mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Dd really struggled with Singapore Math in 1st. I switched to MEP. That didn't work because she wanted to just do the worksheets and none of the extra bits that are explained in the teacher pages. I ditched that and went with MM. It's working fine so I'm happy with MM and an not looking for another program. Unfortunately because we did so much switching, I wanted to start her in 2a last year when she was in 3rd grade to make sure that she had a solid foundation before moving on. I had hoped that she could move quickly and get caught up to grade level, but it's taking forever. I have her do 30minutes of math per day, but some days she only gets through a page because she's getting distracted and not doing the work for the whole time. I don't want to assign 'x' number of pages per day because each page is very different. So some pages with a lot of problems will take a lot longer than other pages. How do I get her to focus for the full 30 minutes? Or should I just start adding time? Any other suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Does she do well with a timer? My 4th grader is the EXACT same way! She WILL get her stuff done (with time to spare) if I set a timer though :001_huh: I don't know if she has a competitiveness about her or what but it works!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 1) Does she NEED to do all the problems? If she understands the concept with fewer problems, let her do fewer problems. I hardly ever assign ALL problems, unless it's a completely new topic that requires a lot of repetition. Sometimes I'll have him do part of it orally if we need to do more problems. 2) Sit next to her while she works, to keep her on task. 3) I wouldn't fret too much about her being one year "behind" in MM. That would put her doing algebra in 9th grade, which is perfectly fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 It might take some time on your part, but could you look through at the beginning of the week and select an amount of work to assign per day that should take 30 minutes? Or maybe look at where you want to be at a certain point in the future, and plan out what needs to be done each day to get there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Maybe it would help to split into two 15-minute math sessions, and have a quick jog around the yard in between? Also, she'll still need a lot of 'you're off-task, this time doesn't count' at her age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Are you right there? My 4th graders sit at the table and I bounce between them (and the 3rd grader). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 She does her math at the same time as the 7yo. They're both doing MM, so they work mostly independently, but I am in the room to answer questions and keep them on task. I just feel like I'm constantly prodding her to get back to work, and she gets angry when I say anything, like she feels as if I'm nagging her. So we both end up frustrated and she's done about 20 minutes of work in her 30 minutes. I do feel like she needs to do most of the problems though because math is difficult for her. I occasionally have her skip something, but not often. She's in the middle of 3a right now, working on multiplication. I was getting ready to print the next section on clock and was even willing to skip the first half which is review. I asked her if she remembers how to do all that, and she actually said that she'd like to do it because she doesn't remember it all very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 What has worked in our home is the timer. Before we used MEP and I could tell it was just too much teacher work for me so we switched to MM last year. This year I felt like dd8 needed to start off in 2b, but she was just fine working right into 3a and we just work on the things she struggles with by games or other fun ways for her to grasp the concepts. Our timer is set for 45min. The girls each get their math binder where I have all the first part of their grade level printed off. They are freely welcome to open the binder and pick ANY page they want. They work on that page until they want to switch to another page. If the timer goes off they know if they are in the middle of a math problem they are too finish it and then they are done. They get mom's help and they don't have to do ALL problems on ANY page during their time, but they do have to do atleast 1 problem per page they pick. So if they get to a page they want to do and get halfway through figuring the problem and want to give up and change the page they can't. They have to finish the problem and then can move on to another page. This has helped my girls do math without all the whining and frustration from us all! Every Friday at the end of the month I will have review. We will have games and similar activities planned to make sure they understand what they have been working on for 3 weeks prior. Math is such a different world for us now that we do this method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandty Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 1) Does she NEED to do all the problems? If she understands the concept with fewer problems, let her do fewer problems. I hardly ever assign ALL problems, unless it's a completely new topic that requires a lot of repetition. Sometimes I'll have him do part of it orally if we need to do more problems. 2) Sit next to her while she works, to keep her on task. 3) I wouldn't fret too much about her being one year "behind" in MM. That would put her doing algebra in 9th grade, which is perfectly fine! :iagree: Our short time with MM showed us that there are way too many problems. We usually did half of them . . . . more if needed and less if it was just too easy. On "review" days I would have them go back and do some of the problems that we skipped. Sitting with my kids is so hard for me. Perhaps I have some attention problems myself :tongue_smilie:, but I usually find a task I complete while sitting at the table while we work on a new lesson. I really hoped they could do it independent, but they couldn't. This may be why she is struggling staying on task . . . . maybe it is too hard and she needs for one on one. I thought MM was a little hard for the grade level. But, of course we have used MUS and the sequence is different, but I thought it was slightly above grade level. Another suggestion is to do an hour a day, but 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. I am doing this with my kids (with MUS though) and we do a new lesson in the morning together and I assign 30 minutes of review work for the afternoon. We also do online drill and games during that review time too. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poke Salad Annie Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Dd really struggled with Singapore Math in 1st. I switched to MEP. That didn't work because she wanted to just do the worksheets and none of the extra bits that are explained in the teacher pages. How do I get her to focus for the full 30 minutes? Or should I just start adding time? Any other suggestions? Well, this may not be a popular opinion, but the teacher pages are the "meat" of MEP. We use these every day, working on a large whiteboard (dry-erase) for the problems which are not on the worksheets, but are intended as inter-active work. This is our favorite time with MEP, and it's also the time which cements the focus of the lesson plan. What follows the teacher's instructions are the worksheets. Not trying to fuss at you, and hope you don't see it as such. Really, it is more about cementing that knowledge and nailing down skills rather than being on a certain level, but that is JMHO. I don't think there is any quick way to get ahead without spending the necessary time involved in explanations. Something that really spoke to me this summer about math was reading in the book, When Children Love to Learn, about narrations for mathematics. I'd never thought of narrations for math before, and this was very interesting to me. Now I use it each day during our instruction time, and I make my child come to the board and demonstrate working the problems while explaining back to me what he has done and why. That way I can see whether or not he has comprehended what is important and whether we are ready to move on or work further with a certain topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Well, this may not be a popular opinion, but the teacher pages are the "meat" of MEP. I think that's why the OP said she ditched MEP and switched to MM. Her DD didn't want to do the stuff in the teacher pages, so it wasn't a good fit for her. I don't think your opinion would be unpopular here at all. That's what I've heard over and over on this forum about MEP. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poke Salad Annie Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I think that's why the OP said she ditched MEP and switched to MM. Her DD didn't want to do the stuff in the teacher pages, so it wasn't a good fit for her. I don't think your opinion would be unpopular here at all. That's what I've heard over and over on this forum about MEP. :) Right, I understand that. What I was trying to say, and probably didn't say well, was that in order to explain how the worksheets are used, or explain certain concepts, the teacher's lesson plan is a necessary component. The OP did express that math was difficult for that child. Again, I'm not trying to be snarky or argumentative. Not every child wants to listen to the lesson instructions, but maybe that would be a very helpful way to get her child to the point she would like in her math ability. I guess I don't understand (again, JMHO) how a math program works for a child without instruction by the parent (or teacher). Maybe, and I'm treading lightly here (probably it's just time for me to leave this thread :001_unsure:), the instructions from the MEP lesson plan would help ease the frustration she's experiencing. I've no idea really, just trying to say that sometimes it helps to say, "Look, today we're going to talk about _______. Let's work these problems on scrap paper or the board, and then you can try some on your worksheet." Could that help? Maybe it is just a time issue with setting limits. I don't know, but maybe it is also just an issue of understanding the material that is using up so much time. Backing out of this thread now....:001_unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 One thing that might work is setting a timer for math. Start with 30 minutes, set it in front of her, and if you notice her goofing off and not doing her work, simply add that much more time to the timer. Don't say anything, so it doesn't feel like you're nagging. She'll eventually get to the point where she will get 30 minutes of work done, and in that amount of time, when she realizes she can't goof around until the timer dings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 We switched to MM about 4 months ago. I, too, found DD8 needed to go back, and we started her at 2B. She has a good month and a half of 2B yet, and that is skipping things I feel she can skip for now. I'm in the same spot of wanting to catch her up to the third grade book. It's not popular at our house, but oftentimes I will have her do math even on a few holidays here and there. Maybe not even every day of the holiday. I'm trying to "read" them to see if they truly just need a break from it all, but 20-30 minutes doesn't seem to phase them . . . yet. I'm hoping it will slowly get her up to pace so that she can start 4A at the beginning of 4th next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I guess I don't understand (again, JMHO) how a math program works for a child without instruction by the parent (or teacher) There is instruction by parent/teacher in Math Mammoth. It is just done differently from the instruction in MEP. I've no idea really, just trying to say that sometimes it helps to say, "Look, today we're going to talk about _______. Let's work these problems on scrap paper or the board, and then you can try some on your worksheet." Ok, I think I understand better now. :D You can do this with Math Mammoth, and it's an excellent idea for speeding things up. White board is handy that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 This is a very interesting idea. I may give this a try. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 I think that's why the OP said she ditched MEP and switched to MM. Her DD didn't want to do the stuff in the teacher pages, so it wasn't a good fit for her. I don't think your opinion would be unpopular here at all. That's what I've heard over and over on this forum about MEP. :) Yes, this. I knew that MEP wasn't enough without the teacher pages, and she pitched such a fit about doing the 'extra' (what she thought of as extra) work, that we switched to MM because all the teaching was on the kids' pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 We switched to MM about 4 months ago. I, too, found DD8 needed to go back, and we started her at 2B. She has a good month and a half of 2B yet, and that is skipping things I feel she can skip for now. I'm in the same spot of wanting to catch her up to the third grade book. It's not popular at our house, but oftentimes I will have her do math even on a few holidays here and there. Maybe not even every day of the holiday. I'm trying to "read" them to see if they truly just need a break from it all, but 20-30 minutes doesn't seem to phase them . . . yet. I'm hoping it will slowly get her up to pace so that she can start 4A at the beginning of 4th next year. I actually had her working on math all summer, not every day, but on days when we didn't have a lot going on outside the house. I may have to add math on Saturdays as 'homework.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyz Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I recommend doing as many math games as you can. Right Start has great math games, there are a lot of great math game applications for iphone and ipad, and there are many fun math games that can be found for free around the internet. Does she have the number bonds on the tip of her tongue? I would start there...every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Right, I understand that. What I was trying to say, and probably didn't say well, was that in order to explain how the worksheets are used, or explain certain concepts, the teacher's lesson plan is a necessary component. The OP did express that math was difficult for that child. Again, I'm not trying to be snarky or argumentative. Not every child wants to listen to the lesson instructions, but maybe that would be a very helpful way to get her child to the point she would like in her math ability. I guess I don't understand (again, JMHO) how a math program works for a child without instruction by the parent (or teacher). Maybe, and I'm treading lightly here (probably it's just time for me to leave this thread :001_unsure:), the instructions from the MEP lesson plan would help ease the frustration she's experiencing. I've no idea really, just trying to say that sometimes it helps to say, "Look, today we're going to talk about _______. Let's work these problems on scrap paper or the board, and then you can try some on your worksheet." Could that help? Maybe it is just a time issue with setting limits. I don't know, but maybe it is also just an issue of understanding the material that is using up so much time. Backing out of this thread now....:001_unsure: ???? I don't want to go back to MEP. She's doing fine in MM, just dawdling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mazakaal Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 I recommend doing as many math games as you can. Right Start has great math games, there are a lot of great math game applications for iphone and ipad, and there are many fun math games that can be found for free around the internet. Does she have the number bonds on the tip of her tongue? I would start there...every day. We do math games on Monday for fun. We have a variety of math games here. Maybe I'll try to up her time on those. Then it won't feel so much like having extra math time if it's through games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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