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Switch to MEP and how to supplement?


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My dd (6) is currently working through Singapore 1b. We supplement with Miquon, Visible Thinking, CWP, and MathSprints. I am considering a switch to MEP for a number of reasons, but I have some reservations about leaving Singapore. She seems to love math when she works on Miquon and Math Sprints. Singapore 1b WB and Text she can do without help and seems to get bored. CWP is exaclty that, challenging. She does like to be challenged, but at this point in her development computation and puzzle challenges are where she excels. CWP we will work through together to avoid frustrating her in this subject. I am looking for suggestions on a switch to the following:

 

Spine: MEP

Supplements: Miquon, Math Sprints, Living Books, and CWP.

 

My first reservation in leaving Singapore is that I'll be decreasing her exposure to solving problems using the model drawing method. I'll continue to work through CWP teaching this method, and apply it elsewhere as appropriate. (Has anyone else tried this approach?)

 

My other reservation is that I taught middle school math from a spiral review curriculum that I did not love (being nice). My initial reviews of MEP are quite favorable in comparison.

 

Please share any thought or suggestions you may have? Weaknesses/strengths of MEP? Do you use the online testing format for your students or do you quiz/test using another source?

 

I'd love to hear your experience with this curriculum. :001_smile:

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MEP has much to recommend it, but in practice it hasn't worked for us because it is hard to radically accelerate/dramatically compact. I would say that if a child is moving at a pace of roughly 2 years traditional math in 1 year at home, MEP may work (just school year-round, drop the Friday reviews, maybe drop other days as you go). But at a 3:1 ratio it isn't workable.

 

It also takes a chunk of time to actually teach; my feeling is that it requires more of my direct attention than Singapore, on a daily basis. This is a challenge b/c I have a tot/preschooler. May not matter to you.

 

I do not test, and prob. won't until Button is 8 or 9 (he's 7).

 

I prefer the way MEP teaches math to the way Singapore teaches it -- it feels much more like what mathematicians do and are interested in -- but it hasn't worked for us.

For supplementing, I needed to supplement fact drills; MathSprints was a good way to to this, or daily oral math, or the Calculadder program.

 

HTH!

 

ETA: I expect to use MEP with my younger son, prob. with another program in some mix (leaning toward Singapore or maybe Galore Park's maths), because he is bright but not so temperamentally demanding as my older one, who required hard math on a regular basis for his mental health.

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Please share any thought or suggestions you may have? Weaknesses/strengths of MEP? Do you use the online testing format for your students or do you quiz/test using another source?

 

I'd love to hear your experience with this curriculum. :001_smile:

 

 

 

Disclaimer: My DD, who was homeschooled up until a month ago, is afterschooled now with MEP/Singapore Math.

 

I agree with PP who mentioned that it's difficult to compact MEP if the child is radically accelerated. What I did was to print out ALL the years. Yes, all the way upto Year 7. Spiral bound each year(teacher+student) separately.

I picked and chose the really interesting problems..there is one on every page. I marked it and included review problems once a week. Years 1-4 were excellent. I personally was not too excited about the later years.

 

Although MEP does require the instructor to prepare each lesson in a way that probably Singapore does not. But, the Instructor lesson plans have some excellent ideas and lay the groundwork for the work to come. I suggest spiral binding each years lesson plans+ worksheets together.

 

MEP approaches problems in a manner that encourages trial/ error and persistence. This was very important for my perfectionist DD who would crumble at the slightest error. Over 1 and a half years of repeatedly being exposed to the mind benders in MEP, she has reached a point where she is willing to tackle a problem without worrying about being wrong.

 

 

 

P.S. No testing during homeschooling. But now that she's at school(grade 2) she is tested every week and she's doing very well.

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Loved the idea of MEP (did 2 separate semesters of it- 1a and 3b. Did Singapore for 1b and 3a and a mish mash for 2nd), but in practice we found that Math Mammoth works better. Less juggling. At six it's a whole lot more fun to do lots of living books, games and white board work, tho, FWIW.

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