tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post5276502117431053797..comments2024-03-08T00:21:56.482-08:00Comments on kitchen table math, the sequel: the homeschool advantageCatherine Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-86992135309852043982010-04-13T15:13:55.495-07:002010-04-13T15:13:55.495-07:00"Or you could just give him a calculator and ...<i>"Or you could just give him a calculator and tell him to multiply .3x5, .4x.7, 4x.12, .6x.12, etc. until he discovers the rule of adding decimal places.<br /><br />;)"</i><br /><br />My fear is that he would discover that the rule is that you punch the buttons on the calculator :-)<br /><br />-Mark R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-4379218982555491952010-04-13T15:08:05.585-07:002010-04-13T15:08:05.585-07:00Mark: Or you could just give him a calculator and ...Mark: Or you could just give him a calculator and tell him to multiply .3x5, .4x.7, 4x.12, .6x.12, etc. until he discovers the rule of adding decimal places.<br /><br />;)rockynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-26211785356408707882010-04-13T12:22:21.013-07:002010-04-13T12:22:21.013-07:00"I believe Life of Fred uses a method very si...<i>"I believe Life of Fred uses a method very similar to this, Mark."</i><br /><br />I will know, soon (I hope) as I've ordered one of the Life of Fred books :-)<br /><br />Thanks for the links, TerriW. I'll try to get around to looking at them.<br /><br />-Regards,<br /> Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-72430804300125235372010-04-13T10:11:03.265-07:002010-04-13T10:11:03.265-07:00One nice thing about using the powers-of-ten is th...<i>One nice thing about using the powers-of-ten is that we only have multiplying to start with, and he knows that order doesn't matter for that. Additionally, the "count" for moving the decimal shows up explicitly.</i><br /><br />I believe Life of Fred uses a method very similar to this, Mark. Essentially, uses multiplying decimals by powers of 10 to get to whole numbers, whole number multiplication, then apply the inverse of the multiplication that was required to get to whole numbers. Concepts of inverse functions and multiplying and dividing by powers of 10 are covered before reaching decimal multiplication. I thought it was a sensible approach.kcabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05748506412950391256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-67880860887207141142010-04-13T09:07:36.927-07:002010-04-13T09:07:36.927-07:00Maria Miller, the author of the nice math curricul...Maria Miller, the author of the nice math curriculum <a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/" rel="nofollow">Math Mammoth</a> has a series of math instruction/explanation videos up on her site, <a href="http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">Homeschool Math Blog</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com/2010/02/dividing-decimals-by-decimals.html" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is her video on dividing decimals by decimals.TerriWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18200629750466604443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-31878634305383349282010-04-13T08:25:45.975-07:002010-04-13T08:25:45.975-07:00"That's how I would explain it. Blessings...<i>"That's how I would explain it. Blessings."</i><br /><br />I do not want to teach the "count the decimal places and shift" approach. This is what I was taught, and it works, but I feel that it leaves a very large conceptual "hole." I haven't taught my child to "invert-and-multiply," either, for the same reason.<br /><br />What I'm thinking about doing is something like this:<br /><br />0.125 × 1.6 =<br />(0.125 × 1000/1000) × (1.6 × 10/10) =<br />...<br /><br />The same basic approach you have shown, but with the "multiply-by-one" identities more clear. It is the bit about moving the denominators our that isn't so clear. It is legal, but I haven't taught him that yet. I probably should do that first.<br /><br />More, if we are going to do this, it might make more sense to do this:<br /><br />0.125 × 1.6 =<br />(0.125 × 10^4 × 10^-4) × (1.6 × 10^1 × 10^-1) =<br />...<br /><br />This is the dilemma :-)<br /><br />One nice thing about using the powers-of-ten is that we only have multiplying to start with, and he knows that order doesn't matter for that. Additionally, the "count" for moving the decimal shows up explicitly.<br /><br />But I'm still thinking it over.<br /><br />-Regards,<br /> Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-72342483854522347422010-04-13T02:03:45.780-07:002010-04-13T02:03:45.780-07:00We're starting adding and subtracting decimals...<i>We're starting adding and subtracting decimals, but not multiplying or dividing. I'm trying to figure out how I want to approach this.</i><br /><br />Mark: say you want to multiply .125 by 1.6 (1/8 * 8/5).<br /><br />.125 * 1.6<br />= (.125 * 1000) * (1.6 * 10) / (10,000)<br />= (125 * 16) / 10,000<br />= 2000 / 10,000<br />= .2<br /> <br />In practice, this means adding up all the decimal places in the question, multiplying whole numbers, and then moving the decimal place of the answer.<br /><br />That's how I would explain it. Blessings.rockynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-72129381500888357672010-04-12T19:26:40.401-07:002010-04-12T19:26:40.401-07:00The K-12 on line school uses the Joy Hakim History...The K-12 on line school uses the Joy Hakim History of U.S. Vol 1-5 for 5th grade in CA. My son loved this series. I was pleased with the content, though I am no history expert. N enjoyed Hakim's writing style so much that he asked me if we could buy the rest of the volumes 6-10. (6-10 are used for 7th grade in CA) <br /><br />I am very impressed with the series based on my son's request. I'm not familiar with any children who have asked their parents to buy school textbooks for their reading pleasure, and I certainly wouldn't place N in this category either! My son is now a big fan of History, primarily due to Hakim's work.<br /><br /> N indicates that he is now learning what has transpired historically rather than mere social studies that don't provide the whole picture.Jo Anne Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02993067209917883159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-14771093642582358252010-04-12T17:35:19.852-07:002010-04-12T17:35:19.852-07:00wow - what a thread!
I have to get ALL of these u...wow - what a thread!<br /><br />I have to get ALL of these up front -- maybe I'll start by posting a link on the sidebar...Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-22974672091307027592010-04-12T16:36:06.070-07:002010-04-12T16:36:06.070-07:00"My understanding is that a parent can't ..."My understanding is that a parent can't administer the Stanford to his/her own children unless he/she also administers the test to at least 2 non-related children." <br /><br />I spoke with the Bob Jones University Press folks today, and according to the representative the requirements for the Stanford-10 have been changed this year. She indicated that it is no longer a requirement that the exam be administered to the additional 2 non related students. <br /><br />Thanks ConcerndCTparent for the BJU link. I have been trying to acquire Stanford-10 testing for my son for some time now. <br /><br />Once again, another problem solved thanks to the KTM brain trust!Jo Anne Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02993067209917883159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-73299080082052146552010-04-11T16:42:12.738-07:002010-04-11T16:42:12.738-07:00"Mark: I found that series at a garage sale l...<i>"Mark: I found that series at a garage sale last year, and we're going to be using it next year. What did you think of it?"</i><br /><br />I was pretty happy with it. The only real thing to keep in mind is that it stops around the early-1960s ... because it was published around then. So, no Vietnam War, or anything after it (including landing on the moon).<br /><br />It *is* incomplete, as any 150K word text has to be. I don't remember it having anything on the Granger Movement, for example. Still, I thought the general choice of things to cover was pretty good and I figure we'll just cover the missed stuff later. I think this is probably what I'd conclude for *any* history book/series with only 150K words.<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-71849476251433886302010-04-11T13:32:05.989-07:002010-04-11T13:32:05.989-07:00I have the Golden Book history of the Civil War. W...I have the Golden Book history of the Civil War. What a fabulous book.<br /><br />It seems that these books were written at different times, and not always published under the Golden Book heading, so sometimes you can find the same book by searching for that author, too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-84652875866197681862010-04-11T13:05:50.605-07:002010-04-11T13:05:50.605-07:00Oh, you know, now that I've pulled out both se...Oh, you know, now that I've pulled out both sets to look again, it's the Pictorial series we were going to use next year, and the Golden Books one for the next go-through a few years later -- that one does look like it skews a few years older.TerriWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18200629750466604443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-39107840228281449112010-04-11T12:54:11.855-07:002010-04-11T12:54:11.855-07:00Regarding the Joy Hakim series on American History...Regarding the Joy Hakim series on American History: I have not seen it, but I have used several of the books from the same publisher (Oxford University Press) which were ancient history for kids. I think the series is "The Ancient World" and they have books on Greece, South Asia, Mesopotamia, and so on. They are disappointing but not terrible. Here is the shtick. Each book has 2 authors, one a historian, and the other a children's book writer. They want to avoid a straightforward chronological history; instead, they want everything to be narrative. Thus in discussing a Chinese dynasty, they start with a story about someone who got into trouble with a warlord, and the next thing you know they have discussed the beginning of a dynasty. However, this fact might not be clear to every reader. It can be difficult to correlate what these books present with other history books. This same insistence that everything be a narrative also infests newspaper writing. Thus, if the local Whatever Center had its budget cut at the recent city council meeting, the newspaper will say "Sheila Johnson stared at her choices of Whatever and wondered what she would do next week ...." Later in the story, Sheila Johnson is never mentioned, since she is really irrelevant to the council's actions. Anyway, these OUP press books take a similar tack. When we study Greeks and Romans to finish up the year I will check them out to see if there is anything useable, but my experience with the series so far tells me not to expect to rely on them very much. My guess is that the Joy Hakim books might be similar since they are from the same publisher.bkynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-18688570150509334342010-04-11T12:36:31.843-07:002010-04-11T12:36:31.843-07:00Mark: I found that series at a garage sale last ye...Mark: I found that series at a garage sale last year, and we're going to be using it next year. What did you think of it? <br /><br />I also found one called the Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History which is somewhat similar and is 17 volumes that seems to skew just a little younger. It only goes up to 1967, but that's plenty far for our purposes. Heh.<br /><br />They both look great. I really love these old history resources, and you can often find them for a song at garage sales and thrift shops, if you're lucky.TerriWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18200629750466604443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-8734577924001182652010-04-11T09:52:29.044-07:002010-04-11T09:52:29.044-07:00The US history series we used was "The Golden...The US history series we used was "The Golden Book History of the United States"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.altontobey.com/golden.html" rel="nofollow">This page</a> has some information on it. I can't find a good description anywhere.<br /><br />I remember looking at the Joy Hakim books a while back and not being very impressed. But I don't remember why. In any event, her stuff is not on our "to read" list.<br /><br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-23378006622272472502010-04-11T08:46:55.290-07:002010-04-11T08:46:55.290-07:00A History of US was my guess too. BTW- the Histor...A History of US was my guess too. BTW- the History Channel is going to have 6-2 hour installments of the series <i>America: A History of US</i> based on the Joy Hakim books beginning April 25th.concernedCTparenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09755180042426047454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-5612960426835494682010-04-11T08:35:44.308-07:002010-04-11T08:35:44.308-07:00@Mark Roulo:
You wrote: "For 2nd grade, he s...@Mark Roulo:<br /><br />You wrote: "For 2nd grade, he spent the year reading to us a 10 volume US History series (about 15,000 words/volume, I think so only 150K words total)."<br /><br />Can you identify this series? <br /><br />We've read a bit of "A History of Us" by Joy Hakim. I was just curious if this is the series you are referring to.<br /><br />Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-23295438945889391632010-04-10T18:07:46.484-07:002010-04-10T18:07:46.484-07:00Crimson Wife is right. Stanford 10 is a little tr...Crimson Wife is right. Stanford 10 is a little trickier for homeschoolers to administer. It can be done, but it requires a little more planning and you can only administer it to your own children if you offer it to non-siblings at the same time. That would explain why I mostly hear that homeschoolers use ITBS. The CAT is not supposed to be a very good test, is it? I've heard negative things about it.concernedCTparenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09755180042426047454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-21572147792845976932010-04-10T16:59:31.401-07:002010-04-10T16:59:31.401-07:00(cont'd)
Penmanship/Composition
=============...(cont'd)<br /><br />Penmanship/Composition<br />===========================<br />Better than it was. Still needs work. Haven't found a curriculum we like.<br /><br />-Mark Roulo<br /><br /><br />Foreign Language<br />=====================<br />We had a plan. Right now we are punting this ... maybe try again next school year.<br /><br /><br />Physical Education<br />=======================<br />California requires 200 minutes of PE every two weeks. My child takes 180 minutes of Tae Kwan Do every two weeks and we usually have something else going (Little League, fencing, whatever). I don't worry about it.<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-87139401388951889112010-04-10T16:55:04.313-07:002010-04-10T16:55:04.313-07:00(cont'd)
Geography
==================
We'...(cont'd)<br /><br />Geography<br />==================<br />We're working through the continents/countries/rivers/mountains/etc<br />of the world and the US that appear to matter. And a bunch that don't.<br />Eventually, we'll dive deeper, but I have to figure out what that means.<br />Memorizing the three principle exports of Zaire (now Republic of the Congo)<br />doesn't seem to serve much of a point.<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-83576421548848209352010-04-10T16:52:54.688-07:002010-04-10T16:52:54.688-07:00(cont'd)
Science
===============
For now, sci...(cont'd)<br /><br />Science<br />===============<br />For now, science is pretty much catch-as-catch can.<br /><br />He takes a 1-hour/week class called "Rocket Science," but this is still<br />mostly doing interesting sciency stuff, but without a lot of theory.<br /><br />We watch videos. I *love* the old Bell Telephone science series with<br />"Unchained Goddess", "Hemo the Magnificent", "The Strange Case of the<br />Cosmic Rays" and the others. So does my son. We also have some<br />astronomy videos (although I found Cosmos amazingly unwatchable).<br />The "Chased by Dinosaurs" series is super-excellent.<br /><br />My primary goal at this point is that he not be turned off of science<br />by forcing him to memorize the parts of a flower.<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-40874461475893857442010-04-10T16:47:26.133-07:002010-04-10T16:47:26.133-07:00(more continuing)
History
============
I have a fa...(more continuing)<br />History<br />============<br />I have a fairly large master history outline (<a href="http://www.mistybeach.com/mbra/topics/history/overview.html" rel="nofollow">here</a><br />and the basic idea is that by the time my child has finished high school, he will know most of it.<br /><br />That is the basic idea. It might even happen.<br /><br />For Kindergarten, he read (to us) all of the David Adler "A Picture Book of..." series we could find.<br />We were able to find most of them.<br /><br />For 1st grade, he mostly read to us history books from <a href="http://www.capstonepub.com" rel="nofollow">Capstone Press</a>'s<br />Graphic History series. Disasters in History (1918 Pandemic, Shackleton and the Lost Antarctic Expedition, etc.),<br />Graphic Biographies (Benedict Arnold, Christopher Columbus, Amelia Earhart, Booker T. Washington, ...) and many others.<br /><br />For 2nd grade, he spent the year reading to us a 10 volume US History series (about 15,000 words/volume, I think so<br />only 150K words total).<br /><br />This year we were *supposed* to be reading Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series, but it<br />went poorly (tougher than I expected to read), so we're reading more Landmark books and we'll try the Gonick<br />books next school year.<br /><br />For history, we also watch a fair amount of videos. I've been quite happy with:<br /><br /> *) Engineering an Empire (series)<br /> *) Battlefield Britain (series)<br /> *) The World at War<br /><br />and<br /><br /> *) old Captain Z-Ro episodes!<br /><br />Additionally, we cunningly leave out interesting books on history (other subjects, too) that he<br />often reads on his own, not realizing that this is part of our plot.<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-68658568399864995182010-04-10T16:32:55.570-07:002010-04-10T16:32:55.570-07:00(continuing ... I still have a 9¼ year old)
Math
=...(continuing ... I still have a 9¼ year old)<br />Math<br />==============<br />We basically are (well, were ...) following Singapore Math.<br />Formally, we are somewhere in the 4B textbook, but I've diverged<br />a bit (or more than a bit). As an example, SM4 introduces (I think)<br />adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions, but not dividing. We've<br />done dividing. We've done more geometry than is in SM4. We've done<br />a bit less on gallons/pints/quarts. We're starting adding and<br />subtracting decimals, but not multiplying or dividing. I'm trying to<br />figure out how I want to approach this.<br /><br />[We have done some work with exponents/powers (e.g. 10^4 = 10,000)<br />and this ties nicely with multiplying/dividing decimals].<br /><br />He can add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers w/o a calculator, including carrying (or regrouping, if you like) and borrowing).<br /><br />I have formally introduced number systems (Natural Number, Integers,<br />Rationals, Reals, Complex) with an explanation of why each one is<br />needed and how they build on each other. My child can reliably reproduce<br />the table ... he might even understand it a little.<br /><br />We've done a fair amount on factoring ... he know what they are and how<br />to factor an integer (most of the time, at least).<br /><br />Word problems are part of the normal curriculum ... but there are still<br />a whole lot of "forms" to cover to ensure no gaps.<br /><br />Algebraic notation has been covered, and he can solve simple equations of<br />one variable (e.g. 5X + 3 = 77, X = ___). Usually.<br /><br />I *think* we are on track to finish up everything needed to start Algebra by<br />the end of *next* school year (so ... July 2011) and then we can start Algebra<br />in fall of 2011.<br /><br />Much of the next year will be lots of practice/review and finishing up loose ends.<br /><br />-Mark R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-90184777754023336332010-04-10T16:20:04.338-07:002010-04-10T16:20:04.338-07:00"Mark (& others) - if you're not usin...<i>"Mark (& others) - if you're not using standardized tests, then tell<br />us what books your child(ren) are reading, where they are in curricula<br />- anything at all---"</i><br /><br />Hmmm ... I'll try. So ... child is a 9¼ year old boy.<br /><br />Reading/Literature<br />===========================<br />We treat these together, but track separately. What I mean by<br />this is that literature is read for its own sake, but I do<br />track the reading difficulty of the texts he reads as part of<br />his schooling. The idea is to provide fairly constant low-grade<br />pressure to read slightly harder things. With the exception of<br />a few days playing with a McGuffey's Reader, we have never used<br />a "real" reading textbook.<br /><br />For reading difficulty, we track the following:<br /> a) Average Sentence Length (in general, longer is harder)<br /> b) Difficulty of Vocabulary (in general, rarer words are harder)<br /> c) Total words read (to build up stamina)<br /><br />I use software called "Lex", developed by Dr. Hayes to track (a)<br />and (b), but also track Lexile because it doesn't require any data<br />entry by me. (c) I often estimate by counting a few pages worth<br />of words and generating a words/line estimate.<br /><br />So ... some examples for Lex and Average Sentence Length, you can<br />go here:<br /> <a href="http://www.mistybeach.com/mbra/topics/reading/reading_table.html" rel="nofollow"><br />http://www.mistybeach.com/mbra/topics/reading/reading_table.html</a><br /><br />Recent books that my child has read (to me) include:<br /><br /> *) World Landmark Book #41: William the Conqueror<br /> *) Landmark Book #41: Buffalo Bill's Great Wild West Show<br /> *) Half Magic<br /> *) The Castle of Llyr (Taran series, book 3)<br /> *) The Hobbit<br /> *) D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths<br /><br />We generally try to have one fiction and one non-fiction book going<br />at any given time.<br /><br />Books that we've tried and are too tough for him include:<br /> *) Call of the Wild<br /> *) Treasure Island<br /> *) The Fellowship of the Ring<br /><br />(cont'd) <br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com