We have students fill out a course contract where they answer questions from the syllabus. I have my students email it to me so they also can reach me since I don't have office hours. Class started Monday. I have 21 on roster. I have correct contracts from 11 of them. I had one guy email me the contract and get my name wrong (question 1: the instructor's name is _______ ). Sigh. On the plus side, I have 11 students who can follow some directions at least.

I like how they list the exceptions! That's been helpful.

You won't do any harm by viewing 2 x 3 as 2 + 2 + 2 rather than 3 + 3. It's important to know that multiplication of real numbers is commutative, so 2 x 3 is the same as 3 x 2. The model of addition for multiplication is where you start. Later you (ideally) see multiplication as a scaling operation (think of enlarging or shrinking by a percentage), because if you only see multiplication as addition it's a problem with expanding to fraction multiplication or decimal multiplication for instance.

Thanks! We just watched a set of videos Ballard did on the oceans.

I'm self taught in the years before YouTube. I think seeing videos would make it much easier to learn. I used this book and made the afghan. Each square teaches a different technique. And the weight helps it lie flat (my first square had a rather irregular border :) ) I enjoy crochet a lot. It's a good way to pass time.

Not this year. And thanks to Obamacare my mammogram was covered with no copay last year! Yea! We have had a number of years when premiums went up with no raise or cost of living increase, so we had take home drops. I think we had that 3 years running. I'm thrilled at the idea that my son will be able to have insurance as an adult, although I'd definitely prefer a single payer system where insurance execs aren't getting to profit over others misfortune.

Never did with me. I didn't have my 9's memorized until I was getting my master's degree. However... not knowing the facts cold has slowed me down at times & I've made some really boneheaded careless errors. That's why I'm making sure my son drills & memorizes. Again, it is a balance. I'd spend a good bit of time with manipulatives - maybe daily drills with manipulatives and work to build speed and automaticity. When doing new material (because drill alone gets soul-killing), let him use the table, but start each day with some drill (maybe 15-20 min of practice, hands-on, and speed drill/games, then rest of time on new stuff). Don't, don't, don't allow a calculator though!!! :)

Cuisiniare Rods. Used with Miquon in particular & other programs as well. Really neat tools.

My son was motivated to learn his multiplication tables when we started tracking them. We have flashcards for the facts from 0 - 12. We set up a graph and once a week I'd run the cards with a timer. At first the agreement was if he could get through the cards in under 5 minutes for 3 weeks in a row, he'd get a "reading day" for school where I'd buy him any book he wanted (likely a book of cartoons) and he'd get the rest of the day to read whatever he wanted and we'd count it as school. Any type of reward can work. When he'd get a problem wrong, I'd have him say the problem and answer aloud 5 times, so "Eight times three is twenty-four...". Then in a later week if he froze, he could say "eight times three" and "twenty-four" would follow naturally. When we were at stopping points due to arithmetic issues, we'd skip in the book. Move ahead & do graphing, then come back to multiplication. Or use manipulatives (base 10 blocks). I think understanding the math is essential. I also think memorization of some facts is extremely important. It can be tricky finding the balance between both.

Bright Lights, Big City is written in 2nd person, but it's definitely not for kids!

No other books are coming to me about infinities, but what gets really mind-blowing with math is that there's the distinction between sets that are countably infinite and sets that are uncountably infinite. Cat in Numberland deals more with countable infinity.

I'd think tagging should be enabled on all the boards by everyone with the possible exception of the chat board. The tags are incredibly helpful - even when search works.

The Cat in Numberland is a fun book about countable infinities :)

I did undergrad out in the UC system. There, there was only one quarter-long course before calculus. So in 9 weeks (10 counting finals), we covered all of precalc - college algebra & trig. If a student needed any earlier math, they could take it at a cc. I think that's appropriate. It will vary from school to school whether precalc is considered "college" level or not. I vote not, however many schools will give college credit for it. Look at course descriptions to see what content is in each class. Where I'm teaching now, Introductory Algebra is basically high school Algebra 1. We review basic arithmetic (sigh), cover solving linear equations & inequalities, graphing linear equations and inequalities in 2 variables (along with slope & equations of lines), exponential arithmetic, polynomial arithmetic, scientific notation, factoring & solving quadratic equations by factoring. Intermediate Algebra is basically Algebra 2. We cover arithmetic with rational expressions, solving rational equations, arithmetic with radicals, solving radical equations, solving systems of equations (2 variables, sometimes 3 depending on what text we use), review of graphing, generally including graphing absolute value functions, generally some talk about functions, occasionally discussing function arithmetic and inverses (again, dependent on text and timing), and graphing parabolas and solving quadratics by using the quadratic formula. College Algebra includes rational roots theorem, graphing by translations, exponential and logarithmic functions, and depending on timing, conic sections. Trigonometry includes trig. And then you finally get to first year college level work. I'm teaching developmental math... prealgebra. I would be amazed if my 10 yo weren't able to pass my course. But some students really need to start at a lower level. I'm just dreadfully frustrated by the students who are straight out of high school - who have a hs diploma - and then test into a course that is lower than they can get high school credit for.

I'm sorry!

I have an office that's mine. If anyone else moved any of my piles of paper around, heads would roll. That's my filing system!

That is great!

Saw this elsewhere and thought some here might appreciate it. 4 strip sequence :) I think One Day More is my favorite.

No, the issue there is that just as it wouldn't make sense for a podiatrist to be giving you reputable advice on your eyes, when you're talking about climate change and research (peer reviewed) that's being done, what your PhD is in DOES matter.I don't have the link at hand, but there was a recent person who was trying to disprove climate change (and there'd be some serious money to be made if it were done) who spent time looking closely at the research and is now convinced that change is happening.I really wish it weren't. I really wish we'd make the changes that are needed. As it is, I expect my son will have far fewer options than I had and a much tougher life. The stuff I've read is absolutely terrifying.

I have a MAT (Masters in Arts and Teaching), so I have graduate hours in my subject (math) and in education (useless). I have heard of people who have had a good experience with education courses, but I believe my 10yo could get credit for some of the graduate education courses I took. So when I slam education courses, that's because of my experience with them & I'm speaking of half my degree. As for teachers who don't know their subject, I heard from a curriculum specialist who said she was observing some teachers and had one tell her students they didn't need to know the distributive property; they could just use order of operations. She said she asked the teacher what she'd do with a problem like 5(x+2) and the teacher said, "Oh! I hadn't thought of that!" Hopefully she began teaching the distributive property. There is absolutely a need for understanding in a content area to do a good job teaching the subject. I think education schools should be tossed and the degree should be tossed (again, this is from my experience. There may be good education programs out there; mine wasn't). At the individual level, I'm still not in favor of a degree to homeschool. I think many parents (and certainly most we see on these boards) can do a good job in facilitating their child's learning. I think there's a need to outsource some topics too though. I know there are some experiences I won't be able to give my son that an excellent teacher could. Unfortunately, I also think even with as many gaps as I have in some areas, I'd be doing a better job than some of the local schools. I just heard that one district now doesn't give a grade below 60...sigh... I'm going to start my cc class on Monday by showing them how a zero will affect their grade (watch it plummet!). It's an uphill battle.

InterAct math is the online component of Pearson publishing's math software. You can't save a student's work, but there's free (for now) work from many of their textbooks. You can look for any text and use their problems on a similar topic. I like Woodbury for Algebra I and II. For prealgebra, I might go with Martin-Gay, although I haven't used one of her texts in years. Problems will be very similar in the books.

If you use prepackage but throw out parts, you're still piecing together. Is it possible to buy parts of prepackaged? Exclude science & parts you don't want? Will it be more expensive to get prepackaged & additional? (Trying to talk you out of it! :) )

Absolutely. It also has helped my son really want the US to switch to metric.