What level to start with in MEP?

[Jayne J]

I want to start supplementing with MEP this summer, and wonder which level to start at. We will be finishing with Horizons 1, which we like, but I think maybe ds needs a little more conceptual understanding of what he is doing, and we really need more puzzle/application type work.

 

The problems are... foreign looking enough that I hesitate to jump into year 2 work (that is second grade, right?) and I wonder how much each year builds on the previous. Any advice on where to start?

[Spy Car]

Start with 1A. Skip over any that are "too easy" if need be. But there are "challenging" (in a good way) problems right from the outset.

 

Bill

[Poke Salad Annie]

I have not seen Horizons, so I have no idea how to compare the two.

 

I would say for a 6 y/old, to print off some of the first lessons and see how he reacts. I imagine he could whiz through some of the lessons, but I am a big supporter of actually working with kids in math. I would never suggest doing only the workbook pages alone without some instruction, as much of the *meat* of this program is in the lesson plans. Maybe you could work through the lessons and choose some highlights from the teaching plans to cover. This might help to move your child a bit faster through the program, if this is what you desire. What I see about this program is that each lesson seems to build off the next, and the 5th lesson is a review of what is covered during that week.

 

Maybe someone will chime in who is using Year 1 and can give you better advice.

[Already Gone]

All sorts of caveats--I'm new to homeschooling and MEP and I'm completely unfamiliar with Horizons. We're about at the end of the first group of Y1a lessons at this point, and I would echo and perhaps even amplify what Annie has said. There have been any number of activities (in the lesson plan) and exercises (in the workbook) that I've thought would be too easy for my son. I've done them anyway because, well, he needs some things that are too easy to balance the things that are really throwing him. Then a few lessons later we'll see the same kind of activity, but with a twist that makes it much more sophisticated and difficult. I think a lot of the initial activities are to build confidence and to ease the students into trickier mental work. What does all this mean in terms of a recommendation? My humble suggestion is that you start with Y1 and give both the lesson plans and the worksheets a try for a week or so before deciding whether to skip forward, especially if your interest in MEP is based on conceptual math. At that point, you'll have a better feel for when an activity is a necessary preliminary to future work or whether it's just too plain easy for your guy. As I said, though, my experience with all of this is very limited, so I look forward to hearing what others say.

[Spy Car]

All sorts of caveats--I'm new to homeschooling and MEP and I'm completely unfamiliar with Horizons. We're about at the end of the first group of Y1a lessons at this point, and I would echo and perhaps even amplify what Annie has said. There have been any number of activities (in the lesson plan) and exercises (in the workbook) that I've thought would be too easy for my son. I've done them anyway because, well, he needs some things that are too easy to balance the things that are really throwing him. Then a few lessons later we'll see the same kind of activity, but with a twist that makes it much more sophisticated and difficult. I think a lot of the initial activities are to build confidence and to ease the students into trickier mental work. What does all this mean in terms of a recommendation? My humble suggestion is that you start with Y1 and give both the lesson plans and the worksheets a try for a week or so before deciding whether to skip forward, especially if your interest in MEP is based on conceptual math. At that point, you'll have a better feel for when an activity is a necessary preliminary to future work or whether it's just too plain easy for your guy. As I said, though, my experience with all of this is very limited, so I look forward to hearing what others say.

 

I think your suggestions (and Annie's) are good ones!

 

Welcome to the WTM :001_smile:

 

Bill

[Poke Salad Annie]

I posted about working with your child for his math lessons, as it is a very important part of the math lesson to me---JMHO. I often wonder about so many here who post about having difficulties with a program and consider switching around. Jumping to greener grass has its own advantages; but I also wonder if these people are spending the time to lay the groundwork with their children that is necessary for them to make the needed connections. Sorry for the generalizing, and I may get a few tomatoes thrown this way.

 

It's just that I cringe every time I read on here about someone wanting a completely hands-off, independent math program for little guys. How are they to do these workbooks on their own? Maybe this is the cause for so many math switches that I see, I don't know. I only do know that it is such a joy to me to see my child light up and make that connection, and that's what I am there for.

[Spy Car]

I posted about working with your child for his math lessons, as it is a very important part of the math lesson to me---JMHO. I often wonder about so many here who post about having difficulties with a program and consider switching around. Jumping to greener grass has its own advantages; but I also wonder if these people are spending the time to lay the groundwork with their children that is necessary for them to make the needed connections. Sorry for the generalizing, and I may get a few tomatoes thrown this way.

 

It's just that I cringe every time I read on here about someone wanting a completely hands-off, independent math program for little guys. How are they to do these workbooks on their own? Maybe this is the cause for so many math switches that I see, I don't know. I only do know that it is such a joy to me to see my child light up and make that connection, and that's what I am there for.

 

I'm tossing flowers here lady :001_smile:

 

Bill

[Poke Salad Annie]

I'm tossing flowers here lady :001_smile:

 

Bill

 

Thanks! (I just hope I don't get any green tomatoes. Man, those would hurt!:D)

[Jayne J]

Thank you all for your responses. :001_smile: I will likely start with y1. I had a feeling from my casual look-over of the lessons that they were building on each other, and ds has had very little of this kind of work. (Truth to tell, neither did his mother.) I can tell he is not getting the concepts behind the work (we just covered carrying and he is doing it by rote, not really sure why he is doing it. I have tried explaining it in different ways and just haven't hit one he "gets")

I plan to switch to MEP over the summer, then combining for next year. I do like many aspects of Horizons, but it needs supplementing for us.

[khall]

starting at the beginning of Year 1 would probably be your best bet, since Horizons and MEP have completely different approaches. DD7 started this year with Horizons 2A. In January she finished Horizons 2A and we switched to MEP and she started at the beginning of Year 2. It's been very challenging for her, and it probably would have been better to have let her move quickly through MEP Year 1, but I got hung up on the grade levels. MEP really requires more thinking, while Horizons works more on learning algorithms.

[HappyGrace]

MEP is deceptively challenging. They have to THINK on several levels to solve many of the problems. I looked at putting dd10 (not mathy) into Level 3 to remediate some things, and it would be too hard to put her in at that level! There is a lot of scaffolding from the lower levels that she would have missed.

 

Ds7 did a latter part of 1 and is in 2. He is very math-intuitive and it can still be challenging (in a good way.) It is making him think through concepts he knows and really own it in a different way. MEP is great!

 

I'd say go with the lower level. I think Horizons and MEP would be great combo!

[Spy Car]

Even better, MEP and Singapore.

 

Bill

[HappyGrace]

Spiral, Bill, you know I need my spiral in there! :D