MEP question

[LittleIzumi]

ETA: I see I rambled, as it's 7am, so I underline the actual question, LOL.

 

I am temporarily giving up on MUS (the girls get distracted by the blocks & just want to build/imagine with them and the concepts aren't sticking well). We have some Singapore EB dd would fly through when we did it, but I can't buy more so I haven't been using that much. The Singapore style worked better than MUS though. Our math has been all over the place as I was pg & working & had a baby plus figuring out what works/struggling with MUS and dd3 trying to take over dd5's stuff, lol. So now I'm back to real HSing and figuring out our curriculum for this year. So I am looking at MEP, and it looks like a learning method that would work very well for both dds right now.

 

There actually is a question from all that, lol. Dd3 knows probably 80-90% of Reception, and dd5 knows 80-90% of Year 1. It's mostly just reminding her since the MUS scope is so different that we haven't touched those concepts in while, but dd has her addition to 10 easily & such, but needs reminding on 3-D objects and the more/less signs, that sort of thing. Would you fly through the entire year with each dd and then start the higher level more slowly, or is it better to just address the lessons on what they are weak on and skip all the stuff they know? I don't want to print out everything if it would be better to just touch what she forgot quickly & move to the next year.

 

And on a semi-related note, just because it's 7am on a Saturday when everything bugs me, dd5 is still mirror-writing like crazy. Numbers quite often (the whole number, not just the digits), but even things like her own name. :glare: Okay. Just had to get that out, LOL.

Edited November 13, 2010 by LittleIzumi

[MissKNG]

I can't speak for Reception but my big girl also knows the "basic" stuff in MEP 1 yet I use it for the puzzle aspect. MEP 1 has a lot of fun challenging puzzles interwoven in the lessons. I have been compacting lessons and mainly hitting the puzzles.

 

You could even start with 1b instead of 1a.

[femke]

You could use both Year 1 and Year 2, that way she'll have something challenging and a good review.

[MissKNG]

 

the more/less signs,

 

.

 

 

MEP hits this hard and early in 1a!

[Crimson Wife]

FWIW, I decided to fly through MEP Reception with my just-turned-5 y.o. because he enjoys it and he wasn't quite ready for Right Start A when I tried it at the beginning of this school year.

[TaraHen]

Can't speak to MEP questions, but writing reversals are still pretty normal at age five.

 

You could demo, or gently correct, and maybe try some of the little reversal tricks to get her writing in the right direction. One of the tricks I remember is for b and d and it's making the word bed (because it looks like a bed if the letters are properly formed). My dd got them down by remembering that the d comes after c, so you start by writing the c, then add the stem.

 

But I really wouldn't worry much just yet. So tomorrow at 7am, you're off the hook for this one :001_smile:

 

HTH,

 

TaraHen

[LittleIzumi]

Can't speak to MEP questions, but writing reversals are still pretty normal at age five.

 

You could demo, or gently correct, and maybe try some of the little reversal tricks to get her writing in the right direction. One of the tricks I remember is for b and d and it's making the word bed (because it looks like a bed if the letters are properly formed). My dd got them down by remembering that the d comes after c, so you start by writing the c, then add the stem.

 

But I really wouldn't worry much just yet. So tomorrow at 7am, you're off the hook for this one :001_smile:

 

HTH,

 

TaraHen

 

Oh, we've done a bunch of tricks. It just doesn't stick at all. Like writing her own name 100% reversed and not even noticing. And it's a longish name :lol:. (She doesn't write single letters backwards, she writes the entire word or number backwards/mirrored.) She'll even trace the number and then write it backwards right under the correctly traced one. Oh well. It makes the little word puzzles fun where the word is written backwards, because she just reads it as if it's totally normal and doesn't understand why it's supposed to be hard :tongue_smilie:.

 

Thanks for the MEP input everyone!! I was leaning towards "fly through" and I feel much more certain about that after your responses. :)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I'm using MEP Reception with my 4.5yo ds. He is very engineering minded and has taught himself to do simple addition and subtraction. Even though most of the concepts are easy for him it still challenges him. It has a puzzle aspect to it that keeps him engaged. I would try going through the Reception and year 1 materials with your girls instead of bumping them up to the next level. I would guess they'll be more challenged and engaged than you think.

[LittleIzumi]

I'm using MEP Reception with my 4.5yo ds. He is very engineering minded and has taught himself to do simple addition and subtraction. Even though most of the concepts are easy for him it still challenges him. It has a puzzle aspect to it that keeps him engaged. I would try going through the Reception and year 1 materials with your girls instead of bumping them up to the next level. I would guess they'll be more challenged and engaged than you think.

 

Thanks! I have both years printed & in binders now so I'm committed after all that work :lol:

[WarriorMama]

Oh, we've done a bunch of tricks. It just doesn't stick at all. Like writing her own name 100% reversed and not even noticing. And it's a longish name :lol:. (She doesn't write single letters backwards, she writes the entire word or number backwards/mirrored.) She'll even trace the number and then write it backwards right under the correctly traced one. Oh well. It makes the little word puzzles fun where the word is written backwards, because she just reads it as if it's totally normal and doesn't understand why it's supposed to be hard :tongue_smilie:.

 

Thanks for the MEP input everyone!! I was leaning towards "fly through" and I feel much more certain about that after your responses. :)

 

Maybe this will sound weird, but...is she left-handed? My lefty mirror-wrote a LOT. It just made more sense to her. I thought it was fascinating, lol.

 

I just kept on reminding her, and as she wrote more and more she eventually outgrew it.

[Rivka]

I'm using MEP Reception with my 4.5yo ds. He is very engineering minded and has taught himself to do simple addition and subtraction. Even though most of the concepts are easy for him it still challenges him. It has a puzzle aspect to it that keeps him engaged. I would try going through the Reception and year 1 materials with your girls instead of bumping them up to the next level. I would guess they'll be more challenged and engaged than you think.

 

:iagree:

 

We're in 1b, and we've just finished up the addition & subtraction to 10 section. MEP throws out extremely challenging multi-step algebra-like problems at this level, such as

 

6+3 "2>" (is two greater than) 10-__

 

Even though the addition and subtraction in that problem is all simple single-digit stuff, combining it and keeping it all straight is tricky for most kids.

[leann_in_tx]

I'm a leftie and remember being in first grade and occasionally writing sentences right to left, till someone finally told me that you were only supposed to write left to right all the time. I thought it was fun to go the other way once in a while! I have no idea how to help, but it caused me no harm in the long run. Maybe you could ask her to write a word or two the "right" way sometimes, practicing the left to right thing, and gradually work her into it?

[LittleIzumi]

She's not a lefty (at least as far as I know--she writes with her right without prompting), but she does also read backwards sometimes, bumps into walls, etc, so I'm having her vision checked next week. (Dh and I both have glasses and horrible astigmatism, so there's a good chance her vision could use help regardless.)