With us the comments are about video games. Part of my problem is also that I have difficulty not answering the "why" questions. I'm still learning that often it's a delaying tactic because the answer is promptly forgotten. :glare:

There was a copperhead today at my son's gardening class.

Is it instant watch? We watched the first few seasons a couple years ago, then felt the sexism was too dated for my comfort. Ended up moving on to Frasier :)

I'd give partial credit on a problem that is worth more than one point. I gave my son the 3B test yesterday. On one word problem he found the perimeter correctly but didn't multiply it by three (around the track three times) so I gave him 1/3 points. If a problem is one point and it's wrong, I count the whole problem wrong. We use the standards edition, so I'd use a US scale for grading. Anything under 75 and I'd be reteaching/reviewing any missed topics (I think). As it was, I had my son look over the test and correct it. There was one misconception (he thought 1 L would be the amount in a glass rather than measuring in mL) and the other errors were mainly careless.

I don't think you need to go back levels. If you want, the Speed Math books give drills and talk through some mental math approaches. 4A (I think) if you use the HiG (I'm using standards edition) does review earlier approaches too.

You can read threads here about AAS and how people use it (if the search function is back up...). Personally, I think you'd really lose some of the program by not using the tiles. That has helped my son quite a bit with pulling tiles for each sound (showing how a word can be segmented with each tile representing a sound). Other people find that it works for them without using everything. I bought from the AAS site directly.

All about spelling. AAS

My son was almost 6 when he basically taught himself to read from Calvin. I ended up crocheting him a Hobbes for his 6th birthday. I definitely prefer C&H to Captain Underpants (shudder). He's moved on to Garfield, Peanuts, Get Fuzzy, For Better or For Worse, and any graphic novels I let him read (I have said some are off limits... don't want him reading Sandman or V for Vendetta yet). Last year I did have to ban him from reading before we started school for the day and we do have to say no comics during school (or at least ask before starting them). Before having our son, my husband did say he wanted to be Calvin's dad... :lol:

I'm not in Atlanta but I do know that they have a homeschool conference coming up.

:grouphug: That really stinks. I'm sorry.

My general rule is that the answer should be in the same form as the problem. So if the problem was to add to decimals and the answer is stated as a fraction, it'd be wrong.

Can't help it: Amanda Palmer's .DEFINITELY not safe around the kids (language). And if language bothers you, avoid it. Has a Hello Kitty merkin (and a LEGO one).

Welcome! I think there are some other people who started posting before kids :) It can be useful to get information in advance rather than grabbing everything last minute (boy was that a whirlwind year!).

It looks to me like Rainbow now has the new one. I ended up buying it from one of the distributors from the Pandia Press site. I think the new one has divisions vertically to help organize information that wasn't there in the old one. The new one divides the timeline into Treaties/AGreements, Wars and Conflicts, Inventions & Discoveries, Eras/Reigns Dynasties, General Events, Men and Women, Art/ARchitecture and Literature.

I haven't used them yet (we'll start LfCA next year) but the test packet does look good. The only problem I have is that there isn't a test over the whole book at the end. :glare: I hope they'll come out with other test packets for the other books. The tests from the packet looked better than the worksheets they have for free online.

I really like base-10 blocks for "seeing" place value. I'd get some and use them for some problems (review some arithmetic he knows with the blocks and then introduce new concepts with them as well). I think seeing the manipulatives can really help with conceptual understanding and then the leap to the algorithms can be made.

And then there's this that suggests Singapore bar models do deal with this some.

This one is pretty good (and I like it as stressing that we shouldn't ONLY teach multiplication as repeated addition). I also like the discussion of different number systems too. Here's a response by Maria Miller. I love this :)

His other articles are pretty interesting as well... I liked this one on the same topic... but it really does create some questions on how you'd go about giving kids that exposure and way of thinking. I like how he talks about functions in another article as well. I haven't looked at AoPS curriculum yet, but I think it may lead towards this way of thinking too. At an elementary level I can't think of anything other than possibly the CSMP materials that would be along these lines. Do you have any thoughts on what would get there? I used the Elements of Mathematics (same authors as CSMP) in middle school and in looking at the books recently think they do an excellent job of showing (along with graphing) multiplication as a scalar quantity - but you still have that expectation of the basic arithmetic foundation... and I don't have any better ideas with a child than using the repeated addition as a starting point. How do you approach/explain this to your kids? (Really interested in thinking through other approaches/explanations! This is the sort of thing that intrigues me!)

My son gets mean when on albuterol. We have used xopanex with the nebulizer when he's needed regular breathing treatments. His allergist said he has "silent asthma" where he gets cold symptoms (and a cough) instead of a clear wheeze. If you see major mood/behavior changes, you may want to ask for a xopanex prescription instead of albuterol.

I don't think so. I passed the AP calculus exam when I started college (AB). It got me out of one semester of calculus. There was still a ton of math :) I'd recommend getting as solid an algebra/trig foundation as possible. If there's time (and interest), reading some about calculus and doing bits of it might be good (look at the idea of a limit for instance). Even if calc I is covered before college, it probably would be useful to retake it at the college. If you get the same instructor for Calc I and II, you can be sure the full topics are covered. I hate when one instructor doesn't cover the syllabus and there are gaps when picking up with a second course. :glare:

Be aware that what's Instant Watch at one point may not be at another point. :glare:

I think the key is just to continue practicing. If you start with word problems early and avoid the "Eek! A word problem!" attitude, I think kids can handle them without trauma. I don't think the word problems in the Singapore texts (Standards edition) are extreme. Some of the CWP problems are... and definitely some of the IP problems are. I think an average child can handle Singapore math. I would definitely be prepared to add in extra practice as needed though. I know my son has needed more practice on certain topics. The Extra Practice book has been helpful and the Spectrum math books have been as well. If you're comfortable with MM, you might just get the CWP books. I don't know if you'd also want a teaching book for you (one of the Model Approach books) but if you're just looking to add in word problems, give a CWP a chance. You can focus on the regular problems and keep the "challenge" problems as challenges :)

I didn't read the article. I do have over 15 years teaching math at high school and at college. I haven't seen Bill say anything I'd disagree with on math. I think his opinions are well researched and can't think of something he's said on math that has been contrary to my years of experience. Some of his posts on Miquon and Cuisinaire rods finally got me to get the rods. I wish I'd started earlier with them. I get students who test into developmental studies classes and they have recently graduated from high schools. Algebra I is the lowest class students can get high school credit for - so high school graduates should be testing MUCH higher - but they were just passed along through school and didn't learn the material. A solid foundation is SO important for higher-level maths. NOT just being able to do arithmetic, but being able to understand WHY you need a common denominator to add but not to multiply. Ray linked an article earlier in the week about math that talked about some of the issues with math education in the states. It mentioned students not understanding an equals sign. I saw this when working with one of my students last night. This article is definitely a good one - and they mention Singapore math for word problems. No, you shouldn't be going around feeling constantly guilty over what you're not doing; each child is different and it's wonderful that there are different texts and approaches; BUT I really hate how the US has the "math is hard" mentality and that we say it's okay not to understand math. It's not.

Jim Butcher is fun (magic series with Harry Dresden and also more medieval world with Codex Alera). I also agree with Robin McKinley. Terry Pratchett is really funny. You could try graphic novels: Sandman series.