Ray's Arithmetic

[Hunter]

I haven't been here much for months. Maybe there has been a recent thread for Ray's and everyone is already talked out about it. If not, have at it.

 

The only math I own in hardcopy right now is Ray's and Boyden's First Book in Algebra. I thought about repurchasing Strayer-Upton and bucking down to really be ready to teach it, but I decided for better or worse to make Ray's work the best I can as my core and be satisfied with whatever that means.

 

Finding a nice copy of Boyden to use after Ray's helped make that palatable to me. One of the reasons I stuck with SU as my core in the past was the bit of Algebra in book 3.

 

This edition of Boyden Algebra has been all newly typeset. It looks beautiful, but I'll have to work the problems to see if it is error free.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1523672528/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'll try this photocopy version if the above one has errors. It is even cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Algebra-Wallace-Boyden/dp/1442138149/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1470946830&sr=1-2

 

The popular CM curricula are all over Euclid right now, and the books that CM used before it. I'm expecting some nice reprints of geometry to be available quite soon.

 

So back to Ray's. Following the books start to finish trips me up. I'm thinking of really figuring out exactly what I want to teach in a year, and if the means pulling out lessons from 4 different books, then so be it. As long as I can get all the info for all the grades onto a one-page chart, that won't be any more confusing than a literature reading list that fits on a one-page chart.

 

So, tonight, the plan is to start a chart for Ray's. And work some problems from the Boyden Algebra.

[Slache]

Do you still think we're supposed to use Intellectual and Practical simultaneously for a typical student? If so, then how?

[Slache]

I'm still contemplating beginning School Arithmetics after we finish Primary. Lesson 15 begins with counting to 100 and then on with math in numbers higher than Ray's Primary so I think it would transition beautifully. We might even skip tables in Primary because School Arithmetics blends it all so well. I dunno. We'll see.

[Hunter]

Do you still think we're supposed to use Intellectual and Practical simultaneously for a typical student? If so, then how?

 

Ray used Intellectual first and then Practical. The books were later updated, but not that much. Even in the 1800s the Eclectic Manual of Methods disagreed with Ray. The publisher actually removed Ray's advice from the later editions.

 

Was Ray right then? Is his advice right for now? Do the updates after his death and in the Mott Media editions make his advice impractical? 

 

I have gone back and forth with this. I have changed the math schedules in my notes over and over and over. One of the reasons, I sometimes switch my notes to SU is because I just don't want to think about it anymore.

 

The schedule I'm working on right now, is letting Blumenfeld's How to Tutor call the shots for as long as possible. I'm going to break Blumenfeld up into years and paste Ray's onto the Blumenfeld schedule. I'm going to reread the Simply Charlotte Mason math guide again, too.

 

I think I'm going to have the choppiest ever schedule for using these book.

[Hunter]

This is the mess I have so far and I fear it is only going to get worse, if I actually teach what *I* want to teach each year. 

 

 

Year 0

How to Tutor 1-3,

Eclectic Manual

of Methods

Arithmetic 1^st year

 

Year 1

How to Tutor

Steps 4-10

Ray’s Primary

Lesson 1, 7-23

 

Year 2

How to Tutor

Steps 11-21

Ray’s Primary

2-6, 24-37

 

Year 3

 How to Tutor

Steps 22-42,

Ray’s Primary

Lessons 38-51

 

Year 4

HTT Steps 43-53

Ray’s Intellectual

Lessons 1-19

Primary 52-78

 

Year 5

HTT Steps 54-67

Ray’s Intell 20-59

Practical 1-49,

Primary: Tables

 

Year 6

Practical: Factor,

Fractions to 122,

Compound to 60

Intellectual: Finish

 

Year 7

Finish Comp, Frac

Decimal, Metric,

Percent to 169

Interest to 188 

 

Year 8 Pre-Algebra

Ratio, Proportion-225, Average-Progression

Number Stories of Long Ago

 

Year 9 Algebra 1

Wallace Boyden First Book in Algebra

 

Year 10 Geometry

Oliver Byrne’s Euclid Geometry, 

Flatland

 

Year 11 Consumer Math

Finish Percents, Interest, Proportions,

Discount-Tax

 Wealth of Nations

 

Edited August 11, 2016 by Hunter

[Slache]

Ray used Intellectual first and then Practical. The books were later updated, but not that much. Even in the 1800s the Eclectic Manual of Methods disagreed with Ray. The publisher actually removed Ray's advice from the later editions.

 

Was Ray right then? Is his advice right for now? Do the updates after his death and in the Mott Media editions make his advice impractical?

 

I have gone back and forth with this. I have changed the math schedules in my notes over and over and over. One of the reasons, I sometimes switch my notes to SU is because I just don't want to think about it anymore.

 

The schedule I'm working on right now, is letting Blumenfeld's How to Tutor call the shots for as long as possible. I'm going to break Blumenfeld up into years and paste Ray's onto the Blumenfeld schedule. I'm going to reread the Simply Charlotte Mason math guide again, too.

 

I think I'm going to have the choppiest ever schedule for using these book.

I just want to do one page, then the next page, then the next. That's a big part of the draw of School Arithmetics. I might use Intellectual on the side. Probably on Fridays. It's just so darn purty.

[Hunter]

See, year 5 is juggling 4 books!  :banghead:

[Hunter]

I just want to do one page, then the next page, then the next. That's a big part of the draw of School Arithmetics. I might use Intellectual on the side. Probably on Fridays. It's just so darn purty.

 

So do I, but even when I use SU, I don't feel happy doing that. I start messing with it, and because it isn't topics it is far harder to mess with.

 

And it is a pain to reorder for me.

[Hunter]

When I get totally disgusted I remove all my math notes and leave the math column blank and just wing it. And then, I'll get bored and start trying to fill it in again and make myself nuts for a few weeks until I erase it all again.

[Slache]

Why don't you just keep it simple?

 

0 HTT 1-3

1-2 Ray's Primary

3-4 Ray's Intellectual

5-6 Ray's Practical

7-8 Ray's Higher

9 Algebra

10 Euclid

11 Consumer Math

 

I don't know what I'm doing here, but I feel like you're making it too hard.

[Hunter]

That is what Beechick did, but that means teaching ratios and percents in 4th grade and I don't want to do that. And taxes and discount and progressions in 6th.

 

Here is my nice empty math chart. I feel calmer just looking at it.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Fvf4FXKZtobGttck15NXlIazg/view?usp=sharing

 

If I have the chart, I don't think it will matter how choppy it is, as long as I know exactly which lessons I want to cover each year. The literature lists feel calm to me. I'm hoping that juggling multiple math books will too. I'm hoping.

[Hunter]

Beechick wrote extensive notes for squeezing the practical book into a 2 year course for grades 5-6. She didn't even try for notes to squeeze the higher book into 7-8. It is too hard. She tells you to figure it out for yourself. Thanks lady! That is helpful. If you can't do it, how do you expect me to? Yes, I know I'm talking to a dead woman. :lol:  

[Hunter]

Oops. I forgot the Test Book. It is obvious which lessons to cover as they match the number in the primary, but if I'm doing a chart, I want to add them to their own chart. Just because. 

[Slache]

Beechick wrote extensive notes for squeezing the practical book into a 2 year course for grades 5-6. She didn't even try for notes to squeeze the higher book into 7-8. It is too hard. She tells you to figure it out for yourself. Thanks lady! That is helpful. If you can't do it, how do you expect me to? Yes, I know I'm talking to a dead woman. :lol:

You should probably speak louder.

 

That's a relief because we're finishing Primary half way through kindergarten.

[Hunter]

My chart is making me very happy. I wish I had done this a LONG time ago.

[Hunter]

You think I should yell, Slache :lol:

 

Well, since she is dead and I'm on my own, This is my rough plan for now. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Fvf4FXKZtoTEZDbWpMNC1LbWM/view?usp=sharing

Once it was put into a chart, it just doesn't look any worse to me than a booklist.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Hunter