How do you self-educate in math? (x-posted in General)

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I went to a rigorous high school and university and am naturally drawn towards lit and history, so I'm familiar with many of the first steps in self-education, literature- and history-wise.*

 

Math, not so much. :tongue_smilie:I met (and ONLY met, did not exceed) the college prep/college graduation requirements with decent grades and I don't have a math aversion per se, but I certainly don't seek out to practice math or -GOD FORBID- learn any NEW math once I completed my requirements. :lol: I really want to change this. :) Partly for my kids' sake, but mainly for mine.

 

So, where do I start? I'm thinking Liping Ma, for one, but I *don't* want to read just "theory" books- I want to *DO* math and work those long-ago atrophied math muscles ;).

 

Anyone have suggestions for me?

 

 

*(Which is not to say that I'm ACCOMPLISHED in either, or that I don't have a ton to learn in these areas. I just feel like I have a fairly good base, whereas my math side is much, much, much weaker.)

[Deniseibase]

I started self-educating myself in math about 4-5 years ago. I'd say, just find a curriculum you like, figure out where you need to start (some curricula have placement tests; for others, just dive in and be prepared to back up a book or go forward a book if you guess wrong), and commit yourself to doing a certain amount of math daily. I used to sit in the evenings and watch TV with a book of sudoku or word puzzles - NOW I watch TV with an algebra book in hand :)

 

Good luck! I am NOT a 'math-y' person at ALL, but I find that my studies have really improved my everyday math skills to the point where I APPEAR 'math-y' to people who are not. (Of course, TRULY math-y people can still tell I'm a fraud ;-) Plus, as a 'word person', I actually find it's a real pleasure to challenge myself with something this far out of my element. Even higher math topics that I haven't studied yet now no longer seem like absolute Greek :)

[jamajo]

The flip side of this coin is how to teach math to your non-mathy kid!

My daughter just explained to me how stressed she is over Math b/c I don't explain things the way she understands so the stress is our communication back in forth to try and understand one another.

 

This is Algebra I. I am a in the box Math person and she is a Artsy creative type. She says our battle is between left brain and right brain thinking. I can't remember which one I'm suppose to be. I can't understand why she can't understand and vice versa. We've been using Lials which has great examples. She does the exercises, we go over the ones she gets wrong, but it doesn't stick with her. She can't retain the concepts or follow the rules.

 

So I pull out Keys To Algebra which I purchased used at the beginning of the year. WOW...it's amazing how differently these two curriculum sources explain the same concept. She gets the Keys approach but its my understanding that this isn't a stand alone resource. I have her look at the two sources side by side and I see the same concept from different angles but she needs it the "Keys" way. :001_huh:

 

I think I'll outsource Math next year! So although you may know the concepts just pray the information doesn't get lost in translation.

[letsplaymath]

Khan Academy is free and designed for self-directed learning. If you think you remember everything from elementary school (that is, you'd be working at least at a prealgebra level) then you could try Alcumus (also free). It will definitely challenge you, in a good way. My favorite thing from the last few years has been learning to count -- that is, to solve the types of permutation, combination, and probability puzzles you will meet in Alcumus.

[Enough]

Khan Academy is free and designed for self-directed learning. If you think you remember everything from elementary school (that is, you'd be working at least at a prealgebra level) then you could try Alcumus (also free). It will definitely challenge you, in a good way. My favorite thing from the last few years has been learning to count -- that is, to solve the types of permutation, combination, and probability puzzles you will meet in Alcumus.

 

I'm a little star-struck :D to be receiving math suggestions from you- I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog and it's a regular on my blog reading list. I hadn't considered Alcumus- thank you!

 

The flip side of this coin is how to teach math to your non-mathy kid!

My daughter just explained to me how stressed she is over Math b/c I don't explain things the way she understands so the stress is our communication back in forth to try and understand one another.

 

Oh, do I hear you! Communicating about math with my 9 yo WITHOUT yelling/getting frustrated :sad: is part of my reason for self-educating, knowing full well that we may ultimately end up outsourcing math at some point. I think even just learning that there ARE multiple ways of 'seeing' math is an incredible lesson.

 

I started self-educating myself in math about 4-5 years ago. I'd say, just find a curriculum you like, figure out where you need to start (some curricula have placement tests; for others, just dive in and be prepared to back up a book or go forward a book if you guess wrong), and commit yourself to doing a certain amount of math daily. I used to sit in the evenings and watch TV with a book of sudoku or word puzzles - NOW I watch TV with an algebra book in hand :)

 

Good luck! I am NOT a 'math-y' person at ALL, but I find that my studies have really improved my everyday math skills to the point where I APPEAR 'math-y' to people who are not. (Of course, TRULY math-y people can still tell I'm a fraud ;-) Plus, as a 'word person', I actually find it's a real pleasure to challenge myself with something this far out of my element. Even higher math topics that I haven't studied yet now no longer seem like absolute Greek :)

 

This is so encouraging! :) Thank you.

[ThisIsTheDay]

I went to a rigorous high school and university and am naturally drawn towards lit and history, so I'm familiar with many of the first steps in self-education, literature- and history-wise.*

 

Math, not so much. :tongue_smilie:I met (and ONLY met, did not exceed) the college prep/college graduation requirements with decent grades and I don't have a math aversion per se, but I certainly don't seek out to practice math or -GOD FORBID- learn any NEW math once I completed my requirements. :lol: I really want to change this. :) Partly for my kids' sake, but mainly for mine.

 

So, where do I start? I'm thinking Liping Ma, for one, but I *don't* want to read just "theory" books- I want to *DO* math and work those long-ago atrophied math muscles ;).

 

Anyone have suggestions for me?

 

 

*(Which is not to say that I'm ACCOMPLISHED in either, or that I don't have a ton to learn in these areas. I just feel like I have a fairly good base, whereas my math side is much, much, much weaker.)

 

We were only required to have one semester of math to graduate high school. (Yes, you read that correctly.) I re-took algebra that I'd already taken in 8th grade. That's the extent of my math knowledge.

 

Working with my children in their elementary math (mostly Singapore) was very helpful to me. My dd used Lial's Introductory Algebra last year, and I would usually pre-read the lesson each day before she would do it. That's how I learned and remembered (and was taught things I'd never seen).

 

Lial's is a remedial college textbook series, written specifically for the student to be able to self-teach.

 

Dd is using Jacob's Geometry this year. Honestly, I don't have the time to learn it, nor the desire. But I like the way Lial's is set up. She'll use that next year for Alg II, and out of necessity, I will learn it along with her.