Homeschool Math Blog

I'm just posting this flyer that was sent to me about the Elements of Mathematics course . This is not paid advertising; I am doing this for them for free, because I believe it is not easy for them to find their "target audience" - gifted middle school children that are very interested in mathematics.

The Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) is offering a a series of online math courses for gifted/talented students titled Elements of Mathematics: Foundations . The first of these, Operational Systems, will be FREE if you enroll before January 1, 2013! What is it about? Operational Systems course covers modular arithmetic using secret codes and online games. Learn about operational systems and their properties (commutativity, associativity, neutral elements, invertibility) by building interactive machines and evaluating non-numeric operations. Get a solid introduction to the concepts of least common multiple and greatest common divisor, as well as to the geometric notions of midpoint and reflection.  It is a self-study online course, where suitably talented students are able to work independently and at their own pace while still developing a deep understanding of the material. Elements of Mat...

I have recently had the pleasure to add Make It Real Learning workbooks to my site. These books contain real-life math activities with real-life data, companies, and situations. They are written by Frank Wilson. Arithmetic I Fractions, Percents, and Decimals I Linear Functions I Calculus I Periodic and Piecewise Functions I Some examples of the topics included in these activities are: cell phone plans, autism, population growth, cooking, borrowing money, credit cards, life spans, population growth, and music downloads. But there are many more, more than I can list here. As students work through the problems, they can use the math skills and concepts they have learned in their math curriculum (such as the concept of average or graphing), and apply those to a situation from real life. Each activity-lesson in the book contains several questions about the situation, starting with basics and going into more in-depth evaluations, and should be adequate for one-two complete class periods. W...

Alcumus is a brand new online math program - currently free - by the Art of Problem Solving folks. This program is specifically designed to provide a challenging enrichment program for gifted math students. Alcumus interacts with the student and adapts to his or her level. Currently, the program contains over 1100 problems with fully worked-out solutions and over 60 video lessons. Anyone can join - whether you are just interested in exploring math a little further, or you have student who is training for some math contest, etc. However, currently one can only join the program as part of a registered class. If you are a single person, this can be a problem. Fortunately, Denise at Let's Play Math has set up a class which is open to all interested homeschoolers and self-directed learners. Please click here to find out more about joining Alcumus as part of Denise's class . Otherwise, if you have a class, just go straight to Alcumus and join there.

Today I want to highlight a blog called Math Notations by Dave Marain that specializes in math enrichment problems such as various type challenges and investigations. And they are quite good! For example, recently Dave posted a geometry problem , and even gave the answer in his post, but he asked the readers to find DIFFERENT ways to solve the problem. I encourage you to go see the problem and see how many different ways you can find to solve it! That is exactly what we can ask students too - especially if you have many students and some of them solve the original problem in no time. You can use the same problem as a basis for further investigations for them. His blog has "labels" in the sidebar, which makes it easy to find problems on a particular topic or concept.

I am leading a training next week on how to introduce grade level concepts/standards when the students are performing well below grade level, and I am sure that math is going to be an issue. Any suggestions? These are my 2 cents on teaching under-performing students. Let's imagine we have an 8th grader performing on 3rd grade perhaps. I would dismiss for starters geometry and measuring topics, and concentrate on this train of topics, in THIS ORDER: addition subtraction multiplication division fractions decimals. ... the goal being to cover the basic arithmetic up to pre-algebra. Think of mathematics as a building. You need to have the foundation building blocks before you can go forward. Maybe the child stopped understanding the math on 2nd grade or 3rd. We need to find the exact point after which he has not understood everything. You can gauge this by the way by asking the child simple questions such as, I give you an addition 8 + 2 = 10, you give me a subtraction sentence (1st...

What are the incentives needed in order to develop a positive attitude in children and other students towards mathematics? I don't think special incentives is the main factor in developing a positive attitude towards mathematics. I feel it is sufficient to get a few of the basics right, and then that alone will take care of most of it, and then students will like math just fine. Disliking math is not something that is inherent in us or in our kids. Little kids don't dislike math or numbers. They're just fine with them! This "I hate math" or "I don't like math" attitude seems to develop during school years. Now, I also don't think that children are disliking reasoning, because they're happy to do puzzles and play games where you have to think. And, students' negative attitude towards math also is NOT due to (school) math being difficult. The math we learn in school is not difficult. You don't have to be a math whiz to understa...

Resources These are some of the links I've added to my site recently. Maybe there's some that interest you. Mathopenref.com Free online textbook for high school geometry; not finished. GapMinder Visualizing human development trends (such as poverty, health, gaps, income on a global scale) via stunning, interactive statistical graphs. This is an interactive, dynamic tool and not just static graphs. Download the software or the reports for free. How to write proofs A 12-part tutorial on proof writing. Includes direct proof, proof by contradiction, proof by contrapositive, mathematical induction, if and only if, and proof strategies. Money Math Crystal clear tutorial on interest. Graph Mole A fun game about plotting points in coordinate plane. Plot points before the mole eats the vegetables. All sorts of sites to explore! But if those didn't fit your bill, if you're in need of a game or tutorial about specific math topic, check my link lists of online math resources; they...

Some of you might be interested: Recently I've had the pleasure to review a logic course by IMACS - Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science. This course is meant for the mathematically precocious middle/high schoolers. It truly is not for everyone - there is even an aptitude test before entering the course. The logic course I reviewed is the first course in the Elements of Mathematics series for gifted secondary school students. Top universities are keen on recruiting students who have studied this math curriculum. Read the review here: Introduction to Logic course (Propositional Logic) by IMACS . Tags: math , logic , gifted

This blogpost is inspired and especially written for Homeschooling Carnival, as they are having a galaxy theme. Astronomy and mathematics have always been closely related. Astronomers have always been using the latest mathematical knowledge and theories. Many mathematicians in the past have also done research in astronomy. All sciences strive to help us understand the world we live in, but astronomy does it on the largest possible scale. I have always found astronomy fascinating, and so have multitudes of other people, too. But I just wonder if mathematicians might have even a little bit stronger fascination or interest in that direction; somehow those two just seem to fit together very well. It is part of well-rounded education, I feel, to know some basics of history of astronomy. And it sure is very interesting too! What I've written below is just some thoughts on the subject of planetary orbits. Greeks believed that planets go around the earth, in circular orbits. This view was...

Recently I received the following note, I would like to bring to your attention the following new geometry textbook: "Kiselev's Geometry / Book I. Planimetry" by A.P. Kiselev, ISBN 0977985202 Publisher: Sumizdat It is an English translation and adaptation of a classical Russian textbook in plane geometry, which has served well as to several generations of students of age 13 and up, and their teachers in Russia. The English edition is intended for those students, homeschooled or not, who want to achieve a good command of elementary geometry, and learn to appreciate for its intellectual depth and beauty. More information about the book and its author is available through the publisher's webpage: www.sumizdat.org . The book is currently available at: www.sumizdat.org and Singaporemath.com . I posted this note here because some of you might be interested - a classical Russian geometry book translated into English. You can browse quite many sample pages to get an...

I added a few weblinks and books for gifted or talented students in math on the online resources list at my website.