Math Mammoth question

[TyraTooters]

I know that MM doesn't really have daily lessons and that each new lesson can last 2-4 (or so) days but I'm wanting/trying to plan out our school year so I was trying to break down how many days wed need to get through the first grade year, assuming he continues to catch on quickly. It obviously won't be set in stone but a good idea is all I'm wanting.

 

So, when you make lesson plans for the week/year/month (however you do it) how do you divide up the lessons/days?

[ErinE]

I don't plan math (or phonics). I tried to plan when I started out homeschooling. Some days we went through 3-4 lessons. Other days the lesson was spread out over 2 days. It wasn't anything I could predict either. Concepts I thought my kids would catch on quickly took multiple lessons to solidify. Lessons I thought would be difficult were a breeze. I'd recommend focusing on doing lessons at your child's pace and making sure your child is ready for the next level.

 

I'm speaking as someone who had a child go through 2 different first grade math programs. Sometime it just takes time and repetition.

[Occasionally]

I usually do a certain number of pages of MM a day. Sometimes it's a breeze, sometimes it takes quite a bit longer.

[Ravin]

I only plan a week at a time.

[Dory]

For a 40 week school year I plan on two pages a day, but we often have pages that I take out because the child doesn't need them. in all actuality, for the grade 1 work, in order to finish both books in 40 weeks a child would have to do 1.4 pages. To finish in 36 weeks (180 days) you would need to do 1.5 pages every day. If we do 2 pages every day, we can take one day a week off from math though and do other things. To do it 4 days a week we would need to do 1.9 pages a day to finish in 36 weeks. We take Mondays off as we have gymnastics that day. We used to take Fridays off.

 

That is no including any quizzes or tests.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I plan on a lesson per day, plus a day for review and a day for tests.  This is just to understand where I'm at and where I need to be to get through whatever I've planned for the year.  Then, in practice, sure - some lessons are short and we might do 1 1/2 lessons, and others are long and might take 2 days.  But as I don't assign every problem if she's getting the concept down, I find that about a lesson a day averages out at the end of the year.  So far with MM 4 & 5, it took less than 180 days to complete - considerably less.  

[Farrar]

We don't plan it.  I set aside a certain amount of time every day for math and we get to what we get to.  If I ever got to say, a quarter of the way through the year and we weren't at least about a quarter of the way through MM, then I might re-evaluate, but it's never been an issue.

[ErinE]

So far with MM 4 & 5, it took less than 180 days to complete - considerably less.

I found this as well. For DS, once the basic concepts were understood, the higher level books went faster.

[TyraTooters]

We have to school for 186 days in the state of KY. (Reading up on the state law and its written out in the most confusing of ways)

[HelenNotOfTroy]

If I were going to plan that way, pages in book/number of school days = pages per day

[ErinE]

We have to school for 186 days in the state of KY. (Reading up on the state law and its written out in the most confusing of ways)

In states where I had to count days, I just made up a chart and noted days we did school. Field trips also counted for attendance. I never had a problem meeting the days required.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I guess I should have added that with my 2nd grader, we do pretty much all the problems, and do two pages a day, regardless of lesson divisions.  It will also take less than a school year to finish MM2 at that rate.

[nansk]

Here is Maria's suggestion for pacing MM.

[Joyful_Journey]

I plan on a lesson per day, plus a day for review and a day for tests.  This is just to understand where I'm at and where I need to be to get through whatever I've planned for the year.  Then, in practice, sure - some lessons are short and we might do 1 1/2 lessons, and others are long and might take 2 days.  But as I don't assign every problem if she's getting the concept down, I find that about a lesson a day averages out at the end of the year.  So far with MM 4 & 5, it took less than 180 days to complete - considerably less.  

 

We do the exact same thing -  one lesson per day with only 1/2 to 2/3 of the problems assigned.  If the lesson is difficult or long though, we spend two days on it.

[Farrar]

We have to school for 186 days in the state of KY. (Reading up on the state law and its written out in the most confusing of ways)

But then you just start next year's if you finish early. Of you do a supplement, or you just don't do math those days. You can still do it however you like.

[alicai]

We have always aimed for 2 pages a day and that ends up with us mostly covering the material over the year after allowing for doldrums, etc. I do review and tests on their own days. I started my dd with the 1st grade series in K and have just progressed with her ability ever since. Last year we worked a little more slowly and so didn't quite finish the curriculum for the year. That was fine and we picked it up again when we were ready to start back and now she's tearing along. At the rate she's going, we will also complete the 3rd grade series this year. Point being - scheduling is fine but don't stress it too much. It shakes out in the end. 

[boscopup]

I would not recommend scheduling more than a week ahead of time.

 

When we used MM, we usually did one "section" per day, but I had a child who was accelerating through the series. For most children, I'd go with what MM recommends at the beginning of the book (dividing the number of pages in the book by how many days you intend to do math). Note that not every school day has to include math! It's also VERY easy to get 180+ days in a school year. We tend to average 205 here, and my cover school only requires 160. If we go to the zoo (field trip), we don't do math that day.

 

But really, MM is not something I would recommend planning out for a year. Just move at a reasonable pace. If you finish early, do the next thing or go sideways. Not a big deal. Some topics are easy and your child will breeze through them. Some topics will take longer. For example, whenever we got to topics on fractions, we could often do the entire fractions section in a couple days. My son loves and is good at fractions. When we got to multi-digit multiplication (in grade 4), we spent extra time and did ALL the problems, and that ended up being just barely enough practice in that topic. So we didn't do one section per day that time. We spent 2-3 days on a section in that topic. It all evens out. You can't predict how your child will do in each topic. You can make educated guesses, but those guesses might end up wrong. ;) I thought my son would have trouble with long division after the multiplication incident, but guess what? He picked up long division super quick with no problems. Go figure! So while I had thought we'd slow down during that section, we didn't need to. So that's why I don't recommend planning more than a week ahead. Have in your mind a general goal, but when you start the work, adjust to meet the needs of your child.

[MotherOfBoys]

I do a loose plan too because I need to know if I need to order another grade (mm2) at the same time to save on shipping, so I understand.

 

We do a 6 weeks of school and then a week off all year round. I planned a lesson a day of mm1, we do all chapter reviews and all tests.

We do math 5 days a week (tues-sat) and Saturday we play math games in the afternoon for 30 mins. He does play math games on his tablet, with grandma on the phone, during the rest of the week on his own.

My son can finish a lesson a day if I make two 20 min sessions a day for math. Which I like two 20's because I notice he retains more.

 

We will be finished with 1st in January I think if we don't have a problem. We've been doing this for over a month now and there has not been a problem. It usually gets easier in the winter too because we have nothing else to do up here. I have Life of Fred for extra winter math.

[angelmama1209]

we school year round so i don't worry about days or "years", but we do 1 "section" a day. she is required to do half the problems. if she misses any, she has to redo that one plus one more. if she struggles a lot with a section, we either redo it or i find an additional practice page or play a related game.