Already Gone Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 My early math education was abysmal (though I got better and better the more theoretical it got) and I have yet to get my hands on the Liping Ma book. I've been using MEP Y1 with my little guy and so far we are very, very happy with it. One of the things I love about it is that it encourages so many different approaches to problems; I feel (hope) it is to a certain extent making up for my own inadequacies. But I feel a little out of my depth when it comes to allowing my son to do things contrary to the instructions. So, for example, today's lesson had a lot of work on the number line. Towards the end there were some exercises and the lesson plan said the students could use the number line to solve them. My son was perplexed by this (not sure it matters, but these were not straight addition/subtraction; rather things like 7-x+5=10) and finally we gave up and used the rods, which he loves. Given that he's getting practice on the number line from other activities, does it matter how he solves more open-ended exercises? Or should I be really insisting on the number line precisely because he doesn't quite get it yet? Am I making a lick of sense here? Any input would be most appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 We're also using MEP Y1, but I think you might be ahead of us. I would probably allow my child to figure the problem out with rods, then walk him slowly through using the number line. We're encouraging thinking about math in many different ways. We love MEP too ... we're using Y1 and Reception and the children all say math is their favorite :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Already Gone Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Going over it after he's figured it out his way makes sense--thanks. One of the things I tend to forget about MEP is that even if you totally blow a given activity, it will come up again enough times for both teacher and student to master it. :) (The lesson, btw, is towards the very end of 1a. It's not actually in algebraic notation; I just didn't know how to make the little box on the computer.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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