Accelerating Math Mammoth?

[mamabear2three]

We need to work through the second half of MM1 and all 2 quickly (well, at her pace, but at the end of last year we went through the first half of MM1 in about 2 weeks time)... how have you accelerated MM? When I was accelerating it at the very end of last year, I had to sit and do it all with my daughter, not assigning any independent work.

 

I have not found her level yet, which is why we are using mm (cheap way to go over a lot of material quickly), but I am finding that she only needs 1 or two examples before she has the concept down, and then needs to move on, so I don't know how to do math without sitting for the entire math time, working with her so that I can move her through as fast as she needs to move. 

 

Is that basically how others accelerate MM to find a student's level? Or is there a way to do it that provides a little bit of independence for the child?

 

 

[Runningmom80]

Have you given her a placement test? You may just need to skip ahead. MM has so man problems, it's really a pain to accelerate through, IMO. We did a year of it, because I was trying to save money. Didn't workout for us.

 

 

I'm confused as to the question of independence, how old is your dd?

[mamabear2three]

Have you given her a placement test? You may just need to skip ahead. MM has so man problems, it's really a pain to accelerate through, IMO. We did a year of it, because I was trying to save money. Didn't workout for us.

 

 

I'm confused as to the question of independence, how old is your dd?

 

I guess I should just give her the placement test, that's a good point. I suppose I could use the placement test to figure out which individual lessons to cover too, yes?

 

So you switched to singapore math instead of sticking with MM?

 

regarding independence, she's only 6 but she's highly dependent on me to do anything, even things that she can do, and I have two youngers that need some attention as well. Ideally, I would like to be able to provide a lesson, work with her to ensure she understands, and then give her something to do without me, as independent work... of course this could be a throwback from when I worked with special needs students who needs serious repetition of basic skills... kind of the opposite of where we find ourselves with our daughter.

 

I suppose starting with the placement test and then just diving in and seeing how the year progresses will be the best bet, with some fun toys to keep the littles busy while I do a few minutes of schoolwork. 

[MEmama]

We found it really easy to accelerate. If she has the concept and computation down, just move on. We often did just a couple questions (the last ones in each section, so the hardest) per page. In retrospect, we could have skipped all of MM6 and quite a lot more, but my own math insecurity prevented that.

[MotherOfBoys]

I gave the chapter test first to protest. When questions were missed I would ask if it was calculation error or concept understanding error. Then I would print that section of the MM chapter to work on for a day or more add in some mix review for fun and confidence for one day and move on. We would average two or more chapters a week till 2b. I believe some extra practice isn't a bad thing, hence the mix review. We had time to spare and I wanted to be careful.

 

Edited to add: this saved alot of printing

[boscopup]

I used MM with my oldest at that age. We started in 1A while he was in first grade at school. Second semester, we started homeschooling, and I accelerated his work in MM.

 

Basically, I taught the material, then assigned however many problems I thought he needed. If he knew the whole chapter, I'd give the chapter test to verify before skipping the chapter. We skipped all of 2B because it was mostly learning to regroup with 3-digit numbers, and he had figured that out when doing 2-digit. I gave him the end of 2B test, and he passed it with flying colors.

 

You don't have to do all the problems. Maybe assign half or less, and if you see that more are needed, assign those a different day.

 

Don't expect independence yet. She's 6. :) I had to sit at elbow with my son when he was 6 and 7. At 8, he started to do a little bit on his own, but still not a lot. It was age 9 when he really started to gain independence. That's pretty normal, from what I've read over the years. It was kind of funny that I even had to read directions to him at 6 or 7, despite him being an advanced reader. Now, he is so independent at age 10 that I can hardly believe it's the same child. :)

[mamabear2three]

I gave the chapter test first to protest. When questions were missed I would ask if it was calculation error or concept understanding error. Then I would print that section of the MM chapter to work on for a day or more add in some mix review for fun and confidence for one day and move on. We would average two or more chapters a week till 2b. I believe some extra practice isn't a bad thing, hence the mix review. We had time to spare and I wanted to be careful.

 

Edited to add: this saved alot of printing

 

Thanks :) I think this is how I will plan on proceeding - that way I don't have to teach each section if she already knows it, and we can focus on any weak areas.

[BrookValley.]

I think giving the chapter tests as pretests and then using that to judge with areas to work on is a great idea. When we used MM, we flew through 1A and 1B very quickly. At the end of it, I was getting ready to plow right into 2A, but I just didn't feel that was the best idea for DS. So I got Singapore 1B and we went through that, too. I'm glad we decided to slow down and go through the material again, albeit in a slightly different way/format. Moving into 2A, DS and I both decided to ditch MM in favor of SM. He much preferred it, and while I think MM is great, I didn't feel we really got into the nitty-gritty conceptually like we have with SM (I think this is the difference for *me* with having the IG vs. just teaching on the page).

 

...And, I'm sorry. I just rambled a bunch of stuff that wasn't really pertinent to what you were asking at all. :laugh:  Long night up with the baby; I think I need a nap now!

[mamabear2three]

I think giving the chapter tests as pretests and then using that to judge with areas to work on is a great idea. When we used MM, we flew through 1A and 1B very quickly. At the end of it, I was getting ready to plow right into 2A, but I just didn't feel that was the best idea for DS. So I got Singapore 1B and we went through that, too. I'm glad we decided to slow down and go through the material again, albeit in a slightly different way/format. Moving into 2A, DS and I both decided to ditch MM in favor of SM. He much preferred it, and while I think MM is great, I didn't feel we really got into the nitty-gritty conceptually like we have with SM (I think this is the difference for *me* with having the IG vs. just teaching on the page).

 

...And, I'm sorry. I just rambled a bunch of stuff that wasn't really pertinent to what you were asking at all. :laugh:  Long night up with the baby; I think I need a nap now!

 

Totally pertinent! I am very new to the acceleration world... I've argued for a long time that my daughter was "average" until what I was seeing her do and what I saw in appropriate grade level curricula just didn't make sense anymore. Hearing how other people find things that work for their kids is very helpful!!

 

Hope you get your nap :)

[Runningmom80]

We prefer sm to mm for the same reason as Brook Valley. With MM, I felt ds was superficially going through it, with SM, the IG helped me to dig into topics with him.

 

I'm not saying MM is a superficial program, however, the way we were accelerating made it so, IMO.

[mamabear2three]

Interesting... I don't have the money to spend on another math program right now though, I spent it all on books for history  :lol:

 

I am going to just do what I can with MM for now and see how it goes... maybe I'll switch to something else later. 

 

I am going to really focus this year on trying to get things to a point of challenge for her, so that she learns to wrestle with something.

[MotherOfBoys]

You can also get Primary Challenge Math at the library for more word problems at different levels. We've also done Verbal Math 1-3 from the library to work on that skill separately. I tried these when I was getting close to the end of MM2 and he was slowing down. I think he was getting sick of tests at that point. :)

[Runningmom80]

I hear ya! I don't want to know my total money spent on math curricula thus far, and DS is only 7.

[BrookValley.]

We prefer sm to mm for the same reason as Brook Valley. With MM, I felt ds was superficially going through it, with SM, the IG helped me to dig into topics with him.

 

I'm not saying MM is a superficial program, however, the way we were accelerating made it so, IMO.

 

Exactly.

 

Interesting... I don't have the money to spend on another math program right now though, I spent it all on books for history  :lol:

 

I am going to just do what I can with MM for now and see how it goes... maybe I'll switch to something else later. 

 

I am going to really focus this year on trying to get things to a point of challenge for her, so that she learns to wrestle with something.

 

FWIW, I think MM is really a solid program. I actually like it very much--but it was too easy for me to be lazy, because it was too easy to just complete a page or two and call it done. That said, if you're a more conscientious sort than me, there's no reason MM isn't just as deep and rigorous as SM.

 

 

You can also get Primary Challenge Math at the library for more word problems at different levels. We've also done Verbal Math 1-3 from the library to work on that skill separately. I tried these when I was getting close to the end of MM2 and he was slowing down. I think he was getting sick of tests at that point. :)

 

We use Primary Challenge Math, too, along with a lot of logic puzzles and living math books. DS likes Murderous Maths, as well as these old out-of-print books that were put out by Time Life for Children called "I Love Math." There's a bunch in the series; we get them through our library. Oh! The "I Hate Mathematics" book is fun, too.

 

Anyway, OP, I wouldn't let our experiences with MM put you off; it's good stuff, and you can get good use out of it. It is definitely an excellent program for the money. I'm with Runningmom...you don't want to know what I've spent on math, either, and like her, DS just turned 7. There was also our failed experience with Right Start. *sigh*  That was a pricey mistake!

[AmandaVT]

We're in a similar spot as you and our kids are the same age too. I got advice here to use the chapter tests as pre-tests and it works well. I do make a point to do the puzzle corners and the word problems because I like them and thankfully so does DS. We went from 1A-2B last year in K and I'm thinking we'll still be accelerating at least for the start of this year in 3A. 

[mamabear2three]

We're in a similar spot as you and our kids are the same age too. I got advice here to use the chapter tests as pre-tests and it works well. I do make a point to do the puzzle corners and the word problems because I like them and thankfully so does DS. We went from 1A-2B last year in K and I'm thinking we'll still be accelerating at least for the start of this year in 3A. 

 

The big question rolling around in my head is whether to continue with MM through level 3 or whether I switch to Beast Academy. I guess we'll see how this year goes and make that decision when the time comes. I will have to see how we do with an accelerated version of MM through level 2. 

[MotherOfBoys]

We bought beast this summer to use this year. My son has completed through MM 2 and got a A on the end of year test. When we went to start beast on Monday this week he didn't want to. We will do MM 3 chapters 1, 6, then 2 first now. Then try beast again. I think he's used to MM and he knows what's expected. He doesn't want to leave summer mode and his allergies are bad this week, also. He's a get r done boy and he didn't want to learn the different setup of beast. I don't see beast as a stand alone for us because of his attitude right now.

[AmandaVT]

I bought BA 3A and I'm hoping to use both MM and BA. Fingers crossed that it will work, like MotherofBoys' son, DS likes MM (and PCM which we use for fun extra stuff) and I'm worried he'll balk at BA. 

[librarymama]

I've dropped SM (again, sigh) and we are going to do just a couple of chapters in MM 2B of material we didn't cover well in SM. With MM I agree with others that accelerating is possible if you are able to sit with your child as they go through it. My son loves when I say he only has to do a couple of problems rather than a whole page.

 

My plan is to start MM 3A and alternate days with Beast 3A. I gently introduced Beast to him by letting him browse the text without pressure to do it right then, and he seemed excited.

[mamabear2three]

Well we had to ditch mm again because it's not worth tears... I am going through horizon's math work books now and it seems to be going well... We will see how it goes in time. She's moving through the lessons pretty quickly so I think a lot of the early lessons are just review but they do a quiz every 10 lessons so it's a relatively cheap way to see what she doesn't know.

[MotherOfBoys]

Sorry things are not going well. Beast 3 is going amazingly well for us. We changed our mind on the first Monday from MM3A to Beast 3a. I'm glad we did. He loves it! The hands on toothpicks and tetrominos are a huge hit. My four year old can tag along too which is an added bonus. The first day was bad because he was distracted by all the pictures on the page in the guide but since day two it's been the best! We will finish chapter one after two weeks of school. We did math five days a week and three of those days we did the Advance Pattern Block workbook that I got from the library. It is for 5th-8th grade but it had a lot that he could do to reinforce the Beast chapter 1 lessons. I had pattern blocks from the Saxon math we used to do and I hated seeing them just sit on the shelf. Today we played the old Tetris game on the Wii.

 

I think the next chapter (skip counting) will go just as fast so I'm adding in 3 days of extra activities to that chapter as well. I'm going to pace us as a chapter every two weeks right now with a week off inbetween books for MM3 review or MM Time and Money chapters. The week off will give us time to order the next Beast book too. I didn't order them all because I wanted to make sure we liked it first. I think MM is a good compliment to Beast. I have also been looking at the new Murderous Mystery books for "Young Readers". That might be a Christmas gift along with the technic lego sets I'm looking at.