Why is it that when one thing is going so well, something else takes a nose-dive into the lost abyss?
Peanut is really doing well in reading now. We are using Easy Peasy Getting Ready 2, Reading Treasures, and Reading A-Z. Even his other Language Arts subjects are going well. He’s enjoying Explode the Code book 1, and we’re also doing Easy Peasy Language Arts grade 1 with me as his scribe as needed. He’s even writing a bit, we’re using Handwriting Without Tears and Easy Peasy grade 1 Tracing.
I was so excited that things were finally starting to come together for Peanut. He’s reading. He’s spelling. He’s trying to write. He’s understanding basic grammar. He’s even good at reading comprehension.
But just as I was thinking of getting a nice bottle of red wine to celebrate (and some pop and junk food for Peanut too!), I had my visions of my full wine glass disappear before my thirsty eyes.
Peanut forgot most of the math that he has learned. A simple warm-up math exercise took me from elated to total despair. Problems like 6+3=____ and 8+2+____ were met with blank stares, and finally Peanut blurted out answers like 24, 3, 5, 12….
He had forgotten the basics of adding!
So now our focus is going to be on building these skills up again. We had been successfully been using Math Mammoth grade 1 for a few months, and he finished all of chapter 1: Addition. We were about to begin subtraction when Peanut threw that idea under the bus.
So now what is a mama to do? Do I go back and do all of Math Mammoth again from the beginning? My gut says no, it obviously didn’t work the first time, so let’s look for something else. Something gentle. Something basic.
So that leaves out Singapore math 1, Math U See Alpha, and even Harcourt Math 1. They all move too fast. Then I remembered a little nugget of a curriculum called MEP Math.
Looking at the first 18 lessons, I thought that maybe grade 1 would be too easy. But then the clouds parted, the sun shone down, and the angels sang… Lesson 19 and on were exactly what we needed!
MEP is written for classroom use, but it’s easy to modify this curriculum. It relies on the student using manipulatives, counting on their fingers, and slowly introduces new concepts. It has a lot of mental math, and only one page of the workbook to do each day.
It also has 140 days of lessons, perfect for our 144 day school year. It has a Facebook group full of families that use this curriculum and are able to answer any questions.
So hopefully within a few weeks Peanut will be back on track for math.
So now I can pop that cork on the wine, or maybe get something a bit stronger like a homemade vodka lemonade. And Peanut can get his pop and junk food!
A Joyful Chaos 