A Division Lapbook for Paddy

This was my second try at a lapbook.  I was still learning how to make the folds and arrange things on the page.  This one is about division, for Paddy.

Most of the booklets inside the lapbook are from the Division Lapbook-- for free at HomeschoolShare

The envelope-looking thing on the right middle is a multiplication chart.  I made it using a double four corner fold (sounds harder than it was).  You can fold it outwards if you need help with the math facts. 

This is the cover of the lapbook.  I have tried and tried to find where I got this cut and paste house model.   But no go.  I learned from this to keep track of the links I followed!  Meanwhile, if you know where it's from, please tell me so I can give credit.  It made a really cute lapbook cover. 

Having tried both, I like notebooking the mini-books rather than lapbooking with a file folder, but Math seems like a natural for the File Folder layout.   It would be easier to carry around as a reference or "mini-office".   Grammar and making something for a picture book study also seem good for the file folder layout.    My plan is that my children do more of their own over time and then they can choose which format they prefer.  Right now I am just making a bunch of them because I need to get familiar with the how-tos and also I think they need to be able to touch examples before they will have any desire to create their own. 

An Addition Lapbook for Aidan

I made a lapbook!  I thought I would post pictures since it turned out cute.

I wanted to learn how to make a simple pre-formed lapbook, since I'd never actually done one before, and I wanted a learning center for Aidan who is still trying to learn his addition facts.   So I found this nice Addition Facts lapbook template at Homeschoolshare.   They have really attractive projects over there and all free!

Here's a look at how it turned out.  It's all from the site except for the yellow-dotted strips on the right there.  Those were my form of number line so Aidan can count dots if he wants to do the calculations. 

In this view you can see another change -- the pocket with the bee on it contains domino cards from the same site linked above.  But the pocket is  my own (and I had some trouble because I hadn't learned to do pockets yet).

Here is a close-up of the dominoes which I backed with cardstock and covered with contact paper so they would be sturdier.

Here is a close-up of one of the number lines.  I made two, one numbered and one not.

I had a lot of fun doing this and Aidan and Paddy were both impressed as they watched me put it together.  I hope to do a medieval one with Paddy and perhaps a phonics one for Aidan.  I also found a post with a bunch of links for an Advent lapbook at The Catholic Toolbox. 

Rather than assign them the work, I've been doing the cutting, folding, gluing and arranging because I want them to get into it because they want to, if they do want to.     The way I visualize lapbooks is more like an easy reuseable review resource (wow, major alliteration there) rather than as an arts and crafts project.   I know it's very different if you have art/crafty kids, but I haven't had one of those for over a decade. 

Well, quick post, but I haven't been able to think of much to say because I've been off in Homeschool Project land.   Hope your Advent has been a blessed one so far.  I am not as behind schedule as I usually am for Christmas prep, which makes me feel very happy.

Homeschool Highschool Carnival: December 2012 edution on Math

The Highschool Homeschool Carnival is up at Fisher Academy International!  

It looks great.  

Go there for discussion and sharing of resources on Maths in high school.

Homeschool Highschool Carnival: Math in the Homeschool

This month's Homeschooling High Schooling Carnival is on the topic of math.  

What does your highschoolers math program look like?  What influenced your choices/selection?

I just recently wrote as a guest blogger about high school math, though through the filter of teaching Euclid.  I will link to those posts because they told a bit about our high school experience, but you don't have to follow them unless you want to!

Teaching Euclid Part I 
Teaching Euclid Part II

My main theme in these Homeschooling High School posts has been something like "you plan and prepare with the ideal in mind, but you do what suits the child and your circumstances."   The same thing is going to run through this post on math.

I was handicapped by not having a real ideal in math.   There are plenty of criticisms of high school math out there; one recent one I read was Lockhart's Lament, and the corresponding book, A Mathematician's Lament.   I also came across some strong criticisms when I was researching for the Euclid posts linked above, and some of them are linked in the posts. 

They offer solutions, but generally the classroom type, not the kind of solutions that are easy for me, a homeschooling mom with not a lot of math background, to adopt.  

 Classical education and Charlotte Mason, my main influences, generally just incorporate the best of the conventional in math.   They might advance the child the equivalent of a grade level or two, or add some Euclid and/or living books, but they don't really change it from the ground up, at least not by high school age.   So you are stuck with the conventional math scope and sequence:

7th grade-- consolidation of basic math, plus prep for algebra
8th grade -- Algebra (at least now in California that's the ambition)
9th grade -- Geometry
10th-11th grade -- Algebra II and Trigonometry (usually a combined course in my experience, often 2 years worth of work)
12th grade -- no math, or advanced statistics, or calculus




If your child is especially strong in math, you may advance faster through this standard high school sequence.  If your child takes a little longer to get to the abstract stage, perhaps it's as well to linger longer.     My strongest two math students got up to Algebra II/Trig.    The other two got most of the way through Geometry.    The three that are in college or beyond all did very well in college math environments.

Curriculum we used for the older three:

Jacobs for Algebra I and Geometry
(if a child reached Algebra 1 during middle school, or seemed shaky on the transition to abstract conceptualization, we used Key to Algebra, which I highly recommend for those purposes)

One of my boys went on through Foerster's Algebra 2/Trigonometry.    It is very good but at least in the older edition, seems to require much self-discipline and conceptual understanding. 

The other boy who went past Geometry did so in a public school/independent study format.  I think he used Prentice Hall's Algebra II/Trigonometry.    He did not like it though he struggled on and got a decent grade.  I helped him with some of the lessons and I had considerable trouble grasping the material though I did quite well in high school math, so I sympathized with his criticisms.

My present high schooler is somewhere between 10th and 11th grade (haven't quite decided yet).   He is doing geometry using Jacob's.    We use Khan Academy Geometry as a supplement. 

The Great Courses also have some mathematics resources.   My son and I geeked out the summer before last on this "Secrets of Mental Math".     For us, it was a fun and energizing break.  We plan to watch it again some time.   

I don't know if Chari is going to post on math, but I know that she has found a solution for the challenges of teaching math in high school.  She has a good friend who is a former homeschool mom, from a math background, who loves to tutor.  Once Chari's kids reach high school age, they are tutored by this friend and do well.  

I have looked up tutoring resources in our area, especially when facing some kind of challenge, and they are expensive and require driving 30 to 80 miles.  So, yeah, no.   But I've seen it work well, and I've considered moving nearer Chari not only to be closer to one of my best friends, but to join her great homeschool community, which we don't have here.

However, you can do it without a tutor, and to show it's possible, my oldest came close to acing his math SATs (he was pretty upset he didn't get a perfect score; he did get perfect LA results).   I remember talking to a friend, a retired high school teacher, who was skeptical about homeschooling because he didn't think homeschool parents could teach all subjects at a high school level.  I didn't normally talk about our kids' SAT scores because, well, you know, that's not the point, but I did mention my son's results then.   Our friend was quite surprised and I think it modified his opinion at least a trifle.

The thing is that in the homeschool, teaching is not everything (though being a support and guide is important, and sometimes that does mean teaching or at least finding the right teaching materials or outside resources).

Learning is the thing, and realizing that it's the learning that is key can streamline things for the homeschooling mom who doesn't remember all her high school math and science courses. 

What's on my Bedside Table -- Willa

Chari choosing C as her Book Letter of the month gives me a chance to share what's on my bedside table this month:

Life of Fred:  Calculus

Why am I reading a calculus book?  It goes back to my math dilemma with Kieron.    I was praying about what to do with him in math the next couple of years.   I think that is resolved now, but while I was hunting, I found the Life of Fred series mentioned several times on the Well Trained Mind board.  

For some reason I had the impression it was Math Lite, but the feedback on the board made me curious enough to go look at the website, and I read some of the samples, and got sort of pulled in.   I liked the style of the books and the variety of topics, and from all I read the math is sound.  

I went and checked our library system, and the only LOF books there were Statistics and Calculus.  Since my daughter is doing calculus in college next year, and I never took calculus in high school or college, I thought that if I checked out LOF Calculus I could get an idea of how the series worked AND a glimpse into the nature of calculus at the same time.  Two birds with one stone. 

The first chapter I tried to do all the study problems, but I think that I will have to keep the book checked out forever if I do that, so I'm just going to start reading it for fun/

As for the dilemma with Kieron, I think it came about because I just didn't want to deal with high school math this year.  I was trying to find a way to outsource it that wouldn't break the bank.   After I talked about it with him, though, I decided to just go ahead and continue with Jacob's Geometry which he started last year but laid aside when things got busy.     We are going to resume that in the fall. 

This summer he is using a college basic math type book called Mathematics Made Simple  that I had around the house from when his older brother used it.  It's not a good book to introduce concepts, and the answer key has lots of errors, but it gives me a way to go through basic topics with him and see if he has any major gaps.   

After poring through the LOF series for a long time and flinching at the price I decided that I would hold off on them for now.   I am seriously thinking of getting the Middle School set for Paddy once he gets his basic arithmetic down.   Not so much as his primary text, but as a supplement.    Downside is the price, upside is that the materials seem to maintain their price so I could probably resell after he is past that stage.

Now back to reading about calculus!  (Aren't you glad the CHEMISTRY book hasn't arrived yet?  That starts with C too)