The Curriculum Choice

Times Alive!

Jan 202012

Until the 2011 school year started both of my boys had been doing five days worth of living math lessons. I loved our time with it. This year, however, I decided to put them into Teaching Textbooks.

One of the things I used during our lovely Living Math Lessons was a programme called Times Alive! I found it rather by mistake while doing my daily blog hopping. Before I knew it I’d stumbled upon the City Creek Press website and was in total awe of their multiplication programme.

I confess, that despite my child being officially in third grade at the time and having an amazing grasp on a variety of math subjects from simple to complex I hadn’t branched out with multiplication yet. No, rather I’d been teaching him “groups of” with a fun game we’d been playing. After a quick chat with my husband about what funds were left in our homeschool budget I purchased Times Alive! and never looked back.

Times Alive! is not entirely unique as I know there’s another song and story programme out there for children to learn their multiplication facts.

How I use it:

We chose the download instead of the cd version of this progamme {remember we live overseas so downloads often win out for us!}. Each day I’d load up the programme. My son would happily listen to the story and song and then do a quick and simple application test proving he understood and fully grasped what he’d learned.

The programme starts with 2’s and skips 1’s and 0’s. Not a huge deal for us because I’d all ready taught him his 0’s, 1’s, 2’s, 10’s, 11’s, and we were working on our 5’s.
There aren’t stories for the 2 family. Rather there’s a teddy bear who comes on and shows that by counting by 2’s you can easily find the answer to any problem you need. Simple.
There are stories for all your 3 facts, 4 facts, 6 facts, and 8 facts. For the 9 facts there are clues on how to get the answer quickly. These clues are as great as the stories. I can always hear my kids working out 9 facts if they’d forgotten the answer! Again, none for the 5’s, 10’s, or 11’s. Wasn’t an issue for us, and I really believe that it shouldn’t be an issue for anyone.
We loved some of the stories and were constantly amazed at the ability of the author to come up with some great little rhymes that permitted the children to remember exactly what the stories were. If my son now says, “Mom, I forgot what 8×8 is..” I’ll shout out, “STICKS are FOR the fire!”

The story for this particular math problem is that two snowman {shaped like 8’s} go walking on a cold winter night. They get really cold when they stumble upon a sign that tells them they can have the sticks for the fire. Super simple.

After my son learned all the fact families I discovered City Creek Press also sells a learning pack to compliment Times Alive! Included are flash cards with picture clues, posters to color in and a few other simple goodies. It was offered inexpensively as a download. We all worked together coloring in the posters for my son’s math notebook. I laminated all the flash cards and we go through them {little brother too} each morning before we get going with any of our other school stuff.

What I love:

My son asked to do this programme! If a day passed and he didn’t get a turn with it he’d complain! Yep, and if his little brother was set up with another task at the time and missed out on the video or song there were tears and I’d have to replay it!
The stories were, for the most part, catchy.
For my visual learner, the color programme and the add-ons {mentioned below} allowed him to add more color and hands on learning.
I could play it on my Mac!

There are posters and flashcards with the picture clues on them that can be downloaded from the website! This allows us to practice what we learned in an easy to remember way! Not only that, there were some heated discussions over who was going to color which posters. I’m only slightly ashamed to admit I was part of those chats with my boys.

What I don’t like:

I confess there were a couple of stories that left me scratching my head. My son disagrees with me on this and since the programme was for him that’s what matters most, right?

Bottom Line:

My kids love this programme and have learned their multiplication facts with ease. I feel eternally grateful to the people over at City Creek Press for that! I wish their addition programme was also in video/song format.

Extra:

You can check out more of the songs, picture to color in, and test over at City Creek Press if you’re interested in knowing/seeing a little more.

Save $24.48 off the regular price on Times Alive

You can use the coupon code SOTxhalf to take $24.48 off the regular price of $48.95. Just add Times Alive to your cart and enter the coupon code and press apply. Bingo-you save $24.48. Be sure to enter the code, it doesn’t happen automatically. Order your product today because this offer expires on January 31, 2012. You can order from 1-100 for half price! To order now: CLICK HERE

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K5 Learning

Elementary, Language Arts, Logic, Mathematics, Online, Phonics, Reading, Spelling, Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Jan 182012

To be honest, when I was approached about writing a review for K5 Learning, I was going to pass. We just haven’t liked any online sites that we have tried. I decided it was only fair to give it a quick look before saying no, and my five-year-old was immediately drawn into the site. I responded to the request with a yes.

We started with the recommended learning assessment, to see where my son scored on grade level, so the program could correctly place him to start the program. The assessment has a variety of levels given within it. Some answers will be too easy, others too hard. This is the only way the program can know where your child is in his learning. However, I wish there was a button for parents to choose “does not apply”, as my son correctly answered some questions he had no clue about, just by chance. Once the assessment is over, the parent can log in to see where your child was placed. Evan scored 1st grade, and he is in Kindergarten. (I thought he was reading above K!) After the program knows where your child’s skill level is, you are ready to learn.

The layout is attractive and inviting. Evan has really enjoyed learning his lessons with this program. I wanted to share with you a few examples of the curriculum in action, to give a better idea of what a lesson looks like.

The pros:

These lessons aren’t full of games and a little education, your child will really learn:

phonetic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
numbers and operations, geometry, measurement (including time and money), algebraic thinking and data analysis.
basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. (with monitored progress for mastery)
spelling-you can even assign your own word lists.

Other positives:

works for special needs learners.
parents have access to learning reports to track progress.
the lessons adjust to your child’s individual learning automatically.

{my favorite part of the lesson}

Each lesson also has a preview of sorts that explains what you are about to learn and how to answer. I really like that about the program.

{this math lesson was challenging, but enjoyable}

{we apparently needed this, as Evan asked if dragons were real!}

The con:

This online curriculum has some great positives and I am glad we were invited to try it. I do have one negative to give, however:

When we went to work on the math facts for mastery, we found they are timed drills. Drills makes sense for older children – but Evan is five, with little keyboard skills. He never could get fast enough to pass, even though he answered all of the questions correctly.

As you can see, 0 were answered quickly enough, but all were correct. It had nothing to do with knowing the facts. I do wish the curriculum had thought of smaller children with little hands and no knowledge of why the numbers don’t go in order on mommy’s computer pad. Evan couldn’t understand why he didn’t pass when he knew all of the answers.

The rest of this site is great, so we will likely just be skipping this section unless that aspect is changed. Overall, it is a great program with true learning as the star. It is just fun enough to keep Evan from feeling overwhelmed, but this isn’t busy work. I would definitely recommend this if you have any interest in computer learning.

Purchase info:

After the trial ends, the monthly subscription for one child is $25 or you can purchase one year for one child for $199. K5 Learning has a free 14 day trial that doesn’t require your credit card to begin. (I love that.)
I would recommend giving the free 14 day trial a try. Evan has really enjoyed this in the few weeks he has been using it. If we had the extra $25 in our budget, I would continue on when our subscription expires. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy K5 Learning this much. It has been a great addition to our day.

Sam's Noggin

**I was given a 3 month subscription in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

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Teaching Textbooks

Mathematics 7 Responses »

Nov 212011

For the past few years we haven’t used a math curriculum of any sort. Yes, you read that right. For several years we’d been “free flying” as I call it, learning math through games, hands on applications, & stories.

We had a grand time of it, and both of my children had a firm foundation in basic mathematics. However, we made a few changes to our little homeschool & one of the changes I decided to make was to use a math curriculum again.

It wasn’t that what we were doing wasn’t working, but rather that I wanted to be sure all the gaps I might have were filled. I opted to go with Teaching Textbooks after trying out the free samples online & administering their placement tests.

My 2nd grader easily fit into the Third Grade math with Teaching Textbooks & my Fourth Grader knew too much to use the Grade Four cds thus bumping him up to the Fifth Grade choice.

How We Use it:

This is an extremely easy programme to use, and after chatting with fellow TT users I decided not to purchase the books that came with it, but rather just the cds.

On any given Teaching Textbook day my child will load his cd into the computer and work studiously. If they need help and Mum is busy they merely skip the problem until I can come to their aid.

Because I chose to only purchase the cds I also went online to the Teaching Textbooks website and printed out the Table Of Contents for each grade level we’re working on. I file that in my teacher notebook and highlight bonus rounds with what facts the children will cover; see below for more information on Bonus Rounds. I also highlight lessons I don’t want a child to miss, but might mark lessons we won’t need because we all ready know the information.

The Break Down:

Each of the various grades that we own comes with four cds, and there are roughly 30 lessons on each disc. Every 7th lesson or so is something dubbed as a Bonus Round.

My kids live for Bonus Rounds! Okay, so a Bonus Round is just a three minute chance to show how many math facts you know by heart. It’s set up similar to a game show complete with a robot host & robot crowd.

In each Bonus Round you have the opportunity to gain up to 4 additional points towards your grade for the day. If you can answer a quarter of the problems correctly you get 1 point, half the questions you get 2 points, three quarters earns you 3 points, & obviously answering them all correctly gets you 4.

This can be a challenging time for children who don’t work well under pressure. In our home, the kids don’t mind the ticking time and the encouraging little robots, but they do get flustered making sure they are hitting the right keys on the number pad in a quick fashion. So, in our house when we hit a Bonus Round I go ahead and type for them while they spout off answers.

Note that each bonus round concentrates on a specific operation each time. These are noted in the table of contents so you can remind your student to brush up on their addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts.

Each lesson starts with a lecture that the child listens to. In it a male voice explains how to do the days lessons or new topic. This is generally well done, all though I wasn’t as impressed with the way they taught facts. By this, I mean when it came to multiplication facts the fellow would tell them the answer to each of their 12 times table facts, then he’d tell them they needed to memorize them. The flashed on the screen for a mere matter of seconds disappeared and the child was to set about the lesson for the day. We chose to supplement for learning our times tables due to this.

After your lecture for the day you are given 5 practice problems, not alway based on your lecture. Then you have an additional 23 problems to answer for the day. Sometimes we chose to do them all, sometimes I permit the kids to skip problems.

For instance, if my child knows how to do the problem, I see no point in having him do 6 of the same problems so long as he got the answer correct the first two or three times. There are some downsides to this, but we’ll discuss those later.

Every 13 lessons or so there is also a quiz. There is no lecture for Quiz days, you merely load up your lesson and answer 23 different math problems.

The programme automatically keeps track of the grades & scores for quizzes, bonuses, & lessons. As my children finish with a cd I print out the final scores for each of those lessons and I file it so I have proof of the math they’ve done for the year and the scores they achieved.

What I don’t like:

As mentioned before I’m not keen on the way some lectures are given. I respect that teaching a student math facts can be a challenging process & I know that by adding in the Bonus Rounds they are encouraging memorization, however I was still unimpressed with the way some facts were taught.

I don’t like trick problems. My student was dutifully working away one day when I heard a problem come up that I felt was a bit too tricky and sneaky and would merely frustrate my student. The problem was down the lines of, “If it’s 2:00 and it’s dark outside is that am or pm.” For an 8 year old I’m pretty sure he’d associate dark with pm, thus I felt the problem was a tad too sneaky/tricky.

I dislike the fact that there are 23 problems for each lesson & if I have my student skip those problems it’s reflected in his grade. For instance if my child only does 19 our of 23 problems his grade will be an 85% or there abouts.

I don’t love what they wanted to charge me for international shipping when I know it can be done for half the price. I really struggle with this, but also understand that people who don’t ship internationally regularly might not know that.

What I love:

I love that this little programme can do the grades for me. Until this programme my children have never really had a grade before and they actually enjoy seeing what their score is.

I love that if my children make a typo and get a problem wrong I can log in to their grade book and reflect the change OR I can even delete answers and have them rework problems. This is a huge deal if your child has the habit of being a tad heavy on the keyboard.

I love that I can also delete out a Bonus Round and have my child redo that too. This is funtastic if you want your child to have a creative way to practice their math facts. Or, if your keyboard gets unplugged during the middle of a round and your Mum doesn’t know it until there’s 10 seconds left.

I love that these cds are both Windows & Mac compatible! This excites me in ways I just can’t explain. As a Mac family it was a huge deal for us to be able to use these on our Macs!

I love that if you have a US or Canadian postal address you can get free shipping from this company!

I’m also really impressed with the resale value that this programme has. The programme is $110 brand new from the published/creator, but it has an average resale value of $70.

I love that there are not 180 days worth of lessons! This means my children can use this programme only 2-3x a week and we use those extra days for our Living Math lessons. They can still accomplish more then enough, if not all of, the programme.

Bottom Line:

We really enjoy using this programme. It’s a really fun way for kids to get both computer skills and math skills in. Not to mention, if you’re not a math fan and feel you lack the skills to teach your children this programme would be a wonderful fit for you!

Kendra lives in Tasmania Australia with her husband, the Man From Down Under, two curious boys, a dog, & a bird that constantly talks back. Creator, and avid user, of the Homeschool Book Of Days & The Nature Game she can be found retelling tales from The Land Down Under over at the Aussie Pumpkin Patch.

CalcuLadder: Turning Finger Counters into Number Crunchers

Elementary, Mathematics 2 Responses »

Nov 142011

We’ve tried many computer and online math drill programs. We’ve even used flashcards.
But we often return to the first formal drill program we bought years ago: Calculadder by
Dr. Myers. It’s quick, simple, very effective, and can be used for all the children in a family.

Each drill page has a number of problems, a recommended time limit, and a Bible text that’s
sometimes relevant. The student is expected to fill out the page as quickly and accurately as
possible.

Because some of our children need to repeat pages over and over before they are accurate and
quick enough, I print each page only once and slip it into a clear plastic page protector so
that it’s reusable. The children use erasable markers to do the problems.

The unique answer key pages have answers written on three sides of the page, making it very
easy to mark the problems rapidly as long as you have a large desk or table to work at. It takes
a lot of space to rotate that answer sheet, especially if it’s in a binder as mine is, and I
would prefer an ordinary answer key.

So how do you keep track of how a child has done and when he or she has completed a level?
Dr. Myers has provided super-handy sheets for that, too. They are clear and forgiving, even
when, as you can see, I make mistakes when I enter the scores. This is Miss 9′s recent work.
I let her move ahead when she has had several 10’s in a row for a particular level.
Occasionally she gets a score of 11!

And to top it all off, there are certificates. Miss 9 is just thrilled with them and is
working hard to finish hers so she can hang it up in her bedroom.

I pulled Calculadder out again this fall (after forgetting about it for a long time) when I
realized that Miss 9 was still using her fingers to add. This was making a long, painful ordeal
out of each math page of her regular curriculum. By now I’ve seen a huge improvement in her
addition and subtraction skills as she learns to rely on memory rather than counting.

And this is exactly what Calculadder is designed to do:

The emphasis on accuracy and rapidity “encourages a shift from laboriously calculating answers
to instantly recalling them.” Dr. Myers, scientist and father of 12 homeschooled children,
wrote, “Without this sort of repeated, timed, brief drill, the student may still solve simple
problems by subtly counting fingers even after years of exposure to textbook and workbook materials.”

Calculadder is part of the Learning Vitamins series that also includes drill sheets for
alphabetizing and penmanship. We’ve enjoyed those too. The entire series, as well as
detailed explanations and free samples, is available from School Made Simple.

As authors here on The Curriculum Choice, we review what we love. Interestingly enough, Laurie recently wrote about her thoughts of Calculadder. Two positive reviews must mean a doubly great curriculum!

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

Grocery Cart Math

Elementary, Mathematics No Responses »

Nov 042011

Grocery Cart Math by Jaye Hansen has been a fun addition to my son’s math schedule. Many of you know that our family typically spends only three days per week in the math textbook. The other two days of math are spent doing “other things” like games, logic, problem solving, math projects and more. (You can read more about how to incorporate the “other things” in my book, Loving Living Math.)

Grocery Cart Math is one of my new tools for “other things” to add to math time. The best part is…we don’t even have to be at home to complete math on these days because the math is completed at the grocery! How many people can say they tackled real math and grocery shopping at the same time? I can – and you can, too!

Written for the 3rd-6th grader, the 32 lessons in Grocery Cart Math are reproducible worksheets that your child takes into the store (along with a clipboard, pencil and sometimes a calculator) to complete. Basic math and real-life skills like nutritional analysis, counting money, comparing prices, figuring sales tax, measurement and more are covered. Sometimes, additional activities will be completed at home, like creating a comparison graph, for instance. Discussion questions for mom or dad continue to bring home the practical side of the lessons with questions like, “Why do stores have sales?”

Real-life math application is of utmost importance and this book does an excellent job tying the two together! As side notes: I always take some time before entering the store to make sure my son understands his task. I also make sure he stays within my sight at all times. Additionally, our trip to the grocery can sometimes be extended a bit from the normal get-in-and-go mode, so I make sure to plan extra shopping time. I also try to leave the 4 year old at home if at all possible! (wink)

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3 from Central KY. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

(Cindy received a review copy of Grocery Cart Math for free upon her request. As always, the review reflects only her honest opinions.)

Math On the Level

Mathematics No Responses »

Oct 312011

Math On The Level is a pre-K through pre-Algebra math program designed to accommodate families teaching multiple children of various ages. It is a relatively new curriculum on the home-schooling scene. The authors, Carlita and John Boyles, developed this wonderful math curriculum as they home-taught their own children. With advanced degrees in several Education fields for Carlita and Electrical Engineering for John, they are well-qualified to teach mathematics!

The philosophy behind MOTL includes:

Teaching math through real life
Teaching concepts when a child is mature enough to learn them
Continually reviewing previously learned material
Staying flexible to meet the needs of your family.

The curriculum is composed of 7 main volumes. Four of the volumes cover the bulk of the actual material, with the remaining three volumes containing supporting and record-keeping resources. The four main books cover Operations, Money & Decimals, Geometry & Measurements, and Fractions. In the supporting materials, Carlita and John have developed various charts and tracking tools to help you keep track of what each child has learned, what they’re still reviewing, and what topic to introduce next. The back-bone of MOTL is the 5-a-day review. Rather than learning a concept only to forget it a few weeks later, the 5-a-day review and tracking system provides a way to keep concepts alive.

I’ve used MOTL for one full year now, so here is what a day in the life looks like for me:

I collect the notebooks of my two children who are using MOTL (I have other older and younger children). Looking at the tracking chart I can easily see which concepts my child needs to review. The charts are all color-coded with four main books, making it easy to select the right book. Each book has lessons in the front half that explain how to present a concept. The back half provides a page of practice problems (with solutions!) for each concept. I select the problems I wish my child to do, copy 5 into their notebook (usually from several books – covering several review concepts), and let them start working.

While they work, I take note of the new concepts to be taught that day, and briefly familiarize myself with the way Carlita explains topics. I trade off teaching one child, then the other. Carlita has a handy “suggested teaching sequence” that I love – but you are free to veer from that.

What I Love -

I love that it takes virtually no prep work. Hey! I’m a busy mom! I love that the children are given manageable portions of review problems – and that they get review problems. I think the teaching instructions given by Carlita are phenomenal. If I find my child struggling with a topic I’ve been teaching, a quick review of Carlita’s instructions helps me see what I’m doing wrong (the fault is usually in my presentation) and clears everything up! The Yahoo Group is active and a wonderful resource – Carlita and John are active moderators and participants. I love knowing that I can ask a question and receive a timely reply.

What I Don’t Love -

Honestly, there isn’t a lot to say here, but I will mention some things that might be turn-offs to others.

First, the cost. If you consider the cost of the curriculum spread out over multiple children for many years, it’s very reasonable; however, the upfront cost may seem prohibitive. To help with taking the plunge, Carlita and John offer a great 60-day refund if you try the curriculum and are not satisfied. It’s nice to be able to take things for a test-drive before committing! Also, you can order the curriculum in chunks without affecting the overall quality (though you would eventually want all of it).

Second, the record-keeping, while thorough and very well done, takes some getting used to and can seem onerous. I honestly don’t do all of it and I’m fine with that.

Third, some might feel that 5 problems a day is not enough review. Obviously, you can do more. You can write more problems yourself, use more of the ones in the book, or print off free worksheets from the internet (or buy workbooks). I find the amount of work to be satisfactory for my children.

A Final Note –

If you favor a living books or unit studies approach, you will find that this curriculum would dovetail nicely as you can easily select books by concept and have your children doing problems of varying difficulty in that concept.

After I spent nine months wishing (and saving), I was able to purchase Math On The Level. A year later, my family still loves it. Both my children are at or ahead of grade level, and most importantly, math is a subject we all enjoy doing together. For more information, or to see samples of the program, please visit www.mathonthelevel.com

-Written by Kelly Richardson is the 9-year, accidental home-schooling mother of five amazing children (13, 11, 8, 3, 2). She is a voracious reader, regular break-baker, sometimes runner, and rare artist . Her passions are learning about education, home-making, and playing her piano, but her all time favorite thing is spending time with her husband and family, especially in the redwoods or at the beach near her home. She chronicles her family’s adventures at www.coastcrew.blogspot.com.

CalcuLadder Math Drills

Mathematics 3 Responses »

Oct 282011

We are visiting an old favorite in new form. Having used CalcuLadder with my older girls (now 28, 27, 25), I knew that I liked this program, but I was not sure of the download format. As it turns out, I love it!

In this mathematics drill program, the student will work on the same page each day until he meets the preset time and errors allowed goals. When he meets his goals, he moves on to the next drill.

In case you think your kids will hate this (drill work), my boys are surprisingly okay with it. I’d almost say they enjoy it. There are not too many problems on each page and each drill builds on the last without a huge leap in difficulty. I even had one son ask if he could have another shot at his drill for the day- not in a frustrated way- in a determined to beat the challenge kind of way.

While too much ”drill” can take the joy out any topic, to enjoy mathematics it helps to have quick recall of the facts. That is exactly what this program helps accomplish. These learning vitamins, as they are referred to, are designed to “turn conceptual knowledge into practical know-how”. Not a bad return on two to five minutes of time invested each day.

CalcuPak 1 is suggested for grades 1 and up, and CalcuPak 2 is for grades 4 and up. To choose the best level for your student(s), visit School Made Simple to see what concepts are included in each level.

We have found this very simple to use. When my boys complete and correct their timed “learning vitamin” (which sounds so much more appealing than drill!) for the day, I print the next page needed and they file it in their notebooks ready to go.

As our family has been trying set aside the traditional textbooks to take a more hands-on approach to math, this might seem like an odd fit for us. No matter the approach, mathematics may not be as enjoyable if a child struggles to recall basic math facts.

-Laurie Duquette is mom to 7 children and a grandma of 3. Her family is beginning their 19th year of homeschooling. You can read more about their homeschooling adventures at Keeping It Simple.

Foxmind Games

Logic, Mathematics 1 Response »

Oct 242011

Remember my love for logic? Well, here I am again talking about incorporating more logic into your homeschool – this time through games!

I’m teaching a logic and critical thinking class at co-op this year and needed some activities that were both fun and challenging. I hit the jackpot with Foxmind Games!

Each of the games below can be played by one person or a group of kids – it doesn’t matter.
They can be used with younger/beginning logic kids all the way up to adults. Seriously. Each game includes cards of varying skills. The earlier cards are easier and require less critical thinking ability. Each card as you go through the deck builds in logical intensity.
All the games use manipulatives, making them very hands-on and good for tactile learners. But, they don’t have too many pieces to try to keep up with.
They are colorful and inviting.
All directions are concise and easy-to-implement.

ZooLogic requires you to arrange animals on a grid so that all the animals are peaceful. In other words, no animal can be placed next to its rival or beside its favorite food. A simple, illustrated chart supplies you with a quick-reference about who and what can/can’t be placed next to each animal.

My four-year-old is able to complete the earlier puzzles and loves the colorful animal pieces. He had no trouble at all catching on to the rules. Conversely, my middle school logic class gets a kick out of the game, too. Obviously, they work more towards the middle and end of the spiral bound deck of 60 cards, but they can’t get enough.

Meta-Forms includes a simple 3×3 grid as the playing board, with nine attribute blocks as the playing pieces. At first, the directions make the game seem as if the puzzles are nothing more than merely looking at a clue and placing an attribute block on the appropriate square. Very quickly, though, the clues get harder and there is nothing extremely easy about placing nine shapes on the board.

My middle and high school logic classes have already spent many moments pondering the clues and working (then reworking) the pieces to try to find the correct configurations. Each of the 80 puzzles (also in a spiral bound deck) in supposed to take only 5 minutes. Tell that to my high school students.

Equilibro offers a spiral-bound deck of 50 cards on which 2-dimensional figures are pictured. At the bottom of each card, you are given specific 3-diensional shapes you must pull out from the supplied set of blocks. Using the photograph, you are to build a 3-dimentional structure with the blocks.

Again, the directions sound easy enough, right? Again, the puzzles are only supposed to take 5 minutes each, right? Again, tell that to my high school students! The earlier puzzles are easy enough for 1st graders, but they quickly become more complicated and require much more critical thinking. (Don’t worry, answer keys are provided for each of the games! )

What’s super-cool about Equilibro? You can purchase other guides in their Brain Builder series which will utilize the same blocks from Equilibro, but focus on different structural concepts!

I’m new to Foxmind Games, but I’m in love!

-Written by Cindy, eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three – 9th grade, 6th grade and K4 – living in Central KY. You can find Cindy blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies and other creative curricula at Shining Dawn Books.

Cindy was provided review copies of these games upon her request. Her opinions are always her own.

Consumer Math Success Kit

Economics, High School, Highschool, Mathematics 2 Responses »

Sep 302011

Consumer Math Success Kit by David Newton is a gem for high school students! This one semester course (53 lessons – some of which can be used more than one day or extended into real-life practice) includes practical math your child will need in the future.

Bank accounts, loans, credit cards, taxes, home costs, budgeting, insurance and planning for the future are some of the 27 topics covered. What I like best is that every single lesson is very real. There isn’t a lot of wordiness to the teaching, but very concise explanations are given with practical problems following. Some people may feel like there isn’t enough teaching and may find the book to be more appropriate as a “workbook” to go along with a consumer math textbook.

The lessons assume your child has a fair background in mathematics. He needs to understand and be able to complete such things as multiplication, division, ratios, percents, fractions, decimals and conversions. The average high school student should already have a well-rounded math background to successfully use this curriculum.

The book also assumes that the teacher has a fair background in mathematics and consumer experiences since there is no teacher’s guide for you. For each section, there are teacher’s notes that supply you with pertinent vocabulary, related math topics, mathematical skills required and a few teaching suggestions, but no “how to teach notes”. And, although there is an answer key, there are no step-by-step solutions provided. For me, neither of these factors have proven to be a problem.

There aren’t an abundance of practice problems (only 5-12 per lesson), but they are sufficient for understanding the concept in most instances. I’ve found it easy to assign a real problem related to our own family to extend the lesson and “bring it home” when necessary.

In conclusion, I have really enjoyed this book as 1/2 credit for high school math. Both my husband and I feel comfortable with consumer math, so we haven’t felt slighted with the lack of teacher’s helps. We also haven’t felt it necessary for our daughter to read additional information on the subject. When needed, we’ve simply talked through some of the topics on a personal level.

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three from Kentucky. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies at Shining Dawn Books.

{Cindy received Consumer Math Success Kit free for review. As always, her review reflects her honest opinions about the product.}

Anno’s Math Books

Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Living books, Mathematics, Middle School, Preschool 5 Responses »

Sep 262011

It is very difficult to find living math books that present complex topics in an accessible way. One math author whose books we have learned to love is Mitsumasa Anno. Anno believes “that mathematics is more than merely manipulating numbers, it is a way of thinking, and that it has bearing on all scholastic subjects, indeed on all forms of creative thought.” Children throughout the world have enjoyed his award-winning picture books.

We regularly borrow Anno’s books from the library and indulge ourselves. When very young, my children enjoyed the whimsical illustrations while the older children are intrigued by the puzzles and concepts. As a math-loving mom, I’m delighted at the way advanced concepts such functions or factorials are presented. Children comprehend much more than they are given credit for; having enjoyed a concept with Anno, they will be able to understand it so much better when it is introduced in math lessons.

Anno’s many math books include:

Anno’s Math Games

In four pictorial chapters of games and puzzles, Anno presents the ideas of

same and different
combining and assembling
numbers, ordering and coordinate systems
more and less.

In an afterword, Anno discusses the concepts presented in each chapter. Our children have always loved tall Kriss and tubby Kross as they work, ponder, and experiment.

Anno’s Math Games 2

Full of mathematical ideas, this is a fascinating book of games for children. Anno’s whimsical drawings illustrate ideas such as

cause and effect (functions)
differences and similarities
dots and pixels
counting and tabulation
volume and units.

Anno’s Math Games 3

This book was every bit as good as the others, but I cannot tell you the details since it is no longer available in our library.

Anno’s Magic Seeds

An old man gave Jack 2 large golden seeds. “These are magic,” he said. “Bake one seed in the oven until it is red and then eat it. You will not be hungry again for a whole year.” The other seed was to be planted and would produce two more seeds. How Jack fared with his seeds, the big decision he made, and what happened next is a fascinating story driven by math, but representing much of history as well. While children can understand it, adults can continue to ponder it for a long time.

Anno’s Counting Book

With a growing column of cubes on the left side of the page, and a large number on the right, Anno shows the development of a small village. On each successive page, spread throughout the year, the village increases by one child, one building, and one tree. Each picture is full of small stories such as building a railroad, photographing a wedding, or fishing, as well as many examples of the number. There are opportunities for adding, such as when three of the geese on the number 4 page lag far behind the other one, and for thinking about sets, and other concepts. Though it is a counting book, it is also much more.

Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar

Inside the jar there was water, and there seemed to be just enough wind to set the water rippling…and suddenly we are inside the jar, on a sea, sailing toward 1 island. On it there are 2 countries. Fascinating pictures tell the story of factorials in the first half of the book, and Anno explains them explicitly in the second half.

Besides math books, Anno has also created many other amazing volumes, and we’ve enjoyed each one we’ve seen.

Disclosure: As always, I am not compensated for my reviews and I give my own honest opinions.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate. You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

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