Math Programs I have Loved. . . . Teaching Textbooks.

I have a confession to make.  I love math programs.  I am constantly in search of the perfect math program.  Not as much fun mind as the search for the perfect purse, but still pretty fun.  I am always hoping that one of these days I will turn up the math program that will meet all the needs of all my children and be life changing.  At this point, I have not.  I actually have five different math programs going in my house.  So over the next few months I am going to share "Math Programs I have Loved."


I wanted to start with Teaching Textbooks.  Teaching Textbooks is a fairly new addition to our household math programs.  I bought it out of sheer desperation for my daughter.  Let me explain, I love math, and  I come from a long line of women who are very good at math.  My grandmother was playing competitive bridge up to the age of 94 while doing all the math in her head.  I pride myself on being able to figure any percent off in a matter of minutes.  My daughter is not like that.  She gets frustrated and does not have the love of numbers that I possess.  We both cried during math instruction.  I needed something that was positive for her, rewarded progress, and would help teach her math independently.  Teaching Textbooks did this for us. 


To begin their program they recommend you take a placement test.   I highly agree.  It was a very accurate in placing my daughter in the correct level.  You can also test the program online which we did.  That also confirmed it would be a good fit  for  my daughter.   They promised that I could return it within 30 days if I did not like it and that sealed the bargain.  I bought it at the Midwest Homeschool Convention.

When I talked to the Teaching Textbook staff at the convention they told me they do not like to talk about grades, but levels in their program.  Remember, I was desperate and would have called it whatever they wanted me to.  I would say the program is probably behind other programs at the same level, but, I do not think that is a big deal.  If your child switches into it and is doing harder work, the placement test will take them up level.

We bought the CD's and the textbook.  I am glad we have the textbook, because she shows her work in the book.  It is also nice to have a hard copy of what she is doing.  Plus,  I think it is good practice to be able to do math on paper.  Most high stakes tests are still using paper.  

For my daughter this is a fabulous fit. She is happy, there is no more crying, and we are better friends.   It has been worth every penny I paid for it.  We are on our second level.

If you have a child who is gifted at math and runs through things quickly.  Then I am not sure if this is the program for you. I think the repetition and spiral topics in the curriculum would probably be annoying to them. 

Hope this helps,
Becky

Blogs I follow. . .

I have to tell you I really enjoy reading others blogs.  I have to set a time limit on my reading time.  It can be so addicting.  I love blogs with contests and specialized interests.    Here is a random list of some.  Maybe there is one that will speak to you.

Homeschool

Lisa McAfee has a blog.  She homeschooled her two boys all the way through high school.  Her blog is Schoolmarm Ohio  She posts twice a week.  She has the looking back advantage.

My friend Amy posts about homeschool, autism, and gives away great stuff at Growing Fruit.

My friend Tammy shares her Charlotte Mason homeschool approach including homeschooling  a child with Autism.  She has blogged  for many year at Aut-2B- Home in Carolina. 

Large Families

Raising Olives is a large homeschooling family.  She has great contests and I enjoy her pictures. She has some practical homeschooling ideas for big families.

Smockity Frocks is another large homeschooling family.  I always love reading about people who live in Texas.  I mean that.  They just live larger or something.  She is pretty funny.  More good contests.

Large Family Logistics.  You have heard my love of this one in a previous post.    She does not post often, but I enjoy her posts.  She loves organization and it speaks to me.

My all time favorite author is Patricia Veryan.  She is rather obscure, but still a favorite for me.  Nancy Eads keeps her fan club going at Patricia Veryan Fan Club.  

Just a random aside.  Tell me your favorite blogs.  I am always looking.
Becky

Being intentional in the world of non-fiction.

Teaching children to successfully read non-fiction is often a forgotten skill.  It seems like we think if they can read fiction. . . they certainly should be able to read non-fiction.  That is not necessarily true.  Learning to read non-fiction is an important skill that we need to help our children develop. 
Below are a  a few ideas that may be helpful.

For preschool, kindergarten, elementary students I recommend simply reading non-fiction to them and talking to them about what you have read together.    Some further ideas to  help with comprehension would be to have your student  draw pictures of what they have read, write a one or two sentence summary, or tell you what the passage was about. (narration).

For Kindergarten/first grade students you can make a simple list of what they want to learn about a topic before they read a book.  That gets the student to actively engage their mind before reading.  Check the list at the end to see if any of the questions were answered.

A more advanced method for older students is the KWL chart.  There are different variations, but this is a basic one.  Write what you know about a topic, what you would like to know about a topic, and after you have read what you have learned.  I think it is a very good method to reading non-fiction.

Another graphic organizer for Elementary and middle school is the super six method.  The student writes down six things they have learned while reading a non-fiction text.   I would let the student know you will be asking them to do this after they finish reading a selection before they read it.

Lastly, for junior high students and high school students a great method for reading a text book is the SQR3.  SQR3 stand for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review.  This article discusses the method in detail and is a great resource.  I think it is very helpful for high schoolers to have a plan when reading a text book.  We often assume our students can do this when they are not sure where to even start.  I believe this is an essential skill for older students to learn. 

Hopefully this is a good place to start.  Being intentional and teaching our students how to read non-fiction is critical to their education.  It is a skill they will carry with them throughout their lives.
Becky

The year is halfway over!!! Part 2

I wanted to write some ideas on what you can do if you realize that you're not going to make it through your curriculum.  Just some suggestions.

1.  Look through the curriculum, and find some parts you can skip.    Does your student already know a part fairly well you can skip?  Can you take some end of the chapter test and use that information to determined what parts you can skip?    Did you cover another part last year that you can skip?

2. Continue the curriculum through the summer.  We do math all year.  It seems that stopping math doesn't help at our house.  Sometimes doing something even 2-3 days per week in the summer will get you through. 

3.  Continue the curriculum through the next year.  Sonlight cores can be done in 18 months.

4. Double up on some parts.    For instance do two worksheets only doing every 2nd or 3rd problem on each one.  This is a good thing to do if you want your student to not completely skip something and review a topic being covered. .

5.  If it involves reading books, maybe get some on CD or downloads  from the library for some of the books covered.  Your student still gets the exposure, but it moves along faster.  Maybe listen to them in the car or while you are at an appointment.

6.  Can you substitute a one day field trip for a topic?  Can you carry that topic to the next year?

I am sure there are many more ideas.  You know your student best, and can determine what they need.

Becky