choirfarm
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Posts posted by choirfarm
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Did he pick up the ACT sample test from a high school, like the teacher recommends, or did he just listen?
I'll have to ask him. But I think that he gives you a link to a pdf where you can dowload it. However, I think maybe the test was the the wrong version. However, I think he had it in his REAL book maybe. He had taken the science test that he was talking through...
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I don't use the zeros. They're not necessary. I don't teach my kids with the zeros either.
So you don't feel like the numbers are just hanging there? How do you keep them from sliding them over?
I have to laugh at some of you. Are you being serious on the amount of time it saves you not to write zeros??? It takes a nannosecond.....
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I've worried about my oldest going off to college in a year and a half, but he is going to be ok. Yesterday he called me ( I go to a town an hour away for a bunch of youngest's music activities) and asked if his cc class was in the same place this semester.. OOPS. So he figured out how to sign in and find out where the class was going to be. Today he just called me. There are only 6 in his Spanish II class. He went up to the professor and talked to her about possible conflicts with final exams and the AP exams. This was his idea.. I had no idea he was going to do that. He initiated this!!! He is going to be fine. I know this is silly, but I was a little worried about his going to school and hiding in his room all the time...
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I am currently reading Kinowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma. I've only made it through 2 chapters. The second chapter is about long multiplication. I hope the formatting stays for this as it should line up correctly.
123
x645
615
492
738
79335
They had one example lined up incorrectly and one correctly. Ok..I have NEVER seen it like that without the zeros. Most of the US teachers said it was a problem of place value if the student lined it up incorrectly BUT they had no concept of what they were doing. Some of them talked about putting in the imaginary zeroes or sometime even other object so they could keep their place. The only thing the zeros were good for were keeping their place??????? Now the Chinese left out the zeros as well many times but they had a much better grasp of the place value...
The way I learned to do it was that you multiplied 5 x 123. But then you were multiplying 40 times 123. You had to have the zero there not to keep the place but because that is what you were doing. You were NOT multiplying 4 x 123. Then you are multiplying 600 x123 so once again the zeros must go there because you are NOT multiplying it by 6. So my problem looks like
123
x645
615
4920
73800
79335
To me the zeros are absolutely necessary. The Chinese teachers taught this and then had them erase the zeros since they were not necessary. I guess I do not understand how they were not necessary...to me, they are otherwise the number means something different. The American teachers thought the zeros were confusing to the students...
So then I did an experiment. I asked my husband to solve the problem. HE DID IT WITHOUT THE ZEROS!!! I asked him why and he said that is because that is the way you do it. Why don't you put zeros there? Why would you need them?? he asked. He couldn't explain why he lined them up the way he did. This is a Phi Beta Kappa guy that took several calculus classes in college... I explained a little bit but he argued that he could do it as quickly as I could and maybe faster without the zeros...
So then I gave it to my oldest. He did it with the zeros. I asked him why and he said it had to do with place value. He said dad's way would certainly work.
I gave it to my middle boy and he did it with the zeros. I asked him why and he explained like I did because you are multiplying by 40 and by 600. ( Probably because I am the one teaching and dragging him through math!)
Then he noticed that his answer differed from dad's answer..GREAT.. he said but then he realized that dad made a carrying mistake and his answer was correct. (There was great rejoicing that he got something correct.)
I just thought it was funny as I have never seen or heard of lining it up that way but it is obviously taught that way. I realize that lining it up my husband's way will work, but to me it just doesn't make logical sense. It is like the numbers are just hanging out in space. Without the zeros it would be so easy to slide them over to where they are not lined up correctly.
The formatting didn't work I see and I don't know how to get it to work out correctly so I hope you can get what I am trying to say. There were just spaces where zeros should be and they lined up where they SHOULD be. My example with zeros isn't lining up either.
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I am currently reading Kinowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma. I've only made it through 2 chapters. The second chapter is about long multiplication. I hope the formatting stays for this as it should line up correctly.
123
x645
615
492
738
79335
They had one example lined up incorrectly and one correctly. Ok..I have NEVER seen it like that without the zeros. Most of the US teachers said it was a problem of place value if the student lined it up incorrectly BUT they had no concept of what they were doing. Some of them talked about putting in the imaginary zeroes or sometime even other object so they could keep their place. The only thing the zeros were good for were keeping their place??????? Now the Chinese left out the zeros as well many times but they had a much better grasp of the place value...
The way I learned to do it was that you multiplied 5 x 123. But then you were multiplying 40 times 123. You had to have the zero there not to keep the place but because that is what you were doing. You were NOT multiplying 4 x 123. Then you are multiplying 600 x123 so once again the zeros must go there because you are NOT multiplying it by 6. So my problem looks like
123
x645
615
4920
73800
79335
To me the zeros are absolutely necessary. The Chinese teachers taught this and then had them erase the zeros since they were not necessary. I guess I do not understand how they were not necessary...to me, they are otherwise the number means something different. The American teachers thought the zeros were confusing to the students...
So then I did an experiment. I asked my husband to solve the problem. HE DID IT WITHOUT THE ZEROS!!! I asked him why and he said that is because that is the way you do it. Why don't you put zeros there? Why would you need them?? he asked. He couldn't explain why he lined them up the way he did. This is a Phi Beta Kappa guy that took several calculus classes in college... I explained a little bit but he argued that he could do it as quickly as I could and maybe faster without the zeros...
So then I gave it to my oldest. He did it with the zeros. I asked him why and he said it had to do with place value. He said dad's way would certainly work.
I gave it to my middle boy and he did it with the zeros. I asked him why and he explained like I did because you are multiplying by 40 and by 600. ( Probably because I am the one teaching and dragging him through math!)
Then he noticed that his answer differed from dad's answer..GREAT.. he said but then he realized that dad made a carrying mistake and his answer was correct. (There was great rejoicing that he got something correct.)
I just thought it was funny as I have never seen or heard of lining it up that way but it is obviously taught that way. I realize that lining it up my husband's way will work, but to me it just doesn't make logical sense. It is like the numbers are just hanging out in space. Without the zeros it would be so easy to slide them over to where they are not lined up correctly.
The formatting didn't work I see and I don't know how to get it to work out correctly so I hope you can get what I am trying to say. There were just spaces where zeros should be and they lined up where they SHOULD be. My example with zeros isn't lining up either.
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I thought I would share how I had my son prepare for the ACT. This came in part because of a college confidential question about how they did on a practice test and how they did on a real test. I saw how much he had improved. I bought two books: the red REAL ACT booklet and the Barrons 36 book.
The first week he took 1 of the practice tests out of the real ACT book. One test a day: math, reading, English, Science and writing. I like spreading it out as it only adds 25 minutes to his regular school day. He got a Engl. 31, Math 27, Reading 29, Science 27. His composite was 28. He looked at what he missed and WHY he missed it.
Over the next month he did a subject a week: He read through the English section in the Barrons ACT 36 book. He did the exercises in the book. He took a practice test in that subject in the REAL ACT book and tried to understand WHY he missed what he missed. Would anything in the Barrons book have helped him with what he missed? The scores from that test that he took over that month were:English 32, Math 30, Reading 32, and science 26. Composite 30.
Then we had one week left until the exam. Once again he took a test over that week. HOWEVER, we discovered these cool science videos online so instead of doing the science test he watched these videos ( since as you can see that is the subject where he didn't improve)
I really wish we had found these earlier so he could have incorporated them into that week he spent on science prep. He didn't make it all the way through the videos. His scores for that test were:
English 32, Math 30, and Reading 34.
I also wish we had been better about practicing the essays. He only did those 3. I should have had him practice several each week. But he had writing in his other "real" classes and I didn't want to take away from that. Until the SAT this March I am making the writing his writing for English.
So he took the ACT in December and these were his scores:English 35, Reading 34, Math 34 and science 31. His composite was 34. His writing score was 7.
This was a relatively painless way to prepare for the ACT. He spent around 30 minutes a day for 6 weeks. We are doing something similar for the SAT except we are adding in more prep for writing.
I hope that helps.
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We sort of did this one on our own last May:
http://www.hillsdale.edu/seminars/offcampus/hs_studyabroad/churchill.asp
We watched the Rufus Fears lecture last year while we did TOG Year 4. Then we went to the Churchill Museum in London, Paris and the D-Day beaches. We spend Sun-Friday in Normandy and it was the favorite part of our whole trip. Dh and I would like to spend a month there. The three bedroom gite was 291 euros total!!! We drove to all of the beaches and walked around Bayeaux ( where the gite was). The big splurge since the most of the attractions were free and the lodging was so cheap was to take a Band of Brothers tour. It was AWESOME!! We also listed to Beyond Band of Brothers on that trip by Major Dick Winters. I highly recommend that book. We let the boys watch a couple of episodes of the HBO Band of Brothers miniseries. That was so well done!!!
Honestly, I think that is why both boys like history. AP Government is the first year we have used a textbook. They just read tons of books, watch documentaries, and actually GO the places. We all have fun. My own history education was AWFUL.... a coach that would have you read the chapter for 2 days, maps on Wednesday, test on Thursday and talk about football on Friday!!!
When I made history my 2nd teaching field, I swore I would be different. I held a constitutional convention for my lower level 8th graders. They all took parts and argued just like the real people. They loved it.
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Well several of them like Baylor and TCU would give credit for AP Calc IF you were not a STEM type major. I believe the same thing is true for Biology if you are premed.. Also, med schools do not like AP credit AT ALL and it weakens their application.
I'm curious about this. Can you give some examples? While there are colleges who grant no credit for APs, it has not been my observation that bio earns less credits at schools who do grant AP credits, but I'd love to see examples if there is a trend happening!AP bio granted a huge amount of credit for our homeschool so I thought I'd take a quick look. I checked 10 colleges and all offered credit for AP bio. The schools I checked were: Ohio State, Brown, Florida State, Oberlin, Holy Cross, Boston College, Knox, Western Michigan University, Arizona State, Gordon College. The only school that didn't offer credit for a 4 or 5 was Boston College (while they don't grant credit, they do say the "core requirement" has been filled). A few of the schools offered credit for scores of 3, but all did for scores of 4 and 5. Ohio State granted the most credit, 12 credit hours for scores of four or five.
Certainly I don't think think a student should expect that AP bio in 9th grade is going to meet a major requirement for biology in college. But, there can still be a lot of value in the course. If a student is looking at a more competitive college, their peers likely will have had this course. So, even if the student opts to start out in the intro class, they are going to in an intro class where a student who has not had AP bio may be at a big disadvantage.
As far as preparing for the course. We liked the Campbell book a lot. As is often the case with textbooks the previous edition or two is virtually identical except the page numbers and problems, so it is fine to get an earlier edition. We also really liked the Thinkwell biology lectures. With Campbell and Thinkwell, it is a substantial course. I would suggest dowloading the PDF from the College Board and using that as your guide to create the course. http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_bio.html I would leave adequate time to prep for the exam, doing practice essays and so forth. Buying a prep book is also a good idea.
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MMM I don't remember Neil Sperry saying it was a winter crop. I'm going to have to go look. We generally planted it in late Feb/early march along with the rest of our crops.
When did you plant?Lettuce/greens are a winter crop in Texas. Plant September/October and harvest through the winter. You may be able to squeeze in a crop if you plant now to mid-February.
Lettuce/greens grow well in containers, which is nice because you can haul them in the garage if we have really cold/icy weather. Otherwise, they can go through our typical winters without problem.
We are restarting our organic/mostly raw diets this week. I just got back from the store and was very pleased when our food bill actually came in a little under what it normally does. I bought a couple of higher price items (organic flax oil, raw nuts) but otherwise it was pretty routine things. Probably one big savings was I didn't buy meat... Organic meat can really add up quickly. If you can, reduce your meat intake to save money. (Make it a side, instead of the meal - thinly sliced beef w/loads of stir-fry veggies.) Also, don't buy more than you can reasonably eat! Plan multiple meals around higher price veggies, so you can make sure you use them up before they go bad.
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It might be too hot for lettuce. Look for lettuce specifically breed for summer. Do you have a shady area to grow it in? Also, you want to make sure it stays moist and grows quickly.
Nope, we have a HUGE garden in direct sun. It is normally in the 90's starting in May and last year..I think we had something like 45 days of over 100 degrees in a row!!!! Nothing much grew last year.
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What do you mean. I've been able to see what he missed since mid-December??
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A couple of things, mine had a similar problem. His vocabulary was low. But his reading comprehension was 99 percent. I think part of it was that he could figure out things by context and so could kind of skip over the words and still know the meaning if that makes sense... Well this child made a 34 in reading and a 35 in English on the ACT so he did fine. ( He is 11th grade now.)
As far as spelling, they are right it is more of a proofreading skill. So if you want to raise scores there, then practice PROOFREADING spelling. However, that will not actually teach spelling. My middle child makes HIGH scores on the spellling sections on standardized tests and cannot spell worth a darn on his own papers... He is a horrible speller, but he knows when it looks right!!! So to be honest, I wouldn't care. If you really must, look online or in a teacher supply store for testing materials where they practice proofreading spelling. I bet a month of work would get her high scores, but the question is do you want to do that instead of studying history or science in depth? I didn't.
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I will share my in-laws experience. They moved while my husband was in med school ( we were engaged), middle one was at aTm and youngest was at Baylor. They had to keep par of their stuff with them when they moved in the summer in the apartment since the girls were with them. But then they had boxes in a storage facility labeled aTm and Baylor, etc. It was a nightmare. They chose to still build a 4 bedroom house with a big study and formal dining and living. I thought they were nuts. I couldn'g understand why in the world they were getting such a big house when they were about to have an empty nest. However, boy has it been nice for all of the holidays. The youngest and her daughter, the middle one and her three kids ( 16, 14 and 7) and my 3 kids (16, 14, and 10) can all stay there quite comfortably. They have kept all of the original furniture in pristine condition as well as every single toy ( an old Alamo set) with ALL PIECES in pristine condition. I'm not sure how my mil did that!!! Anyway, also think about your kids coming back to stay with their families.
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Have you looked at Hillsdale's overseas trips? I feel like a broken record here lately (anyone remember those?) but it keeps coming up on the boards.
http://www.hillsdale.edu/seminars/offcampus/hs_studyabroad.asp
Those look cool but there is no way I could get him to go.. I would have LOVED this as a teenager. My Latin teacher went to Rome every year but I couldn't afford to go... For him to go somewhere like aTm which is only 3 hours away BY HIMSELF would be a hard sell. But thanks for sharing it for others that are looking at the thread.
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Coud you combine his history interest with your trip in August? Maybe Gettysburg' date=' Mt. Vernon, Philadelphia, Williamsburg ...[/quote']
We've already done all of that. We've been to Gettysburg twice, Bull Run, Fredricksburg, Spotsylvania, etc. We took a trip a couple of years ago to Vicksburg, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, etc He's been to Jamestown, Yorkstown, Philadelphia, etc.
Our summer trip is to California.. We are going from East Texas to the Grand Canyon ( lots of Indian places on the way out) then on to Humboldt State Park and Redwood National Park and Crater Lake national park... I'm planning it as we speak... We will definitely stop at history things along the way. When the boys were smaller, we got a notebook for them, and they have it full of junior ranger badges from the National Parks. Now they are too old for that..
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We grow most of our own vegetables, and some fruits. If nothing else, lettuce, spinach, chard, collards and kale are super simple to grow yourself....great for green smoothies.
Im in East Texas and I've tried to grow lettuce 4 different times. Each time they were inedible. They were REALLY sour. I don't know what we were doing wrong. No luck with spinach either..
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The only issue is that you need a rack or trivet or something on the bottom of the pot, otherwise the heat is too great for the glass jars and they WILL burst. You need a buffer on the inside of the pot. Any metal rack will do, and if you don't have something that can fit, you can also use metal canning rings tied together in a pinch.
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Wow.. I've been canning for 10 years and I've never had one burst. I make hot sauce and tomato sauce in just a plain big pot.
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Here is one. Mine isn't old enough. It is for juniors and seniors:
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I've been doing some searching and the only things I seem to come up with are math/science camps. I would love for my middle child to be able to do something with history or literature ( that said, he doesn't enjoy writing). He qualifies for the Duke summer camps, but isn't quite ready to be gone for 3 weeks. He is currently in 9th grade. I found this which he thought looks awesome:
http://www.gettysburg.edu/cwi/conference/
However, an adult must go with you. Between my husband and I going to Honduras at the end of May, my going with my daughter for a week to a Fine Arts camp in July, and our family camping trip in the RV in August, I don't think it will work. His dad would love this seminar, so we are shooting for next summer for this.
Is there anything else? He could work at a museum, but I'll be honest, we have an oil museum here and a REALLY small historical museum in the next town. BORING. If we had the Nimitz museum here or Gettysburg, he would love that...
He reads everything he can get his hands on about the Civil War or World War II. I think he would enjoy literary things as well. He loves to read and although he complains about almost every hard work we start, he always says, "This is getting better." as we get into it. We are all enjoying The Scarlet Letter right now. I don't remember enjoying it so much the last time I taught it. We are having some great discussions: discouraging immoral behaviour yet the role of grace, is Chillingsworth really evil ( They didn't think so at first, but are changing their minds.)? What in the world did Hester even see in Dimmesdale in the first place?????
But I digress. If you have any ideas let me know.
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Hasn't he tried to learn any programming on his own? I would a prospective CS major to have some programming experience. He can try Scratch, Python, or some other language.
Nope, he hasn't. Part of it is lack of time. We've signed him up for the Aops computer programming course that goes from march-June. His AP Chem and AP Gov classes will be through with new material in march and just studying for the AP exam, so it should be ok then.
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T
Ester Maria - You're much more even tempered than I am. I wouldn't be questioning vengence - it would begin immediately with all the little things they don't know. Planning the meal, making sure it's defrosted and cooked to come together at the same time, treating stains on laundry, remebering shampoo at the grocery store - all those little things that don't count, on top of the academics. Man, my kids would be hating life for a day or two.
But see my oldest is better at that than me. I don't know what I'll do when he's gone. He reminds me to get things, does all the kids laundry, cooks when I need him to including times I've had to dash off in the middle of preparing a meal. I may not let him go to college....
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He just took the chapter 1 BJU Geometry test and made a 76. I am off to cry... This was easy... He especially cannot translate the words into symbols: Point A is an element of line b. We worked on that all week.. He's done TT, Chalkdust and now this.. I'm off to cry. I honestly don't know what to do.
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Laura,
We will probably just have to agree to disagree about this issue. But for what it is worth:
Yes I would say something no matter what "they" wanted. I have to try. Some day I will be standing in front of God and he will ask me why I didn't. At least that is how I see it. It will be my fault that I didn't reach out to them and now they are lost forever. I couldn't live with myself......... not if I loved that person...
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Have you ever had to actually work a cash register? One that doesn't automatically total everything? I gotta tell you that it really messes with your head, making change like that. BTDT. :-)
Yep.. 3 summers at Six Flags and then a year at Krogers.
long.division
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
What year of Horizon? If it is Horizon 4, my son could do the two digit divided by one with remainers, but not 3 digits by 2 digits. I went and asked a lady at my church who teaches 4th grade and she said they don't teach that at ps until 5th grade. So I decided to just cross out all of those problems. He just wasn't ready for them. He was barely comfortable with dividing that long number by one digit. When we got to the skill in 5th grade, he could do it.. So you can skip them and come back. I did with my middle child.