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Math
Because our kid learn well with
visual examples, we use online programs in addition to
having them work problems by hand.
Math Basics
Math Facts:
Our children really
different in how easy it was for them to remember math
facts. The books here will be helpful if they aren't
learned easily by practice. For addition (and
subtraction), we used
Addition the Fun Way.
For multiplication and division,
Memorize in Minutes. We
also have
Multiplication Rock on
video.
Doing Problems:
For workbook practice, we've used different series
because they often different in the types of problems
given. We had started out with
Singapore Math for our
Visual learner, but the U.S. books (necessary because of
U.S. money problems) were as strong as the original
Singapore books - and they didn't use as much color.
Math practice problems were done online with
Larsonmath.com or
heymath.net. Hey
math has some excellent visual demonstrations of math
principles, but there are elements that are not quite
ready for prime time. The practice problems are quite
difficult compared to American math problems, with
little in the way of incremental difficulty. Supposedly
a teacher supervises work, but it seems like an
automatic email generator, and questions are answered
only very slowly.
We also had our children doing problems from
Continental Press workbooks
like Mathematics Skills, Concepts, and Problem Solving.
These are occasionally available from
Amazon, but
check the Continental Press site for samples and level.
Practice with word problems is available with Singapore
math and Continental Press, but we also have our kids
work through the
WASL released items -
because these are different types of math problems.
Real World Applications
For real world
applications, we have our children earn things they want
to earn like games or game rentals, or other
non-essentials. They also have chores, but they don't
earn money for that - we consider chores part of family
citizenship.
Ideally, we try to make earning hard enough so that they
have to choose between what they want, and don't. When
it comes to expensive items, like games, they need to
search for a variety of prices and factor in the costs
of shipping and tax.
Other real math activities include calculating tip
restaurants, or choosing best prices for items at the
grocery store (mental math).
We've also found a nice Real Math series at the library
- Mathworks has a variety of books like
Using Math to Be a Zoo Vet
or
Using Math to Conquer Extreme
Sports.
Higher Math
We've also dabbled in
other math subjects, and done isolated topics or
chapters in Jacobs'
Mathematics: A Human Endeavor
and
Discovering Geometry: An Inductive
Approach. These are both excellent books.
Recreational Math
We have included
some recreational or conceptually interesting books in
our curriculum. Here are a few of them:
Penrose the Mathematical Cat,
Fractals, Googols, and other
Mathematical Tales,
G is for Googol,
Challenge Math.
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