Mastering Essential Math Skills

[alisoncooks]

I have a 6th grader that is suffering from major, summer mind-dump. This is on top of the fact that we were already working a year "behind" in Math Mammoth (she just started MM5). We got off-track a couple of years ago when DH was very sick, and haven't yet caught up; in fact, we seem to keep falling more and more behind. :( (We are consistent with math, but DD works verrrrry slowly and she struggles with confidence.)

 

Anyway, she revealed today that she feels she's forgotten her times tables. (Again.) *sigh* Since we do have plans to transfer to public school in a couple of years, I feel the pressure to get caught up.

 

Anyway, all that to say: I'm looking at the Mastering Essential Math skills workbook (and video lessons). I'd start at book 1 and possibly supplement with something (maybe MM pages when needed for more explanation.)

 

Has anyone used this series as their MAIN MATH for a year or two (especially with an OLDER student)? Were you able to smoothly move into middle/high school math? I'd like to be able to get her back on track by 8th (pre-alg.?)

 

Any suggestions for a good supplement? (Maybe Beast Academy, just the books, read together for fun; she does love graphic novels. Or Life of Fred, though I think they look odd...:p))

[Kiara.I]

How about just playing multiplication card games? Rightstart had a couple of excellent ones in their book.

 

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[EKS]

I'd pick a program that is easy to accelerate and then sit with her each day to make sure she uses her math time efficiently.  I wouldn't add extras like Life of Fred or Beast Academy unless you have lots of extra time and plan to work the problems (just reading about math doesn't help with problem solving skills).

 

Programs that are easy to accelerate:  Singapore, MUS, Lial (Basic College Math), Derek Owens

 

Programs that are more difficult to accelerate: Saxon, TT

 

I would treat the math facts as a separate issue.  Have her do fact practice daily for 5-10 minutes and mental math for another 5-10 minutes.

[fralala]

I have not used Mastering Essential Math Skills, but hopefully this bump will help locate someone who has. Isn't it mostly intended as summer supplement or way to keep math fresh between levels? It seems to me that using it for several years would just push you back even more...and might not confront the bigger problem here, which is not your daughter working slowly (that's okay in most non-artificial situations) but the fact that she has a problem remembering what she has already learned (to some extent normal, but when it goes beyond the extent of normal brain drain, majorly confidence-sapping and discouraging for everybody). Do you think the problem here is conceptual, or can she (slowly!) figure out the x facts in her head if you're not expecting instant recall? What kind of things has she been very successful in or enjoyed in math? Beast Academy was deeply frustrating to my graphic-novel-loving-daughter because it was made her feel dumb-- not being able to always follow along with the math presented wasn't enjoyable for her and she felt like it confirmed some of her ugly fears about her abilities (when she actually beats me in many aspects of math if presented with the material first in a more concrete and hands-on way). The best (fun) math supplements for her have been games, especially those in which she can gain a confidence boost by beating her dear mother (who always feels rather brilliant when she manages to fudge yet another seeming game of "chance").

 

Anyway, hope you find what you need and someone who has actually used Mastering Essential Math Skills can provide more information about its content and whether it might help bring her up to speed!

[alisoncooks]

Thanks for the feedback, which has helped me get a better handle on what we need to accomplish this year.

 

I had a look at Lial's BCM. It seems promising, and I'm putting it on the plan for later this year or next year (7th). I don't know that she can handle it now, when she's already feeling overwhelmed with the pages of MM (IIRC, Lial's has pages full of work? I think I'd have to just teach from the book and work on separate paper?) But I will go ahead and order it to have a look.

 

I agree that math fact practice should be a focus. She does understand the "why" of it all, but she cannot do quick recall and gets stressed in timed situations. (This child did very well on all math portions of her standardized test this year, except computation...she only made it 1/3 through the set in the time given. But they were mostly right.)

 

And thanks for the thoughts on fun supplements. For one, it saves me money to pass on LoF or BA. :p But I'm sure I can pull together some games from online ideas. Feel free to share some of your favorite math facts practice/games.

[HomeAgain]

For a really quick warm up, we use Thinkin' Logs from The Toymaker.  They're paper Lincoln Logs with multiplication practice on each one.  We play with them a variety of ways: build the whole tower, build in x number of minutes, using only the trickier ones to build short towers.  They're free.  I print them on cardstock for extra durability.

 

(and you should poke around on the rest of the free toys, too.  They're always a fun craft here. :) )

[alisoncooks]

seemesew - Thank you for sharing your experience. It's always nice to get a good review when you've just hit "submit purchase" 30 minutes prior! (Whew!) :D

 

I think I'll use this year to work through this workbook (I also ordered the Problem Solving and Geometry books from the author, for variety) and really concentrate on math facts (multiplication/division)....with the goal of being ready for Lial's in 7th as a gap-filling, pre-algebra course. (I think from my reading here, that this would work. If I'm way off base re: Lial's, please fill me in!)

 

Thanks again, everyone.

[SporkUK]

I used it for Year 6 with my oldest as he was behind and burnt out from MEP and wanted a year off with lighter maths. I combined the Mastering Essential Math Skills 1 & 2, leaning towards the higher except for areas only covered in book 1 or where he needed more practice. I used Math Mammoth (and her free worksheet generator) to supplement areas that came up as needing more practice (often one page with Mastering Essential Math on one side and a page of MM or something else on the other). We used Math Trainer for maths facts practice. 

 

It really worked well for him and I think it works well for those who get maths without needing a lot of instruction and examples but need more review to get it down and remember it and just a fresh look at it. He went from burnt out in MEP 4B to happily working at the Express level in MEP 7A (which is pre-algebra level).