lol hey CM that works 4 me as I am out of troll food since I was at Penn State last week. Lots of trolls in that area. Peace Out
MrEinstein, you are new to this forum and so I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not a troll out of food and hungry as has been suggested. Since you are new to this forum, perhaps you would be open to accepting some advice. We all have certain things we feel strongly about, but lecturing us about how your homeschooling is far superior to other approaches is not going to result in the people here feeling all that friendly towards you. Perhaps that is not your goal--I don't know--but it will be the result. Cause and effect. What you have written about math itself, I agree. I love it. I have tutored it. I wish my little country school had more beyond Trig 1. Beyond learning the math, I believe it trains the mind and structures thinking processes, so it is highly important--BUT I also know that most people will never use it beyond high school and that same training and structuring of thinking processes can result from other means. To me, homeschooling is not about meeting or succeeding some standard that the world has put out there as a target, but to expose my child to a variety of facts for her to explore and fine tune my child's education so that if fits her strengths and weaknesses best. The result will be that she chooses a career and lifestyle in which she will be truly happy and flourish. If that is rocket science, then I will make sure she gets what she needs, but if she wants own a horse training and boarding ranch, all she really needs to know is business math: accounting, budget, projections, and that sort of thing. As to sitting a child in a room with a paper, pencil, and a text book, thanks for the suggestion. It is one method--one method of many. One method that will not work with every child. I would like to point out that we know the greats who were educated by the classical approach, but not the ones who did not get it. Oh, before you get the wrong impression: I use the classical approach myself.
Uggg...I hope he stays gone. This board hardly ever has problem posters, but when they show up they REALLY stick out. :roll:
How 'bout it! This one jumped out at me instantly... the funniest part is they sound very ummmm familiar???
((((MrEinstein, you are new to this forum and so I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not a troll out of food and hungry as has been suggested.)))) Calling someone names is very childish and certainly not christian. (((Since you are new to this forum, perhaps you would be open to accepting some advice. We all have certain things we feel strongly about, but lecturing us about how your homeschooling is far superior to other approaches is not going to result in the people here feeling all that friendly towards you. Perhaps that is not your goal--I don't know--but it will be the result. Cause and effect.))) I am not lecturing anyone. As was stated clearly in my posts they are my opinions. (((What you have written about math itself, I agree. I love it. I have tutored it. I wish my little country school had more beyond Trig 1. Beyond learning the math, I believe it trains the mind and structures thinking processes, so it is highly important--)) Some of the top colleges have actually published their textbooks online for a free download. I have found MIT's high level math textbooks online a while back. (((BUT I also know that most people will never use it beyond high school and that same training and structuring of thinking processes can result from other means.))) If most people don't use math why teach it to everyone? Teach your students as you wish. The focus of this thread is math for a student that has fallen behind. As far as "thinking processes resulting from other means" really not on subject for this thread. Many people have graduated without the ability to read their diploma. Many people graduate with low knowledge in core subjects. If your goal is to teach your child to a low level of academic excellence in your homeschool with soso results then I wonder why homschool at all? Why have a parent homeschool and why spend money on curriculum? You can attain a soso education for your child and free up a parent and save money by sending your child to ps. So I have to think that any parent that homeschools wants the best education for their child. (((To me, homeschooling is not about meeting or succeeding some standard that the world has put out there as a target, but to expose my child to a variety of facts for her to explore and fine tune my child's education so that if fits her strengths and weaknesses best. The result will be that she chooses a career and lifestyle in which she will be truly happy and flourish. If that is rocket science, then I will make sure she gets what she needs, but if she wants own a horse training and boarding ranch, all she really needs to know is business math: accounting, budget, projections, and that sort of thing.))) Your child was not the focus of this thread. It's not about you. This thread is about a child that fell behind in math. Your use of "lifestyle" does sound like a code work in your post this is not a lifestyle thread. For most parents there is a need to gauge how their children are being educated. The test does show that. There is a need to gauge a child's progress and to see how well there doing compared to other students. For a student to find out that their homeschool/highschool education was not up to par when the student enters college is not good. If you want to teach your students to "just get by" go ahead the world does actually need many to operate garbage trucks and work in fast food. I live in Arizona and we have many senior citizens working at Mcdonalds. A poor education can lead to a life of low pay and low opportunities. I am teaching to a higher level. (((As to sitting a child in a room with a paper, pencil, and a text book, thanks for the suggestion. It is one method--one method of many. One method that will not work with every child. )))) Most classrooms for teaching sit a student in front of a desk. Before the computer with math games was invented students didn't know they couldn't learn with a textbook. I did not say there were not other ways to learn math but it is my OPINION that expensive software and dvd's do not work as well as the book and pencil method. (((I would like to point out that we know the greats who were educated by the classical approach, but not the ones who did not get it. Oh, before you get the wrong impression: I use the classical approach myself.)))) This thread is not about you. This thread was about making helpful suggestion for the OP as she asked for. I don't know why you keep making the focus about you. __________________
I think you have received some wonderful advice. TT might be a good option for her-I would also look at Aleks math. I pushed my son to keep up with some arbitrary standard and made him hate math. In junior high we tried Aleks-he actually almost likes math and he's doing very well. I think it's because it is so different from book math and the fact that there isn't a lot of busy work. PM me if you want a link to their one month free trial.
My friend swears by progressiveacademy ?? She "plugged" her kids in and they tested them - they start at that level and work up to where they should be on their own time frame. BUT I don't know about it personally. I'm all for math games as they work for me personally. Check to see if she/he can do consumer math.....real life math situations make a difference.... DH can't do Algebra but is a wiz at every day math stuff. Oh and a total side note - and my DH just about failed math in HS...... but he does just fine and does not work at McDonalds (but did in high school!)
I wish to apologize to the OP. I hope that you have found a solution that will work well for your situation.
Thank you for all your advice. When my 9th grade dd was tested in May, she tested at the 11th grade level and above on all subjects but math. Math was at the 8th grade level and that is definitely the area we need to emphasize this next year. I want to get her up to the level she needs to be at without destroying any possibility that she will come to enjoy math. I want to make sure that I am not trying to frantically follow an external "schedule" for math, and I know that everyday, real life math is most essential right now. We will definitely spend more time on math this next year, and I will have to figure out the best scheduling time. I work Mon-Fri 9am to 3pm, so I am gone for a big chunk of the day. My dh works nights and has rotating days off during the week, so he will help me this next year with my dd as much as possible. :love: I have considered Teaching Textbooks and may go that route. A friend of mine has Video Text that I will preview as well. As for Saxon Math, that did not work for my daughter. A friend of mine has also suggested Abeka's prealgebra to help her get the foundation she needs for algebra. Have any of you used Abeka's prealgebra? I am considering enrolling my dd in FL virtual school for a couple subjects, but I don't know if algebra will be the best choice. A friend of mine had her son do math through FLVS and she said it was very difficult as the format needed to express certain terms is not the same on the computer. For example, "a squared" has to be written "a ^ 2." That might make the potentially confusing subject of algebra very difficult for my dd. Has anyone used virtual school for algebra? I do not intend to have my dd do algebra at this time until I know the fundamental foundations are strong and that she has successfully completed the prealgebra work, but all the advice you pass along will not be wasted, I assure you. We are drilling multiplication skills right now because I realize that she needs more help before moving on. We did consumer math last year with an emphasis on fractions, decimals, and percentages, and my dd seemed to learn a lot from that. I plan to review those with her before advancing to algebra as well. We will check out Timez Attack and see if that helps her. I have never heard of "progressiveacademy," but I will check it out. I will also look into the Aleks program. Algebra and geometry were difficult for me in school, so I cannot pass along much to my dd myself. I do think she will benefit from a CD/DVD based course with someone other than me trying to teach her these subjects. I do agree that the ability of the teaching parent affects the learning child, and that is the whole reason I am asking for help. Thank you once again for sharing all your insight and experiences with math. I am truly blessed to be able to call for help from other homeschooling families that has been there, are there, or are heading there. I will keep you posted as progress is made. Please keep sending advice if you have any more.
I had a lot of difficulty with math in middle school, and when I finished my required Alg I and Geometry in HS I refused to do any more because that's all I needed to take to get my HS diploma. In college I took and failed rudimentary math my first time, then changes schools and got my basic required Math class for the B.A. which was largely a consumer math class. Then as a junior I finally decided to major in Psych and found out I had to take a stats class! Yikes! But surprisingly, I did fine it it! It made sense. It was applied, so I knew why I was doing what I was doing. My senior year in college I took a basic algebra class to bone up for the GRE and grad school. I had an awesome teacher who explained the theory behind all the algebra gibberish and it was like a world had opened up for me! I got it! The numbers had a purpose! I flew through that class, did well on the GRE, and took 9 hours of stats and advanced stats in grad school! Then I went on to tutor basic algebra as a part time job at our local community college in later years when we started having babies. If you can find a program which teaches the why, not just the how, it might make a huge difference. A math tutor can sometimes make the difference also. Good luck!
