Chrysalis Academy Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Ok, I am now realizing that we do not have a snowball's chance in heck of finishing MM 4 this year. Does this matter? Does anyone just follow the program . . . and not worry when you finish/get to pre-algebra? Do I need to :chillpill: (as if I have an alternative????) :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Why are you not going to finish? Is it because it's just slow going conceptually? Because there are a bunch of other things competing or you're having trouble fitting it in or getting focused on it? Because the style of MM is a struggle? If it's just that you're plodding away, but slowly, then, yeah. I personally would (try!) to take a deep breath and let it take as much time as it takes. I mean, better to get the concepts and not rush, right? And you may catch up later. It's totally okay to not be ready for algebra 1 until 9th grade. You have time to get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Excellent questions. (I was trying to be pithy in my op, but maybe was too pithy??). We will not finish because a) we started late, after 1 disastrous quarter of 4th grade in ps, and b) we had a fair amount of remedial work to do - all the mental math stuff was *brand new* and we had to back up to grade 2/grade 3 worksheets in order to master the concepts, before we could handle the grade 4 material. Happily, that is going very well now, and we plug away at MM at least 4 days a week (the 5th day, and the reason for TT at our house, is that I have to work 1 day a week and need something she can do on her own - TT5 fits the bill, although we aren't that impressed). Some days, if it is hard and stretching her, we get less than 2 pages done. I think 2 pages has been the max so far. I hope once we get into more familiar subjects, like mult & div, we may go a bit faster but . . . I don't want to sacrifice conceptual understanding to speed. If she gets stumped, I'm committed to going back, using more basic worksheets, and bringing her up to grade level understanding. She's very smart, and likes math (again, thankfully, after 2 months at home), but is the victim of a ps math education - lots of spiralling and no mastery, and no emphasis on practical/conceptual understanding. So I love MM for that - I really think it is saving her mathematical bacon, so I'm committed to making it work. I just had a moment of looking-ahead panic when I realized that at this rate, we'll be well into 7th grade before finishing MM 6. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celia Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 a good understanding is far more important than speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I don't think you need to worry. It sounds like you are catching up, and remember that some topics will go faster than others. For example, in the geometry sections, you might be able to do one whole section per day instead of just 2 pages. Also, don't be afraid to assign less problems in a section IF she doesn't need that many. That can help you do 3 pages sometimes. Most topics we didn't do all the problems. Some topics we did all the problems and stretched the material over a longer time. It just depended on what my son needed. Do you plan to do any math during the summer? You could easily catch up if you just did a bit over the summer. Either way, there is certainly nothing wrong with MM6 going a bit into 7th grade. You'd then start prealgebra sometime during 7th (and really, if she understands the math well, she might even be able to go straight into algebra or use a supplemental curriculum inbetween MM6 and algebra that doesn't take a whole year - lots of options, depending on what your child needs at that point). No need to freak out just yet. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 If that's the case, I would take pride in the strides she's taken so far and not worry about it at all. Maybe push through and commit to doing some math over the summer, but if this year you covered chunks of MM2 and 3 as well as most of 4, then next year, presumably you can finish 4 and do most of 5 and maybe by the end of 6th grade you'll have wrapped up and be more or less on track or just a few months behind, which is pretty negligible, all things considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I was worried with the same thing. We have DD7 doing MM2, and we haven't finished book A yet. I had to back up into some of the 1st grade material to help her master. We only get 1-1/2 pages done in a day, which takes at least 45 minutes, and I'm not going to make her do more than that. After we've finished LA for the year, I will have her do a light math lesson each day, maybe 4 days a week, about 1 page a day, to help catch her up. She is doing well in MM and really grasps the concepts, so I am thrilled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 a good understanding is far more important than speed. :iagree: My dd is behind in MM4 also. Even with a reduced number of problems on a page, she is plodding along slowly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Well, actually you HAVE done more than a full years of work already. You said you had to go back to 2nd/3rd grade and master those necessary concepts. This is so common of ps dropouts LOL! Good for you and girly, sounds like you both have a good attitude and like the change to HSing. There is a way to speed up a little in MM. I don't know if you are going page by page by page.....that can get a little boring (for us as least). I do love MM, but I skip around a bit. I have an accelerated kid, who is 7 and going through MM3b at a fast pace and I actually combined 2 years in some topics. Do you have MM4, 5, and 6? If not, I would suggest it and you can plan them out slightly different. Some units need to be worked in order, as in you need to master the concept behind multiplication before you work bigger problems, but you have some flexibility since MM lays things out by chapter/unit. I am assuming you are somewhere still in 4A? We have so many ps friends/family and like our summers off, but since DS likes math that is what we keep up wth in the summer. Are you willing to work in the summer a little? You could just do math, a few days a week. You could leave the time/measurement and geometry sections for the end of the year instead of doing them in order, and then if they fall in to the summer, you can easily make those sections fun and more applied. We did not follow MM to a t on geometry/measurement but did our own thing, but even using MM it's a "fun" topic. OR, you can do a couple chapters at a time. Meaning, print some of long division, some time/or measurement unit and do one page from each a day. This is also a good way to find a unit that may come easier. Sometimes I do this, and DS just totally gets something really quick, so we just go through that unit. Right now we are working out of 3B and 4a/b, because right after multiplication he wanted to keep going and learn multi digit multiplication problems and bigger place value. Also, DS LOVES fractions! Maybe it's because I quilt and he wants to help ;). That part is in 4B and we are doing that right now. OR, you can buy MM 5 and 6, and see where you might join 2 like units from two years. Example you can decide to skip the geo section of 4 right now, complete the rest of 4, then work the geo unit from MM5, which is much more in depth/interesting. She could even do it over the summer. If she likes math, and is willing, you could talk to her about it? DS is a big part of his schedule. It's not like he will just drop and do math on his own hours a day, but math is his focus so he does a little more. Is there a way to back off other subjects slightly and focus more on math? If you really want to get through it there are ways to do that. Hopefully this has helped some. You could also just join the "doesn't matter" camp, because really, it doesn't! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warneral Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Sorry I haven't read everything but could you do some math in the summer? 2 pages per day throughout the summer with Fridays off would keep the skills up and keep her on track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 The number on the book doesn't matter. Your making sure her skills are solid. She will be better in the long run. Keep plugging along at the pace that enables her to grasp the concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Thanks for all the suggestions. I want to HS over the summer, but I already know that life will get in the way. She does a month-long all-day theater camp in July, all day, we take a two week family vacation in August, and usually a week or so off in June . . . so there will be at least 7 weeks between June-Sept. that we won't do much math, if any. But, we will chug through most of June, for sure, and we'll see how far we get . . . I also am going to think about the idea of getting MM 5 and doing some rearranging. I was thinking of doing Fractions right after Division, and saving Geometry for the summer. I know that Maria says feel free to rearrange, as long as you cover the concepts necessary for a new topic (like division before fractions), but being such a newbie I tend to figure she must have had a reason for arranging it as she did . . . good to hear some of you have taken some liberties with the organization, with good results! Anyway, thanks for the ideas and encouragement. I am really proud of DD for working so hard to get back on track with math. I don't want her to feel like she's "behind", especially when she compares what she's doing to what her friends in ps are doing - she is getting it at such a deeper, more conceptual level! That is something to feel really good about. I think she is going to be very strong in math if we stay focused and work on it every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrissySC Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Ok, I am now realizing that we do not have a snowball's chance in heck of finishing MM 4 this year. Does this matter? Does anyone just follow the program . . . and not worry when you finish/get to pre-algebra? Do I need to :chillpill: (as if I have an alternative????) :confused: I just keep moving forward. Remember that pre-algebra begins after book 6. AS long as you reach it by somewhere around the 7th-8th grade, you are not behind, but rather average with the rest of the students nationally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 My dd zipped through MM3 in about 6 months. MM4 has slowed her down quite a bit. She gets the concepts but the volume of work required to complete the problems is, imo, much greater than in MM3. My dd is mathy but she is still finding MM4 somewhat hard going. I have never before agreed with the advice to skip problems in MM, but I am starting to consider it because dd9 is feeling bogged down. Just wanted to let you know that MM4 can be challenging even for those kids who are mathy. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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