Official Beast Academy guinea pigs thread!

[nmoira]

It's funny, because the pretest so emphasizes that skill, but I don't think so. My first impression is that most of the addition and subtraction needed for 3a and 3b is of the sort that someone with MEP mental math skills will be able to do without any trouble. But I would definitely work on identifying and understanding place value in large numbers, because large numbers come up.

Good. She'll be starting MEP Y3b sometime this fall, along with BA. I'm bit on mental math and rather not start pen and paper algorithms until the last possible minute.

[nmoira]

I shouldn't have posted above. I'm in a grumpy mood and having a not so great day. It definitely comes across in my post. :001_huh:

 

Sorry.

:grouphug:

[boscopup]

It's here! It's here! :D

 

We're working through the acute angle mazes now, and he pointed out to the cat that her tail was forming an obtuse angle. ;)

[Momling]

We just got our copy today (media mail to Oregon). I'm curious if it'll be successful or not. My older daughter liked the look of it.

[SonshineLearner]

Yay!! I just got mine!! :)

[Surfside Academy]

Update on my lost order:

 

The USPS is a total joke! 3 days of phone calls have produced nothing. No wonder they're a drain on our economy and are going bankrupt...I finally decided to contact AOPS and Tina returned my email immediately. She has offered to send out a duplicate order via FedEx tomorrow. Awesome customer service! Now I'm off to start stalking my FedEx guy. :tongue_smilie:

[LMD]

Mine's on it's way! My mum has it in hand, and she's coming home in a few days... countdown 4 days to do! (plus I miss my mum :D )

[Heather R]

I just ordered today! I found two other local moms to split shipping to Canada, which made it more reasonable (still $18 each per A/B set). Of course, it says 2-4 weeks delivery, so who knows when it will show up... Hoping it will be super fast!

[krisperry]

What I think so far: there are a few lessons that are wonderful precursors to lessons in the Prealgebra book. See, e.g., squares, 3B Guide 59-65/3B Practice 51-55 and this Prealgebra lesson, and of course the last chapter in 3B on the distributive property. I might even make dd do them :D

 

I had the same thought ;)

 

My kiddo that is working through the Prealgebra book is currently on strike. She wants beasts and tons of humor :lol: I do hope that 5D helps make the transition to Prealgebra not so shocking. Huge difference between the colorful, comic texts and the black and white textbook (with a splash of purple), yk?

 

Grey did his first lesson today and fell in love. He was happy as a clam doing the angle mazes. :D

[stripe]

i just got mine today and haven't looked at it in great detail but a few things struck me:

 

* contrary to what I expected, I am no longer sure one needs to complete MEP y3 before BA 3

* 3B looks surprisingly easier than 3A, at least for someone who has done MEP y3; those number block multiplications should be old hat for a MEPer (did I just invent that?)

* I continue to hate how almost everyone (apparently except me) explains order of operations. The "this is the way it's done" line did not impress me, in MEP or BA. Disappointing.

 

My son did say, "Ooh!" when he saw them.

[boscopup]

* I continue to hate how almost everyone (apparently except me) explains order of operations. The "this is the way it's done" line did not impress me, in MEP or BA. Disappointing.

 

 

How would you explain it differently? :confused: It's a convention, just like ABC order... Why does A come before B? Because that's the way it's done. That's the order decided upon long ago by someone, and it's a convention we use today. Same goes for order of operations. Someone decided long ago what convention to use, and that's why it's done that way. There is no proof or anything.

 

The only thing I'd add to "this is the way it's done" is to show examples of how the answer is different if you don't do it that way. And hey look, BA does that, and it even mentions why the order is that way (because ancient "beasts" decided to do it that way :D).

 

I can't think of anything to add to that explanation, so I'd love to hear what you would add. :lurk5:

[crazyforlatin]

Oh darn, I should have looked carefully at the workbook. It would have been good to get tangrams for page 17 of the 3A workbook. I tried cutting but it's still not perfect. People have been mentioning on the board for years for kids to play with tangrams, but I never got around to buying them. :glare:

 

Off to buy now :auto:

[*Lulu*]

Well I had the practice book spiral bound today, and DS will start tomorrow.

[SonshineLearner]

Oh darn, I should have looked carefully at the workbook. It would have been good to get tangrams for page 17 of the 3A workbook. I tried cutting but it's still not perfect. People have been mentioning on the board for years for kids to play with tangrams, but I never got around to buying them. :glare:

 

Off to buy now :auto:

 

There were Tangrams available for purchase? (from the site?) If so, they should have had comments about what I might want to purchase to go with the books :) Also, I haven't noticed when the others will release. I hope they gain speed, so that we can be more "on grade level" :)

[Kuovonne]

I continue to hate how almost everyone (apparently except me) explains order of operations. The "this is the way it's done" line did not impress me, in MEP or BA.

How would you explain it differently? :confused: It's a convention, just like ABC order... Why does A come before B? Because that's the way it's done. That's the order decided upon long ago by someone, and it's a convention we use today. Same goes for order of operations. Someone decided long ago what convention to use, and that's why it's done that way. There is no proof or anything.

 

I don't know how the first poster explains order of operations, but I don't see why you have to limit yourself to "that's just the way it's done." I"m curious to see if the first poster uses a method similar to mine.

 

I have always thought of order of operations as a way to keep numbers managable by doing the most powerful operations first, then the less powerful ones. Exponents and roots are really powerful operations, so they get done first. Next most powerful are multiplying and dividing so they go next. Finally, adding and subtracting are the least powerful, so they are done last.

 

Perhaps "powerful" is not the best term to use, but it is how I think of it and how I teach my kids. I was brought up with only pencil and paper to do math and found that it was easier to work with smaller numbers. If you started adding and multiplying before doing exponents, you could get really big numbers in a hurry. How much nicer to do the exponents first and then add; the numbers tend to stay much more managable.

 

The order of operations are happen to match (in reverse) the traditional sequence for learning each operation. Most kids learn addition & subtraction first, then multiplication and division, then powers and exponents.

 

Operations are grouped in pairs that undo each other and those are done from left-to-right. This left-to-right sequence mirror how we read text from left-to-right.

 

The use of parentheses is necessary when you want to override the default order of operations.

Edited March 21, 2012 by Kuovonne

[Sneezyone]

DD had absolutely zero experience with comics so the BA format required some explanation. She also struggled with the vocab a bit (every other angle was obcute). Still, she figured out the puzzles easily enough and didn't get frustrated. I'm hoping a good night's sleep will alleviate the terminology problems.:lol: DD will start Singapore 2B this week and we'll do BA at the same time. The creative problem solving skills developed in BA 3A seem pretty distinct from the kinds of work SM requires. So far, so good! DD had a great time and gave me a hug :001_huh: in thanks for her new math books.

 

I'm currently planning BA for M (intro), W (games/xtra practice) and Sat.(review) with SM/ETC on T, W, F. At this rate, we should be able to finish 2B by the end of July and then just have a fun summer with beasts, books and lots of time outdoors!:D

[fraidycat]

DD had absolutely zero experience with comics so the BA format required some explanation. She also struggled with the vocab a bit (every other angle was obcute). Still, she figured out the puzzles easily enough and didn't get frustrated. I'm hoping a good night's sleep will alleviate the terminology problems.:lol: DD will start Singapore 2B this week and we'll do BA at the same time. The creative problem solving skills developed in BA 3A seem pretty distinct from the kinds of work SM requires. So far, so good! DD had a great time and gave me a hug :001_huh: in thanks for her new math books.

 

I'm currently planning BA for M (intro), W (games/xtra practice) and Sat.(review) with SM/ETC on T, W, F. At this rate, we should be able to finish 2B by the end of July and then just have a fun summer with beasts, books and lots of time outdoors!:D

 

We keep getting "obese" (giggle, giggle) angles around here. :tongue_smilie: She knows the right word but prefers the "fat" one.

[crazyforlatin]

There were Tangrams available for purchase? (from the site?) If so, they should have had comments about what I might want to purchase to go with the books :) Also, I haven't noticed when the others will release. I hope they gain speed, so that we can be more "on grade level" :)

 

Oh no, the book does not mention the need to buy tangrams. DD is not at the point of manipulating scalene obtuse triangles in her head to form quadrilaterals. She needs manipulatives. I think most people on this board do have tangrams, but I don't, so it would have been useful. I looked at amazon.com and I still ended up not buying them since it's probably just easier for me to use cardstock paper, rather than spending $10. Besides, I wasn't sure if any of the tangram packages have scalene obtuse triangles.

[crazyforlatin]

DD had absolutely zero experience with comics so the BA format required some explanation. She also struggled with the vocab a bit (every other angle was obcute). Still, she figured out the puzzles easily enough and didn't get frustrated. I'm hoping a good night's sleep will alleviate the terminology problems.:lol: DD will start Singapore 2B this week and we'll do BA at the same time. The creative problem solving skills developed in BA 3A seem pretty distinct from the kinds of work SM requires. So far, so good! DD had a great time and gave me a hug :001_huh: in thanks for her new math books.

 

 

A great book on introducing these concepts and words is Neuchwander's book, Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland (A Math Adventure). It's short fun book to read to younger kids.

[Sneezyone]

Thanks, we'll try that!

[RootAnn]

Were we the only ones frustrated with Practice Book 3A, #41 on page 15? (Chapter 1, Quadrilaterals)

 

We got the other three problems (connecting four points to make quadrilaterals), but couldn't figure out how to connect only four of the points to make a rectangle. (We immediately saw an answer that included a fifth dot, but I kept saying that it couldn't be that because that would include five dots, not four. Apparently, that wasn't a issue for the authors? Am I being too legalistic?)

 

So far in our house the verdict is that everyone loves the Guide. Most couldn't be bothered with following through with the activities in the Practice book. (Dd#2 quit doing the angle mazes after only a few minutes. They were "too hard." She's my target audience for BA.)

[mom2boys030507]

My books will arrive today. Oh what fun it will be to read them and decide when to start. Thanks for building the suspense.

[krisperry]

I read ahead and was annoyed by the five dot answer that asked for four dots. You aren't the only one.

 

That said, my son said it didn't even feel like school because it was too much fun. :lol: His brother came over to take a look and quickly said, "No way, math is NOT my passion." ;) He is not a mathy kid at all. BA would have been (is) too much for him.

[wapiti]

I haven't looked at that, but maybe it's an error. Maybe someone should email them. ;)

[nov05mama]

Were we the only ones frustrated with Practice Book 3A, #41 on page 15? (Chapter 1, Quadrilaterals)

 

We got the other three problems (connecting four points to make quadrilaterals), but couldn't figure out how to connect only four of the points to make a rectangle. (We immediately saw an answer that included a fifth dot, but I kept saying that it couldn't be that because that would include five dots, not four. Apparently, that wasn't a issue for the authors? Am I being too legalistic?)

 

I had peeked ahead when I thought the same thing, and I saw that they didn't count any dots that were passed through (for other problems as well, not just that one). I will just explain it to DS that it can pass through other dots, but it can only intersect/connect at 4. I take it to mean that it should be taken literally...passing through the dot is not the same thing as connecting/intersecting...good to know ahead of time though!!

[Alte Veste Academy]

DS9 has fallen head over heels. He takes the books everywhere and falls to sleep with them at night. He loves the practice book, the harder the problem the better for him. He has assigned us all BA characters. He is Grogg, his favorite. When we went out today, he saw a purple car and informed us all that it was Grogg's car.

 

He's going backward and I couldn't care less! :thumbup: from all of us here!

[crazyforlatin]

Were we the only ones frustrated with Practice Book 3A, #41 on page 15? (Chapter 1, Quadrilaterals)

 

We got the other three problems (connecting four points to make quadrilaterals), but couldn't figure out how to connect only four of the points to make a rectangle. (We immediately saw an answer that included a fifth dot, but I kept saying that it couldn't be that because that would include five dots, not four. Apparently, that wasn't a issue for the authors? Am I being too legalistic?)

 

 

 

I'm there with you about the 4 or 5 dots. I rationalized to DD by telling her that even though there is another rectangle present, but not each vertex of that particular "wrong" rectangle will have a dot. The right answer has dots on all 4 corners, even though the student has to go through 5 dots.

[nikkid]

I don't know how the first poster explains order of operations, but I don't see why you have to limit yourself to "that's just the way it's done." I"m curious to see if the first poster uses a method similar to mine.

 

I have always thought of order of operations as a way to keep numbers managable by doing the most powerful operations first, then the less powerful ones. Exponents and roots are really powerful operations, so they get done first. Next most powerful are multiplying and dividing so they go next. Finally, adding and subtracting are the least powerful, so they are done less.

 

Perhaps "powerful" is not the best term to use, but it is how I think of it and how I teach my kids. I was brought up with only pencil and paper to do math and found that it was easier to work with smaller numbers. If you started adding and multiplying before doing exponents, you could get really big numbers in a hurry. How much nicer to do the exponents first and then add; the numbers tend to stay much more managable.

 

The order of operations are happen to match (in reverse) the traditional sequence for learning each operation. Most kids learn addition & subtraction first, then multiplication and division, then powers and exponents.

 

Operations are grouped in pairs that undo each other and those are done from left-to-right. This left-to-right sequence mirror how we read text from left-to-right.

 

The use of parentheses to override the default order of operations is necessary when you want to override the default order of operations.

 

This totally makes sense with Math-U-See as well...I haven't done the higher levels, but I can picture Mr. Demme explaining this in the video. The lower levels he talks about the four ways of counting: 1. counting (one by one), 2. addition/subtraction (fast counting), 3. multiplication/division (fast adding/subtracting), 4. roots and exponents (fast multiplying/dividing) (I may not have written number 4 correctly since we haven't got there yet, but I think this is what his intro said.)

 

Thanks for pointing this out! It makes me excited to get there.

[*Jessica*]

Ours came today! Nik does not generally like math, but after he got a look at it he asked if we could do 4 hours of math today. Woohoo! We did the first two lessons and he loved them. We're skipping our other subjects for the day so he can read ahead in the guide. It is so nice to see him absorbed with a math book! I have a feeling I won't hear much from him of the rest of the day.

[Spy Car]

I haven't looked at that, but maybe it's an error. Maybe someone should email them. ;)

 

It is not an "error" in terms of the math (if I remember my high school geometry lessons correctly :tongue_smilie:) but on a semantic/developmental level it is a stretch to expect children this age to know that points that don't define the vertices don't count.

 

Mine know that now, but we had the same issue.

 

Bill

[wapiti]

It is not an "error" in terms of the math (if I remember my high school geometry lessons correctly :tongue_smilie:) but on a semantic/developmental level it is a stretch to expect children this age to know that points that don't define the vertices don't count.

 

Mine know that now, but we had the same issue.

 

Bill

So, the instructions could be more explicit? I'd still let them know so that they can file it away for future editions (though I'm sure you don't want to interrupt their work on 3C :D)

[Roadrunner]

points that don't define the vertices don't count.

 

Bill

 

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't know this. Now I know. Thanks!

[Alte Veste Academy]

I just sent the BA folks an e-mail to say thanks and requested t-shirts. How long do you think that will take them? :lol: I don't want to sideline the artist but they could simply use images from the guides. I personally want a t-shirt with the square baby in a diaper with it's Daddy rectangle and Mommy rhombus. That part is my personal favorite. :D

[Snickerdoodle]

I think a tshirt of GrOgg being obtuse (pg 17) would be absolutely perfect.

[Spy Car]

So, the instructions could be more explicit? I'd still let them know so that they can file it away for future editions (though I'm sure you don't want to interrupt their work on 3C :D)

 

Yes, the instruction could have been (should have been) more explicit on this point (pun semi-intended :D).

 

Yes, you better not slow them down :tongue_smilie:

 

Yes, they might Be advised to "fix" this in the next edition.

 

Bill

[Alte Veste Academy]

I think a tshirt of GrOgg being obtuse (pg 17) would be absolutely perfect.

 

Right you are! Made even better by the fact that Grogg is his favorite character and his favorite part so far is drawing the angles (and pointing the different types out to anyone who will listen wherever we go :lol:).

[RootAnn]

Yes, the instruction could have been (should have been) more explicit on this point (pun semi-intended :D).

 

Yes, they might Be advised to "fix" this in the next edition.

 

Perhaps a note in a little grey box... (Glad I wasn't the only one.)

My girls would definitely in for t-shirts.

[nmoira]

Yes, the instruction could have been (should have been) more explicit on this point (pun semi-intended :D).

 

Yes, you better not slow them down :tongue_smilie:

 

Yes, they might Be advised to "fix" this in the next edition.

 

Bill

This is why I'm waiting until the last possible second to make our purchase. Best let the first wave find all the niggling issues. :001_smile:

[Spy Car]

This is why I'm waiting until the last possible second to make our purchase. Best let the first wave find all the niggling issues. :001_smile:

 

I usually respect your reasoning :D

 

Bill

[nmoira]

I usually respect your reasoning :D

 

Bill

We won't be ready to start until fall anyway; hence "the last possible minute." :001_smile:

[Spy Car]

We won't be ready to start until fall anyway; hence "the last possible minute." :001_smile:

 

Who thinks this way? :D

 

Bill

[nmoira]

Who thinks this way? :D

 

Bill

Someone who already spent more than $150 on AoPS materials this school year and so doesn't qualify for free shipping. Someone who really hates paying for shipping.

 

:tongue_smilie:

[Spy Car]

Someone who already spent more than $150 on AoPS materials this school year and so doesn't qualify for free shipping. Someone who really hates paying for shipping.

 

:tongue_smilie:

 

No "OnTrack" with AoPS? ;) :D

 

Bill

[nmoira]

No "OnTrack" with AoPS? ;) :D

 

Bill

They're too classy an outfit to use OnTrac.

[Snickerdoodle]

They should give you a frequent customer free-shipping discount.

[Spy Car]

They're too classy an outfit to use OnTrac.

 

OnTrac, so cheap they can't afford a "k."

 

I'm afraid I've dragged the thread off-topic :D

 

Bill

[Rivka]

We are sitting in a Japanese restaurant right now, and the kids are making angles with their chopsticks. Alex requests T-shirts with Grog drawing a tangled wreck instead of a rectangle. She also wants Beast action figures. How cool would that be?!

[SonshineLearner]

We are sitting in a Japanese restaurant right now, and the kids are making angles with their chopsticks. Alex requests T-shirts with Grog drawing a tangled wreck instead of a rectangle. She also wants Beast action figures. How cool would that be?!

 

VERY cool ;) My son thought he was getting away with something, working/reading his new BA comics instead of doing Singapore math today :)

[nov05mama]

We would be ALL over the t-shirts and action figures too :P DS loves the one with Grogg saying he's obtuse :lol:

 

Thank you for whoever recommended the story book Sir Cumference and the Knight of Angleland...it was a really cute read as well!!

[Sahamamama]

Our Beast package arrived today. I spent about two hours looking it over while my husband cleaned the siding on the garage and the kids ran around the yard. :D

 

First impressions:

 

• Good quality product
  
• Well shipped (no dings or bent corners)
  
• Production quality worth the price
  
• Very colorful :001_smile:
  
• Interesting concept, to use a cartoon format to teach math (I have never seen this before) ;)
  
• Use of humor/puns (mostly appropriate, though I was eating something when I read the "Ralph threw up... sawdust" comment) :tongue_smilie:
  
• I actually like the beasts. This is most surprising to me. I usually despise cartoons. I am not a monster fan, normally.
  

What is it about these cartoons that at least doesn't bother me? I'm not saying I find them endearing, exactly, just not as obnoxious as I thought they would be. It's a world of monsters, sure, but I can see why it's a world of monsters. Because only a monster could have 7 arms/hands with 5 fingers each, right? :lol:

 

The intended victim is presently eating supper. When the PBJ is wiped off her fingers, I'm going to inflict 3A upon her... I'll post later about her reaction to it. :001_huh: She is not a profoundly mathy kid, so this should be interesting. I do think the puns will pull her in. As in, "a cute" angles. ;)