Will I regret switching from MEP to Math Mammoth?

[Katydid]

I'm so torn! We have been using MEP since we started homeschooling and we all really like it and my kids have both done well with it. But my oldest hasn't gotten far enough along in the program as I would have liked. He'll be starting 4th grade next year and we are only just finishing MEP year 2. The fact that the lessons are dependent on me have a lot to do with that, I'm afraid. I believe he would be able to start year 4 with no problems if only we could accelerate through the content of year 3 to get him up to speed. But trying to do that with MEP is a lot of work, IMO, and it would be still more work for me to keep us on track throughout the year (because the lessons are designed to lean heavily on the instructor).

 

I have been looking at MM samples and I really like what I see... the layout is very clean and straightforward and it's very clear what is being covered in each lesson. Plus my oldest could do most of the lesson himself and work at his own pace. Based on the TOC, I think we could jump into 3B and get through that pretty quickly (he's already done multiplication and division with MEP... it's mostly place value and higher numbers that he's behind on).

 

But I've come to see the beauty of MEP and I really like all the puzzles and challenges and the spiral-like review built in...

 

But I also really like the idea of a more independent math curricula. With 4 kids under 10, my time is spread very thin and if MM could free some of that up for me, it would be worth it.

 

But will MM seem boring after MEP? I certainly don't want to make my kids hate math by forcing them to use a boring program.

 

And what about my non-mathy rising second grader? Would she do better with the more straightforward MM?

 

Ahh! I can't decide! Somebody help me!

[edeemarie]

We switched from MEP to MM last year. Knowing that I would have to teach 4 children with MEP at some point in time just made me think it wasn't going to work for us. I really struggled with this decision because I do love MEP but just couldn't keep up. We are actually using MM Blue because my oldest was pretty behind what a child in his grade would be doing and would not have been happy to be placed under his grade level. But with MM I was able to get him caught up without any issues. I do still have to do some teaching with MM but it is significantly less than what I was doing with MEP and since most of our other curriculum is teacher intensive that helps out a lot! Both kids using MM did very well on their testing too...an added bonus:)

[Katydid]

Thank you.

 

So I have been looking through my Miquon materials (I have the whole set sitting unused on my shelf) and I'm wondering if I could have DS do some sheets from that for the next few weeks on topics covered in MEP 3a. Then he would start his 4th grade year in 3b and I would also have him work through some more of the Miquon sheets (with dry erase marker on a page protector) for fun and variety. So he would be ending 4th grade about 3/4 of the way through MEP year 4 (if we skip the review at the beginning) and going through the end of Miquon.

 

Would that put him pretty much on grade level in math by that point? Does that sound like a decent plan? I know I said I wasn't sure about continuing to teach MEP, but I just really like it and I would hate to change something that is going well. I think adding a bit of Miquon will give us the bit of variety and independence that we are missing.

[Zoo Keeper]

I DO understand the time involved with MEP and multiple children. But I love it too much to give it up altogether. I just slowed it down, and didn't loose sleep over what year we were in. We just kept on plugging away at the pace we could handle.

 

I don't think your son is behind in MEP; there's a lot of meat in those lessons, and some kids (and teachers! ;)) need more time to work through it all. My two oldest boys are "behind" in MEP(finishing up Year 4)--my goal is to have them finish up Year 6 by the end of their 7th grade year, and then do a year of pre-algebra. We will do an official algebra course in 9th grade. MEP years 7-8 are intended for review for those who need it, or for those who had not done Years 1-6, and need to come up to speed. This blog post tells of a homeschooling mom who has done MEP with her boys, and went from Year 6 to Year 9 without problems.

 

One way to accelerate MEP is to skip every 5th lesson, since that is a review lesson. I've been doing that with my boys, and it has been working well. I slip in some of the review lesson stuff into our other lessons during the week, or as "homework".

 

I haven't used MM, but I do really like MEP and Miquon together; many of the activities in the Teacher's Notes lend themselves to C-rods very well.

 

I like Miquon with just about anything.

[Katydid]

I'm really liking the looks of Miquon, too, and I see some stuff in there that I haven't seen in MEP so far. My plan is to rip apart all the workbooks and stick them in a binder in their letter order and then pick a few pages on various topics per week to stick in page protectors for DS and DD to do with a dry erase marker. Then I will pencil their initial on the sheet (so I know they've done that one already) and stick it back in order in the binder. Does that sound like a decent plan?

[Zoo Keeper]

I'm really liking the looks of Miquon, too, and I see some stuff in there that I haven't seen in MEP so far. My plan is to rip apart all the workbooks and stick them in a binder in their letter order and then pick a few pages on various topics per week to stick in page protectors for DS and DD to do with a dry erase marker. Then I will pencil their initial on the sheet (so I know they've done that one already) and stick it back in order in the binder. Does that sound like a decent plan?

 

Sounds great! One of my boys loved working through Miquon topically (doing all the pages on addition until he hit a bump, then doing all the subtraction pages, etc.) He got a real charge on seeing how far he could figure things out. Another son HAD to do the books in order (all of Orange, THEN all Red, etc.) Different boys, different strengths, but Miquon did well for both. I love the flexibility of Miquon.

[Amy Jo]

I've used MM for problem areas - place value, subtraction with regrouping, and the multiplication tables. I don't think I could handle it as my main, it was boring, too many problems a day and too much of the same thing over and over. That said, I've considering using it for my 2nd son a few times - he's an independent type. But I haven't yet. I like MEP too much.

 

We flitted around a LOT this year, so I am using MEP in a fast paced review over the summer for my older two sons. I do not know if this is a good idea, or if it will work. Just so you know! But I skipped the first weeks of review, and we will skip the last weeks as well. We are doing 3 lessons from each week, assuming the concept is grasped. So I look at the week's topic, and of days 1-4 I choose 3. We skip the 5th day. Now I am going to have one son do a 5th day sheet this weekend, just to help him grasp a topic more. I also have the Kitchen Table Math books to refer too, and I am doing all or almost all of the lesson plans. So ... we'll see if it works. The plan is to do as much as possible, and start the next year's books sometime in September.

 

I have the Miquon pages from currclick, and we used those some this year. I wish I could figure out how to use them better. Maybe I should put them in folders by topic or something, and just let the kids pick one if to do on rainy/hot/snowy days (or if they want to!).

[TKDmom]

I switched dd(11) from MM to MEP, and then recently bought another MM unit so I could speed her up and get her closer to grade level--she's just starting MEP 5A, and would "officially" start 7th grade this fall. Yesterday (after a week or 2 of MM) she started shouting, "I hate Math Mammoth!!!" Okaay...here's your MEP workbook...

 

There is enough review in MEP, that I don't always have to do the whole lesson with her. That's the only thing that keeps her plugging through the program--some days she just does the workbook. I try to do a full lesson, or at least 3/4 of the lesson with her everyday, but I am being pulled in too many directions to spend over an hour on a math lesson with one child. I also skip lessons that look like too much review for her. I haven't found any math programs that this girl truly loves, but the blandness and repetition in MM drive her absolutely batty. Of course, YMMV. ;)

[Katydid]

Yeah, looking at MM more, I think both my (school-age) kids would think it's really boring. I really think MEP is the best for our family, despite the fact that it's more time consuming. The plus side is that having to sift through and actively teach from the lesson plans has really helped my own math understanding considerably. And I find that teaching year 1 to my daughter, after having already been through it with my son, has been considerably easier this time around because I know what to expect. Hopefully, by the time I have 4 kids in different math levels, I will know each level of MEP (besides my oldest's level) well enough that it won't be too much of a burden to teach.

 

Thank you all for honestly sharing your experiences. :)