Seven Quick Takes on MEP Math, Accountability, and More!

:: 1 ::

I’m going to write about this more as I go along, but for now let me just say that my purchase of Arithmetic for Parents was a really good call. Even though it was a birthday gift to myself, I was nervous about spending so much on one single book. A paperback, even! Gasp! But oh. my. heck. I am filling my commonplace book with quotes, and I just can’t get enough.

So. Good.

:: 2 ::

I was reminded this week that a little bit of accountability goes a long way. First, my mother said something to this extent when we were visiting a bit on Monday. Then, I’ve been noticing that about myself. I had thought at one point that I had good enough habits that I didn’t need to actually wear my pedometer {um, yes, those FitBit thingies are too fancy for me}. But then I noticed that I wasn’t doing as much — surely my step count had dropped off a bit. I don’t know what it dropped to, but I do know that the second I was wearing it again, I made the effort to take extra steps. I guess you could say I’m back on the wagon.

:: 3 ::

There’re a number of great posts coming up on the blog soon. I’m pretty excited about it since I felt a bit dry while I was distracted by celebrating myself last week. One post is coming to us from Virginia Lee! Yes, I dragged her out of the comments and convinced her to write something. I think you’ll be glad she agreed.

:: 4 ::

This week’s links collection:

• What I learned the hard way: How I protect my family on Instagram from Desert News.
  • Something to think about. We do not post pictures of our children publicly, and we ask relatives to respect this. This is sometimes hard to do as a blogger! I’m not condemning those who choose otherwise, but there are some great things to think about in this article.
• A Customer Complains To Amazon, The Resulting Conversation Is Awesome Banter from HelloU.
  • Funny post of the week, people!
• Interview: David Brooks on sin, Augustine and the state of his soul from The Washington Post.
  • Fascinating interview.

:: 5 ::

This month in 2010:

We were coming up on the anniversary of one of the hardest times in my life, and naturally my mind turned to Job.

:: 6 ::

I’ve simply got to mention the recent Underground Wellness podcast I listened to. Many of you know that I’m a big Sean Croxton fangirl. This past week, I listened to the episode called Brain Maker, based upon the book by that name. All I can say is wow. I mean, I’ve been very aware of the connection between autistic traits, ADHD, and the microbiome {meaning all the critters that live in your gut and on your skin}, and we’ve had great success in reversing problems in our children using diet. But what this guy says about the new frontier of medicine and treating neurological problems with diet is just mind blowing. Go listen!

:: 7 ::

Answering your question:

• Question:  I’m already planning ahead for next year and have been considering MEP math. Your family still uses that, right? I would love to hear about your experience with it. I hear many wonderful things about it, but when I look at the website I admit that it is very daunting!
  • Answer: My shortest answer is: I still love it, I think it’s great, and I’ll be using it with three of my four children again next year. I really think that this has taught me how to teach math more than anything else. My longer answer is that yes, the website is a bit of a monster. Here are some suggestions that might help:
    1. Read everything Jeanne’s written on the subject. She is my go-to gal on all things MEP.
    2. Get yourself a binder. While you’re at it, get one for your student as well.
    3. Go to the Primary page.{ This works fine, unless your child is already out of primary mathematics.}
    4. Click on the year in which you are interested.
    5. Print out the practice book pages. These are for your student’s binder.
    6. Put three dividers in your binder. In one section, put the lesson plans. In the other two, you’ll put the answers and the copymasters. To be honest, I didn’t use the answers in Year One because it was just as easy for me to do the figuring myself. But as things get more complex, it’s worth printing.
    7. If you scroll back up to the top, you’ll see things like number cards, shape cards, shape cards with dots, sign cards, and number lines. I printed all of these out, one set for each student, and another set for me. And, yes, we do actually use them. I store them in the front of the binders in plastic baseball card pockets.
    8. This is the last step, I promise. Now that you have set everything up, go back to the year you’ll be teaching. Now is the time to click through the teacher support materials. If you don’t want to read it all, at least look through the overview and the learning objectives. These help you see the big picture for the year.