I'm curious about how he did them. In his head? Using the commonly taught algorithm for multiple digit multiplication? Through an understanding of place value? A different method?

Completely agree. I had the same point earlier when I said I wasn't sure how much CC complaining was the result of actual CC and how much of it was based on having to learn a new method. For example, I love math and while I have preferred ways of thinking about it, I feel I could teach in any method if I had to. I don't like some methods, but they all make mathematical sense to me, KWIM? I honestly don't know the best approach now that it seems we have a large proportion of teachers who cannot make sense of math. It's one thing to have a teacher who understands mathematical thinking, has been forced to teach it one way, and is now being asked to use multiple ways. It's another thing if the teacher only knows one way herself and doesn't really understand that. How do you recover from that?

I wrote a long response to this about a good friend of mine and the direction her family's homeschool is taking. I know she doesn't read here but I decided not to submit it because someone else might recognize who she is due to the circumstances outlined in my posting. Let's just say I completely get where you're coming from and my friend's daughter is heading toward a date with a brick wall next winter and I can only watch from the outside. It's very upsetting and I'm so worried this girl is going to be very angry with her parents a year from now.

This was the most interesting part for me too. I think I've mostly been doing the more "Japanese-style" teaching, having read Ma's book and using Singapore, plus dealing with my aforementioned difficulties with DS's perfectionism. But still it's good to get a concise way of thinking about this. The questions he posed above are a good shorthand for the more amorphous idea I've been trying to hold in my head while teaching. The other interesting part for me was the fractions and how they are multiplied. First I nearly fell out of my chair because he said only ~20% of US kids could add those 3 fractions on the test. Seriously?!! I then had an epiphany that perhaps my Southern CA late-70s and 80s math education wasn't as bad as I had thought. I never learned any of those answer techniques he discussed and the only arithmetic operation I could thing of where we purely learned an algorithm instead of the reasoning was long division. I'm not saying it was a fabulous math education, but I doubt anyone came out of 5th grade not being able to add 3 fractions. Good grief, what's happened here? :crying:

Hugs and prayers, Rose.

I feel so naive for thinking the swap board was only for books and materials....

A few random thoughts... I have complained in the past on this board about DS's problems with perfectionism and becoming upset and angry if he gets the wrong answer. It turns out this has been an actual blessing in disguise because it has forced me to emphasize the mathematical thinking more than worrying about the computation. Which is not to imply he can get the wrong answer and walk away, but rather I have to approach the wrong answer from a positive place because otherwise he becomes quite anxious and upset with himself. For the same reason I have had to drill into him over and over again that if he is getting the answers all correct we are wasting time and should move to something harder. In retrospect, this thing I started off saying in a trite manner to appease him has actually informed our school work as we've internalized it, and not just in math. This make me happy. In some ways I am not sure Americans are ready for the idea of incorrect answers as good things. I am somewhat neutral to negative about CC, but I have seen parents up in arms about how the "right answer doesn't even matter" and I'm pretty sure that's a misinterpretation of this idea of letting mistakes be used to teach mathematical ideas. I don't find the ideas in the video all that new, perhaps because I've read most of Liping Ma's excellent book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. I confess to not having finished it though. I'm having trouble deciding how I feel about CC math. One of the factors giving me grief is the amount of teacher complaints. I really do wonder how much of the grousing is because the teachers don't really understand math themselves and therefore are having trouble teaching it in a new and different way. If today's younger teachers learned only one way, I can see how it's a problem to do it another way. Is that the source of some of this complaining? I don't know. Of course it's also possible that many of the complaints are coming from teachers who do understand mathematical concepts and are therefore not happy or supportive. It's hard to say, especially when it's so much easier for teachers to say something is bad than to admit they don't understand it. Like I said, random thoughts. :001_smile:

:grouphug:

Are you on the K5science Yahoo group? The author is there and frequently answers questions such as these. It's a very good list.

I'm not sure how a science curriculum which can address 3 different age groups at the same time would look different from just doing a modified BFSU. Can you explain more clearly?

I thin we should be more worried of it's crossed off.

I think children have a right to be educated to the common level of the culture that surrounds them. For some children that means reading and writing, for others it may mean hunting or building housing. The child needs to be able to function as an adult in their culture and that means different skills in different situations. I don't conflate the right to be educated with government reach; a child has the right to be educated by the schools, or the parents, or the tribe, etc. independent of the means, and in whatever skills will help them to make productive contributions. If a child is born into a nomadic tribe that hunts, fishes, and rides horses to survive, then I think that child has a right to be taught how to hunt, fish, and ride a horse. If a child lives in a place where they need to read and write well to contribute, they have a right to become proficient in those skills.

Label is "rustic" and call it a day.

Is she a homeschooler with a different philosophy than you or ??? Sorry about your situation.

The person I talk with the most about curriculum is my neighbor. She's not a homeschooler and her children are in the local public school but she was formerly a Montessori teacher and is always interested in talking with me about educational methods and materials. We have great discussions. I have trouble talking about curriculum with homeschool moms I know IRL. The only ones I know are unschoolers and I think they think I'm too hard on my kids (said directly) and that I'm not teaching them to think for themselves (implied). One of my best friends is an unschooler and until recently we never spoke about curriculum. Her kids are not as far along in math, reading, or writing, but they can cook, knit, fix things around the house, do nature studies, and excel at serious sports. They are impressive kids but not very academically focused, which is not surprising given that the parents are the same way. Recently her daughter told her she wanted to go to a charter school for high school. It's a STEM charter and she would need to take an algebra test to get in. Well she's not ready for algebra and so my friend asked me for advice on what to do. I gave her some pointers on books/models (from here, I've haven't taught my own kids Algebra yet!) but soon realized she really didn't want my advice/options despite asking for them. She didn't feel comfortable with me telling her our plans and seemed upset my DS is on a track (for now!) for Algebra earlier than her DD. My friend has decided her daughter will "pick it up on her own" and got her a book. It's a prose book about Algebra, not a textbook. I am very concerned about this upcoming test but I'm keeping my mouth shut and hoping it works out. I really wish we hadn't talked about schooling and curricula and now it's the elephant in the room. Sorry, I had to get this off my chest. :blushing:

American football would be safer (not completely safe) without the helmets, I think. They're used as weapons and the hits are so hard.

I can't remember what I think about memory loss. :tongue_smilie: I agree with him though. When I experienced some medical issues and had memory loss it felt different than my normal I'm-in-my-forties memory loss. Deeper, somehow, and more scary. Totally agree on the Saints and coaching staff. :thumbdown: That's all I can say without rude words.

:cursing:

Glad you're okay. I've read so much about how doctors need to stop being dismissive of younger women who are experiencing symptoms of heart attack. Apparently he didn't get the memo.

beef jerky (check it doesn't have soy sauce, which often has wheat) gluten free rice crackers dried fruit rice cakes if she can get access to boiling water (like a hotel which has hot water for tea): instant oatmeal, gf ramen pouches of tuna if she has a cold pack or is willing to buy one from walmart, then boiled eggs pre-chopped veggies (eat the first day if not kept cold) avocados single serving packs of almond or soy milk, to drink or add to gf cereal if she can find it It shouldn't be too hard to eat out as long as she can get a burger with no bun or some eggs or a salad, hold the croutons.

Sounds like a great idea and I'm glad someone came up with it. Keeping track of everything sounds stressful but doable. I'll show DH when he gets home. And my neighbor--she was talking about some sets her son wanted that were too expensive.

Skimmed all the replies so forgive me if this is a repeat. I learned this the very hard way ( :banghead: ) It may be tempting to seal up the tent as much as possible with the idea of keeping as much body warmth inside as you can. Do not do this!!! Condensation from people's breath will build up inside the tent and will dampen everything, either through humidity in the air or through actual dripping from the walls/ceiling onto the sleeping bags. This will cause everything to be wet and retain much less heat. She will actually be warmer by venting the tent very well, sleeping in a good bag, and especially putting padding down to insulate from the ground. Along the same lines, do not make her wear really warm clothes in the bag, especially cotton. They will get damp and she will be freezing, if not during the night, when she wakes up and gets out of the bag. People get can hypothermia from damp clothes even in nice temps. Staying dry is super important.

I checked the inflation calculator and an item which cost 25.00 in 2003 would cost 31.xx today. The thing is I know they haven't changed it in at least 10 years, but I don't know the exact year they did change it. If it was about 12 years ago then this is in line with inflation. If the $25 was set more than 12 years ago $35 is better than inflation. I'm not even sure their real goal is keeping up with inflation as much as it is selling Prime. I'm considering Prime myself at this point, after refusing to sign up all these years for fear of the gratification (and budget havoc) of instant ordering!

Skip it for now. If only I could reclaim the time I wasted trying to DS the same topics, only to have him easily grasp it the following year.

I can't be too mad at them. It's the first increase in a decade.