For those of you using MEP math...

[knittingmama]

Do you have to do the scripted lesson plans? I really like the look of MEP, (and the price, or lack thereof ;) )but my 3rd grader is in Singapore 4B and using it fairly independently. We go through the textbook together, but then she pretty much takes off on her own and asks me is she has any questions if she needs to. I'm not sure how willing I am to give that up.

 

I am also considering it for my younger kids (K/1st grade). They would be going into MEP 1 from Singapore 1A. How much time does each lesson take? I see the times written on the lesson plans, but that is written for a classroom, and teaching one or two kids is vastly different than a classroom of 30.

[DandelionPrincess]

we are using MEP yr 1 with my K-er, along with SM 1 A/B. It's slightly more time consuming, as you have to really read through the lesson plans and figure out how to switch from classroom to homeschool (i only have one child, so it's a pretty big difference, lol).

 

Anyhow, for me i print out all of the worksheet pages and keep them in a binder, and i write out the lesson plans that i want on regular paper and put it with the worksheet (for example, we are on lesson 14 or 15, and i draw the diagrams i will put on our whiteboard on the paper, as well as some notes on HOW to explain, and how my kid is supposed to be thinking through/answering the questions). It really is quite challenging at this level, as they are learning to skip count not just from zero, but from other numbers (counting by 2s starting at 5, counting by 3s starting at 5 or 7, etc.) and doing a lot of mental stuff that isn't typically covered. We love it. My son is fairly math-y and is really enjoying the lessons/challenge. we take it really slow, and if he wants to repeat lessons that we do on the board the next day, we often do that instead of moving on, simply because hey, if hes ASKING for a particular type of math problem, which is challenging for him, why deny him? esp. at 5 yo. lol.

 

The lessons usually take anywhere from 10-30 minutes, depending on my son's focus, and interest, as well as the content. Sometimes we zoom through them because he doesn't really want to do much that day, other days he could do hours of the same type of problem. We'll also skip some of the stuff, if i feel it's just too classroom-like, or change it to fit our needs a bit. We also skip a lot of the writing of the numbers, as he knows that already, and gets a lot of writing practic with other things.

 

Most important, i think, is to just make sure you are getting the lesson across. Use what you have, change what you need to fit your child and yourself. And remember, a lot of these concepts are simply not taught in other programs (which is the appeal in MEP) and might need some practice before they really stick. I find that we are learning to THINK differently, not just new ways of doing addition, if you know what i mean. i hope this helps a bit! I'm sure there will be a ton of other more experienced replies :)

[anabelneri]

There is a lot of material in the scripted part that isn't in the worksheets. My daughter generally has done OK without the scripted part when we've had to skip it in the past (even for weeks at a time), but I know that other kids have found it helpful for completing the worksheets. It certainly provides additional practice, which is good.

 

The amount of time has varied for us as we've gone along. When we were doing Year 1, a lesson didn't take long at all. These days (we're at the end of Year 4) it usually does take us the allotted 45min. But we also do all of the problems in the scripted part, just like a class might, but that you wouldn't have to if working with just one student.

 

I know one mom who uses MEP and on Monday will go through all the scripted lessons for the week with her daughter (Year 3) and then the daughter is self-sufficient for the rest of the week. That doesn't sound all that different from what you described as working for you with Singapore.

 

:)

[knittingmama]

That helps. Thank you both a lot. I think I'm going to go ahead and switch over to it for my 2 little ones whom I combine, but I'm not sure that I will for the older one. I'm going to read through the plans a little more and decide if I could do the whole thing one day, and then give her the work for the rest of the week, or how I want to do it. It is certainly appealing to me though. I love the level of thinking involved

 

One more question. I just read through a few pages each of several levels of the student pages and the lesson plans. Are there as many word problems as Singapore? That is something we would like to keep.

[lorisuewho]

I'm going MEP 1 with one child and MEP 2 with another child and plan to continue with MEP. I love it! I love it a lot more than I ever cared for Singapore. Singapore is a great program but not a great fit for us.

 

I do all the things in the scripted lesson plans first. This usually takes about 10-15 minutes. Then they child does his page of problems (I printed them out and bound them into workbooks before we started the year). I think we spend about 30 minutes on math right now total for each child. I think there are a good deal of word problems if you are doing the scripted lesson plans. However, I don't know that there are as many as SM. I'm adding in Singapore Challenging Word Problems next year to MEP 3.