Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Embarrassed, but how to start a summer HS program?

Here's a philosophical question, Kriston, which is:
How do you do math, which ostensibly builds on skills (and isn't lateral thinking, my DD's strong suit) if you let the kids guide you. For example, she loves geometry, but still needs boring memorization in basic skills, she lost some due to constant pull out attempts by our "resource teacher". If geometry needs any boring calculuations, she freezes. Can you get to pre algebra or cool geometry without first doing the basics that lead to it, or am I a totally outdated, in the box thinker on this?

You may run into resistance since she hasn't been challenged on a regular basis. I'd explain that there will be challenging math every weekday and emphasize how important attitude is to learning. I put much less emphasis on the results/right answers but strongly praise effort/attitude/perseverance/working through frustration.

Finding something to challenge her should be less of an issue than working through any resistance she's built up towards stretching her brain. You'll probably want to have a few different resources for challenging math in order to find a good match.

Be firm about the requirement for challenging math but flexible with your curriculum!

I'm a homeschooler, and I use some curriculum now. With the exception of math, the curriculum I do use is more for me to determine what we do next. Unless something better comes up, of course! We tend to go deeper than our curriculum in most cases.

I was going to try something different this summer. Our standard mode of operation is not going to work this summer when school kids are pounding on our door all day!

Anyway, I'm going to write up a checklist at the beginning of every week and say what I'd like done that week. Something like 2 directed journal entries, 1 blog entry, 3 math exercises, 1 science experiment, piano practice (the one thing we are religious about). I'll be more specific week by week. I am going to use more math problem solving at our current level, I got the book Irresponsible Science (I think I got that recommendation here!?) which is perfect for hands on summer science fun with the neighbor kids.

My 8 year old regularly reads for an hour a day and he usually reads "good" books. I think I'll encourage him to read a non-fiction book once a week this summer too. We'll continue going to the library and following his lead. Right now he's interested in programming with Alice and Lego Mindstorms. And still honing math speed with games. We may get some sort of typing tutor program this summer too. Part of my thinking here is to get him thinking about time management skills (which has actually improved lately - he's jumping into his work in the morning to get his less favorite parts done). And I really am only going to probably write up enough that could be finished in 2-3 hours time. If we have down time, I'll throw some more at him or we'll pursue a bigger history or science project.

Anyway, summer is a great time to dig into whatever your kids are interested in and use those libraries to their fullest! It's nice to have some appropriate math work books, but you don't need much more than that! Outdoor, messy projects are great too. Good luck!

One thing we've done is we work on drills and new, conceptual math separately. My son's in 2nd grade. So I let him truck along as fast as he wants conceptually with new math. And if it is helpful for him, he can use a multiplication table. But at the same time, we works on those basic skill several times a week just playing computer games. His dependence on the multiplication table has really gone down over the course of the year. And this summer, I'm going to push for a little more drill since we're not going to jump to new curriculum over the summer. (That's for a couple reasons - we may not consistently be working on it enough to keep moving forward over the summer. I'm also trying to stall getting to "real" algebra a little bit because there is a wonderful local program for gifted math students we're considering. But you have to be going into at least 5th grade and ready for algebra. I have found with problem solving, in many cases we really ARE doing algebra anyway!).

elizabethmom,

I didn't mention this in my previous post, partly because I feel as though I plug this site on every math-related thread (!), but if you are wanting a more formal delve into math, you could have a look at the free materials here at the University of Plymouth's site:

www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

Some of the workbooks are password-protected, but they have historically been generous about sharing the password with homeschoolers.

My boys enjoy these a lot, as the questions are very creative, and approach any given topic from several different angles--I think you'd find some potential for lateral thinking coming into play here. There are materials available from Year 1 to GCSE level (A-level stuff is still to come), so lots of scope for exploration. There is the option of using years 3, 4, and 5 interactively online; the rest are only printable.

Particular hits with Harpo have been the year 7 logic materials, the geometry chapters from various years, and the code resources developed in concert with the folks at Bletchley Park.

This may not appeal to your daughter or to you, but the price is right if you want to give it a flyer.

peace
minnie

Funny you should ask...

We skipped all the "boring memorization" in multiplication and went straight to geometry for a while last year. I figured that he was not even 7 yet, and while he understood the concept of multiplication and could perform well on problems if given enough time, he just was't ready to sit down and memorize the facts. I preferred to give him concepts and keep his interest level high rather than drill him and kill his love of learning and math. He was very visual and loved puzzles and logic and shapes, so it just made sense to me, even though high school geometry and all the angle and plane stuff was not the norm to do with a 6yo!

Then this year, we did a lot of things that required that he knew his facts if he wanted to do them well and/or quickly--games, activities, etc. We did a little drill work, but not much AT ALL. Mostly we just used the very rare drill or timed test to reinforce what he had learned.

It was painless! He learned his times tables pretty thoroughly that way, too.

Is that right for your child? I don't know. A 9yo is different than a 6yo. Our DS was ahead, so it didn't really matter if he didn't have automatic recall of facts right then. It might matter more for your DD.

Just don't mistake arithmetic for math. That's like thinking that knowing your colors is art. It's just not all there is to it. Slipping fact-learning into conceptual stuff that appeals to them can be a lot more effective.

Please note that what I'm describing is a controversial approach, and I know that. Some people really think that facts MUST be memorized before kids advance. I'm something of an "off-roader" in math. But I think that if you keep the kids interested and you give them math to do that is conceptual but requires that they use their facts, they'll learn the facts when it's worth their time to do it.

Finally, BTW, I would say that though math is usually taught in terms of "first you learn step one, then step two, then step three," most (a fair amount? Not sure of how much of a case I want to state there...) of it doesn't really have to work that way. DS7 (then 6yo) did just fine with high school level geometry (just adapted to be light on the proofs) last year, LONG before it usually occurs it the normal math sequence. Just because the standard path goes a certain way doesn't mean that that's the only way to learn math.

Of course, YMMV...

One cool thing they learn now is tellessation. There are fun web sites for this and some Escher-based ones. No memorization there, just trying to figure out how to fit corners.

To be proficient in Algebra, one has to know multiplication facts. Understanding the breakdown of prime numbers of all larger numbers (also called factoring) is a large part of Algebra. My students, who are taking Algebra anyway, are not really taking Algebra - they are just going through the motions and will struggle in college. Seeing this connection is huge - and has often been downplayed in recent times to make up for the lack of multiplication knowledge.

This is why so many fail college Algebra.

One other fun math resource my boys have liked is the Murderous Maths series, by Kjartan Poskitt. They're published by Scholastic UK, and are most easily obtainable in the US from Ray at horriblebooks.com. I think FUNbooks in Vermont also carries them (at not so much of a discount as Ray, I believe), and I know some people order them directly from the UK from Book Depository. These might be just the ticket for summer.

peace
minnie

Kriston - your sentence "Don't mistake arithmetic for math" is genius. I have to think about that.

Minnie - I just ordered a Murderous Maths book, thanks for the recommendation. I ordered the "arithmetiks" I think it is called, the Horriblebooks website actually sent me to Fun Books.