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Math Mammoth-totally self directed?


happyWImom
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I am having such issues with my dd (see other post), and I think it might be good for her to work independently. Math has always been a problem for us, and I have supplemented with MM or had my dc do it on days when we haven't gotten to regular lessons.

 

But, would you say that MM can be pretty well student directed, with very minimal teacher interaction? I know they have games that help reinforce the concepts, and make them fun, which we plan to do (and do some of anyway), but do any of you just let you dc do MM totally on their own?

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If your child can read and comprehend directions easily, then I think you could assign pages for her to do on her own and just check her work when she is done. The teaching examples are at the beginning of each new concept. There may be a few teaching moments within each lesson. I believe there are free worksheets on Maria's site. You could always print a few off and see how it goes before you decide to purchase something.

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I switched to MM for similar reasons. It turned out not to be self-directed for my dd (10yo). Sometimes she felt the explanations were unclear. She complained more than ever about the number of problems, the types of problems, the wording of directions, etc. :tongue_smilie: It was super convenient to have everything in one book, but it turned out to be more of a hassle than Singapore had been.

 

We switched back after completing 4A. Dd is so happy to be back with Singapore that she hasn't complained at all this month. :D (I hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that publicly ;)).

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My kids use MM independently unless they don't understand things or need help. But in general, they get out their math, find the next page and get to work. We are using MM 4, 2 and 1. I make sure I am always available for help and further explanation but if you have a kid who does well following directions and is a natural at math, I see no reason why they couldn't do MM on their own.

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I really like MM, but I think that whether a program is self-directed often depends more on the child than on the curriculum. For us, MM is semi-self-directed -- most of my kids need at least some guidance with it.

 

:iagree: This is my experience as well. For me though, I find it very conveniently set up for me to step in and help every now and then - no separate TM or anything.

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I switched to MM for similar reasons. It turned out not to be self-directed for my dd (10yo). Sometimes she felt the explanations were unclear. She complained more than ever about the number of problems, the types of problems, the wording of directions, etc. :tongue_smilie: It was super convenient to have everything in one book, but it turned out to be more of a hassle than Singapore had been.

 

We switched back after completing 4A. Dd is so happy to be back with Singapore that she hasn't complained at all this month. :D (I hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that publicly ;)).

 

I am thinking I will have the same issues if we only use MM. DD isn't the best direction-follower, and she has definitely complained about all of the problems & amount of pages. We have been doing Singapore, too, and while she gets it, I feel like we need more review-hence the MM. I think MM would give all of the reinforcement she needs, but.....:banghead:

 

I'm glad you are doing better with Singapore, though. (fingers crossed:D)

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It's more self-contained than any other math curriculum I've looked at. There are no other bits and pieces. There's no separate book of games, lessons or resources. Because of that, it has the potential for being self-directed. But agreed with others that whether it actually is or not probably depends a lot more on the kid than the program.

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I am thinking I will have the same issues if we only use MM. DD isn't the best direction-follower, and she has definitely complained about all of the problems & amount of pages. We have been doing Singapore, too, and while she gets it, I feel like we need more review-hence the MM. I think MM would give all of the reinforcement she needs, but.....:banghead:

 

I'm glad you are doing better with Singapore, though. (fingers crossed:D)

 

We had a rough patch (using MM) and tried TT for a year. It actually worked out well to take me out of the equation (groan - bad pun) and got my daughter to a place where math wasn't causing tears. That said, her problems were not really math problems though. We've since settled with SM, rarely have trouble, and will not be changing until Pre algebra.

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I am thinking I will have the same issues if we only use MM. DD isn't the best direction-follower, and she has definitely complained about all of the problems & amount of pages. We have been doing Singapore, too, and while she gets it, I feel like we need more review-hence the MM. I think MM would give all of the reinforcement she needs, but.....:banghead:

 

I'm glad you are doing better with Singapore, though. (fingers crossed:D)

 

MM definitely provides the reinforcement needed- maybe too much. I don't regret the time we spent on it, but it didn't work out how I hoped it would.

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I am so glad to see this post. I have considered so many math curriculums and heard of MM. I have switched my son over to TT from Saxon because he hates it so much. He used to enjoy math so I really didn't understand what was wrong with him. I used the DIVE cd in 54 and that went reasonably well, and after that 65 was the bomb! I pushed him, offered to help, used Math it game, flashcards, etc. after a terrible year I decided on TT7 and I still think it needs a supplement.

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I really like MM, but I think that whether a program is self-directed often depends more on the child than on the curriculum. For us, MM is semi-self-directed -- most of my kids need at least some guidance with it.

 

:iagree: With MM and CLE I teach the new stuff and then have them work on review problems independently. CLE is geared a bit more toward independent work.

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