Aleks Math

We decided to try Aleks Math, an online math program. I was able to get a free two month trial membership to try it out for both of my Scholars. All I can say is we like it a lot! We used Math-U-See in the past, which we loved in the lower math levels, but when we got up to Geometry the kids started having trouble with it. I'm not even sure why, but it was not working.

We are 6 weeks into our trial and I'm thankful we found it. The first step after creating a log in is to choose a math subject. Next, the system gives the student a pre-test. Once the pre-test is done, the system shows you how much of the curriculum for that subject you know and how much you need to master. The mastery is shown as a "Math Pie". We have focused on mastery for the past few years and I find it keeps the kids more motivated.

We apply Structure Time, not Content with Math (see other posts on this key). The time structured is 30 minutes a day for my Scholars. They can choose any subjects in the "Math Pie" to study, allowing for individual preference. The system automatically assigns review questions periodically in order to make sure the student has mastered the topic.

The downside is the cost! It is pretty expensive in my book. From the Aleks website it is $99 per 6 months per student or $19.99 a month. The cheapest we were able to find it is through Leadership Education Academy (LEA), which is $99 for a 12-month subscription per student until Nov. 29th. After that, the price increases to $109 per student. It does include a semester of math mentoring. If you live in Utah, you can also sign-up for this class tuition free through their charter school option. There is also a 3 payment option with LEA.

Personally, it is only worth it in the higher maths. Once my Scholars are up into Algebra and above, I am not savvy enough to teach these subjects. There are several math subjects to choose from and the student can switch to another subject at any time. They also have an SAT Math study class, which is helpful for those getting into college strictly on SAT scores.

Mathematics Classics

When I first considered learning math simply through reading classics, my mind immediately was full of "cricket sounds at midnight". Completely empty of thought basically. I couldn't wrap my mind around it at all! Nor could I think of ONE math classics. I had no idea where to start or what to do.

Thankfully, Dr. DeMille gives us some idea of where to start. I have read many of these, some were easier than others, but all were insightful after carefully making my way through them.

Math Classics from TJED for Teens

• Flatland by Edmund Abbot
• On Numbers by Isaac Asimov
• Introduction to Mathematics by Whitehead
• Arithmetic by Nichomachus
• Poetry and Mathematics by Buchanan
• Elementus by Euclid

Additional Math Classics

We own "The Great Books of the Western World" set. The Syntopicon in volumes 1 and 2 contain subjects covered in these books. Within volume 3 under "Mathematics" there is a fantastic explanation about the differences between truths proved or discovered about mathematics and quantity; or the study of arithmetic, geometry and other branches of mathematics.  After the explanation of what mathematics IS, there is an outline of topics and pages of references based on the outline. One could get a complete education about mathematics, both from the standpoint of the science of mathematics as well as quantity (how much), from studying the references listed in this book.

I am just beginning this study myself, but for someone who wants to truly understand everything about mathematics, this is the way to go!

Math Curriculum
We have used purchased math curriculum. I had purchased Math-U-See through Geometry before knowing about Math classics and how we could utilize them. My children do use Math-U-See and sometimes Khan Academy for math help. Another curriculum that I have heard good things about is Aleks, but we have not used it because I already have Math-U-See.

They Aren't Doing Anything!

I used to worry extensively about my older children (Love of Learning and Practice Scholars at the time) seemingly "not doing anything". My conveyor-belt mind wanted to see worksheets, tests, and papers every day. I was worried they would not learn enough and that they would not keep up with grade levels.

For probably an entire year, we did no "formal math"...that's right...no worksheets, drills, tests, or lessons. We did play some math games and I pointed out areas of math that we were using in our every day life. One website that I used is Living Math, which I dutifully tried various ways of introducing math in fun ways.

Still.....no "formal math".

I wondered if they would ever pick up the higher maths.

Over the last year, Nayna (Self-Directed Scholar) has finished 3 "years" or levels of math. She completed Algebra I in just 5 months. She started on December 1, 2010 and told me yesterday that she was ready for the Final Exam, which she passed with an "A".

I would have never thought TJED would work with math. For some reason, I could just never get around my conveyor-belt education thinking with math. I figured I was loosing time and would need to force/require. Instead, what I did was Structure Time, not Content. I told them they need to do something "math" every day, it didn't matter if it was a Sudoku puzzle, measuring out ingredients for a cake, or figuring out a "real world" math problem.

Real World Math
One day Chris (Project Scholar), was trying to figure out the velocity of a figure in a game to make the figure slow down as he is being shot and loosing his energy. He has been trying his hand at game programming. When he showed me the problem to ask for help I thought, "This is advanced algebra, he has only formally studied up through fractions."

As he worked through the problem, I showed him math texts that we have that teach the concepts he wanted to know. He worked his way backward through the book in a few sections to figure out what he needed to know and then applied the math to his game programming. I was completely stunned that he was able to learn math that way.

I have always thought math had to be taught in a certain order...but I guess if a person wants the knowledge bad enough and they know where to find it, they can figure it out. I mean, how did Archimedes figure out machines and astrology? How did he discover Pi and how it applied to circles? No one was there to teach him each individual math concepts. He learned how to think and applied himself to the problem until he figured it out.

Curriculum Review: Mega Math

I found this little treasure at the SAC Lending Library, which is a homeschool curriculum library that allows you to check-out curriculum for a year for $1...yeah...$1! Nice if you want what they have there. I found a couple of things that I thought we could use. One is the Mega Math system. I just have to say....HOLY COW! This is well worth having.

Now, I am math challenged. When I told Mike I wanted to homeschool one of the first things he asked me was how in the world was I going to teach math because I have no skills in that area. My answer was, choose good curriculum! We have been using Math-U-See, with success I might add, but I felt that we could use something more.

In 4th grade Marly's teacher taught her the box multiplication method. I could never figure it out even when Marly showed me how it works. When I ran across Mega Math, I realized the box multiplication is taught in this video and workbook set. I realized that I can only do math from memory. I have no ability to actually calculate and since my memory is getting worse with age...I'm in trouble! So, I decided that I really need to practice the mental math exercises he teaches so I can do mental math.

Videos on YouTube
Well, I decided that since almost everything is on YouTube that maybe Mega Math was too. I found Scott Flansburg, the Human Calculator, explaining some of the things he does in Mega Math to a school. Fascinating!

Human Calculator Part 1
Human Calculator Part 2
Human Calculator Part 3

What is interesting about it is that I figured out one of his tricks myself and didn't know anybody else thought of the shapes of numbers that way too.

Zooming Through Math...and I Didn't Even Push Them

For the past few years that we have been focusing on implementing the Leadership Education method for homeschooling I was always a little concerned in the back of my mind about if the kids would really learn. Would they really do it largely on their own without me pushing them. Math in particular is one area that most homeschooling parents feel is lacking in the Leadership Education method. The majority of books on the list are literature.

A couple years ago I decided to completely get off the conveyor belt and truly embrace all of the 8 Keys of Great Teaching. Math was an area that I did not see my kids working at very much. I would mention it once in awhile, commenting about how important math skills are and pointing out times in our daily lives where I was using math skills. For a long time it seemed that they could really care less.

Several months ago I saw that Marly was working on her Math-U-See books every day. Pretty soon she is telling me she is ready for the final exam on the Delta level. Five months later she is finished with Epsilon (October 2009). This week she completed the Zeta books and is starting on Pre-Algebra. In a little over a year she has completed 3 years of math studies. I am now noticing Christian start to work on his math every day. He is taking less time on each lesson and picking up the pace. He completed Delta last week and is now working on Epsilon.

So what happened?

I believe that giving them the freedom they needed to devote themselves to what was most pressing to them has actually made them study harder in whatever area they are studying at the time. Now, math has suddenly become more important. They feel a need to study math. And, because I am not standing over them, pushing my idea of what they need, they are naturally drawn towards what they know they need for their future.

P.S. Check out this book The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook which also has similar stories to my own. This book is not TJED or Leadership Education based, but has a similar philosophy.

August '09 - Week 2

Devotional - "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.

Government - "The 5,000 Year Leap" - Part I - We went over the Ruler's Law vs. People's law and the balance of power between Ruler's Law and People's Law. It is very interesting to see how much they love this subject. Maybe it has something to do with becoming aware of problems in the current government and wanting to know why it is that way and how we can change it that has sparked so much interest.

Math - Dice games: "Which Number Wins?" (Probability) - Individual Math-U-See books

History - "Stories of Beowulf Told to Children" - How the Water Witch Warred With the Dane Folk, How Beowulf Overcame the Water Witch, How Beowulf Returned to His Own Land.

English Language - Winston Grammar - Review: Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, and Articles.

Science - "Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science" and "Chemistry for Every Kid" - Subject: Force. (I am not liking the textbook listed above very much, but it does give some decent explanations...I may be ditching this one as soon as I find what else I should do.) We'll keep "Chemistry for Every Kid". I'm still waiting for the money to buy the BIG chemistry set that we want.

Family Projects - Splitting firewood, building chicken laying boxes, and building tire swings.

Individual Phases and Studies

Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Chickens and Rabbits, Chain Mail making. - Reading: "Storytellers", "May Bird", "The Adventure's of Sherlock Holmes", "Touching Spirit Bear" - Math: Math-U-See "Epsilon" Fractions - Mind Benders A4-B1

Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Chickens and Rabbits, Chain Mail making, Building a Rope Bridge - Reading: "Diamond of Darkhold"

Samantha (Practice Scholar) - Started her Senior year of high school.

Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Projects: Fixing my sewing machine, then when that didn't work, stitching an apron by hand. - Reading: "Little Men" - Math: Math-U-See Algebra - Reviewing what I have forgotten.

Mom Notes: I love the website Living Math. I also found several dice games for practicing addition, multiplication, division, place value, and fractions. See this post for more details. I purchased a large bag of dice from a dollar store...sweet deal!

Math Games Using Dice

Trying to make math more interesting and less methodical is a bit tricky when they become teens. Many of the things I come up with are "dumb". But, here are some that I thought were better than worksheets, even if they seem a little "dumb" to my young adults when we first got started trying them out.

What I like most about these games is that they can be played as a family with adaptations for younger and older children. For example, the Place Value Dice can be made for 1's, 10's and 100's for younger children, adding decimal place values of 10th's 100th's and 1000th's for older children. You can also have younger children playing Place Value Dice while older children play Fraction Dice. It is a great game to have going for all ages...even Moms!

I bought a large bag of colored dice from a dollar store, can't beat a dollar for such a great math manipulative.

Free Games:

• Which Number Wins? - Probability
  
• Dice Fractions
  
• Place Value Dice

Other purchased games using dice that we play:

• Settlers of Cattan (the game we are playing in the picture) - Placement of your settlements along the right spaces based on the probability that they will be rolled is key to winning this game.
• Yahtzee - A great one for counting and adding skills.
  

I'll post more as I come across them. As in most things, I find what I need at the time.

Week 19

Ok - I've been very bad about keeping up on my homeschool posts with moving and all. But, it is never too late to get back on track...forgot to post this one on the right day.

Christian - King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Sir Thomas Mallory, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Playaway) - We let Christian go out-of-town with cousins for most of the week, so he did not get as much done this week. He did take a couple of classic books with him on Playaway.
Marlayna - Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl, Mariel of Redwall by Brian Jacques, The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol,
Me - Books - Emily Post's Etiquette and started Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Audio files at LDS-HEA - Darla Isackson, Paul Mero, Reed A. Benson, John Taylor Gatto, etc.

Do Together -

• Devotionals - Let Him Ask of God pg. 143 thru147
• Read Aloud - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingals Wilder
  
• Government and Freedom - Mandate video on the President's of the United States, Civil War, and The New Deal
• Mathematician - Mathematicians are People Too "Galileo" pgs.45-51
  
• Musician - Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers pgs.27-34
  
• History - "Roman Empire" - Story of the World Vol. 2 pgs. 1-5 and Usborne Encyclopedia of World History pgs. 182-191
• Genealogy - Worked on my side of the 15 Generation Chart - See Mom Notes below.
  
• English and Grammar - Winston Grammar (we skipped school this day)
  
• Artist - (we skipped school this day)
  
• Science - "Ears and Eyes" - Usborne Science Encyclopedia pgs. 370-373, How the Body Works, Human Body Coloring Book
  
• Words of the Day - irreverant, meticulous, vindicate,

Mom Notes - We are loving the 15 Generation Chart! It has been so exciting to write in all the names of the ancestors we have information on. It makes it easy to see where work needs to be done. Also, we decided to highlight those born in other countries. Each country has a color - England, Canada, Ireland, France (American born are not highlighted at all) - so that we could get a visual picture for what percentage we are of each culture. We discovered that my mom's side of the family is American clear back for 9 generations! Also, I am a 4th generation Arizonan and my children are 5th generation Arizonan. How often do you find that?

2009 - Week 4 - This Week in Homeschooling

This week my children began a babysitting job for a sister in our ward who had a very preemie baby (1 lb. 10ozs.) I am happy for the experience my children are receiving, but greatly saddened by the situation of this dear friend and her family.

Kid's School:

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lessons 10-11 (spent 3 days on lesson 11)
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership
  
• SAT Prep vocabulary & spelling words - Review last week's words - New Words - dilate, doleful, conciliatory, insolvent, fawn
  
• Grammar & Writing - Journal Entries on each book read - The Winston Grammar Program: Basic Level - Word Roots Level A A1 & A2
  
• Science - The Human Body Unit - Nervous System - Useborne Science Encyclopedia pg. 364-367, How the Body Works pg. 115-121, Human Anatomy Coloring Book p. 24 (College level book - we do not memorize the terminology, but the detailed pictures are really good).
  
• P.E. - Daily dog walks. We were supposed to attend a hike at the Arboretum, but we had car trouble. :-(
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Chapters 5-8
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - Chapter 14, Review for Unit 2 Test, online math drills (see below)
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: The Story of the World: Vol.2 2-17, Princess Academy, The Seventh Tower, Book of a Thousand Days, Johnathan Livingston Seagull
  
• Chris: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Vol. 1, 1-35 thru 1-37, finished Dragon Rider, started The Silver Chair.
  

Mom's School:

• Reading list - How to Be Totally Miserable: A Self-Hinder Book by John Bytheway, The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (quite an eyeopener - I recommend this book as a MUST READ!)
• Projects - (1)Drupal theming - see batchelorfamily.org where I converted the theme from this blog to my Drupal website. I know I'm the only excited about it, but that's OK. :-) (2) Prepared our taxes!
  

Free Online Math Drills!
I hate wasting paper on printing math drills. Math-U-See has free online math drills for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The website allows the student to drill on specific facts (multiply by 7's) or select a mixture of practice questions. I do not keep grades for drills, only for tests because we focus on mastery, so for me this works out perfectly. It has a timed factor that I love, it tells the student how fast they accomplished the drill, but it does not have a countdown visible to the student. I like this because some students have difficulty with "test anxiety".

Math-U-See Rocks!

Today Chris said to me, "I like this math. I finally really understand math." This year we bought Math-U-See. We made it through one entire year of math in two months! We have tried a few other math programs - A Beka, CIMT, Saxon, and Thinkwell. My children and I had difficulties with all of them. I am not very good at math...it only took me two tries to pass College Algebra...but who's counting. ;-)

Some might say this is exactly the reason parents should not home school their children. One argument is that the children will have the same holes and weakness in their education that the parents have. My answer to that is, "Not necessarily!" I have searched to find programs that are strong where I am weak. I often learn more about the subject right along with my children, allowing us to all fully participate in the education process. Our method of Leadership Education focuses on life-long learning, so shouldn't there be room for me to learn and grow as well? Do certified teachers KNOW everything they are teaching? Of course not! I worked with many teachers at our local elementary school that were forced to teach curriculum they did not know, nor where they educated/trained in the course material they taught. They were handed the materials and told, "Go teach it." Why can't parents do the same? They can and they do!

Just know that home school families do not need to be certified to teach their children. Most of a teacher's education is on "classroom management", which parents do not need. There is so much available to home school families in curriculum that are similar and often surpass what is taught in public and private schools. Please vote for freedom (should it ever come to that) and allow home school families to do what they love...teach their children at home without being certified.

I'll get off my soap box now...