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How to use SCM living math with my curriculum
- This topic has 38 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 1 month ago by
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Katie,
I’m so sorry I didn’t get back to your questions sooner. I hope you are doing well. What did you find regarding TT’s scope & sequences?
Yes, Charlotte’s PNUSchools did have maths rotating through the week. I think this would definitely cut down on the amount of review necessary for those taking that full year “off” from Algebra before entering Algebra II that we see in the US. One way I think people could go about it –if they start their student in Algebra traditionally as is done in high school here– would be to have a 30-minute Practical Geometry lesson once a week and Algebra the other four days. After a year of that then Formal Geometry would ensue for two days a week and Algebra would continue. It would really depend on the textbooks chosen and someone’s four-year-plan for high school.
The math books which I was looking at are the “Principles of Mathematics Book 1 & 2.” If someone wanted their child to work mainly on their own then it would be used for the two years prior to a high school Algebra course but it would entail a lot of reading. It makes an excellent teaching manual for someone teaching their child whether or not she was strong in math and it has an accelerated rate of study for quicker completion or a normal timeline. Captain ideas are presented and I appreciate the author’s Biblical worldview and find her quite engaging as well. Charlotte might have found it verbose but I understand that the author has written it with home schooled students working on their own in mind.
Best,
Richele
Hi Richele, thank you for your post. My son is really at the beginning of addition and subtraction. He has done the first two books of LOF and he did like it when he did it, but I have always felt like I wanted a little more with it. He has figured some things out mentally with money and he knows how to count some money, but still needs to learn to make change. I had read all of the posts with this thread and I looked up the Strayer Upton books and I think this is something we could do. Would I start out in the first one with what he is already doing with math? I do want to purchase your book and dvd’s as well to do along with it. I don’t mind at all sitting with my son for 30 minutes a day and being consistent. He catches on really quickly with things so I think he would do well. I feel awful that he is this far behind in the 8th grade. I had bad experiences with math as a child and all the way through high school (circumstances that were beyond my control between abusive teachers and a bad home life and so I have struggled with teaching math and being afraid that I couldn’t do it right, so I put it off and now I’m very overwhelmed and ashamed that I have done this. This is very hard for me to reach out for help and your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Good morning simplemom,
As you embark on this living math journey fear will most likely try to come along for the ride but that doesn’t mean you have to hand the wheel over to it.
Please know I recognize that your asking for help on a forum cost you something but my hope is you will be rewarded in ways unimaginable. Perhaps we had the same math teachers in school as I am a recovered mathophobia poster child. I don’t want you to stay bound to the feelings you’ve described. To help keep myself unstuck, I keep a little quote from Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” taped to my calendar, Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.
I do think Strayer-Upton “Practical Arithmetics – First Book” (the red one) would be a good starting point. It retails for about $15. Your son may make the transition from concrete to mental imagining to that abstract stage quickly or he may not as we are each different. It will be important not to rush to get him “through.”
If you wish, you may find me on social media where you may direct message me. I am on Instagram as rbaburina where I post on Charlotte Mason and mathematics.
School is starting here.
Peace x 1000,
Richele
Thank you Richele, your kind words of encouragement mean a lot to me. And you have been so helpful. I know that you’re an answer to my prayers. I hope to be an encouragement to others someday. Thank you for your time. I am already following you on Instagram. 🙂
Hi Richele
No worries as I’ve been MIA for a couple weeks lol
As far as the TT scope & sequence it does look like their Pre Algebra is a review & that we could just go to Algebra I.
Honestly, I haven’t made a decision which curriculum we will do. But I have decided that we be do the rotating math in high school and that I want to follow CM method in math & in all of our ‘learning’!
I was looking at the Principals of Mathematics books a few months ago as well. It would be great for my boys to do together & then three of us could come together for discussions.
Thank you again for being so willing to help❤
Hi Katie,
I’ve noted some pros and cons but don’t see my post now. We are currently traveling so will rewrite it upon return.
Best,
Richele
Hi Katie,
I hope those twins are keeping you all on your toes!
So, “Principles of Mathematics” has its pros and cons for a Charlotte Mason education. Katherine Loop has an amazing heart for the Lord and a heart to have math seen in its rightful place. Sometimes connections are made for the student that I believe Charlotte would have wanted the student to arrive at himself. Pages in a textbook that did that would have been skipped initially and reviewed only after the students had made discoveries and voiced them in their own words. Since this occurred at the beginning of each new chapter it was easy for PNUS teachers to omit those pages initially. The PoM books aren’t structured in the same way making it more difficult to do that. Charlotte also fully expected students to come to a place of awe and wonder when faced with the immutable laws found in mathematics while PoM reiterates this to the student throughout. It’s a similar thought to the hours in the out of doors where the mother would only give a word here or there regarding the wonders of the universe related to God rather than continually stating the case. I understand why Ms. Loop does it though.
On the other-hand, Ms. Loop takes the time to present those “captain ideas” which are so dear in a CM education. Everything is also presented with its practical application so math isn’t seen as merely an intellectual pursuit. If using these texts, students would most likely never ask “Why should I learn this?” since its practical uses are shown every step of the way. Additionally, the books are structured to include some mental math, things like keeping a checkbook register and organizing data, are up-to-date (including things like base 16-hexadecimal and binary numbers), and include principles of geometry and algebra so you wouldn’t have to rotate between texts.
The books are extremely thorough. The author is a homeschool graduate and writes with the home schooled student who may be self-directing in mind. We’ve never used a reading heavy textbook so I don’t know how a student would respond. Anyhow, please know that this isn’t a formal review but are my thoughts after spending some time with it. Yours?
Best,
Richele
Hi Richele
Lol the twins do keep us on our toes for sure & we love it! My husband said to me just the other night, ‘I still can’t believe we have twins!’ ❤
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I should have been more clear, I don’t own PoM. When I said I had been looking at it I just meant – online descriptions & reviews. I am a huge researcher, need loads of info before a purchase lol But I will say: 1. I am extremely intrigued but the way she views & presents math – from God, His order/consistency here on earth…1+1=2 will always be! 2. The “Why” to mathematics, how it relates in real life, would be interesting to my boys as they have asked many times, “Mom, why am I learning this, how will I use it later?” 3. Mental math 4. Conversational style 5. No need to purchase ‘other’ maths – geometry, algebra – it is all there!</p>
I have so much to learn about CM methods so your incite on how PoM aligns with them is incredibly helpful!
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