hsingscrapper Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Well to me, it is. Can someone please help me to understand it? I know it's comprehensive but I just can't seem to wrap my poor rattled brain around it. If I could, it would save my family serious bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 I think if it doesn't make sense to you, you probably should go with another choice for math. Math Mammoth, for instance, is inexpensive and (to me, anyway) makes a lot of sense. It's worth it to spend a little bit of money to get something that works for you and your kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Well, it took me a while, but I got it for the most part-at least for the early grades. What helped the most was to sort of take the workbook side and pair it with the classroom instruction side. Then it made sense. If you try to look at it one part at a time it gets very confusing. It is actually pretty solid, although I'd probably find some way to generate my own extra problems to work through for my boys. Even MM, as good as it is, IMO, does not have enough review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 If you see: 5<2 7 It means 5 is 2 less than 7. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhappyjoyjoy Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Frankly, I didn't find MEP user friendly either. I used some of the worksheets as a supplement (to SM). When my second son came along I thought about using MEP exclusively with him, but I just couldn't get into it. The teacher instructions are more geared towards groups and assume I know what they are talking about. So far I agree, but I didn't have much time to look at it. I really needed a filler workbook that I can just hand DS1. That is how I use Singapore to round out RS. MEP didnt work that way for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I had it all printed out, even had a bunch of stuff laminated and ready to go. We did a few week's worth of lessons and decided it wasn't for us. I guess I didn't find it the most user-friendly either. It is geared to classrooms, and I had slashed off much of the instruction pertaining to that, but in the end, we just thought we'd use something that was meant more for homeschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 So far I agree, but I didn't have much time to look at it. I really needed a filler workbook that I can just hand DS1. That is how I use Singapore to round out RS. MEP didnt work that way for us. If you just want to supplement the curriculum you are already using, then you can just print out the Practice books. Since the problems are often challenging, you may still need to work with your son in solving those. The answers for most problems in the Practice book are present in the Lesson Plans. If there is any problem in the practice book that I cannot figure out how to solve, I just mark it and ask my son to go on to next one. I then later look up that question in the Lesson plan book to check the method or the answer and we revisit the marked questions. So far, I find that one page in the Practice book corresponds to one Lesson plan. For example if you are solving problems on page 31 in the Practice book, then it will correspond to Lesson 31 in the Lesson plans. The Lesson plans themselves have some wonderful activities, games and problems. So if you use MEP as your primary curriculum, you should be doing the lessons and the corresponding problems in the practice book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 We use MEP as a standalone, but it seems very clear to me so I'm not sure what you would like to have explained. Here's how we do a lesson from MEP 2A: 1. One practice book (PB) page = one lesson plan = one day's work. 2. Before sitting down with my child, I look over the lesson plan briefly. The lesson has some sections which give directions for PB questions and some sections with extra activities, such as mental math exercises and things to show on the whiteboard. I circle the extras I want to do. (In MEP 1, I thought a lot of the extras were a waste of time. In 2A, we usually do them and I see a lot of value in them.) 3. Usually the PB questions are self-explanatory to me, but I check the lesson plan sections about them anyway because they give a clue about how hard they're supposed to be. Some will say "do as a whole class" or "extension for able students," and then I know to be ready to give a little more guidance than I do for the ones which say "have pupils complete..." 4. I sit my daughter down with the PB page and we go through it together. In between sections I toss in the extra activities from the lesson plan, because it helps keep her interest when we switch back and forth between paper-and-pencil, oral, and whiteboard. 5. That's it. MEP does not have a lot of extra drill, so we don't skip anything in the PB unless we're on the "review" weeks at the beginning of a new year. (We school year-round, so don't have to refresh her math skills before starting the new book.) Even then, there are valuable extensions in the lessons and we do at least a couple of sections on each page. I posted some more thoughts about MEP, with descriptions of some of the activities, in my blog a couple of weeks ago. Maybe that will be helpful too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 We use MEP as a standalone, but it seems very clear to me so I'm not sure what you would like to have explained.:iagree: Perhaps watching the videos will help. There's much room for flexibility, and I freely substitute home-friendly activities for classroom oriented ones (e.g. Have ten students stand at the front). The trick is in realizing that it's OK for you to give your child more help when they're stumped with the "to be done as a class activities" than with the "individual work" and that major concepts spiral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhappyjoyjoy Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Ah see I didn't watch the videos. I did not either. Nor did I look at the lesson plans. Thus, I don't think it will work for me as an add on. I'll just stick w/ Singapore to keep my workbookaholic DS busy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I did not either. Nor did I look at the lesson plans. Thus, I don't think it will work for me as an add on. I'll just stick w/ Singapore to keep my workbookaholic DS busy.I found the worksheets, even in Y1, to be very confusing and even intimidating before I read some of the lessons plans. The initial familiarity/learning curve was indeed steep-ish, but it leveled off quickly. However, even that might not be worth for those only looking for a supplement. I love MEP and chose it over Singapore and Right Start (I have experience and materials for both) to use with DD the Younger. I love how it gets kids thinking their way through to understanding right from the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I did not either. Nor did I look at the lesson plans. Thus, I don't think it will work for me as an add on. I'll just stick w/ Singapore to keep my workbookaholic DS busy. Yeah, I think that unless you have a super mathy kid, MEP isn't "turn them loose and go." Even with simple computations, the problems tend to demand higher-order reasoning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poetic license Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I did not either. Nor did I look at the lesson plans. Thus, I don't think it will work for me as an add on. I'll just stick w/ Singapore to keep my workbookaholic DS busy. I use it as an add on for my workaholic DS ;) and I found that for the most part I could ignore the lesson plans for 1st grade. There are a few good ideas but I just printed the practice book and pick and choose problems as necessary. When we want mind benders, we'll do the puzzles, when we want drill we do those sections. I don't know anything about it beyond grade 1 though. I go through the problems and highlight the ones we want to do and then take out the book here and there and do only the highlighted problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 If your primary reason for considering it is the price tag, there are a few other free math programs - Jump Math is one and NCERT's Math Magic is another. I haven't used either though, so you'll have to make your own decisions about whether that's for you. And, of course, Math Mammoth is really cheap. I really loved MEP. But my kids didn't. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsingscrapper Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 If your primary reason for considering it is the price tag, there are a few other free math programs - Jump Math is one and NCERT's Math Magic is another. I haven't used either though, so you'll have to make your own decisions about whether that's for you. And, of course, Math Mammoth is really cheap. I really loved MEP. But my kids didn't. :( It is the price tag. I'll take a look at the sites you mentioned. Thanks! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I've been looking at Ray's free downloads at Google. I signed up at a yahoo group for Ray's. They say the older editions (1800s) are better than the newer editions (1900s) as they were written for homeschooling parents. I'm not sure what I think about the books. I think I would be frustrated with any of this stuff if I were strapped for cash and dealing with all that being strapped for cash entails on a daily basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnegurochkaL Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I find it very easy to use as a supplement. We do all of the assignments and only once referred to TM ( assignment's wording wasn't clear enough to understand). My child did them independently (5 sheets of assignments per day for MEP 2/3). MEP 4 might be more challenging. It is very helpful for us because we use metric system in Russian math all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I feel you! I thought MEP was torture! We dropped it quickly! I don't know exactly what about it didn't work, but it was a total flop on so many levels for us. It made me feel like an idiot every time I pulled it out. And we were only doing 1A or whatever the first level is called. It made me feel perpetually confused...........:001_huh: I blogged about it a few days ago actually.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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