Kezia Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 We do not like the LoF liver and mineshaft I bought as a just for fun review as a short break from BA between books. The kid does not like LoF and I completely understand. I looked at samples, I swear I did. Some chapters are better than others but overall just nope. Likely going to skip to fractions and just do the bridges, not even read the story. I looked at the final bridge and I do not think he would struggle with it. I also have LoF decimals. So knowing we hate LoF, what else could be recommended? I occasionally do some grocery store math that I made up that is practical and he sees as very useful and loves it. He loves HoE. He is currently doing BA 5. I have thought about jousting armadillos, Mathematics a human endeavor could be used now, I know there are some key to supplements but they seem low on the fun meter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 You could check out Critical Thinking Company’s Balance Benders or Balance Math and More? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plagefille Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 I second Critical Thinking Company's stuff. They have some fun supplements. Also, Challenge Math and other books from Edward Zaccaro. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 We have been enjoying the puzzles from Arithmetiquities , Pre-algebra With Pizazz, and a book called Perfectly Perilous Math. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Do you need to actively teach things? DD8 really likes Murderous Maths, but I tend to assume she isn’t learning much from it!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smfmommy Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 I second the Prealgebra with Pizzazz books (can be found for free) and Murderous Maths. There is a book called Math Start Junior that has a hokey story line, but it's a lot better than Fred in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Possibly: - Jousting Armadillos - Hands On Geometry (Freeman) - Patty Paper Geometry (Serra)- TOPS units: Metric Measuring; Graphing; Probability - Challenge Math (Zoccaro) - Real World Math (Clemson) - Fascinating Fibonnaccis (Seymour) - Secrets of Mental Math (Benjamin) - Calculus By and For Young People (Coen) -- free pdf; explorations, so good for gr. 1-8, as students will tackle the topics each at their own level of knowledge Books for fun:- Number Devil (Enzensberger) - Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat (Pappas) - Fractals, Googles and Other Mathematical Tales (Pappas) - Geogbra 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kezia Posted April 22, 2021 Author Share Posted April 22, 2021 On 4/17/2021 at 7:06 AM, Not_a_Number said: Do you need to actively teach things? DD8 really likes Murderous Maths, but I tend to assume she isn’t learning much from it!! Not really actively teach but just ensure that what he has learned is truly comprehended with depth, if that makes sense? In a fun way that he doesn’t see as normal math work but just life and how all the math he learns is applied in life? He wants to learns something new everyday. Well, I don’t think math is a subject that can be done that way, kid. I am that insecure homeschooler who one day is amazed at his understanding and deep comprehension and thinks maybe we should move a little faster, but then the next day he says he can’t do a simple division problem. He is 10, too young for teen brain fog. I have some of the above suggestions on the way (zaccaro and a murderous math) as well as Math a Human Endeavor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 1 hour ago, Kezia said: Not really actively teach but just ensure that what he has learned is truly comprehended with depth, if that makes sense? In a fun way that he doesn’t see as normal math work but just life and how all the math he learns is applied in life? He wants to learns something new everyday. Well, I don’t think math is a subject that can be done that way, kid. I do think you can learn things every day 🙂 . But maybe not the things in the curriculum. Do you ever play games using math? That could be a way to incorporate math into everyday life. I have some favorite math games that honest-to-goodness require math (as opposed to lots of games, which are just drill.) 1 hour ago, Kezia said: I am that insecure homeschooler who one day is amazed at his understanding and deep comprehension and thinks maybe we should move a little faster, but then the next day he says he can’t do a simple division problem. He is 10, too young for teen brain fog. To be fair, division is hard 🙂 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 On 4/22/2021 at 8:07 AM, Kezia said: I am that insecure homeschooler who one day is amazed at his understanding and deep comprehension and thinks maybe we should move a little faster, but then the next day he says he can’t do a simple division problem. He is 10, too young for teen brain fog. I just saw this - and laughed my rear end off. 🤣 No, not too young for teen brain fog. He's right on target. Nearly all the 11yo boys I've known have made me seriously question what had been learned in the past decade - including my own kids. My youngest right now is 11, and for real, he cannot add 5 + 3 on the first try. He is quite grounded in math, can do just about anything I throw at him, but for some reason, that one addition problem will always have him confidently announce: "7!" before taking a minute, counting it out, and sheepishly saying "8". What's funny is it wasn't that long ago that I realized I never taught him long division. We had to rectify that pretty quickly and show why it worked. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 10 minutes ago, HomeAgain said: What's funny is it wasn't that long ago that I realized I never taught him long division. We had to rectify that pretty quickly and show why it worked. I find that one can teach that in less than a week if a kid is ready! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 57 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said: I find that one can teach that in less than a week if a kid is ready! Ah, yes, but 'ready' in our house meant being willing to estimate. This kid hated estimating for the longest time because it's not "real math" (aka having a concrete answer) and I realized he was turning problems backwards and multiplying by groups to get the answer. Which, all well and good, but long division does have its place in the world! He was doing "short" long division just fine - one or two digit numbers into longer strands, but putting the remainder as a small tens number next to each place value. He just didn't see the need to write out each step until Prodigy Math presented it that way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 Just now, HomeAgain said: Ah, yes, but 'ready' in our house meant being willing to estimate. This kid hated estimating for the longest time because it's not "real math" (aka having a concrete answer) and I realized he was turning problems backwards and multiplying by groups to get the answer. That was actually a pre-long division stage for us -- the multiplying by groups stage. I forget how long it lasted. Does one need to estimate to do long division? Do you mean when figuring out the correct next digit? Just now, HomeAgain said: Which, all well and good, but long division does have its place in the world! He was doing "short" long division just fine - one or two digit numbers into longer strands, but putting the remainder as a small tens number next to each place value. He just didn't see the need to write out each step until Prodigy Math presented it that way. Ah, interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 3 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said: That was actually a pre-long division stage for us -- the multiplying by groups stage. I forget how long it lasted. Does one need to estimate to do long division? Do you mean when figuring out the correct next digit? Right, just when figuring out the next digit. Sometimes it's not immediately easy to tell what it will be, and he doesn't like mistakes. Currently he tries it out in his head and then writes the digit if it works. Still occasionally misses a group but he never overestimates. Now that that is under his belt figuring out square roots by hand was a great follow on lesson this year, showing how similar methods can be used as long as you keep a visual in your head. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 Just now, HomeAgain said: Right, just when figuring out the next digit. Sometimes it's not immediately easy to tell what it will be, and he doesn't like mistakes. Currently he tries it out in his head and then writes the digit if it works. Still occasionally misses a group but he never overestimates. Now that that is under his belt figuring out square roots by hand was a great follow on lesson this year, showing how similar methods can be used as long as you keep a visual in your head. Ah, OK, got it! I don't remember when we started doing estimation -- I never explicitly taught it, but we did partial quotients for a loooong time, and apparently somewhere along the way she learned to estimate?? 😂 Interestingly, she also doesn't have trouble estimating square roots! I guess the practice came in handy?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 Not sure what level he's at as we've never done LofF, but if he needs work on basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division - under 10), then I suggest the "Math Facts that Stick" series sold here in WellTrainedMind. It uses games for practice (this isn't independent...he will either need you or a sibling to play with), but its pretty fun. The lessons between the game-play are really well done too...really gives them a sense for the math. For extra fun math (not really a curriculum), I suggest this free book: http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/hate-maths.pdf 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 I have not looked at Dragonbox in ages, they had two levels (easy and not easy) the last time I looked, but this is/was an amazing app for learning algebraic thinking. I remember my son was pretty deep into using the first version of this "game," when it suddenly dawned on him that this was a math ap. Tricked him. LOL. I'll second the Ed Zaccaro books. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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