Skip to main content

A Call Back to MEP


For Brynne's first and second grade year homeschooling (Eli was still in public school) and for the beginning of their third grade year homeschooling together, we used Math Enhancement Programme (MEP) as our math curriculum.

Math Enhancement Programme is a FREE online printable math curriculum that uses the Hungarian model of teaching mathematics. Most of it is mental math ... and high level mental math. In fact, it was astonishing to me the math solutions the kids could do in their heads.


Hungary is highly ranked in the world in their math performance, even at the primary ages. The model for mathematics is based more on student interactive and whole class teaching. Although the teacher presents the materials and problems, the students work on the solutions as a whole class and discuss the methods for coming up with the solutions. Much of the work is done mentally. It tends to focus on investigating the whys of mathematics instead of just rote memorization of facts.

Photo credit

With the different math products we have had the opportunity to review, and my "public school ingrained mind", I felt that the kids "needed" to know their multiplication facts for 3rd grade. Why? Because that's what "they" do in 3rd grade. We stopped using MEP and moved onto some other more traditional programs.

While the kids are doing great at their multiplication facts, a part of me has felt something missing and felt a call back to MEP. I miss their astonishing abilities to mentally solve a problem as I now sit and listen to them skip count every single multiplication problem. It has occurred to me that they don't know WHY they are multiplying. They are just doing it because they have been told to.

So, we are going back. We are not abandoning our traditional work with multiplication. But, we are going to now also include a practice page from MEP each day. If it's a long and complicated assignment, which sometimes they are, we will likely take more than one day to complete it. But, I just feel a need to push my children into more higher level thinking when it comes to mathematics.

I encouragement you to check out Math Enhancement Programme if you are looking for something MORE for your children in the area of mathematics.

This post was prompted by a sweet picture book by Deborah Heiligman called The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos. It's about a young Hungarian mathematician and his journeys through life. Intrigued? Maybe you could start by reading that book.


Comments

  1. Ahhh, the beauty of homeschooling!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am intrigued! I'm going to look for that picture book and take a look at the website. I've never heard of it before. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We all know that in this crazy world of homeschooling, we need all the (adult) support we can get. Please leave a comment if you so wish!

Popular posts from this blog

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

A Thomas Jefferson Education "This Week in History" ~ Schoolhouse Review

Talk about a GOLD MINE! A Thomas Jefferson Education's This Week in History by Rachel DeMille is her "labor of love" ... and I absolutely LOVE it! " This Week in History is a daily resource that brings your home school or classroom to life." For just $9.99 per month, you can log onto TJEd.com and click the "This Week in History" link to obtain many, many, many resources tied to specific events that occurred in the upcoming week in history. Or even better, you can receive the summaries and links to ALL resources right in your email Inbox each week! It doesn't get any easier than that! What does this really look like in real life? Each week, I receive an email from Rachel DeMille that sets out each date of the coming week. Under the date, there are listed anywhere from one to several events that occurred in history on that date. THEN there are ALL kinds of things to do related to that event, such as books to read, websites to visit, ac

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.