Hey there, Regentrude, thanks for that encouragement. :tongue_smilie: I clearly feel way over my head with this and I was looking for some support as I try to navigate this. It's been tricky. Maybe I'll try again later to post the question, with the appropriately placed exponents and brackets. Cheers, Tricia

:) Simplify. Not calculate. And we use the AofPS boards regularly. They are probably tired of us. The other piece of this problem is I need to figure out a way to get ds organized, writing down solutions from Alcumus, taking care of his notes etc etc. Otherwise, we all might go down on this ship. I like this class set-up and think AofPS is brilliant. I just need to get my head wrapped around it. Which means my goal of me being "laissez-faire" with Matt's math might not come to fruition anytime soon. Tricia

This is timely for our family! Thank you.

Hi Hivers, This afternoon, my son is working along on the Alcumus portion of AofPS and we come up against a question that stumps him. [(x^3/2x)^x/9 * (x^9/15)^5/18]^3 He could simplify the right hand side of the * sign, but couldn't get there with the x variable in the first expression. The tricky slice for me, the non-mathy mother, is I couldn't even find an online example for working it out. I guess the goal of Alcumus is to stretch the student into applying what he knows (?) but I find it uber-frustrating because I don't know what specific rule we're missing and I don't know how to find out what it is we're missing. Do you have "go-to" resources that you use when you're stumped? We use Khan Academy but often, I don't know the proper name for the skill that needs application. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Anyone have thoughts about this? Warmly, Tricia

I don't think a child needs to master every topic that MEP touches on, especially in the early years. The site has different number lines to print out . . . whenever we came up against neg. numbers, I simply gave them a number line from -10 to 10 and let them do the jumping. It was great fun. MEP helps kids and mama's explore the wild world of numbers. Have fun! T

Yes! I'll remember that once upon a time, I was a sketchy housekeeper, a horrible meal-planner and didn't have my mothering philosophy worked out in the first six months of becoming a parent and I will show TREMENDOUS GRACE AND KINDNESS AND ACCEPTANCE towards my future d-in-laws! Warmly, Tricia

John Granger has a handful of books about Harry Potter study. Some have cc, like Finding God in Harry Potter. Others are about the Great Books that influenced JKR. HTHs Tricia

Let's keep our fingers crossed that Jean and her gaggle of PhD siblings will put together something great! :)

Hi Jean, the classes are taught by highly qualified math professionals. What I love the most about AofPS are the boards moderated by MIT math students. As soon as my son bumps up against a question he can't navigate, the board is active, quick responses and leading hints. We've made great use of Khan Academy as a smart supplement. I'm sure somebody who has more experience with AofPS could give you a more detailed explanation of how they roll. From what I can see, the students come together for a virtual classroom but it's not face-to-face -- it's chatting, I guess?!?!?! The students type in their questions or responses and the instructor decides which comments to post for the entire class. My ds loves the Alcumus side of AofPS. It's really smart. Warmly, Tricia

Hello Hivers teaching HSers, My favorite homeschooling theme song goes like this: "you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run!" I ran away from math teaching this year because I knew. I just knew. There is nothing I can add to my son's math learning at this point in the game and even thinking about keeping him under my math tutelage was enough to push me into crazy land. We signed him up for AofPS and quite frankly, it's the best decision we've made in our hsing journey, apart from deciding to homeschool. I didn't realize how much he enjoys 'competing' and how thrilled he is when a tough question comes on the board that he can't answer but somebody else can. It motivates him, spurs him on somehow. It's as if he's finally getting to piece together this math puzzle that makes much more sense to him than it ever will to me. I don't have any aspirations/interest of teaching my kids from my 'knowledge bank' until high school nor do I want to pour myself into learning high-school science. I want to give my children a private school education without them having to go to private school or me having to pay for it. We've found our math stream. I'm beyond impressed with AofPS. I wonder about other online learning experiences that would teach chem/physics in a similiar way that AofPS attacks math learning. If we could find online community for highschool science, I would consider allowing the P-Kids to stay home until graduation, if they wanted to do that. Warmly, Tricia

:iagree: Relationship is the most important aspect of our day. I'm forever asking myself how I can make academics a priority and a joy without damaging the back and forth, respectful relationship we have with our children.

I agree! The reward of having the lights go on must be so lovely for you!

Hi there! Thanks for your response. Math is sketchy for me and the AofPS site is scary. We're doing the online version of Alg 1. They have the Alcumus bits that the kids can warm up with before their class. The math isn't doing my son in . . . but getting his answers correctly typed in is proving to be a keyboarding challenge. Any advice? We can't figure out how to make the "little numbers" -- to the power of numbers. I see all of the math signs that the abbreviation page has listed, but we can't make our computer-keyboard obey us. T

Howdy Hive, Anyone else taking their first plunge into AofPS this year? We're starting our math line-up with Alg 1 and I'm nervous "for me". I'm thrilled to be "letting go" of math and I'm also a bit worried about this path of self-directed math learning. Does anyone have any "in hindsight" advice to share with me? Warmly, Tricia

Thanks for chiming in! We're in a new-ish land over here . . . discovery learning. Certainly not across the spectrum but for electronics, my boys can fill their boots and I'm staying way out of the way! Warmly, Tricia

Your children have used this book and it comes highly recommended? I'll take your word on this! If math is not the land of giftedness, building electronic stuff isn't even on my radar! :) Thank you for your suggestion. Warmly, Tricia

Hi Hive, I bought Snap Circuits for my middle and it is pretty neat. My oldest, however, wants to build projects from scratch. He's been researching online but I would prefer him to have a book or manual to walk him along. He's putting together dribs and drabs of information. Do you have any suggestions? This is for an almost 13 year old who is sautering (sp) all sorts of things together. Warmly, Tricia

Thank you Thank you!!!! I think these are so brilliant. I want my kids to own what they know without me jamming this and that at them. Warmly, Tricia

Hi Hivers, I purposely didn't bookmark the site for this particular piece of hs'ing curr. b/c I bought what I needed in the spring and didn't want to buy anything else. It's relatively new on the hs'ing market . . . question cards that helped students do some self-directed research. I think they were mostly science, but maybe a bit of history? I think they were directed at the gr 4 - 7 range? Those cards have been nagging me since April and I've done my best to forget about them. :) Maybe someone can help? Warmly, Tricia

I've said it before here and I'll say it again . . . MEP is not a "do it half-way" math program. MEP demands all in, roll up your sleeves and have at it. Re: YR 1 -- I found it way to repetitive, too much mindless printing etc and it didn't impress me either. I have my children complete the Miquon math program and then we jump into MEP 3. After completing MEP 6, my oldest is jumping into AofPS Alg 1. I think he's ready. T

Good Morning, Hivers! I need some help sourcing books, stories, autobiographies about successful athletes who maintained exemplary character. Athletes that were great in sport and real life. Christian content or not is fine. My oldest is really driven when it comes to sport and though I'm not worried about the time and effort he puts into sport, I do want to begin laying a foundation of identity that isn't all wrapped up in success. Thinking this would be great for some easy summer reading. I checked the Athletes in Action webpage, hoping to find a link sourcing books, articles etc but I couldn't find anything. Warmly, Tricia

Hello Hivers, Some of you might get a kick out of this conversation I had over the weekend. Father (who is also a hockey dad and lax coach) says to me: So, will your boys be going to high school? Me: I'm not sure yet. We take things year by year. Father: Well, I think they should go to high school. Me: Tell your reasoning behind that. Father: They should know how to drop an appropriately-placed "F-Bomb" in a conversation because they are way too polite. Me: Couldn't I have my husband teach them that? (smirking a bit) Father: No, there are some important things in life that young men should learn from their peers. I've had a great giggle over that one. Warmly, Tricia

:iagree: Hurtful, selfish MIL's are in a world of their own when it comes to inflicting pain. Yes to this: I have gone through a great deal of pain over many years before realising that it will never happen, and not because of things I have to fix within myself. I hope you can find some other mother-figure-women who are healthy and kind and really want the best for you. Warmly, T

:iagree::iagree::iagree: I want my kids to have a million opportunities to make disastrous mistakes while still living under our roof. I want them to live dangerous lives while at home, so that they can know what it feels like to be out-of-control, out-of-line, scared, frustrated etc etc . . . I believe having life-skills to deal with big emotions, hard social problems are as important as outlining and advanced math. T

Hi there, twoforjoy . . . I appreciate your thoughtful response. I didn't read the comment as learning to manipulate or as a course in Lazy Charmers 101! :) I'm convinced that learning how to have influence with people is a key component to life success. In my hs'ing efforts, I've had to develop my "power of influence" so that our kiddies will understand that we have certain bits that need to be completed everyday. Influence with my Mr. means the garage gets cleaned by his own initiative rather than me throwing a tantrum. My Mr spends hours in Management Courses where the primary teaching is about "Impact and Influence" in the workplace. The blog author barks about influence with a real edge towards homeschoolers and I agree with you, influence isn't an area where all public schoolers thrive. I do believe that ps'ers have more opportunity to practice influencing others than my children have in a home environment. Warmly, Tricia