Challenged by Math

I'm feeling challenged (and a bit obsessed) by math in my homeschool lately. I'm very attracted to Living Math, but concerned about my ability to implement it in a thorough way. With my oldest I used Singapore for 1st and 2nd grade. In 3rd grade I used MEP.

Singapore is fine,but I didn't find there was much explanation (maybe I needed to buy another book). I like MEP, but I found it difficult to implement. First, we had to print it. Last year we printed all the files for years 1 and 3 -- that's 18 files per year. Then to teach it, it requires my time using the Lesson Plan booklet (which I had to print myself) which occasionally refers to unnumbered Copymasters, and then I have to figure out where the corresponding practice is in the student's Lesson book. The whole system is poorly referenced, in my opinion. Perhaps if we did math five days a week it would work for us, but we don't. Also, the in-depth study of the metric system, the fact that my student's measurements of items in the Lesson book would be off because we use a different size of paper in the US (it's a British program) is a problem. The use of British money is a small issue also if your child is very concrete. I love the price (free), and the I think the math is good, but I found the whole thing hard to use, and at my house that means that it doesn't always get used.

I'm also challenged by math by the boys. My oldest especially shuts down at the sight of math, which makes me sad. On the other hand, in fourth grade his mother also shut down at the sight of math, and went on to work far ahead of her class in 7-9th grades (yeah, that's me). At that point the system reined me in. So I try not to think I've wrecked him permanently. I'm not currently challenged by math. Generally I like finding patterns and such, and I do a fair amount of math for my sewing and knitting. I took calculus in college and had to use it in grad school, but always needed the help of the engineers on my team to make it through the problem sets.

I find he needs more practice than I think he does. I may think he's learned a concept (say, borrowing) but if he doesn't use it for awhile, he forgets. When that happens I think one of two things -- I either think we need to buckle down and be more rigorous, or I wonder if we should just leave it for awhile, and when he's ready it will stick. I'm not sure dh would really be okay with leaving it. He often teaches more difficult topics on the fly as they come up. I'm afraid my job may be to make sure they don't get forgotten.

So I'm eying other options. I'd really like to do more Living Math. I have to make time for it. (This is a good article on using more living math.)I'm hoping that I can do living math with multiple kids -- doing one at a time for three different kids gets difficult, and that's also part of the problem with MEP. I worry about Living Math being enough, especially if for some reason the boys ended up going to public school. I know that I'm not very good at working without a plan -- too often I end up not working at all, and I'm not always eager to make my own Living Math plan. However, I found this article very interesting, although it doesn't provide a curriculum by any means, even as revolutionary a curriculum as it outlines. Part of me hopes we're already doing it with our literature-rich approach to learning. I'm also familiar with the claim that K-8 math can be learned in less than six weeks by a motivated student. But so far I can't completely let go of a formal approach, at least with my oldest (who is 9). My youngest has a great time figuring his own stuff out.

So what else am I looking at? Math on the Level (MOTL) is very appealing. It provides books on major concepts, and the books cover all levels (K-8). Theoretically, I could cover the same concept for all three boys and provide questions for them at their own level. I could find teaching ideas for whatever topic seemed to be appropriate for us at the time. However, the down side seems to be that I have to come up with the questions. I think some may be provided, but the 5-a-day concept requires me to pull together five problems on a variety of topics for three boys. That's probably 60 problems a week. Plus record-keeping. MOTL is starting to sound pretty mom-intensive. It's also quite expensive.

I'm also looking at Math Mammoth. MM has a variety of options, of which I've been looking at the Blue Series and the Light Blue Series. The Blue books are by topic, which I think sounds quite similar to MOTL -- however they provide problems. They also provide enough text for a child to potentially teach themselves. It's also very affordable. It is available as downloads which can be printed, but that doesn't bother me, especially as I can print off different copies for all three boys as they are ready. The Light Blue books are full curriculum books, also potentially good for self-teaching. They are slightly more expensive than the Blue books (approximately equivalent to Singapore, I think) but I would only have to buy it once, not once for each child. From what I've seen, I think MM is a thoughtful program, and far from being simply drill. It may not be quite as innovative as MEP, but I think it may be far easier to use because explanations and problems are together in the same place.

So having put my thinking into writing, I'm going to leave it alone. We're going on vacation and the boys are doing a daycamp this month, so we won't be doing much until at least August. At that point I may buy the MM multiplication book to get a sense of how they work and to see if we like them. I'll also think about buying MOTL and looking at it for the 60 day free trial.


P. S. One inspiration for an imaginative approach to math instruction is this article: Lockhart's Lament.

Oldest Makes a Funny

"Hey Mom, speaking of educational there's a Nova movie on tonight that I think you'd like."

"What is it called?"

"Watching grass grow in real time!"

After recovering from laughing so hard I cried I wondered out loud if there might be some parts in slow motion so that we can see all the details.

Let's blame the student

I spent last week taking care of my mother after a hip replacement operation, and had the opportunity to chat with some of her bright and interesting friends. One friend was a teacher and told the following story: A boy who has always done well turns in a paper that is below his usual standard and she grades it accordingly and gives it a B. It turns out that the B resulted in the boy and his family going into therapy.

The response in our conversation was a bit of disdain that the boy couldn't take a lower grade, and the comment that it was good for the boy to get a B or even to fail at something, and the conversation went on to say the children (perhaps especially gifted children) shouldn't expect to always excel.

At this point I broke in, because I felt they were blaming the victim. Children in school are certainly not told that it is okay to be less good at one subject, or to only be good at one subject (unless, perhaps, its a varsity level sport). Quite the contrary. Similarly, they are not encouraged to allowed to continue to formally study a topic after the class has finished it, regardless of how good they may be at it, or how much they like it. To excel academically, a student must be good at every subject and must be willing to give up a subject of interest to move on to the next topic on which they will be graded.

How about not blaming the student, but acknowledging that when he or she reacts with shock and dismay to a low grade, they are responding to the system that teaches them that they must excel at everything? School is just one big game, and only a few can win. You're supposed to win, and to win you have to be good at everything. If you can't be good, don't even try, is what they learn as the corollary.

So then kids move on to real life. Real life is much less clearly a game to win, although some adults will make it so. As an adult, you don't have to be good at everything -- not that it wouldn't be nice, of course. What matters as an adult? The ability to be happy, to figure out what needs to be done and then do it or delegate it, the ability to get on with others. And certainly an ability that allows you to make a living is extremely useful. But being good at math, science, literary analysis, essay writing, a foreign language or two, and history isn't going to serve you particularly well unless you enjoy them, and they they will provide hours of entertainment in your leisure time.

What would a school that actually prepared kids to be adults look like? It would certainly let children continue to study a topic that interests them. It would not set up such a win/lose situation. Many more people can succeed at real life than can be in the top echelon at school. It would nurture those characteristics that contribute to success as a self-supporting and somewhat content adult. Content would be broad and real, not watered-down, and children could, after an initial introduction, choose how far to pursue a topic. I'm feeling my way here -- what do you think?

Even homeschoolers get sucked in

To the homework game, that is.

Middle(7) has been signed up for a zoo school this year targeted to homeschoolers. They meet ten times, once a month, for two hours at a time. We were “assured” that one of the leaders had been a teacher and was up-to-date on curriculum standards and all that. Some of the moms laughed and whispered among ourselves that that wasn’t what was important to us. I should have known then . . . .

Zoo school has provided him with some opportunities, but it has also provided him with homework. For reasons that I haven’t completely figured out, he never wants to go, but he also has never regretted going or seemed at all upset when I picked him up. So I really didn’t want to push the homework thing. It was hard enough to get him there (Oldest, 9, informed me that I was using too much bribery) without also getting the homework done. Also, at his age and reading and writing level (three letter words and barely) guess who is actually doing the homework?

Yesterday was the second-to-last class, and there were assignments due – a game that he was supposed to create, a paper or poster on an animal he picked, and animal cards with facts on different animals for when he shows us around the zoo at the last class. We had some animal cards, but it’s not clear to me how he is going to use them since he can’t read them. He could hand them to us to read, but then he’s not showing us around the zoo, but just giving us information to read that I have probably gathered and added to the cards.

The game assignment didn’t call to him, but this was the assignment that sucked me in. I got myself in a dither about it. Last month (when I thought it was due) I cut out a safari game that we had in PDF form, but of course it wasn't a game that Middle had created. He was worried too, and between us, we worked ourselves into a bit of a dither, with him saying he didn’t want to do it (with a mulish expression on his face), and me resentfully busting my ass to create a simple game for him.

Fortunately, I had to go out in the middle of the afternoon, and I had a chance to recognize what was happening. He wasn’t interested in completing the assignment. I didn’t think it was a good assignment (although it could be, for the right child), and I wasn’t particularly interested in completing it either. One of the reasons my kids don’t go to school is so that I don’t have to make them do stuff (or do it myself!) that none of us thinks is worth doing. I had been sucked into a situation that I always intended to avoid, and now I needed to extricate myself.

When I got back home I asked him what he wanted to do, and he said, “I don’t want to make a game.” I was okay with that and told him so. As it turned out, when I checked him in we were asked if he had the game and the report, and I could answer “no” and hopefully made it clear that I was fine with that. At any rate, he was happy when I picked him up, and I look forward to seeing the zoo through his eyes next month.

A day

I woke up a bit late and wasn't out of the shower until after nine. I fed the unfed children and set up the Bosch to grind wheat. The two older kids played outside, but Youngest noticed scissors in a holster on a website I was looking at, and wanted some. So we cut out felt the right size and he sewed it (by hand) with my help to make a little blue scissor holster.

I mixed up two loaves of mostly whole wheat No Knead Bread (which I actually knead in my Bosche). It will be ready to cook tomorrow. Then I mixed up three loaves of Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread, somewhat making up the recipe.

I found the potholder loom that I'd hidden -- it needed only two more loops to be ready to finish, so Middle (7) and I worked on that so that Youngest (5) could use the loom. In the meantime, I'd given Oldest (9) some math to do, which freaked him out. For the record this was the problem: use all nine digits only once each to create an addition problem (i.e. four hundred something plus six hundred something equals one thousand something). That took pretty much forever, and I probably helped him too much. This morning he was reading something -- Pokemon I think. Later I asked him to finish reading A Lion To Guard Us which he did, despite the fact that only feet away his brothers were playing annoying tunes on a toy electric guitar.

After at least some of us had had lunch I sat outside on the swing and finished reading Yonie Wondernose to Middle (7) and Youngest (5). Then we read a story from D'Aulaire's Norse Myths. I went inside to put the bread in the oven, do a few dishes, and make a cup of coffee and collected all the boys (Oldest was finishing up drawing a cartoon) to squeeze onto the outdoor swinging loveseat for the first act of Virginia Lee Burton's Life Story (which is a history of the earth and life on it).

Then I released them just in time for computer time (which is available starting at 3) and took the bread out of the oven. Youngest reminded me he hadn't had lunch so I made him a peanut butter sandwich. I took my knitting back out to the swing to do a couple of rows on my almost finished socks. Then I remembered to call the plumber about the leak in the mudroom which dh just doesn't have time to get to, so I went to do that (took awhile to track down his number). He'll come by tomorrow.

Then I watched a YouTube video about homebirth: Part 1 and Part 2.

Still on the list is making pizza dough with the rest of the freshly ground flour, and sewing the straps on the slowest sewing project ever, my Spring Ruffle Top. Two more sessions and it might be done. So far it's taken probably six separate sessions in the sewing room to get to this point.

Tonight is supposed to be the first ultimate frisbee practice if the weather holds, so I need to make and pack up dinner for the kids to eat at the field and see if I can find my cleats. My mother called to check in. She had her pre-op appointment yesterday for her hip replacement operation in ten days. I'm going down for a week to help her out. And tomorrow I just noticed I have a Jericho Road meeting (a board that I am on) at 9am, but I haven't arranged childcare yet . . . .

Carnival of Homeschooling

Be sure to check out the Carnival of Homeschooling this week -- one of my posts is included! This week's host is Jacque Dixon of Walking Therein. You will find it here: COH #176: Some Things Moms Love.

New Go To Cookbook

My sister-in-law has written a terrific cookbook that I am enjoying. About 15 months ago a I did a raw vegan detox. A few months later I was going to do it again, but the friend who was going to do it with me bagged out. I wasn't brave enough to go it alone, but I did want to do something different with my diet, so I stopped eating meat. I have found that the effects of the detox, in that I look for more fresh food in my diet, have lasted, and they didn't seem to be when I returned to an omnivorish diet in the months after the detox.

At any rate, there is the detail of what, exactly, to eat and I've found that Tess's cookbook, Radiant Health, Inner Wealth, is very helpful when I'm trying to figure out what to eat. I enjoy her spring roll recipes, and now use the ingredients from the Mango Cucumber spring roll as a salad -- no fat and delicious! I've also made and truly enjoyed the Mulligatawny Soup, the Aloo Gobi Chole, and The Fresh Greek Delight. You can find some recipes at her blog. If you like them, consider buying the cookbook! Tess is a homeschooling, self-publishing WAHM, and you can be sure that your money will go to good use, and you'll get a cookbook you'll love in the bargain!

A fun nature walk

Finally, a successful nature walk! True, it didn't start out smoothly. First I lost Middle, then I lost Oldest while I went back to get Middle, but we finally all convened. Then I had to bribe grumpy Middle to come along with us, but in the end he had the most fun.

We went to a reservoir near our home and saw lots of stuff.



Like ice on the reservoir -- but not all of it.


A shot of the way the ice pushes up onto the shore.
Bubbles under thin ice. The ice has melted and reformed in the last couple of weeks. Today it was about 50 degrees. There was a funny squeaking or whistling sound that I think was the ice. I tried to record it on a video, but it didn't work -- I can only hear the airplane that was going overhead.


We found pussy willow. And old milkweed -- a place to look for Monarchs soon (check out this site that maps sightings of growing milkweed and migrating Monarch butterflies).

This was the prize of the trip:


A skeleton, probably bird, since we found it surrounded by feathers.

The skeleton in situ.
Some scat. We aren't very successful in finding living animals, but we do see evidence of them, and hear the birds.

A little fur on the ground. My guess is a perished mouse, but I'm no expert.

A debris hut/leanto that we found.
Some brand new lacy white fungus.

I think we could use some of Melissa's Tiny Happy Foraging Bags -- at least for Middle, who brought home the skeleton. Here he is, happy!