Last year our son's Explore scores did get us to do further testing. We had information, so we had the WISC done by a student tester at the university. We were willing to spend the money here to get the information while I don't think we would have been willing to spend for a private IQ test. The Davidson public discussion boards have good information about testing and about what are good things to send in with a portfolio if you go that route. I believe to get qualified for CTY or NUMATS, you just need to send them a copy of the Explore scores. I think I've read that on FAQ's at both locations. Toss them an email and ask :) Classes are pricey though. We've done one CTY course. It was good, but we had to push our son some with it (more than I'd have liked). Congrats on scores! They are interesting to see!

This is the one my mother got for me when I asked her for a good one to use. Link to amazon. Both my parents are Lutheran ministers. They both learned Greek to read New Testament & Mom also did Hebrew her 4th year of seminary. It reads nicely. Doesn't have "thee" and "thou" but when doing read-alouds with my son, the KJV just sounds horribly clunky in comparison. This one reads well. It also has footnotes at the bottom of the page (sometimes half the page) that defines terms and has commentary on derivation of word, word choice, and historic information. it's good. My mom also had a study Bible (I think) that was fascinating to look at... it had the same passage but with 4 different translations - each in a column - for comparison. Really really wild to see. Definitely makes me think if you're doing a literal interpretation of the Bible, you've got to be reading it in Greek and Hebrew.

ds10 just now, "I wish I could take this book to bed with a flashlight!" He is quite the reader, but this is the first time I've heard him say that. The book? Physics of the Future (I grabbed it for me after seeing the author on Daily Show or Colbert a couple of weeks ago)

I've had my son set a problem aside for the day and look at it again the next day. I'd expect that with an IP Challenge problem :) The longest it's taken was 3 days at about 20 min a day. Sometimes it's the act of stepping away that makes it easier when he returns to it.

I agree with G5052 :) The placement test is required because we do see students come in from all levels. If you took calculus 15 years ago, you may be rusty enough with it that you need a refresher course before taking a course that had calculus as a prerequisite. So that's one of the reasons the COMPASS would be required. At our local university, you would look up "articulation agreements" to see what courses transferred in and with what course numbering. That may give you some good ideas. Some college websites really don't have have much useful information & I've found certain terms work better for searches. For our nursing program, coursework also has to be done within a certain window of time or else the courses must be retaken. That's been an issue for some students I've taught. Anatomy & physiology is a course that's very in demand! Good luck to you!

You're correct here. Next line is wrong. Exponents don't distribute over addition or subtraction. You have to use square of difference formula or write out (m-1)(m-1) and distribute. You should get next.... m^2 -2m +1 +2m-2+2 m^2+1

First, :grouphug: My son wasn't behind at different points, but we have butted heads MAJORLY. You're not alone. A couple of other people mentioned possible testing for learning disabilities. I think testing would be a good idea...and there could be some 2E issues going on as well (comment in red makes me think this as a possibility). I'd encourage some testing. I've been told to test when you have a question. Sounds like you've got a few. Different types of tests at different times have been helpful for us. I understand about wanting some effort from the dratted kid. :cursing: and then :crying: Figuring out different approaches to get buy in is needed. Brainstorm possibilities... either together or separately. What we've got at this point is my son earns marbles for getting his schoolwork done. These can be redeemed on the weekends: 1 marble = 15 min of video game time. We needed something that was positive reinforcement. I'll also sometimes give marbles for good questions, good attitude, good effort. Again, :grouphug: . And hope tomorrow is better.

That is SO true! I do give no calculator tests for some tests (basically ones that are testing computation alone... fraction arithmetic, integer arithmetic). Students do NOT do well on these. The reliance on calculators has gotten really extreme.

There's definitely a fine line. Some experiments can be done with the graphing calculators and collecting and analyzing real world data that's really cool, like actually collecting the data for a bouncing ball and analyzing that data rather than just getting it from a table in the text. I never have time to do much of the extra stuff at the cc because I'm just trying to get the students to do the outside homework and be able to do the work they must have for the next course. I do what I can (like last class showing the derivation of point slope form of a line, so they'd have seen where the formula comes from). But I'm aware that at most 10% paid attention and got something from that explanation. I do tell my son to explain his work regularly. The correct answer doesn't mean much without a clear understanding of why it is. I think geometry is a particularly tough course for homeschooling parents to teach...kind of like how they have the sub boards for people to share their kids writing and get comments, something similar for higher level math/science could be useful.... And I'm off to give my test on graphing lines....

Our cc has the TI84 as a requirement in int algebra. I used to teach it and tell students they didn't have to have the calculator. I'm trying to teach them the algebraic manipulation, but also WHY it works. We don't just give the quadratic formula and use it, we derive it! So many students tune out and just want the plug and chug. I wouldn't want to go back to trig and log tables as a rule, but I want more UNDERSTANDING, not "my calculator says". Sigh. Get off my lawn.

That makes me feel good. Thanks! To derail the thread more, how much algebra is used in their geometry? (roughly) I do see the benefit to a 2 column proof if you're trying to teach what needs justification. I do intend to do some formal logic first, which should make geom much easier.

I intend to have my son do some formal mathematical logic using the materials that are used in the eImacs logic courses. Geometry is a subject I haven't done any teaching in or studying of in about 15 years. It's what I feel weakest in teaching my son, although we have talked about the parallel postulate and alternate geometries. If we do a separate geometry course, it likely will be AoPS, but I haven't looked at their geometry book yet. I think seeing the idea of a formal proof early is important...it gives reasons other than "because I said so". We were watching a Teaching Company video last week with Neil deGrasse Tyson where he was talking about The Big Bang and the assumptions that are made to arrive at this theory. This is what led back to the geometry discussion :) I think an understanding of what a mathematical proof is is really important. I think far too many high school teachers don't get it. Sigh.

I apologized in the other thread because I was wrong. I will not respond again after this post. You have posted on threads before this one, most recently on repeating a grade, where you offer advice but where you aren't coming from a position of experience. This is the case in this thread in particular. I called you out because I believe you have been misrepresenting yourself and your prior experience. I think it is important for people getting advice...one of the strengths of these forums...to know the background and experience of the people giving the advice. Again, my issue is with your misrepresentation of yourself, particularly in the past, and more now with your posts where you give advice but don't have the experience to know where you may be creating problems. I wish you the best in your studies. I'm glad that you've been able to improve with math and I'm glad you've been successful in it.

I attended a NCTM national convention when I first started teaching. It was pretty neat. You may find that your state branches of NCTM are cheaper & their conventions may be possibilities....

We use the HiG as a guide, but I STRONGLY agree with the above. I don't think the workbook gives nearly enough practice & the practice in there is really easy. If you were eliminating a component, I'd toss the workbook way before the textbook.

Roughly about half a tank. If it were under 1/4 tank and I were the buyer I'd be rather ticked.

Here's the interact link (now that I'm with a keyboard!) They do have stats books too. You may want to check on what would transfer, but brushing up won't hurt. If they don't want to take coursework, you might be able to take exams for credit.

For online math review, I like Interact (can't link easily right now, but I've linked to it in a lot of posts). It's Pearson Pubs online math software. Pick a text and a topic you want o review. The "Help Me Solve It" feature walks you through the problem step by step. I like the text for Woodbury..Elementay and Intermediate Algebra for alg 1 and 2. The problems are basically all the same for all the texts, so you won't go wrong picking any. Congrats and good luck!

We just turned in the journal last year and ds got to pick out one of the books.

Oh ick. Crashes are never fun. I once had spreadsheets with my grades for the semester just waiting for the final exam grades to be added. The the computer crashed. My husband works in IT. He took the computer in to work and wasn't able to get any data off of it. If I hadn't kept a hard copy as well it would have been awful!

The bag we have here has milk fat as an ingredient.

The new head of the college board has announced intended changes to the SAT to align with common core. I don't have the link handy, but I believe it's been discussed on the h.s. board (that's where I'm getting my info from & there were links to articles... or google for SAT changes. I think they were trying to implement in next 2 years??? I may be wrong about timing...

We did all of WWE 2 and 3. We then did the textbook passages of WWE 4 (so moved very rapidly through topics). Then we started WWS in 5th. We've been moving slowly through WWS (I think we're on week 22 now, so we'll end up using it over 2 years). It's been okay. I think that yes, WWS is more advanced than WWE, but I think it's an okay level of challenge. The first few weeks have the narration review which makes for an easier transition. It is definitely a step up. If you get through WWE 3 / 4, it should be okay IMO.

I am not familiar with BCM, but based on Lial's other books, I'd imagine that yes, getting through it will have a student ready for Alg I. Looking at the table of contents on Interact software: http://interactmath.com/home.aspx it looks like what's missing is basic graphing (coordinate plane). That's what I'd be expecting from a prealgebra course. (And personally, I like Martin-Gay's Prealgebra books better than Lial. I'm teaching from a Lial Developmental Mathematics text and it's really written poorly.)

My son did a year in half-day private kindergarten. I imagine they were doing some whole language because when we started to homeschool in first grade, he actively resisted me with sounding out words. Absolute refusal. I fought it some with him, but we had other battles (like me leaving him to do a worksheet page from Singapore and coming back up to find that although he had done the worksheet, he then glued the pages together.... yeah... it wasn't an easy start). Luckily for me, my son started reading on his own (I directly attribute it to wanting to be able to read Calvin and Hobbes on his own). By the second grade, he read Lord of the Rings on his own since I wouldn't do it as a read-aloud after The Hobbit. We never did get any phonics done. He is a very poor speller, although there don't seem to be dyslexic issues. It wasn't until third grade when we switched to AAS that he started getting phonics. It's helped a lot. So I do empathize with you. If your daughter is reading on her own, I don't think phonics is really necessary and she'll get what she needs through AAS IMO.