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Teegarden

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Everything posted by Teegarden

  1. If he's never used Alcumus before the class, his level probably doesn't reflect how strong his math actually is -- he'll probably level up quickly for a while! Alcumus automatically gives him problems from topics that match what he's covering in class, so he's probably getting slightly more advanced problems than he otherwise would at level 1; but if he's struggling, it'll give him easier problems (even with the difficulty level set to normal).
  2. You can think of "intermediate algebra" and "algebra" as two different "stats" that his character has. The problem is level 8 in intermediate algebra, and level 23 in algebra, and gives separate experience to each stat. This is a little confusing because the two stats happen to be so similar. Normally it would be (e.g.) "number theory" and "geometry", where it makes more sense for the two aspects of the problem to be rated separately and give separate experience. He can go to his profile to see his current level in each of the seven stats, and how much experience he needs to get to the next level.
  3. Silliest possible solution, but: can you photocopy the worksheets and blow them up bigger? Or scan them in and have him do them on a tablet, where he can zoom in as much as he needs to?
  4. Not being able to solve some of the challenge problems is absolutely expected! That's why they're "challenge" problems. 😉 But I do think that there's no substitute for live instruction. Your family friend sounds great; so does @EmilyGF's suggestion of the AoPS boards. (They have "office hours" every weekday, where they make sure that every question from the last 24 hours gets a response from an instructor!) To shamelessly plug: AoPS started up a "virtual academy" during the pandemic (I teach there!) and that might be worth checking out, too. If your son loves it, fantastic; if he doesn't find it helpful, you know he wasn't missing anything after all.
  5. Another voice in the chorus that AoPS is meant to be hard! I teach AoPS courses, and before every test, I remind the students that they aren't meant to be getting all or even 90% of the problems correct. "If you did, you'd be in the wrong class!" @Noreen Claire suggested Alcumus for homework, and I'll second that. It's free, and fun enough that I catch myself getting sidetracked answering questions on my own account when I was on the site for other reasons. IMO, if they understand the concepts and can apply them, that means they're passing the course; one of the big perks of homeschooling is that you can adjust your grading procedures to reflect that.
  6. My favorite too! And I liked The Book of Merlyn. I'll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Thank you, everyone, for the birthday wishes. :D I settled on Texas Women of World War II for my book, which has been fascinating (and frequently hilarious). Hopefully I'll have finished it and have a full review by Sunday.
  7. Non-teenage, mom. By the way, I can't remember who linked the Tony Hoagland poem in the last thread, but I wanted to say thank you -- I've had it open on my computer since and read over it many times. I think it may be a new favorite. In documents elsewhere I have already recorded my complaints in some painstaking detail. Now, because all things are joyful near water, there just might be time to catch up on praise. ...maybe it's time to head down to Barton Springs again.
  8. I had a couple of long plane rides this week (family vacation to Yellowstone!) so I finished: 2. The Norton Psychology Reader (ed. Gary Marcus). A good read for early in the year, because it's composed of excerpts from many longer works, so I now have lots of new books on my to-read list. I enjoyed the mix of subjects, and particularly the balance between interesting anecdotes and careful scientific studies. Still deciding what to read next. I'm turning 20 tomorrow; I feel like I should pick something special for my first non-teenage book.
  9. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler is one of my very favorite books! Let me know what you think of it. (Gosh, it might be time for a reread on that one...) I can definitely see why you might set it down in the middle, though. I definitely did at least once before I made it all the way through. It's so frustrating to have all of those stories dropped mid-narrative -- I ended up feeling like it was a good kind of frustrating, but still frustrating. Believe me, I've tried to convince her. No luck so far. I picked a slow read this week, so I'm still working my way through it. I had to buy a copy of The Norton Psychology Reader for a class a couple of years ago, and although we only read a couple of excerpts for the class, I've wanted to go back and read the whole thing for ages. I'm enjoying it, but it's pretty heavy stuff (there's some very technical chapters), so it's taking a while.
  10. Returning for the new year! Maybe this semester I'll have enough time to stick it out when classes start. And my first book for the new year is: 1. A Quaker Book of Wisdom (Robert Lawrence Smith) I really liked this one! It's pretty short, but it was a slow read, because I kept wanting to stop and think over what had been said. The author wrote it mainly for his grandchildren, so it has a very gentle, loving tone. Smith, although a serious Quaker, fought in WWII, so his reflections on pacifism are particularly interesting. He also has thoughts on education which remind me a great deal of my own parents' educational philosophy from my homeschooling days. And his discussion of silence as an integral part of Quaker life is particularly compelling. From the author's reflections on World War II:
  11. Two rereads for me this week: Shadow of the Giant and Shadow Puppets (Card, in the Ender's Game series). Not great literature by any stretch, but fun easy-reading sci-fi. Currently working my way through two big compendia: The Penguin Complete Father Brown (Chesterton) and Awakenings (Sacks). Those should keep me busy for a while. School starts for me on Wednesday, so getting my reading in while I can!
  12. Finished The Sparrow on my (endless, endless) plane flight. I really enjoyed it! I did find the discussions of celibacy a little tiresome at times (at some point I just want to snap at the priest to suck it up and deal), and I think Russell tends to be a bit overt with her metaphors. ("I am doing a symbolic thing!" "I observe you are doing a symbolic thing. This is how it is symbolic." "Yes. I will now contemplate the symbolism of my symbolic thing." "I comment on your symbolic thing!" "I react symbolically." "I now comprehend the full depth of the symbolism.") But when Russell lets her symbolism speak for itself (and even sometimes when she doesn't), it's genuinely compelling. Her treatment of forgiveness is thoughtful, thorough, and often (deliberately) painful. There were a lot of thoughts in that book -- I think I'm going to want to go back and read it again. A passage I found particularly compelling: I'll be moving on to the last book in my Philosophically Interesting Science Fiction to-read list: Lem's His Master's Voice. If my flight keeps getting delayed, I might finish that tonight as well.
  13. Hi everyone; I'm Violet Crown's "Great Girl." I am told I may join the nice moms in their reading group if I am well behaved. It's nice to meet everyone! I have heard very much about you. :) I'm 19 and off at college doing math (and occasionally proselytizing to my professors on the benefits of homeschooling.) In between research, I'm currently reading Russell's "The Sparrow," sold to me as "Jesuits in space," and re-reading Gaiman's "Neverwhere," the crown of bizarre urban fantasy. And there's some O'Connor at home calling my name, so I'll probably start on that when I'm back from my summer program. Thank you very much for letting me join your reading group!
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