MathCounts coaches check in?

[daijobu]

Edit:  I removed all score information per Julie. 

 

Are there any other MC coaches on this forum?  We just had our chapter competition last week, my second as a coach of a homeschooling team.  

 

This time I received our team tally sheet before we left the competition.  Last year it was mailed to me a couple of weeks later, but I wonder if I just didn't know to pick it up before I left.  Strangely, our tally sheet did not include correct/incorrect answers for the Sprint Round, only the Target and Team Rounds.  

 

 

Like last year, our keynote was unconscionably boring.  Why, why, why can't they get an engaging speaker to discuss something related to mathematics?  Is it really so hard?

 

I was happy with the organization of the events.  Everything seemed to proceed in way that was fair and appropriate for students.  I was particularly impressed with the judges in charge of the Countdown Round.  It's no small thing to monitor who's pressing which button, read the question clearly, evaluate answers in real time, especially when students are answering the question before the questions has been read completely.  Those kids are amazing.  

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my students will return next year, and I'm hoping we'll add to our team.  In 2013 we had only 4 students, and this year we were up to 6.  My goal is to have a full 10 students on our team in 2015.  

 

I didn't feel any slights from anyone at MC about our homeschooling team.  There was another homeschooling coach in our chapter, but I didn't have a chance to chat with her.  In general, I'd say that MC is very accommodating to homeschoolers.  

 

I'd love to hear other people checking in on their experiences.  No discussing problems, of course.  Because of weather, some folks may not have had their chapter competition yet.  

[naturalmom]

Sounds like you had a good year!  This was our first year with a homeschool team, and also the first year for all our students.  It went pretty well.  We had decided ahead of time to be more low-key this year, so although we did work on problems and some strategies ahead of time, we didn't do too much.  

 

We are excited about doing more to prep next year, and the kids did really well on the team round compared to the individual (although we had one of ours make it to the countdown round).  We were also treated well, and had a very good experience.  I co-coach with another mom.  I do more of the organization, and she does more of the math side.  I don't know that we will grow much next year.  We have a math club that the MC kids were pulled from, and there were exactly 4 who were interested.  One of them will be too old next year, but has a younger sibling who will be moving up to 8th grade.  

 

The top team in our chapter meets every week and has homework as well.  I can see the benefit of the hard work, and I think our students are ready to put more into it this year.  (We met 1-2X each month, and had no homework).  

 

[Kidlit]

I'm interested in learning more about how you organize such an academic team. How did you get started?

[daijobu]

We start up at the beginning of the school year, with me sending out the emails to all the local lists to recruit students.  I also personally contact moms I know.  I like to get my registration in by November, so by then I know who will be on the team. 

 

Meanwhile, we meet roughly once a week, and I do assign homework, usually an old Sprint or Target Round.  We meet to discuss the problems they need help with, and review special topics like similar triangles or counting.   

 

Once a month, the 4-member team does a Team Round together.  and then we review the questions.  

 

Sixth graders or inexperienced students do chapter level problems, older and more experienced students do state and national level exams.  

[raptor_dad]

 

Like last year, our keynote was unconscionably boring.  Why, why, why can't they get an engaging speaker to discuss something related to mathematics?  Is it really so hard?

 

My recollections from my childhood are that the speakers almost always came from either the sponsoring or hosting organizations. This may be a great way to reward crucial supporters but is not optimized for producing exciting or even interesting talks. So the question is... is this talk meant to energize the kids or reward the egos of the sponsors. A honest evaluation of this question by the organizers will resolve your frustrations one way ore another ;).

[daijobu]

My recollections from my childhood are that the speakers almost always came from either the sponsoring or hosting organizations. This may be a great way to reward crucial supporters but is not optimized for producing exciting or even interesting talks. So the question is... is this talk meant to energize the kids or reward the egos of the sponsors. A honest evaluation of this question by the organizers will resolve your frustrations one way ore another ;).

 

Agreed!  Our host was very generous: a cafeteria, auditorium and several conference rooms were used by students and graders and coaches.  After lunch, the place looked pretty ... worse for wear.  

 

But our host could have used this opportunity to really capture the students' imaginations.  Instead of having an HR person play some warmed over marketing videos about how awesome the company is, he could have had some big data analytics person describe some of the projects he's working as an employee.  They must have someone in R&D who is working on a cool project.  Instead it was a lose-lose situation for both the host and the students.  

[Julie of KY]

I also coach a Mathcounts team. Until the test is released we are not to discuss problems or scores - not even saying easy or hard according to Mathcounts. They say you can state whether you made it to state, but not anything else.

 

In the fall, I send an email to our local email loop saying I'm putting together a team. We meet weekly from Nov. through Feb. I start with some of the fun activities provided by Mathcounts and then move on to more teaching. I often give them 5-10 problems to do and then we work through them together. I try to have both something they can learn and something fun for most of the weeks. We usually do one sprint and one target and then often more than one team test for practice. I teach a lot of counting and probability as well as number theory. These are subjects that can be taught to a wide variety of students and they usually don't know a lot. I've had students win trophies at both chapter and state as individuals. If my students want more old tests or problems I can provide lots, but I don't assign them.

 

Another thing I often do at meetings are Mathcounts minis. These are fantastic for working on one topic and taking it a lot deeper.

 

I started with my son competing as an individual and then started picking up students for a team. I've done it for four years now and am likely to do it many more.

[daijobu]

 

Another thing I often do at meetings are Mathcounts minis. These are fantastic for working on one topic and taking it a lot deeper.

 

 

How do you use the minis?  Do you show the videos to the team?  

[Julie of KY]

For Mathcount minis - I print off the worksheet that goes with the video. I have the kids work the problems at the beginning first (the ones before "the problem"). Pick a mini that the initial problems can be done - if these problems are too hard, then it is probably not worthwhile to do the video. I show the video on my computer and then they work on the next problems. We discuss all the problems together.

 

If you use the Mathcount mini's in meetings, make sure you can do them first - some are very hard. The first year of minis (1-9) do not have solutions, but the rest do.

 

So far, I haven't had more than five students at meetings, but next year I expect to have many more. Next year I plan on sometimes splitting my group so that some can work on a mini and others work problems with me; I will have my oldest son mentor some of the students when we split the group.

 

My oldest son who won chapter and was a question away from making the national team says that the best preparation for mathcounts was Alcumus and Mathcount minis. As a coach, I find the minis fantastic for taking a single subject deeper.

[daijobu]

For Mathcount minis - I print off the worksheet that goes with the video. I have the kids work the problems at the beginning first (the ones before "the problem"). Pick a mini that the initial problems can be done - if these problems are too hard, then it is probably not worthwhile to do the video. I show the video on my computer and then they work on the next problems. We discuss all the problems together.

 

 

 

Thanks!  The minis sound like just the thing for next year.  

[mirabillis]

This was our first time at MathCounts, just my son as an individual. We had a great time. As a 6th grader, we took it as experience for later years, having not ever been introduced to many of the concepts. But he answered 19 of the 30 (who knows how many right), and got to participate unofficially in the Team Round with 2 fellow table-mates, both 8th graders. 

 

And we were proud to be the ONLY homeschooler of the 90-100 kids who participated at our event. 

 

It was a fantastic experience, especially for my mathy son, who's more sporty competitively (All-Star baseball, etc), than academically competitively. It was great to change things up.

 

I love how easy it was for homeschoolers to participate, what great set of warm-up coaching materials you receive, and the inexpensive cost.

[daijobu]

... and got to participate unofficially in the Team Round with 2 fellow table-mates, both 8th graders.

 

That's great that they let him do a team round. I agree MC has been a worthwhile experience for us.

[msrift]

This was our first time at MathCounts, just my son as an individual. We had a great time. As a 6th grader, we took it as experience for later years, having not ever been introduced to many of the concepts. But he answered 19 of the 30 (who knows how many right), and got to participate unofficially in the Team Round with 2 fellow table-mates, both 8th graders. 

 

And we were proud to be the ONLY homeschooler of the 90-100 kids who participated at our event. 

 

It was a fantastic experience, especially for my mathy son, who's more sporty competitively (All-Star baseball, etc), than academically competitively. It was great to change things up.

 

I love how easy it was for homeschoolers to participate, what great set of warm-up coaching materials you receive, and the inexpensive cost.

 

I could have written this exact post. We found out about Mathcounts at the last minute, so obviously didn't get as much prep in as most. My sporty, mathy, 6th grade son is also looking forward to the next two years.

 

I have a question for those who have organized homeschool teams.  I read the rules, but would like to hear it spelled out in layman's terms. Can we really just grab 4 homeschoolers from our region to form a team? The bits about how students must compete for their school of record had me concerned that homeschoolers could only form a team if they all attended the same homeschool (ie were in the same family). Our chapter didn't give us any grief when we registered as an individual. 

[Julie of KY]

For a homeschool team, you must have students from your geographic region that is your chapter. Everyone must sign a waiver saying they homeschool by the laws of your state and live within the geographic region. I have each of my kids sign the waiver with their own individual school of record (for me Last name homeschool) Everyone that registers as part of your math club also agrees that if they are not picked as one of the top four (for the team) or as individual with the team (six individuals) then they will not break off and form a different team.

 

Schools that are competitive can't have more than one team and neither can a single math club. Potentially more than one homeschool group can each register within the same chapter.

 

Mathcounts became much pickier with homeschoolers a few years ago after two main things were happening (as I understand it) - some homeschoolers from across a state were getting together to form a super team and some kids from top schools who didn't make the school team were making a team and calling themselves "homeschoolers".

 

It has always been easy for me to work with everyone involved in Mathcounts and it's been a great experience. I've taken individuals to state the past few years and next year our current team is likely to make state.

[msrift]

Thanks for the detailed response! I had a generic math club going last year - maybe I'll have to start it up again and form a team. Thanks again!

[daijobu]

So far, I haven't had more than five students at meetings, but next year I expect to have many more. Next year I plan on sometimes splitting my group so that some can work on a mini and others work problems with me; I will have my oldest son mentor some of the students when we split the group.

 

 

 

Do you meet all year?  

[Julie of KY]

I meet on Friday afternoons from Nov. - Feb. I teach chemistry lab in the same time slot in the fall and spring. In the past we've occasionally met some on other days in the fall. We usually have a pizza party the week after the chapter competition, but otherwise my group doesn't meet in the spring.

 

This year I've got a team of 7th graders that are really hoping to make to state next year as a team - one did this year and two others were very close. This group has talked about getting together over the summer to do some Mathcount minis.

[Lilaclady]

For all the mathcounts coaches, how many individual kids -not on the team typically progress to state from the chapter rounds.

[Julie of KY]

For all the mathcounts coaches, how many individual kids -not on the team typically progress to state from the chapter rounds.

It depends on your chapter size. In our chapter typically about 160 kids compete and the top three teams move on to state and the top 8 individuals not on the top teams move on to state. Most of the chapters in our state only send two teams and fewer individuals; small chapters might send as few as one team and two individuals.

[Lilaclady]

Thanks, that's good to know

[daijobu]

Copied/pasted from our local chapter website:

 

 

Highest Scoring School Teams advance as follows: 

 

• 1 – 10 schools registered in chapter – allowed 1 Team 

• 11 - 20 schools registered in chapter – allowed 2 Teams 

• 21 - 30 schools registered in chapter – allowed 4 Teams 

• 31 - 40 schools registered in chapter – allowed 5 Teams 

• 41 or more schools registered in chapter – allowed 6 Teams 

 

If the winner of the Chapter Competition is a magnet school and/or has won the Chapter Competition for the second consecutive year one additional team will be allowed to advance to the State Competition. No more than one additional team per chapter is allowed to advance in this manner. 

 

Advancing Teams will be the top scoring Teams based on overall Team scores at the Chapter Competition. 

 

Independents are selected as follows: 

 

• 1 -10 Schools registered in chapter – 2 Independents advance 

• 11-20 Schools registered in chapter – 3 Independents advance 

• 21-30 Schools registered in chapter – 5 Independents advance 

• 31-40 Schools registered in chapter – 6 Independents advance 

• 41 or more Schools registered in chapter – 7 Independents advance 

 

Independents will be the top scoring competitors at the Chapter Competition (based on Sprint and Target Round scores), who are not on an advancing School Team. Independents may have been registered as a school Team Member or an Individual. Regardless of registration status at the chapter level, Independents will compete only in the Sprint and Target Rounds at the State Competition, and the Countdown Round if 

qualified. 

 

State Competition Cap 

The state reserves the right to place a cap on the total number of students at the State Competition at 375 participants statewide. Because the approximate number of competitors is not available until final registration has been completed, the State Coordinator will make any necessary adjustments to the above described advancement numbers and notify all chapter coordinators at that time. It will be the responsibility of the Chapter Coordinator to notify their participating coaches of any changes. 

 

[Julie of KY]

Interesting. Different states may have different cutoffs for how many move on to state. In the above post it says that the state competition may be capped at 375 - no way we'd have that many at state here in KY. I'm glad we have a decent number of student advance as individuals from our chapter (as well as three teams). Typically half the students in the top 12 of the state come from our chapter.