I was wondering about the AOPS Problem Solving Basics book and its level. So you think that is higher level than their counting and number theory books? Brownie

For those of you who have done this, what would you say is an efficient way to prepare for math competitions? I am working through Competition Math for Middle school with my 5th grader now, and I am fairly pleased with it. I have AOPS' Olympiad Problems which has been way too easy for a couple of years now (I emailed Richard about it - he said the contests have gotten progressively harder so the old problems are easier). Is there a particular source of practice problems you would recommend as more worthwhile than others? I should mention as far as level that he is finished with pre-algebra and we are just biding our time now until fall, hitting some gaps, doing some competition math and AOPS pre-algebra problems, Khan academy mission Algebra, etc... Brownie

Wow! Thanks! I did not see that. I watched the youtube video and couldn't figure it out. Brownie

I am wondering how many hours a week or how many weeks to allow for this course next year. I haven't purchased it yet but I am trying to plan out my science for next year. Thanks! Brownie

Flashcards...forwards and backwards. And by backwards I mean that I give just an answer...like 24. I will put 3 dots in the corner to indicate there are 3 facts that make 24. He needs to name all 3 ways. I never had a problem until my youngest came along, and actually he didn't have a huge issue learning them forwards. But then I realized most of math after that point requires you to be able to do them backwards better than forwards...division, reducing fractions, factoring, etc... It never occurred to me bc I never had a kid who didn't find backwards just as easy as forwards. But my youngest is super visual spatial - don't know if that has anything to do with it. Anyhow, now we drill backwards. For forwards I just printed worksheets off for timed quizes.

Wow. You guys are really uplifting :) I don't think teaching ds to tolerate boredom is on my agenda for next year, but we'll keep it on the radar for career planning :) Yeah - I really don't think I had the patience to work with cell cultures in the lab. I think it compounds the frustration to have to deal with things that can die after you put a ton of hours in :( I wish I had known that about myself. I would have chosen polymers or...something. Patience with working through a problem is something we address in many other ways, but I'm not sure we're making much progress! I appreciate the ideas. I really like the idea of teaching some experimental design. If anyone knows of a good book that is digestable by a bright 12 year old, I'm all ears. Up until now I've just spouted my personal opinions gained from experience but it would be nice to have something to work through. Some examples of experiments with issues would be great. Brownie

I haven't had a chance to read all the replies, but here is what we did... ds11 moved from Singapore into Saxon pre-algebra at 10. I'm not fond of Saxon, but it does insure that all the material is solid through it's daily repetition of many topics. We finished up in January. Now I am trying to get him back on an "annual schedule", so we are taking this spring to do other stuff. He is doing any missed topics in McDougall Little pre-algebra, working through AOPS pre-algebra, doing Khan academy mission algebra, and working through a competition math book. We are also doing logic puzzles of the brainteaser variety. I consider algebra to be a pivotal year, and I want him SOLID on everything that could possibly be considered pre-algebra before attempting an Algebra course at full speed (which will be the expectation because he will enter school after completing Algebra at home). I say this because this is my 2nd kid on this track, and we rushed it a bit due to circumstances somewhat beyond our control with the first. Algebra was a little overwhelming as a result. I am thrilled just to have extra time to explore additional topics. I wish we had even more! I would try one of the additional AOPS books! Brownie

...not content. For all you STEM people, what do you consider to be the important life skills in the life of a scientist? So far I have: observing and questioning problem solving / creative solution generation technical comfort level (hands-on, willing to use equipment, understand how it works, etc...) something with reading comprehension/ability to research? Though this is partly based on having the content background, I think it's also more than that If it matters, reason being I am trying to figure out what to do with my upcoming 6th grader. He is doing a solid science course this year that covers earth and physical science using an 8th grade curriculum. He will take bio in 7th and he had bio 2 years ago. So next year I have no real need to cover specific content. I would like to focus in on life-skill development. As far as what I am considering: Royal fireworks Press Ferret it Out, which is now written for homeschool, some reverse engineering and electronics stuff, his first real science fair entry, science journalling, and reading current events/magazine articles on science topics. I want to make sure I a doing this with a particular skills list in mind so that it's not just "check the box", but purposeful with an objective in mind. In reality, he probably gets all this to some degree already the way I run science but I want to be more intentional about it. Brownie

Wow thanks for all the info! I will have that letter ready just in case. Hopefully we will all be going together, God willing. And I will give the kids some pointers for crossing the border...I had no idea, having not done it in 15 years. Brownie

We are travelling to Canada by car in June. We will not have passports for the kids. As it is unnecessary, it would be too expensive to obtain extra passports. I tried clarifying with the passport office via email and all they did was reiterate that only an original birth certificate is required. I am wondering if we are going to face any challenges on either side of the border, especially if for some unforseen reason, only 1 parent ends up travelling (We are going for a robotics competition so if someone got sick, etc...we would still go and leave 1 parent behind with the affected child). I am wondering if a notarized letter from the other parent would be useful? Thanks! Brownie

I second trying Khan academy 1st. We have the LOF stat book. DS13 tried using it for a science project (and fun). It is a huge book of different statistical tests. At first glance it seems like a life-saving resource with flow charts that presumably help you to figure out which test you need. But even DH and I ended up confused and we both have some stats background way back when. I found that it was really lacking in adequate explanation of when to actually use each analysis outside their limited examples. We ended up having to call in a stats prof to clear up the confusion. It took about 5 minutes for him to explain where the book had drawn us astray and how Poisson is actually used and its limitations. I know some people love LOF and my kids enjoy reading it for fun, but I've never been pleased with the depth of information and stats is one place where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing! Love Khan though.

There are non-bio books out there...but many of them stink. And trying to progress in any logical way is difficult. They cover the same tired, limited topics over and over. When covering simple machines, I can find about 50 options at my local library, but only one author that does a good job of actually conveying understanding. And if you don't already know what you are doing, identifying those can be difficult. And sometimes full of errors, especially if you don't pick up recent editions. Alternatively, the life science books are potentially appealing, beautifully illustrated, chock full of information (less understanding and scaffolding required), and easier to find. Then you can go out in your yard and explore...but my kids just don't care. They prefer physical science. I find it more effective to guide our progress logically from topic to topic with a test, picking up books and videos that are available and worthwhile along the way once the child has a fundamental understanding. I'm not saying it's the right way. It's just to read this thread you would think nobody uses a text for middle school, so I am providing an alternate viewpoint.

Since we've done things differently, I thought I'd mention it. We've pretty much used textbooks all the way through, primarily rotating bio, chem and physics. I believe in introducing fundamental scientific principals right from the beginning, so that science doesn't seem like a foreign language when they get to high school (Conservation of energy, Newton's laws, etc...) To do this we have used a variety of materials...RS4K, Prentice Hall, CPO, Apologia, Runkle's Physical Geography, BFSU... That doesn't mean we never branch out. We read many library books on the topics we are covering, watch videos, do science fair projects, participate on robotic teams, etc...but our day to day science is traditionally from a textbook. Much of what is most readily available for younger kids (both in library books and in their own yards) seems to be life science and my kids just aren't that interested in traditional life science. They do not care to learn about animals, etc... While I think the outside projects and activities are what have allowed my kid to think like scientists, I think the book learning has laid the foundation along with math which is even more important than the science foundation in the long term. FWIW I have an older son who went into school for 7th grade and his science teacher was amazed with him. They did more of a discovery and expert lecture series that year, so they actually had to think. The answers weren't in a book.

Wow! Never saw those on Khan! We are using Khan 2 days a week for Algebra topics. Unfortunately it doesn't look like you can "Assign" those videos, but dS has been begging me to lie down with him at night to do logic puzzles on the computer. These will be perfect! Brownie

OK - I ordered Gardner's "My Best...". It was so inexpensive at about $3.50! If it's not appropriate, no big deal. Thanks!

Thanks! Gardner was my best guess too. Lewis Carroll! - what fun! I never would have guessed there was a book with his riddles!

DS11 LOVED some riddles/logic puzzles I found online. I would like to find a book of them. He is excellent in math and not particularly fond of it, but this excited him. We are taking the semester to play around with math and fill gaps so this is the perfect opportunity. Here is an example: There are 3 light switches downstairs and 3 corresponding bulbs upstairs. How can you figure out which switch goes with which bulb if you are permitted only 1 trip upstairs? I don't want the traditional grid/process of elimination puzzles. We've done those in years past. He just doesn't care. Looking up logic puzzles on Amazon produces such a variety, it is hard to know what type of puzzle you are getting and if it is age appropriate. Does anyone have a recommendation? We've done the Prufrock Press books like Logic Countdown...these are not what he's looking for. Brownie

The problem is...I just stink at this. So we are attempting to study narrative essays. Yesterday we read an esay entitled "Attititude is Everything". We looked at sentence style alot. Discussed the overall structure, use of dialogue, and the purpose behind writing the essay (which was obviously stated). It went pretty well. I picked up The Norton Sampler for more easily accessible samples of good narrative essays to study. The problem is, I am really having a hard time articulating the purpose of these essays simply. Most of them do not clearly share their purpose (which I told him a good essay would). I really need a teacher's guide, not a student book I think. But really there just does not seem to be anything out there that tears apart sample essays the way I would like to do it, and I don't quite have the skill to do it either :( Now I did pick up The Language of Composition as well, and now that I am looking at it, it seems to have a greater selection of narrative samples as well as topics more appropriate and interesting for my 11 year old. Brownie

We've done chess...both via workbooks and computer software for a break in the past. We also do competition math and Khan academy.

Here's what I've done so far. We've completed 2 days of writing without a curriculum :) DS is in 5th grade and has never really written a multi-paragraph essay except IEW-style with the materials handed to him, or a science report. He is a reluctant writer. Day 1 - Presented the 4 main types of essays. Said we would be focussing on Narrative for about 1 month and expanded on the narrative essay. I gave him a list of possible prompts I cobbled together from websites. For 5 minutes we both had to come up with as many ideas as we could for a narrative essay...just things like "trip to Disney", "day at grandmas". I told his they could be silly, stupid or good...it was a brainstorming session. He balked at being timed but he came up with over 20. A bunch were silly - a whole list of his favorite foods :) Day 2 - I asked him to spend 10 quiet minutes thinking of any other ideas he may have missed yesterday. Brainstorming and quiet thinking are both helpful tools. He came up with 2 more ideas and I think one he is likely to use. I then explained that even a narrative should have a purpose and gave him a list of likely purposes (e.g. lesson learned, love, persistence). I asked his to choose 5 of his ideas and give a purpose. He freaked :( I admit that even I'm a little unclear on this. Some essays have a clear purpose, but at 11 years old, I think "My favorite vacation" might be totally adequate? So next we will work through this together I think. Day 3 - We will start reviewing examples of narrative essays, and talking about what makes them good. This could take a week or more. Also, each day I have chosen a grammatical element to practice. I am using Killgallon's elementary book right now to help me along. We practiced prepositional phrases on day 1 and now have moved onto appositives. Writing is not my thing. I am fearful to break out on my own here, but I am not happy with how things have been moving along. DS has enough idea of grammar, sentence variety, paragraph structure, etc...The issue is coming up with content out of his own brain and organizing it (even when it is content from reference books). I don't find that skill being learned effectively via the curricula we have. But this is definitely much more demanding of me!

We loved Tom Sawyer so I assigned Huck Finn to ds11 who is a strong and fast reader. He was frustrated because of the dialect. It took him forever...hours and hours and he dragged his feet and only read it when I made him over a period of weeks. This boy will normally read 500 pages a day. Maybe as a read aloud it would be better because I think it's spelled phonetically. It might be comprehensible on audio book. This same child enjoyed listening to a 2 hour lecture on the book by Adam Andrews afterwards, so it seriously was not the story line!

Thank you for all these resources! I have spent the past week trying to pull together sample writing on my own and now I have books I can buy that will do it for me :) Just a note, for those comfortable analyzing essays without the aid of a book, many of these famoud essays are free online if you just do a search for them...just without the analysis. e.g. Salvation; Neat People vs. Sloppy People

My 13yr old is obsessed with them. He has read the history and science over and over and over. He has memorized so much stuff! My 8 year old has read the Greek and Egyptian books.

I am getting ready to start teaching "without a curriculum" as well for my ds11. My thought is that I would like him to assess and model quality writing. The issue is that I am not looking for quality fiction, which is easy enough to find, but for quality non-fictional short works. He is likely to never write fiction again after 6th grade so I would like to focus in on essay writing, and thus I would like the models to also be super short...partly because it is less material to get through, but also because it is a greater challenge to effectively convey an arguement in fewer words. I have been seeking out such examples on the internet and throwing them in a binder. I'm not sure if this is going to work, but I thought we'd start with the narrative essay and try to do a few of them while also studying examples (if I can find any appropriate ones!) My greatest objection to the curriculum is that they seem to address the pieces of writing..grammar, sentence variety, quality words, even organization and structure of an essay, but there is no way to address developing the voice of the author. Writing is not my thing and this is where I need hand holding, but this seems to be more of a task for a mentor than a curriculum. Nonetheless, I would take a curriculum that walked the student through assessing the writing of others and pointing out voice. So it seems I am stuck pulling this together on my own, because I am not aware that it exists anywhere. Brownie

I am wondering how it differs from the middle school grammar book? I own sentence composing for elementary so I am familiar with the curriculum. Thanks! Brownie