Accelerate mep math

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

I afterschool my twin boys(7) using mep math year 2. Both boys really like the program. They don't like "cutesy" programs and therefore wouldn't respond well to BA (which would be my choice program from here on). We are at a point where they have developed the stamina to want to find the answer to a hard problem, they are both very persistent. MEP is a solid program and fits our budget, but it just seems too easy and/or too slow moving. My boys happily calculate any double digit multiplication question in their heads, even though they don't have most of the single digit multiplication facts memorized. At the moment I only choose about every other problem for them. How can I challenge the twins more? How can I find out what mep level is appropriate? They are clearly both ready for more, but what does that incorporate?

[EndOfOrdinary]

You can get cheapo text books on Amazon.  They are not cutesy.  They are just the old PS ones like Scott Foresman, Glencoe, and such.  It is a very easy way to use the chapter tests to level your kids and see exactly where they are at, to give a few problems here and there, then allow them to enjoy curriculum that is not on the standard sequence like Geometry of polyhedra, Counting and Probability, the 24 game, or base systems.  It allows to you appropriately expand their learning but not overload them if they are spending all day in school.

[quark]

I afterschool my twin boys(7) using mep math year 2. Both boys really like the program. They don't like "cutesy" programs and therefore wouldn't respond well to BA (which would be my choice program from here on). We are at a point where they have developed the stamina to want to find the answer to a hard problem, they are both very persistent. MEP is a solid program and fits our budget, but it just seems too easy and/or too slow moving. My boys happily calculate any double digit multiplication question in their heads, even though they don't have most of the single digit multiplication facts memorized. At the moment I only choose about every other problem for them. How can I challenge the twins more? How can I find out what mep level is appropriate? They are clearly both ready for more, but what does that incorporate?

I compacted MEP by assigning every fifth worksheet (which usually reviews concepts in the 4 preceding worksheets). To ensure that gaps were being covered, I pre-read the teacher lesson plan and chose only those activities that I felt would be valuable to enhancing his understanding. Kiddo was not keen to do the lessons as scripted so pre-reading and self-selecting were much more effective for him. We also skipped around the years a lot. For e.g. we did Years 1-4 (IIRC) all in one + years by jumping around as I saw fit, sometimes scaling back to Year 2 after a few months on Year 4 then jumped to Year 5 for something interesting there and so on. This ensured gaps were covered and also gave some variety to the lessons. But it was a pain for me to print out so many sheets (kiddo didn't like doing it from the computer screen and this was before we owned an iPad).

 

Look up livingmath.net for excellent math literature books/ narrative math books and take a peek at some of the resources in my signature. We used a number of items listed there sporadically (or sometimes even as core curriculum) to liven up challenge.

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

I compacted MEP by assigning every fifth worksheet (which usually reviews concepts in the 4 preceding worksheets). To ensure that gaps were being covered, I pre-read the teacher lesson plan and chose only those activities that I felt would be valuable to enhancing his understanding. Kiddo was not keen to do the lessons as scripted so pre-reading and self-selecting were much more effective for him. We also skipped around the years a lot. For e.g. we did Years 1-4 (IIRC) all in one + years by jumping around as I saw fit, sometimes scaling back to Year 2 after a few months on Year 4 then jumped to Year 5 for something interesting there and so on. This ensured gaps were covered and also gave some variety to the lessons. But it was a pain for me to print out so many sheets (kiddo didn't like doing it from the computer screen and this was before we owned an iPad).

 

Look up livingmath.net for excellent math literature books/ narrative math books and take a peek at some of the resources in my signature. We used a number of items listed there sporadically (or sometimes even as core curriculum) to liven up challenge.

:party:

 

Happy Dance here Quark!

How did I not notice that every 5th lesson was review??? I vaguely remember reading that at some point, but the boys weren't outpacing the program yet and I didn't pay attention to it. Big thank you!

[kiwik]

For year 3 there is an on line option and there is a option that just does the reveiw pages.

[avilma]

My dd7 is also doing MEP 2. We started 8 months ago and do math 30 minutes per day. At first MEP 2 was too easy (I think the first 30 lessons are a repeat of MEP 1) so we were doing 2 worksheets per day. After lesson 50 we were doing 1 worksheet per day. When we arrived at lesson 135 it was clear that the math was very hard and retention was not happening for dd so we backed out and restarted at lesson 90 (I didn't tell my daughter we were going back, I simply reprinted pages 90-140 and put them in front of her). Now we are in lesson 150, still doing one worksheet per day and learning many new things every day.

I think that as math programs for elementary schools go, MEP is the most advanced one can find in English. As such I think it is a great disservice to the child and to oneself to skip some of the wonderful problems and exercises in MEP. Even if the exercises are very easy for the child he will still gain skills (speed, precision, number sense) by doing them. I could see my daughter doing 3 worksheets per day if they were really easy for her. After all you are saying that your sons do not know all the multiplication facts and the second half of MEP 2 is designed to teach them to the children.

[Zoo Keeper]

The second half of Year 2  is more demanding than the first half; once you get around lesson 100 or so there are more logic type puzzles applying mult/div in challenging ways. 

 

Are you doing the all the activities/questions in the Teacher's Notes?  There is more to MEP than just the worksheet...

[avilma]

We only do the worksheets. The way I work with my dd7 it is not easy to do the teacher's notes. Basically what we do is I give my dd7 a new worksheet and leave her alone. She starts working on it and calls me when she needs help. The goal of course is for her to discover as much new math as possible on her own and in the same time build the stamina to work on more difficult problems in the future.

[MamaSprout]

We didn't have much luck compacting MEP. This is another option for after schooling: http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5051238

[DoppeltGemoppelt]

I am going to try to compact MEP, using every 5th lesson worksheet and additionally doing the exercises and harder puzzles. I tend to have the kids work on the worksheets on their own, but then I usually try to throw them for a loop and ask them for a different way to solve it. They've gotten smart though, and will tell me more than one way to come up with the solution right away! So far we haven't needed the teacher's guide, as I naturally incorporate mathematical thinking into our day. I will glance over them occasionally, but find that I may have done a similar exercise before. I know that this may not always be enough, it is working for us right now though.

 

Elladarcy, I have never seen the program in your link before. I looked over it quickly and definitely like what I see. Can you tell me more about what type of math curriculum it is and how to use it for afterschooling?

[MamaSprout]

If you open up a week/ level in both the student pages and the instructor pages, you can see how it works.

 

There's usually some quick review of on grade level assignments, a challenge puzzle and in the teachers guide (with black lines), something project-y that goes a little deeper. I used the pages for a mixed ability/ mixed age class once a week in addition to their regular math.

[quark]

I used to throw the mathlearnnc sheets in as a supplement. We usually skipped the projects or chose only a couple over the course of 1-2 months. The sheets were used mainly as puzzles or to provide additional thinking practice.

 

If you go to this link: http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=4993281

you will also see resources that go up to grade 8. We jumped around the same way that we did with MEP. As he was also independently using living math and problem solving books (Moscow Puzzles, Martin Gardner etc) he caught on really quickly and didn't need repetition or even direct instruction as scripted in MEP.

 

For facts/ drill, we used Kumon for about 3 years and once the repetition/ frustration became too much of an issue, we stopped that program.

 

We managed to fit a lot of mathy things in because I divided math into 15-20 minute sessions three times a day (morning, after lunch and a little in the late afternoon), increasing it slowly to about 20-30 minute sessions by ages 7-8. He also did a lot of math for fun in his free time (unstructured).