Leftyplayer Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I'm slowly switching from fully structured traditional math to living maths, but for my own organizational needs and my sanity, I want some structure with regards to some order to the topics, ideas and concepts that I will introduce to the kids. I have found wonderful resources on activities, games, real life situations that we can do to explore and play with mathematics. But I need a bit of structure - at least at first since living math is so new to me (and my kids). Obviously, I'll remain flexible for learning opportunities that naturally show up. I found the lessons at livingmath.net. Any others that you know of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I'm right there with you. I *need* a plan, but DS8 *needs* living math. For my planning purposes, we've compromised by doing a math journal. I took a look at three our four tables of contents of different math programs. I gathered topics, organized them, and wrote one or two sentences or concepts per page on the math journal (using lots of color). I introduce the concept, we talk about it for a minute or two, and then do three or four problems to make sure he gets the concept. We then play a game or two (his choice). I keep a close lookout for everyday applications for what we have discussed. Of course, we're doing the every day, living math as well. DS8 is becoming quite the cook, and is helping with the measuring on a number of home renovation projects (with help), and is getting an allowance for money management. It might not be enough, but it's as good as we can figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. A Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I have a spine that I use to keep us on track, but we vary the ways in which the problems get done from day to day. That's where the games and activities come in. I also make it a point to introduce some topics outside of our main focus occasionally, just to add some variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leftyplayer Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 I have DS keep a math journal so he can write down the things we're worked on or use for any math projects or concepts he's working on and wants to note. But I hadn't thought of keeping my own. I like that idea. I'm still hoping to find some sort of guide / hand-holding in the 'living math' world ... honestly, even just something that will provide ME some education on the concepts because my math skills are so awful. I'm happy to learn along with them, but some things I feel I should be better prepared for. I've forgotten even the most basic of things or I might be able to solve a problem because I know how to apply a formula (the way we're taught in school) but I might not know WHY it works or how that formula came about being discovered. In that regard, I feel so ill equipped to go the living math route and could use guidance. I've gotten some great books (and websites) that have great problems for us to work through ,... but not enough things that guide me with regards to good order of introducing material, which concepts are connected with each other and, therefore, might be good to explore around the same times, and basic understanding on some concepts so that I'm not super clueless on how to verbally explain things to the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy Grommy Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I really like Dr. Wright's Kitchen Table Math series (books 1, 2, and 3) for a list of topics to cover in elementary math and some guidance about how and when to approach the topics. It's not a full curriculum on it's own, but it could be great as a spine for planning your own living math course. For your own math studies, I'd recomment Liping Ma's Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics or Young Mathematicians at Work. They can help you with the why behind all of the math and give you insights into how to approach the topics with your kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Math on the Level has a system for tracking topics covered and review that could work well with a living math approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Are you already using the resources from http://livingmath.net/ ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leftyplayer Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 Mommy Grommy and maize, thank you. I will check out those resources. Dr. Wright's book looks particularly useful. I have a 3rd grader and a 5th grader (with the ability to do middle school work) to teach, so hopefully it can help me at both skill levels. maize, yes, I'm already using livingmath.net :) I love the resources on activities there, but the lesson plans offered are not quite right for us though there are some useful suggestions that we'll incorporate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leftyplayer Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 The On The Level looks interesting and certainly has more ideas than most of the curriculums I've seen, but it's way too costly even if it does cover k-8, and while it has lots of hands-on activities, it's not as "living math" as I'd like, if that makes sense (well, I'm basing that just on looking at the sample pdf's on the site. It looks pretty good though. Just way out of my budget for one subject area. I wish I could see more of the preview for Dr. Wrights Kitchen Table Math - what's visible on amazon is just the very beginning, which is counting. I would love to find out how the author treats more complicated subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 The Kitchen Table Math books are really excellent, but the format didn't work for us. Alas. I'll toss out a sort of weird idea, but if you have a younger student (3rd and under) then you might think about buying a cheap, used copy of the Miquon Annotations and using that. There would problems on the worksheets that are minireplicated with their answers and you could use those to work when you want and there's a clear sense of the "threads" of early elementary math with introductory activities for each thing. But for an older kid, it wouldn't work - too simple. Also, if you don't know the Family Math series, those books are very good. Also, the GEMS guides like Math on the Menu and In All Probability are really good and you may enjoy those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leftyplayer Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 The Math on the Menu and In All Probability books look really great. I'm wondering why the Kitchen Table Math book didn't work for you, if you don't mind sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 The Math on the Menu and In All Probability books look really great. I'm wondering why the Kitchen Table Math book didn't work for you, if you don't mind sharing. The format was wordy and not easily approachable for me. To make it work, I would have needed to really read ahead and prep constantly and while I value doing that with math some, it was just too much for me to make it work for our regular program. On the other hand, it was also too unapproachable for me to use it as a supplement. We tried KTM when ds was bouncing around between programs. He had started with MEP and that was a no go. We tried MM and that worked for his twin, but not for him. He ended up super stressed about math so we ditched formal math altogether for about four or five months and just did living math, games, a math notebook, a fun math sticker book, just really low pressure stuff. It seemed like KTM would be right, but alas. In the end, we settled on Miquon and he caught up and finished it and went into Beast Academy and is prepping for pre-algebra now. He's my math kid, it turned out. Go figure. Those GEMS guides are good. I don't think you said what age, but we're doing Time Travel Math from Prufrock Press and that's excellent fun and very much living math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsplaymath Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 I think you would find a lot of ideas and resources in Lucinda's archive: Navigating By Joy posts about MathIn particular: Living Maths Curriculum 2013-14 (planning a living math curriculum for last school year) How to Help Your Child Fall in Love with Maths (Even if They Hate It) How we do maths without a curriculum (planning for this school year) How my autodidactic 9 year old is learning maths without a curriculum (this year, with a different student) And check out the AoPS website to see a variety of excerpts from the Kitchen Table Math books: Kitchen Table Math Book 1 Kitchen Table Math Book 2 Kitchen Table Math Book 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lucinda Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 I found Denise's book Let's Play Math really helpful in switching to a living maths approach. I read it 18 months ago and maths has never been better with my 9 and 10 year olds. We also love Edward Zaccaro's books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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