MEP Notes and Errata

I am writing this to make notes of any errata in the MEP program, and to clear any confusion. This page will be updated as items are found.


(Some of these were found by people on the mep yahoo group)


General

• A textbook is mentioned - but is not really necessary. You can do the program without buying it.
• When you print any pages out with measurement questions - make sure that you have Adobe set to NOT stretch/scale to fit the page, or your measurements will be wrong when you measure the items. I set it this way in general - I lose the page numbers and have to handwrite them in - but it saves the problem. (This problem is caused by the pdf's being made for the standard European A4 paper, which is a little longer than the American standard letter sized paper.)
• Don't worry about converting the pounds and pence questions, just mention that they use different money, but it works the same as dollars and cents.
• If you are from the states - don't convert all the measurements from metric. Metric is base 10, and very easy. It helps with the concepts of place value in earlier years, and is used in most of the world, and in science. If day-to-day life isn't giving enough american measurement practice, buy a cheap unit from the store on measurements to work on that one item.

One other area that can cause confusion is the numbers within a > or <> where the 1 is little and inside the > sign means ONE more than. If there was a 2 there, it would mean TWO more than. Same with the <> ? the only right answer is 4, whereas 5 > ? has answers of 4,3,2,1,0 (,.....)

Reception Year

• Lesson 2, Activity 2. Question asks "How many cars did you not color in?" Answer is shown as 2. Answer should be 1.
• Lesson 39, Activity 2. Question asks "How many animals are there altogether?" Answer is shown as 8. Answer should be 9
• Lesson 41, Activity 2. Question asks "What is beside the scarf?" Answer is shown as Umbrella and Pine-tree. Answer should be Umbrella and Flower
• Lesson 43, Activity 2 (Game 7) - Game is impossible to win as printed. As you can move up and down only with even numbers, you need an ODD number of rows (as you don't count the row you start on....) But there are an even number of rows in the grid, so you can never get to the winning row. ALSO, my kids found this game too frustrating, as they would roll a number that to move they had to move away from their goal... So we quit this game early.
• Lesson 48, Activity 1 - Very last line in the activity - in the Explanation - Says Three and two and five make nine altogether... the five should be four.
• Lesson 53, Activity 1 - There are 4 triangles, and 5 circles. Partway through it asks "Which are thee more of, triangles or circles?" (Circles) "How many more?" - Two more circles than triangles. Obviously should be ONE more circle than triangles.

Year 1

• Some of the early practice pages have questions that are never mentioned in the lesson - ?
• Posters - they were misnumbered - but might be fixed on the website?
• Note that occasionally you do some practice pages further in the book than you are - these seem to be some writing practice pages.
• Note that on occasion the student can choose which question out of a few to do.... let them!
• Lesson 25 Q2. - This is not a typo, this question introduces the concept of negative numbers. Get out the number line with negative numbers and have a go with your child. It is fine if they don't "get it" - but many children do, and it is a nice intro.
• Lesson 34 Activity 5 - Lesson plan says to Take 12 from 3. Should be take 1 from 3.
• Lesson 73 Activity 1 - On the lesson plan, it says to write on the BB: 9-3=7.... this is obviously wrong...
• Lesson 73 Activity 2 - Says the question is "Each plate had 8 pears on it" but the question book says "Each plate has 9 pears on it" - should be 9.
• Lesson 93, Activity 2 - Says to use calendar from lesson 91 to figure out answers - but questions show year 1999, and calendar on pg 91 is from 2001. Change the 1999's to 2001 to match.
• Lesson 100 Q3 - Note that you can change the operation sign too, not just the numbers!
• Lesson 126 Activity 3 - Minor one... title is Pictures of 14, and says to look at the pictures of 14.... should be 15.
• Lesson 139 Activity 1 - Count down by 4's. Says 17, 13, 8, 5, 1. Should be 17, 13, 9, 5, 1

Year 2

• Lesson 174 Q5 - We think the answer should be 1 apple = 36 bananas not 9 as in the LP.

Year 3

• Lesson 10 Activity 7a - (extra activities) - The last numbers in the table are 8 with a 6 under it. Either change the 8 to a 2, or just clear out the 8 and let the student work out that it is a 2. (8 is definitely wrong!)
• Lesson 54 Activity 4 - Says 89 divided by 0 = 0. Answer should be undefined.

Year 6

• Lesson 2 Activity 1 - 177 is not a prime number. Should be 277.

Year 8

• Unit 1, Lesson 5, Critical Path Analysis, Problem #4 - Float time for B might be 17, not 7. Float time for G might be 27, not 20. This is unconfirmed.

Parable of the Wolves

A long time ago there were 2 wolf packs. Each wolf pack was very small, each consisting of one Alpha male, a "mother" wolf, and their cubs.

Although the two packs were fairly far away, the 2 alpha dogs would occasionally get together to talk about how things were going.

At this time, the cubs were very young, and were not skilled at hunting. They played at it a lot, and would always be asking to go. As the Alpha wolves were talking, the one said "The cubs can get pretty annoying. They are always wanting to go hunting with me, but they are so young that I know they can't hunt. Besides, they would slow me down and I wouldn't be able to catch anything as they would scare it all away." The other wolf said "Yes, they can be annoying at times. They do tend to scare game away, so sometimes I do hunt on my own.... but most of the time I take them with my anyway. It is harder, and we catch less. It is tiring, but I think it will be worth it. Each time I try to show them something about hunting.

A couple of years went by before the Alpha wolves met again. The cubs were now young wolves. This time, the first one said "Boy, our young adult wolves are sure lazy! They sit around and won't help me hunt but expect me to do everything! I am getting old, and it is getting harder to hunt, but they expect me to do all the work. On top of it, some are getting into trouble. The other wolf said, "Hm, that is strange. Many of our young adult wolves are getting to be very good hunters. They hunt along side me, and when I was injured a month ago, they took care of everything."

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This was a story I learned a number of years ago when I took training in being a Scout Leader. It is one that I took to heart while I was a Scout Leader and later a Guide Leader. Generally when I was in charge of a new Troop, it was hard work. For instance, teaching several patrols how to cook over a camp stove was much harder than having a few adults or leaders cook for everyone. But after a couple of years, the troop would be working well, and the older Scouts or Guides would even be teaching the younger ones. I remember how my Guides (9 to 11 yo girls) would be camping - cooking their own food, chopping wood (not all), fetching water, doing dishes, putting up their own tents, etc - while I mainly helped any minor problems.

I have to admit that this concept was easier to implement with Scouts and Guides (ie, other people's kids) than it is with my own kids.... especially since I am teaching them ALL of life skills and not just a select portion of skills in one stage of life like it was in Scouting/Guiding. I hope I succeed, as I really think it is part of the idea of Charlotte Mason's concept of Habit Training. I hope that at some point I will have my "smooth and easy days".

Do Kids grow up too Fast?

I've been doing some pondering the last couple of days, for no apparent reason, on whether kids (in general) grow up too fast. It seems like it is a common comment among adults, yet when I look at history, I'm not sure that they really are. In fact, I think that maybe it is the opposite. Kids are being stopped from growing up. I think that what is being complained about really is that kids are being sexualized too fast.

I'm not claiming to be an expert in history. In fact, it was probably one of my worst subjects in school. (I expect to learn a LOT about history while homeschooling using Charlotte Mason methods!)

That said, I look at what a child 140 years ago, or even 100 years ago would be doing. Again, I'm talking generally, as certainly social class, location, etc would make a difference. Farm children would be working hard taking care of livestock, looking after crops, chopping wood, and otherwise doing important work. Girls would be cooking, baking, watching after little ones, as well as looking after chickens, horses etc. Children in a city might be apprenticed, working in a factory, or being a maid or manservant. And this is young children. 6, 7, 8.

When I look at children, I see that there is really one thing they really want. They want to be adults (or at least older than they are.) Unless the desire is stiffled, that is usually shown by wanting to..... WORK. What happens when you are cooking? The 2 year old is right there wanting to cook too. So is the 4 year old. And the 6 year old. If you are sweeping the floor, they want to too.

Of course, what is frustrating to parents is that they mainly seem to want to do it only while they can't.... once they can, and especially if you now require them too - they aren't as interested.... because they now want to mow the lawn or do some other work that they aren't ready for or at least you aren't ready to let them.

This desire to work seems to go away for a lot of kids..... but I think it mostly goes away when we don't let them do it. If we keep saying "No, you can't do that", then eventually they stop asking.

Delta (6) and Echo (4) washed, dried, and put away the dishes tonight. They felt like it was a real treat as it was the first time they ever did them all. Oh, and Foxtrot (2) was busy cleaning up the booster seat, and holding the dustpan while I swept. Yes, the counter got wet, and so did the floor. But they also knew that they were making a difference.

So, what does this have to do with kids being sexualized too fast? Well, here is my theory. Kids are driven to become adults. When we don't let them become adults by having responsibilities in the household - they are going to find other ways. Add the availability and display of sexual content (be that a Bratz doll for a 4 year old, or Cosmo magazines for a 14 yo), and in some cases peer pressure.... and I think you get the results that are so common in this world. Well, it is a theory anyway.

I am not saying to over-burden your children (especially young ones) and not give them time to play and explore. What I am saying is that children NEED to feel like they contribute to the family, that they are important, and that they are big enough to help. That means responsibilities and chores.

Next posting....... my "parable of the wolves"

Year K

See the Updated Version Here

Kindle Book Links

Another person has been working hard at getting the Ambleside Online booklist setup with links to Kindle-ready books (mostly free.) Many of the links are to Amazon, but there are other sources as well.

Although Maple Hill Academy isn't following AO directly, a lot of the books are used, just in different years.

I really appreciate the work this other homeschooler has done. Even if you don't own a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle for PC program (or one for MAC, or for some mobile devices).

Hope this helps someone!

Link to Book of Centuries Article

I just read a good article on how to do a Book of Centuries, which is different from what most sites mention, yet seems to be more of what CM had in mind...

Although we aren't to that point yet, it looks like what I'd like my students to do, as it seems simpler, yet has more significance for them.

Book of Centuries Revisited

Announcing

Just wanted to announce that there is a new baby in our household. Little Golf made her appearance very recently, and weighed 8 lbs 8 oz.

As can be imagined, it has been very busy in our household. The computer has been relegated to the background for a while.