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vito

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Everything posted by vito

  1. About being FAST. If your child spends more than 10 min. to think and get ready to verbally clearly succinctly outline a solution for _any_ problem (take 15 for Asperger) then this means that you chose a wrong textbook for him. (this excludes Olympiad/AOPS kids; your child has other priorities and goals).
  2. About prerequisites: Sorry for not being clear. I mostly meant not formal prerequisites, i.e. courses “Algebraâ€/ “Precalculusâ€, but specific material in very detail. Precalculus is a very general term. MIT needs precalculus too. For example, if this ATA degree program has math classes in the first year, then what are they in detail? what specific math knowledge does your son need to succeed in them? Since you mentioned the program does not have math classes at all then you can look into the syllabi of electronics classes of that program. For example, Electric Circuits courses would require thorough knowledge of fractions, proportions, elementary algebraic manipulations etc. You can visit the school, find instructors from that program, visit their office, and ask, find students on campus from that program, chat and ask. Try to get assignments/tests from specific courses in that program. Elicit the kind of math that those assignments require.
  3. If your child is already well into high school and he is struggling with word problems then: Don’t focus on being different when someone lacks “conceptual understandingâ€. Everything is plug and chug, including high school material. Google language phrases that translate into math expressions/ equations. Also in a particular topic of any textbook try to elicit how language phrases translate into math expressions/ equations discussed in that topic. Many people think they have “conceptual understandingâ€. In reality they just practiced properly, and now they subconsciously translate word problems into known plug and chug patterns. Visit the school your child wants to get his electronics degree from. Find out in detail what math prerequisites are. Also, get the syllabi of the courses that your child will take first year and retrieve math material that is used there. About Foerster, MUS, etc. There are many books. Some harder, some easier. Find the one that is easy. Let him do it fast. Find another that is somewhat harder and do it fast. And so on. Long = hard. In any given one book some topics (or some problems in a topic) could be harder, some easier. Skip the hard ones for now, do fast the easy ones (no repetitions). Come back to the hard ones later.
  4. I remember I was a kid. 12-13. In school we had a boy who was seen by teachers and everybody as having real difficulties with remembering and understanding even simple straightforward material. It was accepted by teachers, students, and eventually parents and him himself that he was this way, and nobody bothered him much with homework, questions, etc. He was a quiet outsider. I remember I felt sorry specifically for that he was being already “assigned†a place in life. One day a group of city kids played outside after school. We started naming soccer players that we liked, also their positions, jersey numbers, age, birth place etc. I was astonished to hear the boy I knew from classes easily and happily named 30-40 players, tons of stats about each, and also he genuinely analysed their tactics, techniques, etc. Something wrong here I thought, with perception. Find your way.
  5. I think high school years are critical for intelligence. Until 13-14 you can unschool: paint sunset, collect butterflies, read Jules Verne, wake up early morning and walk to the river. You could party or coast in college after 18. In between I believe it is time to work hard.
  6. There is an alternative view on how prestige is earned at the top schools. Watch the last 30 min. of "Inside job" documentary. It argues that corruption in prestigious universities is deeply entrenched. First I was reluctant to watch that film. Nothing new it could offer I thought. Yet it did. Now, a neighbourhood college with humble teachers looks not bad at all.
  7. IMO, Jacobs geometry (we saw and used only second edition) is important. You can hold off for now, then come back in a year or two.
  8. If you imply he can regroup two numbers then teach him to insert parentheses and remember to do only two numbers in parentheses first and ignore everything outside of the two numbers in parentheses. Do it visually, in writing. Example: 39+19+25=(39+19)+25=58+25 You can even cover "+25" with paper, or do 39+19 on a separate page.
  9. There is no academic value in doing calculations mentally and not being able to explain. Analogy: read aloud with no comprehension.
  10. Bad sign. Another bad sign. Someone said: think clearly, express clearly. As for Singapore, there is no a separate Singapore "method" that it's OK not to understand and at the same time to understand another way, at least not for two digit addition. All roads lead to Rome. Take a different book for the same topic if it's still no go. It's better to have at least four five books. Then come back to SM 3A.
  11. The more books you use the better. Doing a harder book then coming back to an easier book is a good practice for clarity. I think the true "discovery" approach is a luxury and ultimitely a myth as it requires tons of time, a gifted student and a genius teacher, a rare combination in real life.
  12. Yes, we homeschooled our older son for one year with great success. He was in grade 7. He is in college now majoring in math. We afterschooling now with other kids.
  13. Have you ever participated in a math contest? It's different to cosy homeschooling.
  14. Don't you need to memorize trig.identities or something? If you come to a test having memorized just multiplication tables it will be someone else's turn to smile. :)
  15. "Memorizing = bad" is just trendy these days, possibly in light of problems with teaching in schools. IMO, memorizing and understanding are equally important. Where are those days when kids were memorizing poems, and it was considered one of the key points in education? There is no way to do long division without strong multiplication skills including quick estimations of say 2-digit number multiplying by 1-digit number. Example: do long division 234/27. You will need to estimate 27*8. For this you will need to do some of 27*7 and 27*9 and 27*6 depending on your skill.
  16. I would suggest try not using AOPS algebra prior the age of 13-14. The whole idea of seeing someone mathy/ non-mathy, gifted/not gifted before the age of 14 is moot. Until ~14 focus more on memorizing techniques (example: steps to find LCM), and focus less on trying to elicit how mathy/ gifted your child is. AOPS by publishing pre-algebra book enters new waters. Their target market is gifted high-school students.
  17. Well, my kid was confused and asked for help. We bought SM three weeks ago, and this is actually the first time I looked into the book closer. The problem #5 has a lot of irrelevant given including this 100 vs. 280.
  18. Hi all, Singapore math 6A St.Ed. p.88 #5 says: <<< The results of a survey of 100 households ... showed that of 280 households ... 71 reported buying ... >>> 280 is less than 100. How is it possible? :001_unsure: Thanks.
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