[Should we switch from MEP to Singapore?]

Another question: Should I get the US or Standards edition?

[Should we switch from MEP to Singapore?]

I have used both SM and MEP with both my kids and I just want to second everything that spycar said.

 

And the HIG doesn't, to my knowledge, include where to add in 'extras' from CWP or IP. I use the US edition. It might be different for the Standard. The HIG does, however suggest when to add in the mental math at the back of the HIGs. I never used the mental math sheets though.

 

Your signature says you are still using Singapore... are you still happy with it? Why did you switch from MEP?

 

[Should we switch from MEP to Singapore?]

Thank you for clarifying that the textbook is not written to the child (I was under the impression that it was). That is definitely good to know going in.

 

I think whether or not your son is waiting on you to get your head around the lesson depends on how well you "get" the Singapore presentation. If you can look at the book and realize immediately what they are aiming at, it can be open and go. I generally flip through the materials ahead of time to see which topics I'll need to research. Then, I can make a note of what will be open and go for me and what will be something I definitely need to spend some time on before teaching. Some topics are things you'll spend more time on than others, and you might be doing additional work each day rather than presenting a new lesson every day. 

 

Having your child look at the material first may or may not always work. Some kids do get the examples readily and do fine when you follow up with them. It probably depends on their attention to detail as well as their learning style.

You could always save some independent practice on a familiar topic to use as a starting point each day. That might give you time to peruse the materials while your child is occupied.

 

I think what you wrote here is the issue. With MEP, it's not so much needing to get my head around the material itself, but rather wading through what and how the lesson is to be taught. If the instructions were written/laid out more clearly, I think it would be much easier to open and go. The lesson format for MEP is just so cumbersome and that is mostly what I'm sick of (along with the organizational skills required to keep everything printed/accessible). From what I understand, the PM materials seem much easier to implement than MEP, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I have looked at Math Mammoth, but I think it looks kinda boring. And that is what I am most afraid of with switching... MEP has such a nice variety of problems that none of us are bored by it. I'm hoping Singapore has a variety of problems, too, but maybe that's wishful thinking?

 

Can someone tell me if the HIG includes ideas for when and where to add in the extra stuff like specific problems from the IP and CWP books?
 

[Should we switch from MEP to Singapore?]

Thank you, that is helpful. To be clear, I don't want to be removed from the process... I actually really like our math lessons, once we get started. And I don't want a program that is self-teaching but more self-starting, if that makes sense. I envision being able to tell DS to read the next chapter in the textbook while I'm finishing up something else and then we would come together to do the actual lesson. With MEP, I kinda feel it's all on me to get the ball rolling and he ends up waiting on me to get my head around the lesson since most of he time I don't read ahead. Is that a reasonable expectation for the Primary Mathematics program?

 

As far as the IP books go, should we use a book a half a level behind if he often has trouble with MEP's puzzle problems? I usually need to work through them with him... he likes them but often needs a bit of direction in knowing how to solve them.

 

Looking at the placement test, I was thinking of getting level 3b (the workbook, textbook and HIG... do I need anything else?) and maybe the 3a level IP. Does that sound like a good start?

[Should we switch from MEP to Singapore?]

I have a 4th grader and a 2nd grader and we have only ever used MEP math. The kids and I all really like it, but I'm starting to doubt the process. We have been plugging away, but the 4th grader is only just finishing 3a and, looking ahead, I can tell that he could be working at a higher level if I only knew how to skip ahead without missing important instructional materials.

 

So I love the puzzle-like problems and variety of MEP, but I wish the teaching materials weren't so hard to wade through to find how to teach specific topics. And I dislike how the pages print: since they are designed to go on A4 paper, they have to be shrunk down to fit, which is an issue for the measurement problems. And the British money problems can be annoying since we don't have £2 coins, etc. And printing out all the copymasters when I only end up using a few is a waste of ink/paper, but going through and only printing the ones I think I'll need is a waste of time. And I don't really like not knowing where the lessons are headed without reading ahead in all the lessons. Basically, with MEP I just feel like I'm flailing around and, especially as we begin to tackle harder concepts, I need to feel more grounded in where we are headed.

 

So I'm looking for a conceptual math program with clear teaching lessons laid out in a logical progression that include a variety of interesting, puzzle-like problems. One that has plenty of pracitice but not just sheets of similar problems. One that follows a fairly traditional scope and sequence (including time, US money, measurements, etc.) and teaches traditional algorithms along with mental math techniques. And one that doesn't rely so heavily on me to teach every aspect of a new concept (I'd like to be able to have my DS at least get started on the lesson himself and I can then introduce new teaching and ideas when he needs them).

 

Does Singapore fit the bill? From what I can tell based on the limited samples I've seen online, it looks good. I certainly like the idea of having everything already printed and bound and ready to go. But will I regret leaving MEP? Should we stick with what we know and like and maybe just add something like the Complete Book of Math workbook to introduce more traditional math, US money, etc?

 

Or are Singapore and MEP similar enough that the pros of having everything laid out for me would outweigh continuing on with the lovely content but frustrating presentation of MEP. "Imperfect" curriculum that gets done is better than "perfect" curriculum that doesn't, right? Because that is why we are so far behind in MEP... because it takes more organizational skills to implement, when the going gets tough, it tends to fall by the wayside. And Math is too important for that to happen.

[What resources would you recommend for a mama with limited speaking ability?]

Their oldest is 6 and they also have two younger ones. Her husband is very supportive, but he works full time and travels sometimes for his job, as well.

[What resources would you recommend for a mama with limited speaking ability?]

I have a friend with a neurological condition that affects her ability to speak who is interested in homeschooling. From what I understand, she can speak but it can be painful and some days are worse than others.

 

What resources would you recommend for her? I'm thinking online and audio stuff, but I don't know much about what's out there along those lines.

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have! :)

[Books on Indians???]

Holling C. Holling has an out of print book called The Book of Indians which we love. It tells the story of a different fictional boy and girl from four different regions of North America. It's not what I would call comprehensive as it doesn't mention specific tribe names, but it does a good job of showing what life might have been like for the tribes in those different areas.

[who has 2nd grade planned for the fall? Care to share]

My main focus for DD's second grade year is to get her reading well. We only started on AAR level 1 about mid-way through her first grade year (after a waldorf-style letter study in the first half of the year) and it's been pretty slow going for her. She is making steady progress, though, even though she is "behind". So, with that said, here are our 2nd grade plans:

 

Math: MEP 1B/2A + some Miquon/RS games when needed

 

Phonics/Spelling: AAR 2, AAS 1, ECT (as needed for review/reinforcement)

 

Writing: Copywork/Narrations

 

 

All other work will be done with her 4th grade and preschool age brothers:

 

Morning Basket (as a family) including Bible (Vos's Story Bible, Children's Illustrated Bible and the Jesus Storybook Bible), memory work (Living Memory), art (picture study and bi-weekly projects), music (CDs from library and Story of the Orchestra) and poetry (Favorite Poems Old and New). Plus a read aloud from the list below.

 

Grammar: The Sentence Family

 

History: Rome/Middle Ages using CHOW, OIS, Baldwin's Famous Stories, Viking Tales and various other library/picture books

 

Geography: Map Trek for historical maps and A Child's Introduction to the World/The Geography Book/Children Just Like Me/Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia/etc. for World Geography

 

Science: The Nature Connection and animal habitats (Living World Encyclopedia and Easy Make and Learn Projects)

 

Literature (read-alouds): Wind in the Willows, Understood Betsy, Little House books (first three scheduled), The Princess and the Goblin, D'Aulaire's Norse Myths, Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights, King Arthur: Tales from the Round Table, Door in the Wall and Pyle's Robin Hood

 

PE: Weekly homeschool gym class and weekly ballet class

[Has anyone started a "4th grade plans" thread?]

Bumping this up because I just finalized my 4th grade plans and it's nice to have it all in one place.

 

Next year we will be doing:

 

Morning Basket (as a family) including Bible (Vos's Story Bible, Children's Illustrated Bible and the Jesus Storybook Bible), memory work (Living Memory), art (picture study and bi-weekly projects), music (CDs from library and Story of the Orchestra) and poetry (Favorite Poems Old and New). Plus a read aloud from the list below.

 

Math: MEP 3B/4A and some Miquon and RS games, as needed

 

Latin: Prima Latina

 

English: Intermediate Language Lessons, The Sentence Family, Spelling by Sound and Structure 4 and Narration/Dictation across the curriculum

 

History: Rome/Middle Ages using CHOW, OIS, Baldwin's Famous Stories, Viking Tales and various other library/picture books; Memoria Press timeline notebook

 

Geography: Map Trek for historical maps and A Child's Introduction to the World/The Geography Book/Children Just Like Me/Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia/etc. for World Geography

 

Science: Noeo Physics II (plus some books from Physics I), The Nature Connection and animal habitats (Living World Encyclopedia and Easy Make and Learn Projects)

 

Literature (read-alouds): Wind in the Willows, Understood Betsy, Little House books (first three scheduled), The Princess and the Goblin, D'Aulaire's Norse Myths, Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights, King Arthur: Tales from the Round Table, Door in the Wall and Pyle's Robin Hood

 

PE: Weekly homeschool gym class

 

 

It feels like a lot written out, but most of these things will be done with my second grader, as well, so it's not like I am requiring output from him on everything listed here. I'm really looking forward to next year!

[4th grade geography]

OK, I've been scouring samples of all sorts of geography books and workbooks and I think I've come up with a plan that will work for us. I was originally thinking I could make this more of an independent study for him, but realistically, DS is not a huge fan of workbooks and has already learned so much about geography from his own interest. I don't want to kill his love of the subject by making him do "boring" workbooks. Plus, I really love geography, so I think it will be fun for us all to do together (DD included).

 

I have the following resources:

A Child's Introduction to the World

Children Just Like Me

Draw Write Now books

Geography A to Z

Usborne Living World Encyclopedia

 

I plan to buy:

The Geography Book

Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia

Maps and Globes

Easy Make and Learn Projects: Animal Habitats

World flag stickers

 

We will work on this material once or twice a week making notebook pages as we go. Plus I am buying the Map Trek book and CD combo to map our way through CHOW and OIS (we are covering the time period from Rome through the end of the middle ages this year). I like that all these resources are non-consumable and will most likely last us for several years of study.

[4th grade geography]

I actually have those DWN books, but I really want something a little more independent for him to work on that includes reading different kinds of maps, etc.

 

I also would like something with some cultural geography and was thinking about R&S's 4th grade social studies book (based on your recommendation, Hunter) But, even though I'm a Christian, I am very turned off by any mention of the need to make other nations Christian while trying to learn about them. I am afraid R&S would be like that, but please correct me if I am wrong.

[4th grade geography]

So I'm leaning more towards the Complete Book at this time. The cover says that there are stickers... can anyone tell me what the stickers are? Are they flags or something?

[4th grade geography]

I just got the geography coloring book (this one right? http://www.rainbowre...97561a65f0f935e ), i'm pondering Geography as well.

 

Obviously I haven't used it, but can try to answer any questions you might have.

 

 

Yes, that's the one. Does it have them working on map skills (stuff like latitude and longitude, keys and legends, etc.) or is it mainly about learning the countries/states? How much "extra" information is there about the countries (like cultural stuff, etc.)?

 

Thanks in advance for your help! :grouphug:

[4th grade geography]

I'm torn between using The Complete Book of Maps and Geography and the Geography Coloring Book for independent work for my map-loving boy next year.

 

The Complete Book looks cute and fun, but maybe a little too easy for him and the coloring book looks very nice and thorough, but not quite as "exciting" as the other.

 

Oh how I wish I could flip through both in my hands before I make the decision! Does anyone have experience with either/both of these books?

[Ambleside Online]

I use AO as a framework only. I'm a tweaker and I appreciate the fact that AO has everything available for free. Looking at the books and the schedule, I can get a feel for the amount of work required for any given grade level and I can then decide whether to use the scheduled book (which are generally very good, but some are just too "Victorian" for my taste) or to substitute a more mordern book. I like to look at Sonlight, LBC, Veritas, HOD, MFW, etc. for their book selections to see whether I can find something more suitable for us. I do like their non-American history selections like CHOW and OIS (my DH is British, so I like having more British history) but I don't like what I have read from TCOO, so I do plan to substitute when we get to American history. I do appreciate all the hard work and time that went into putting AO together and I'm thankful to have it as one of the many resources avalible to me to help me homeschool successfully

[What planner are you using for this fall?]

I'm using The Well Planned Day. It's not perfect, but it's really close (for me). My biggest complaint is that I really wish they wouldn't pre-print the subjects down the side (but that is nothing a little correction tape won't fix). But I've been using last year's planner for the past few months and it's really helped me stay on track. Plus it's pretty. :thumbup:

[NOEO Science Users-- I need your help!]

This is my conundrum, as well. My 4th grade DS said he wants to do physics next year and I am torn between getting level I (some of the books look really fun and 2nd grade dd can tag along more easily) or level II (I think the books are more on his level). I am thinking I may go ahead with level II but get a few of the most interesting-looking books from level I as a supplement (plus the K'nex levers and pulleys set since we already have and love the gears set).

 

Would that be overkill?

[Will I regret switching from MEP to Math Mammoth?]

Yeah, looking at MM more, I think both my (school-age) kids would think it's really boring. I really think MEP is the best for our family, despite the fact that it's more time consuming. The plus side is that having to sift through and actively teach from the lesson plans has really helped my own math understanding considerably. And I find that teaching year 1 to my daughter, after having already been through it with my son, has been considerably easier this time around because I know what to expect. Hopefully, by the time I have 4 kids in different math levels, I will know each level of MEP (besides my oldest's level) well enough that it won't be too much of a burden to teach.

 

Thank you all for honestly sharing your experiences. :)

[Anyone use Al Abacus to supplement K-2 math?]

I feel like I benefited greatly just by reading the AL abacus book to learn how to bring those teaching ideas into our main curriculum. I love the abacus and we use it almost every day. I haven't used specific lessons from the book, but I would if I thought my kids needed extra work with a topic. HTH. :)

[Will I regret switching from MEP to Math Mammoth?]

I'm really liking the looks of Miquon, too, and I see some stuff in there that I haven't seen in MEP so far. My plan is to rip apart all the workbooks and stick them in a binder in their letter order and then pick a few pages on various topics per week to stick in page protectors for DS and DD to do with a dry erase marker. Then I will pencil their initial on the sheet (so I know they've done that one already) and stick it back in order in the binder. Does that sound like a decent plan?

[Will I regret switching from MEP to Math Mammoth?]

Thank you.

 

So I have been looking through my Miquon materials (I have the whole set sitting unused on my shelf) and I'm wondering if I could have DS do some sheets from that for the next few weeks on topics covered in MEP 3a. Then he would start his 4th grade year in 3b and I would also have him work through some more of the Miquon sheets (with dry erase marker on a page protector) for fun and variety. So he would be ending 4th grade about 3/4 of the way through MEP year 4 (if we skip the review at the beginning) and going through the end of Miquon.

 

Would that put him pretty much on grade level in math by that point? Does that sound like a decent plan? I know I said I wasn't sure about continuing to teach MEP, but I just really like it and I would hate to change something that is going well. I think adding a bit of Miquon will give us the bit of variety and independence that we are missing.

[Will I regret switching from MEP to Math Mammoth?]

I'm so torn! We have been using MEP since we started homeschooling and we all really like it and my kids have both done well with it. But my oldest hasn't gotten far enough along in the program as I would have liked. He'll be starting 4th grade next year and we are only just finishing MEP year 2. The fact that the lessons are dependent on me have a lot to do with that, I'm afraid. I believe he would be able to start year 4 with no problems if only we could accelerate through the content of year 3 to get him up to speed. But trying to do that with MEP is a lot of work, IMO, and it would be still more work for me to keep us on track throughout the year (because the lessons are designed to lean heavily on the instructor).

 

I have been looking at MM samples and I really like what I see... the layout is very clean and straightforward and it's very clear what is being covered in each lesson. Plus my oldest could do most of the lesson himself and work at his own pace. Based on the TOC, I think we could jump into 3B and get through that pretty quickly (he's already done multiplication and division with MEP... it's mostly place value and higher numbers that he's behind on).

 

But I've come to see the beauty of MEP and I really like all the puzzles and challenges and the spiral-like review built in...

 

But I also really like the idea of a more independent math curricula. With 4 kids under 10, my time is spread very thin and if MM could free some of that up for me, it would be worth it.

 

But will MM seem boring after MEP? I certainly don't want to make my kids hate math by forcing them to use a boring program.

 

And what about my non-mathy rising second grader? Would she do better with the more straightforward MM?

 

Ahh! I can't decide! Somebody help me!

[What is your MOST loved curriculum?]

Ambleside Online

MEP math

All About Reading

Handwriting Without Tears

[Talk me out of Waldorf]

I think it's really hard to fully do Waldorf if you are homeschooling several children of different ages because so much of the philosophy is introducing certain stories, ideas, etc. at specific stages of development.