mathnerd Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I am looking for a pre-geometry curriculum to start with DS next year (at 8 years). His only experience is with the geometry part of Beast Academy so far (which he loved) and he has asked me to supply him with more geometry resources. I am looking for "pre-geometry" curriculum to keep him engaged until he can get through pre-algebra. He is very impatient with things like origami (probably needs more precision than he can muster right now) and other "hands on" projects of that kind. So, is there an "Intro to geometry" or a "pre-geometry" resource that he can work on while he gets ready for real geometry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibiche Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Nothing exciting, but DS enjoyed Key to Geometry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clementine Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 http://www.insidemathematics.org/common-core-resources/mathematical-content-standards/standards-by-strand/geometry A possible resource for you, by grade level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Have you tried the archives? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/533989-pre-geometry-resources-besides-understanding-geometry/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/455474-patty-paper-geometry-pre-geometry-for-younger-student/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/454617-whats-next-math-algebra-2-or-geometry-which-geometry/ There should be more if you google: pre-geometry well trained mind Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 For the prealgebra level, my kids liked the geometry topics in the AoPS Prealgebra text (three chapters, IIRC); alternatively, there are also the free videos and Alcumus problems aligned with those chapters. (Naturally, I'd suggest understanding prior topics such as square roots and solving single-variable equations before embarking on the geometry topics - there's a reason those topics are in the second half of the text). 8 is a young age for this particular suggestion, but the videos are free to watch :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Our current pre-Geometry is the combo of School Yourself Geometry for online lessons and teaching problems with immediate feedback, and then Understanding Geometry from CTC as followup practice. My kid is 12, but I know better than to suggest appropriate ages for things for the kids on this board! We do Alcumus problems after finishing the sections using the above resources. She finds them more challenging than the rest of Alcumus. We neither of us think in geometry, though. My kids both loved Dragonbox for Algebra, but have found the Elements geometry game just meh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 RightStart's Geometry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 i don't mean this flippantly, but since the first math book pretty much in history is Euclid, historically there is no such thing as pre - geometry. I.e., I recommend over pre - geometry, rather "pre modern" geometry, i.e. Euclid. really. just a suggestion, feel free to ignore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1053 Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Euclid was my first thought too. Here is a link to a dynamic webpage that shows you how the book Elements (or really how the thirteen books) all play out. You can physically manipulate the stuff on the screen so your son could see how the postulates all come together, but he doesn't have to do the math. So it is like geometry theory. http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 There are some simple GeoGebra app tutorials you could have him follow, or walk through with him. Download GeoGebra (free) and have him follow these lessons. They are short and sweet, but demonstrate some good concepts. https://sites.google.com/site/geogebraiowa/a-laboratory-guide-for-elementary-geometry-using-geogebra/grade-6-geometry-lessons-mapped-to-common-core-goals www.geogebra.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 DP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 Thank you for all these resources. I have enough to get started now! I appreciate your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Oh of course! I meant geometry was pretty much the first math subject, but someone might still prepare for it with some other activity. I see. Also one does not need in reading Euclid to pay so much attention to the axioms. One can treat much of it as a sequence of fun constructions with compass and straight edge. Forgive my ignorance. I am not used to so much compartmentalization of mathematical knowledge, to me its all just one huge body of natural phenomena, beautifully interrelated. Sort of like my wife the pediatrician's surprise to learn that food manufacturers have separated various prepared foods into stages at which they should be given to the baby, pre vegetables, vegetables, ... she just fed ours whatever we were eating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 So, if a person were to want, with great trepidation, to begin reading Euclid, where should she begin? Is there a best translation, or a "Euclid for dummies" or "Euclid for everybody" kind of help? I so don't get geometry, and I so need to if I'm going to pull of teaching it at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 well i myself had been put off Euclid my whole life by various things that are said about it, and by the formality of the first few pages when I once had picked it up. What opened it up for me, at age 60+, was the book by Robin Hartshorne, Geometry: Euclid and beyond. He starts off with a little introduction, and then has exercises, the first being something like: write down whatever you remember from high school. Then he asks you to read the first so many propositions in any translation of Euclid you like. I recommend the Green Lion edition, http://www.amazon.com/Euclids-Elements-Euclid/dp/1888009195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421876344&sr=8-1&keywords=euclid The fact he does not include Euclid's text in his book, nor any substitute for it, but assumes you are reading it on your own alongside, forced me to actually open Euclid. But it is still potentially off putting to actually plunge into the book. I think I recommended my students to ignore the definitions and axioms and postulates and just start reading the theorems, to see if you can understand them. I guess you could read the postulates without much trouble, it's the definitions that may be confusing. Or you could look at them as long as you don't let not understanding some of them scare you off. "A straight line is a line that lies evenly with the points on itself." What does that mean? Fortunately it does not matter. Or you might start with Hartshorne's section 2, on constructions, and afterwards try the exercises at the end of that section. In section 3 Hartshorne discusses Euclid's axiomatic method. I myself wrote some rough notes when I taught from Euclid to youngsters at epsilon camp, available free on my uga math webpage. http://www.math.uga.edu/~roy/camp2011/10.pdf There was also a companion series of afternoon classes on constructions for which there are no notes, so the students knew more than just what is in the rough class notes, which are largely concerned with examining the proofs in Euclid. Hartshorne also has a nice essay on teaching from Euclid, comparing it to other more modern approaches: http://www.ams.org/notices/200004/fea-hartshorne.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1053 Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Hartshorne is a famous researcher and author in algebraic geometry, and taught at Harvard and Berkeley, as well as still lecturing all over the world. He wrote a book on the foundations of projective geometry in the 1960's, and many research articles and books, and is author of the standard graduate introduction: Algebraic Geometry. So he is as expert as they come in the world of geometry, and this work he did later in life, helping the rest of us reintroduce ourselves to Euclid is among my favorite, certainly the most accessible, work of his. His book may be a little pricey for home schoolers, at around $50, but contains a wealth of information that will provide years of material, albeit somewhat advanced, as befits notes from a Berkeley course for math types. I used it as a text in my undergrad/grad course at UGA on Euclidean geometry for teachers and math majors. It is probably mainly suitable for the dedicated advanced math student, but chapter 1 is great for anyone getting into Euclid, plus maybe parts of chapters 2,6, and 8: http://www.amazon.com/Geometry-Euclid-Beyond-Undergraduate-Mathematics/dp/0387986502/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421953904&sr=1-1&keywords=geometry+euclid+and+beyond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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