Math Mammoth users: how do I tweak it?

[Tardis Girl]

I know this has been discussed and referenced, but as I'm searching threads I just can't find anything that directly addresses this.

 

We've been using MM for years and I feel like it's a solid program, but it's just overkill. But I'm not sure where or how to "cut" while retaining the thoroughness but letting go of the monotony. 

 

I know this is going to depend on the child. We've been taking a break from MM for a few months with some Life of Fred and just less math in general (and it's been lovely!), but ....IDK... I guess it's time to get back to it. So I figured out which topics they need to start in on (on is at MM-3B, and one has a few things in MM-4B before moving forward). I just look at aaaalllllll the pages I'd need to print. <sigh>   

 

I actually enjoy math, but I know they do not. 

 

I'm considering trying to work alongside each one individually, as I haven't done that in years and they often work independently on this subject and have a good understanding thanks to MM explanations and problem. Is it just a matter of cutting down teh number of problems on each page, or skipping whole pages? I do like to see more word problems, but also want the solidifying that comes from sheer repetition. 

 

Sorry this is so long. :(

[silver]

I have my son do at least one problem from each "set". I have him do more if I think he could use more practice, and less if it's an easy concept for him. I circle the problems ahead of time. If he misses a problem, I tell him, "you missed 1 problem in this page, find it and correct it." After he's done that, I have him do one more for some more practice.

[Momto6inIN]

If it's a long lesson then I usually have them do all the odds or all the evens.  If they don't have any problems, then they're done.  If they do, then they have to do the rest of the problems the next day.

[maize]

I do two things: cross out some problems on most pages (depending on how much practice I judge a child to need with the concept being taught) and alternate pages from different sections. So a child's assignment for one day may include on page of multiplication and two pages of geometry, or a page of fractions and a page on money.

[Tardis Girl]

All great replies! Thank you! And it's interesting how you each have your own little systems. 

 

@silver -- when you say you have him do at least one problem from each "set" ...what do you mean by "set"? I am looking at a page from 3A (order of operations 2, page 87-88), for example:

 

page 87 has

#1 (a-f)

#2 (a-j)

 

page 88 has
#3 (a-f)

#4 (a-d)

#5 (a-b )

Puzzle Corner

 

So according to your "set" description, do you mean that you would have him do one (lettered) problem from #1-5 (so like 1b, 2j, 3c, 4a, 5b) and then something with the puzzle corner?  Just want to be sure I'm correctly interpreting what you're saying.

 

[Farrar]

It got harder and harder for us to tweak as ds got older and we ended up leaving the program after finishing MM4. I really liked it too - and so did ds, but as I tried to skip around in MM4, it became less and less clear when he was getting something and when he wasn't. If he had had to do all the problems, it would have been a chore, but the way that everything repeated in patterns made it too easy to copy the pattern and then not get the concept underlying it. Somehow when it was simpler math, it was easier for me to see when he was getting it and could skip on ahead and when he wasn't and needed to do longer sets.

 

In my dream world, Maria Miller would offer the same material in yet another format (because clearly she gets that different arrangements are useful) where there would be the pared down page followed by the more practice page. And if your dc aced the pared down page (with lots of clean lines and few problems and extra space) then they would skip the next page and go on.

 

We moved to MiF. It's been okay. I don't love it, but ds likes it better than he was liking MM at the end.

[Momto4inSoCal]

We are doing every other problem. If they get them right they can move on. If they get some wrong we do the rest of the problems. I figure it will be good to leave some for review later on also. 

 

[silver]

So according to your "set" description, do you mean that you would have him do one (lettered) problem from #1-5 (so like 1b, 2j, 3c, 4a, 5b) and then something with the puzzle corner?  Just want to be sure I'm correctly interpreting what you're saying.

 

Yup, that's what I do. For topics that I know he knows it, I just choose one problem like how you've listed (this will often happen at the first introduction of a topic and after several times seeing it). For topics where a little more practice is good, I would choose more than 1 per set, just to make sure he understands the concepts. I've found that since each set is a slightly more difficult iteration of the previous set that doing every problem on every page is overkill for a student that "gets it."

 

The only time we do all problems in a set is for word problems and puzzle corner. MM is a little light on word problems (at least in the younger grades that we've done), so we don't want to skip what is included. We also do all the puzzle corner problems because my son loves those. I should note that with topics that don't show up that often (reading graphs in the early grades, for example), we do all the problems just to make sure there's enough practice. But for the arithmetic parts, we skip liberally--when we didn't skip, it made my son break down in tears to have to do math.

[AmandaVT]

We do almost exactly what silver does - one or a few problems from each set, all the puzzle corners and word problems. DS is doing 3A right now and today he did pages 39-41. I had him pick 3 problems on page 39 to do, then he wanted to do more because he liked circling the answers on the number line at the bottom of the page. He did all of the problems on page 40 (word problems) and on page 41, he did 1 problem from section 3, 1 from section 4 and the puzzle corner.

[Tardis Girl]

OK, gotcha. This makes sense, and again, thank you all for so many examples and specifics. That's kind of along the lines of what I've done from time to time for just  small section, but I've not really approached the entire curriculum or level from that perspective and was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect.

 

@farrar -- I'm also a bit concerned about what you mentioned, because I was wondering (before this thread) if that would be an issue and if I needed to consider something else. Ads for CTC math keep popping up in my inbox (they certainly have an enthusiastic advertising person!), but I'm not ready to junk MM.

 

I was also thinking of more purposely alternating topics -- or integrating them, in some ways I suppose -- like what maize described. That helps compensate for a bit of the weakness (for my kids) on mastery vs spiral. I just don't like when there would be multiple consecutive topics that omit or brush over some of the newer arithmetic skills. 

 

Now it's off to actually put all this talk into action -- wish me luck!  :thumbup:

[momto2Cs]

I do two things: cross out some problems on most pages (depending on how much practice I judge a child to need with the concept being taught) and alternate pages from different sections. So a child's assignment for one day may include on page of multiplication and two pages of geometry, or a page of fractions and a page on money.

 

I do something similar, as I have the Blue Series, not the Light Blue one. I choose a few different workbooks, at the same level, on differing topics, and then alternate instruction from them. I also tend to cross off a few in each section, so that my dd isn't doing every problem. If she has an issue with something, we go back and work the skipped problems.

[Hwin]

I go down the page and circle problems for my son to do, assigning 2-3 pages. If he needs more time in an area, he does the whole page, but I only assigning one (or sometimes even just a half page).