Question for the homeschoolers

by rrusczyk, Apr 11, 2007, 11:08 PM

We're anticipating preparing a section of the website that will make suggestions for how to use our books for homeschooling. Here's a question for you homeschoolers: what would be useful in this vein? A week-by-week breakdown of readings & assignments? How detailed would it need to be to be useful? Etc. . .

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10 Comments

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Yes, I think a weekly syllabus might be the sort of hand holding that some HSers would find useful. (Others in the HSing community can actually look at a table of contents and get an idea how much should be covered weekly or monthly).

People will find it easy to figure out where Algebra and Geometry come in, but may not actually be able to figure out how to use the Probability and Number Theory books. Helpful suggestions might get to integrate them into the curriculum. Push the "don't push calculus' concept.

Another useful tool would be a placement test. I know you had them for the classes.

Set up a part of the board for HSing parents to discuss the books.

Good luck with this!

by lfm, Apr 11, 2007, 11:33 PM

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I took your Intro to Geometry course, and was able to get in a full chapter a week, including review and challenge problems (or some of them). It's currently the same for C&P.

Like lfm said, a Midterm and Final would be nice, but they're really effective for the online classes because you get hand-written feedback. I don't know how you would replace this in a text, though. :(

by notehead, Apr 12, 2007, 12:10 AM

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details always work, even if you decided to go at a different pace...

by funcia, Apr 12, 2007, 12:57 AM

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Don't ever put an exact weekly schedule for a book. Outline how quickly the end-of-chapter problems should be done by a gifted student and what percentage should be considered passing, but don't say "Chapter 1 should be completed in 1 week". If you do, most homeschooling parents will be very sad when their less-gifted child can't hack it in a week. Then they'll push their student harder, which will result in the student disliking math very much. Perhaps a statement about "Intro to C&P will take a gifted student approximately 6 months to a year to complete" would be appropriate, but not "Each chapter should take 2 weeks to complete".

Homeschooling parents as a whole tend also to have a hard time accepting that reading solutions is as much a part of learning as solving it. If a student can't hack a problem, homeschoolers tend to be more likely to make the child go back through the book till he gets it than read parts of the solution till he can do the problem.

[Of course, many people, myself included, find it a lot easier to do math on their own whenever they feel like it than to do it officially/on a schedule. But parents tend to like knowing just how their child is doing...mine get it though.]

by solafidefarms, Apr 12, 2007, 1:55 AM

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Richard, lots of good comments from those who have already responded. I would like to add a few things:

1. I think it is fine to setup an example schedule for each of the texts. I would just make mention that the schedule is catered to a gifted child in the upper middle school or lower high school level. Homeschool parents (I am one of them) always appreciate a starting point, with the understanding they are not obligated to follow it.
2. Since all of the introduction books are complete, I would like to see a sample schedule where students don't go through each text separately but children go through the introduction series by jumping back and forth between textbooks. This does not need to be detailed, if you have a sample schedule for each of the individual textbooks as noted in point one above, then you could just outline the chapter order needed to complete the entire introduction series. For instance, Richard you know my son is going through your Introduction to Algebra text. You mentioned he could do some of the other chapters from the other books once he finishes seven chapters in the Algebra text. So, you might say start with chapters 1-7 of the Algebra text, then do chapters 1-3 in the Number Theory text and so on. My son prefers to jump around to different topics, there might others like him.
3. I definitely agree with Ifm, a board where homeschool parents and children can discuss the use of your texts.
4. I agree with mid-term and final exams, I would also add quizzes, just in case homeschoolers have to show a consistent track record for an end of course grade.
5. Any supplementary material, you probably already have this in the plan. My son jumped right from arithmetic to your Introduction to Algebra text and I had to take some time to print up worksheets on basic algebraic manipulation, because your problems in chapter 2 were very challenging. He just needed a little more drill on this topic.
6. As solafidefarms has pointed out there are many different approaches to tackling a subject in the homeschooling community. My suggestions are more geared to those who are systematic in their approach to schooling, nobody should feel obligated to give quizzes and tests.

by Eric Ricketts, Apr 12, 2007, 11:11 PM

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Yeah addressing #2 of his post, I think with the entire Introduction series, it basically boils down to what one is interested in. For me, I did C/P first (well, that was the only one out back then), then I tried my hand at Geometry, and decided to go slowly in that book as it turned out to be my weakness. I got through Number Theory fairly quickly (a month or so), and it seems that I've seen almost all of the Algebra material. For geometry, it's pretty hard for me to come up with solutions, but I do appreciate the beauty of geometric solutions when I see them.

by 13375P34K43V312, Apr 14, 2007, 2:51 AM

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I really think that this section for "homeschoolers" would be really useful for "self-studyers" as well. In addition to the readings and assignments, it would be really useful if Review Sections could be added.

Sometimes, all of the exercises in your books are not enough for less talented people (like me) to fully grasp the big concepts in order to solve the more challenging problems. If you could link to some other "standard" books or web links that provide more practices, that would be awesome.

For example:
I am working on Polynomials chapter in Vol 2, and there is only one Exercise Problem for Newton Sum. I feel that if I could have many more exercises, I would be more comfortable with the concept before heading toward the Problems to Solve.

Or maybe, that's just me being a bit slow.

by jeez123, Apr 14, 2007, 5:17 PM

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jeez123 wrote:
I really think that this section for "homeschoolers" would be really useful for "self-studyers" as well. In addition to the readings and assignments, it would be really useful if Review Sections could be added.

Sometimes, all of the exercises in your books are not enough for less talented people (like me) to fully grasp the big concepts in order to solve the more challenging problems. If you could link to some other "standard" books or web links that provide more practices, that would be awesome.

For example:
I am working on Polynomials chapter in Vol 2, and there is only one Exercise Problem for Newton Sum. I feel that if I could have many more exercises, I would be more comfortable with the concept before heading toward the Problems to Solve.

Or maybe, that's just me being a bit slow.
well, i think intermediate algebra will have more than volume 2 :wink:

by daermon, Apr 18, 2007, 10:37 PM

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well, I guess I should do the intro books for the each of the subjects first and then use the aops vol 1 and 2 for the overall review... why didn't I think of that!

by jeez123, Apr 19, 2007, 9:05 PM

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As a homeschooling mom (snee's mom), I'd go along with the sample schedule suggestion. I've used textbooks with my kids, and I tend to map out a schedule that suits our purposes. I'm sure lots of HS parents do the same, so I don't think we "need" everything plotted out in detail. I'm used to making my own quizzes and exams, but having access to some that I don't have to create myself would be nice. Also, perhaps for those who need/want a midterm and a final you could provide exams and an exam review (with corrections,comments, and a grade) for a fee.

by snee, Jun 12, 2007, 12:33 AM

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