Curriculum Review: Math

Hopefully this will be a series were I look back at our previous curriculum choices and see how we got to where we are. Starting with Mathematics since for Merry it’s been a constant.

We first started Life of Fred in September of 2011, in fact I even made a blog post about it. (https://caytw.blogspot.com/2011/09/happiness-is-new-math-book.html?m=0)

In the beginning we supplemented with a lot of math practice tools, like flash cards, dollar store workbooks, and various math games.  Now that she is in high school math it is much harder to find extras that we can add on and it is less of a necessity. Math starts with a lot of facts to memorize, addition tables, multiplication tables, and orders of operation being prime examples. But in higher levels it is less about memorizing and more about a way of thinking, the logic behind it.

Life of Fred emphasizes that way of thinking even in the lower level book, which since I love mathematics appealed to me. Merry also would rather think about one problem for ten minutes than do ten problems in one minute, so the curriculum has been a good fit.

That’s not to say that we don’t supplement a little, even now. I discovered math vocabulary posters from Virginia’s state government page. (https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/index.shtml) And we have been using these as part of our “morning time” for the past 4 years. Math can be like a foreign language, so knowing how to express yourself and what you are thinking is important.

This next year we will also be using YouTube, https://youtube.com/user/numberphile, and learning about various American mathematicians using Wikipedia and Google. 

While I’m excited for Merry to move forward with Trigonometry, I also want her to have a better understanding of math in the real world and how mathematicians have made impacts.

Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra review

Charry is finishing up her final lesson of Beginning Algebra today! So I thought now would be a good time to offer my humble opinion on the curriculum.

Charry started using Life of Fred, in 3rd grade, after a very bad 2nd grade year.  And to be honest the books aren't perfect.  But for all their faults the love of math that they inspire has made them totally worth it for us.

So how do they inspire a love of math?  The books tell a humorous tale of tiny 5 year old Fred Gauss and his adventures as a math teacher at Kittens University.  Charry is willing to work through the math in order to read about poor Fred and his misadventures.

How well do they teach math? Well, that depends on the student.  Fred books present math as puzzles for the reader to solve.  If a child loves working through puzzles these are excellent.  My child is not a lover of puzzles so she took some coaxing.  Since she is a lover of attention having math one on one with mom was a motivator.  And since I love puzzles I could walk her though things, asking the questions that helped her head in the right direction.

Is it really a complete curriculum? Yes, but that doesn't mean it never needs supplementing.  With the Beginning Algebra book I also bought the "additional problems."  Since I'm not great at making up problems this was helpful.  But we didn't use most of it. For most lessons what was in the book was enough for her to understand the concept.

Did she remember what she learned? Yes! Between the antidotal Fred stories (which all related back to the math) and the mom examples, she got a high A on her final test!  To be honest it surprised me how well she did.

So what are the faults? One is the time I had to spend with her. I don't consider this a fault really but many homeschoolers want their students able to work independently in highschool.  Honestly I don't think any math curriculum is very "independent" especially once you get to highschool.

Another fault that seems to be present in all of Dr Schmidt's books is an arrogance of the author.  He constantly seems to belittle other math books and other teacher.  I think it is all in jest but occasionally it will rub me the wrong way.

So all in all I love Fred! (In fact I'm coming very close to owning all of the Math books) And next year Charry is excited to be following his adventures once again!

Happiness is a new math book

One of my favorite things about starting school each year was writing my name and the year in the front cover of the text books.  I grew up in a small school so I usually knew all the names listed above mine.  Sometimes we would trade books so we could have the same one as an older sibling.  Then we would get to look through the entire book, looking for doodles or other marks. There was something exciting about seeing all the things I would learn and knowing that even if the problems on the last page made no sense to me now by the end of the year it would be easy.

When I went off to college my excitement grew as I realized that I could keep my books, sure they cost a pretty penny but they were mine forever.  If I ever need to know something I was suppose to have learned I can look it up.

As a homeschool mom this love of text books has gone up exponentially.  Not only do I get to keep the books and use them year after year but I get to pick which ones to use.

Math was the hardest subject for me to pick a text book.  My kids are young enough that most of what they need came be found in workbooks, and workbooks can be found anywhere.  But I will need text books eventually and different companies arrange things differently.  I wanted a math program that built on itself each year.  I wanted it to be easy to follow, no big jumps in concepts.  Most importantly I wanted it to be interesting for me, the teacher.  I wanted something I would read thoroughly, not just glance over. I wanted something that made me think.

I feared I might be asking the impossible but then I heard about Fred.  Fred is a fictional five year old who teaches math at a fictional university.  You learn about math as he uses it throughout his little adventures.  Math is more than concepts, there are reasons to learn each aspect.  The author started by writing high-school/college level books but has been writing for younger and younger students.  I was thrilled when I heard about his Elementary books.  The first four were released this summer and there are eight more coming.

I'll admit I was a little nervous when I opened my mail today and saw book one, "Life of Fred: Apples."  What if it isn't as wonderful I I want it to be.  But my nerves faded and my excitement grew as I read thru each chapter, the artwork and the humor flowed seamlessly with the math and teaching.  Merry and I read the first few pages together then I let Charry work on it independently (I stopped her after two chapters, I don't want her to finish it too quickly.)  It was great to hear them telling their dad all about it.  They seem almost as excited as I am.

If you are looking for a math program that is just a little different than most or if you are just curious about Fred you should check out this web site http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html  If you go to common questions "who is Fred?" is at the bottom.  You can also read the fist chapter of each book in the sample section.

http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html