I'm ok paying the money if it is worth it, but was hoping to get some advice from other parents of elementary aged kids advanced in math who go to public school and have after school activities who tried the program and whether it was possible to do as an after school add on at home or if it was too much and not a good fit. Thanks.
Oct 18, 2019
Parent Replies
Hello,
I’m a parent of a second grader in Oakland Unified and a Credentialed Teacher. I’ve never used Beast Academy but that sounds too expensive. I have used and suggest several online math enrichment programs. Try Education.com Brainzy interactive games and Kahn Academy or Mathletics. I’ve them all with students and for my own son.
I also have a child advanced in math. I like Beast Academy a lot because it teaches math in ways that are a bit different than what the kids find in school. With that said, there is not a ton of variety in each book (we only bought one) and it is hard to know exactly which book to start with. In the end we didn't pursue it past the first book I bought. My daughter wasn't super interested in the couple concepts taught in the book and since we were doing it as an extra, I wanted to let her follow her interests. In that regard, it works better as a curriculum instead of as an activity book. We found better luck with some Singapore math books that just had lots of interesting problems but were less of a curriculum. I wish you luck. Finding good, engaging math resources for kids that enjoy math and do well in it is hard.
We are a public school family with a kid who test about 3-4 grade levels above in math, and we've been using Beast Academy for the past year. To us, it's been worth the investment. I like how it goes deeper on the foundational topics and loops back repeatedly with increasingly harder challenges on the same topics, rather than just race ahead to new topics. I also think the online component is worth the expense if you can manage it, because it provides another way to really deepen the understanding of the fundamentals. A few caveats: in our case, it really works best when parent and kid work through at least the guidebooks together, if not the exercise books as well. So you can't just expect kids to do this independently, it really takes an investment of your time as well. Second, the online program is web-based rather than app-based so you have to be comfortable allowing your kid access to an internet browser.
We started using Beast Academy when my daughter was in 4th grade in public school and I felt like she needed some extra math. It made a huge difference - she went from being competent but somewhat unsure about math to being confident and advanced. Your son will definitely be challenged by the material. It's a great program by the same people who do Art of Problem Solving for older students. They also have an online program, but I prefer the books, having used both, because the books show example problems on the same pages as the actual problems. It's also easier to skip around and to see all the material in the books. We are finished with the guides for grades 4 and 5, and you are welcome to have them if you contact me directly.
We used Beast Academy when we were homeschooling and really liked it. i like the visual way that they work with problems and the illustrations are great. If you can get it, I think it's worth trying. I agree that it is probably better as a curriculum than as an activity book, but that being said, you could also take the time to look through it and pick out the pages that reinforce what your daughter needs to learn and that are also entertaining. That would take some time on your part but could be worth it. Good luck!