Archive for June, 2006

Ohio Adventures

written by
ethan
at June 22, 2006

Thursday, at the crack of noon, a trio of my Math-U-See comrades will depart and fly into Columbus, Ohio for the Christian Home Educators of Ohio Convention. Once there, the three of us, Steve Demme, Peter Anderson and myself, will be spending time at the Math-U-See booth to answer questions and help out the Ohio Math-U-See Representatives.

I will also be taking a survey of Math-U-See users to help us better understand and serve them. If you see any of us, say “hi”, and check back here in a few days for the report of our Ohio Adventures. You may even find a picture of yourself.

in Convention Reports. 2 Comments

Making a Difference

written by
ethan
at June 22, 2006

Today’s Math-U-See Highlight is of one of our employees, Peter Anderson.

Peter’s official title is “High Tech Guru”, and his job description is matched by his many talents. Not only does he maintain the website, but he also answers the phones, tutors students with questions over the phone, creates solution tables for the books and puts them into the form needed to go to print.

Peter Desk

The “High Tech Guru” in his natural habitat.

I got to ask Peter a few questions about his life at Math-U-See. To start off, I asked a question that I think is very important.

Do you like cheese? He replied, “Yes, especially Wensleydale. I’m a Wallace and Gromit fan, so I thought, that is something I’d like to try, so I tried it and liked it.”

I asked him about what project he has been working on recently and he replied, “There is an ongoing project with the worksheet generator. I am starting with the Alpha book, and going through Pre-Algebra, creating modules so the user can select different kinds of problems. It’s a project that I started several months ago, and I work on it when I find the time.”

The worksheet page randomly generates 12 - 20 problems that can be printed out and given to the student as a worksheet. Answer keys can be printed as well. To see and use the worksheet generator for yourself just click here.

A typical day at the office for Peter is not always typical. Upon his arrival, he checks his e-mail and phone messages, some from students with math-related questions. After successfully solving the problems of the world, he then goes on to what needs to be done next. If there is an urgent project, such as the drill pages or the worksheet generator, he devotes the rest of this day to that. Sometimes before doing so, he has to do his homework and research needed information. He also tracks the web statistics and answers the phone.

Peter Phone

Helping with a Math problem.

I asked Peter if he found his job to be rewarding, and he said,
“I think there are a couple of things. One is the joy of teaching, the joy of sharing something I know with others, but what comes with that is the challenge of being able to effectively communicate something they don’t know, and using language that will accomplish that. I know that over time I am making a difference.”

Peter lives out in Amish country with his wife of sixteen years, and his three children, Drew (15) Cameron (13) and Nicole (9). The kids help put together the block sets for Math-U-See, and Debbie, his wife, is taking classes to get her certificate in counseling. They attend the Lancaster Christian Missionary Alliance Church. Peter also is the founder of White Stone Ministries, where along with the ministry he also does website design.

I asked Peter if he had anything else to add, and this is what he said,
“I mentioned something about how rewarding it is to know that I am making a difference in someone else’s life, and I have to add that working here has made a profound difference in my life as well”.

Not only is Peter the High Tech Web Guru, but he is also the math question guru, the phone answering guru, the father guru, and the husband guru. And, he continues to learn more so he can maintain his guru status.

If you need support with any of the Math-U-See books click here.

in Math-U-See Highlight. 6 Comments

What people are saying…

written by
ethan
at June 13, 2006

There are many great things that I can say about Math-U-See but instead I will let a few Math-U-See users say them for me. Here are a few recent testimonials…

A homeschool mom from Ohio wrote to us and said,

“THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! After trying 4 different (very popular) math programs, and countless hours of tears we tried Math-U-See with my 11 year old dd. We decided to start from the beginning with Alpha. We didn’t hold to a strict schedule so its taken us a total of 9 months to get from there to the end of Delta. I think we could have gotten done sooner but we moved at dad’s pace. Dad loves Math U See and wished he had this back when he was in school.
Within a few months she has grasped the concepts and actually thinks division is easier than multiplication!
I wasn’t willing to spend the money when I first started homeschooling… but it is so worth it! This has truly been the best investment!”

Here is one from a homeschool mom in North Carolina, she writes,

“My daughter, who has a learning disability, has struggled with multiplication for 3 years. She disliked math so much that she would often fall asleep when it was time to do her math! We bought Math-U-See in early March at a conference & have made it through lesson 9 so far. Last week, my daughter was asked what subject she was best at, and imagine my surprise when she said ‘Math’! Thank you SO much for helping me help my daughter to finally understand multiplication! We’ll be using your program from here on out!”

And one of my favorites came all the way from Texas with this to say,

“I wanted you to know that I pulled our daughter out of a private school half way through 4th grade where she was using [another math program]. When I began teaching her I realized she was getting straight A’s but understood nothing!! I went from curriculum to curriculum with no success. I finally gave in and bought one last curriculum, yours. She loves it and is finally getting it. She is in 7th grade and we have gone through Epsilon, Zeta & Pre-Algebra in 1/2 a year. She really gets it now and is doing great!!! She has asked to continue this with Algebra & etc. Thanks so much from a mom who was thoroughly frustrated! This has been great, and there is no comparison.”If you have a testimonial that you would like to share e-mail it to me at…

ethan@mathusee.com

in What people are saying.... 0 Comments

Product Highlight… Stewardship

written by
ethan
at June 13, 2006

Our Product Highlight for today is the Stewardship series,
Stewardship Math is written as a father giving advice to his sons, it contains 38 devotions and 30 lessons covering a variety of math applications in the life of a consumer.

Stewardship comprises 3 books, the Teacher Manual, Student Text and Devotionals. The Teacher manual and student text contain 30 lessons on a variety of topics from checking, to comparison shopping, to the cost of operating a car, to maintaining your home. The Devotional has 38 lessons on financial principles based on the word of God.

Here is a sampling of chapters from the Stewardship teacher manual…

  • Earning Money
  • Percent
  • Taxes
  • Banking
  • Checking
  • Interest
  • Budgeting
  • Percents at the Store
  • Credit Cards
  • Comparison Shopping
  • Evaluating Phone Plans
  • Best Value/Best Price
  • Large Ticket Purchases
  • Automobiles, Purchase

here are some chapters from the Stewardship devotional…

  • Prayer
  • Proverbs
  • Faithful Steward
  • God and Mammon
  • Loving God or Loving Yourself
  • Trusting God and Being Content
  • Your Heart and Your Treasure
  • Health, Wealth and Prosperity
  • Honoring God
  • Glorifying God
  • Church Workers

To order your own Stewardship books click here

For a sample from the Stewardship Teacher book click here

To see sample lessons from the devotional book click here

in Product Highlights. 1 Comment

Math-U-See user highlight…

written by
ethan
at June 13, 2006

The Mike and Beth Novak family.
The Novaks have been using Math-U-See for 10 years and have six children: Annie (19), Mikey (17), Becky (14), Chris (14), Emily (11) and Isaac (7). The Novaks live in beautiful Lancaster County where Mike works… [find out info here or take out]

Temperatures were pressing 90 degrees as I pulled up to the Novak house and got out of my car. I was about to have an enjoyable time finding out how they used Math-U-See, I had to hurry though because they were headed to a friends house to go swimming soon and I didn’t want to cut into pool time :-) I smiled as I approached the door as I could hear the commotion of dishes being put away as they cleared the counters for the “visitor”

I asked Beth a few questions about Math-U-See and what she enjoyed about using it. She said that she enjoyed, “Steve’s Jokes, I like how he explains things, he makes it fun and he makes it simple and if you don’t understand it you don’t have to feel like an idiot and ask someone to tell you again, you can just rewind it, go back and watch it again.”

I also asked her how she usually teaches Math-U-See and how she manages all the “students” She told me that, “It’s different for every child, with Isaac I teach him with the manipulatives, we watch the video together, we do the work pages together and I let him do some on his own. With the older kids they watch the video, some of them read the teachers manual, they take the tests and they grade the tests, it’s self taught and if they don’t understand something I go watch the lesson with them and go from there.” While we were talking Isaac started building a “block tower”


A firm foundation in math

I also asked the kids how long they spent doing math every day and they all responded at the same time with several answers, Chris stated matter of factly that he only spent 10 minutes a day doing math. This statement produced many clarifications from his siblings and mother about what he “really” did and how he actually would skip math for a week then spend an entire day catching up and that it may average out to 10 minutes :-) Chris enjoys the outdoors and riding his skateboard.


Math on the go…

A lonely math book left for more interesting activites

Becky thought for a minute and said that she usually spends between 30 and 45 minutes a day doing her math and that she does her math at her desk in her room.

Emily said she only spends 10 minutes a day as well and her siblings interjected saying that if she went slower she would get more right answers. Emily enjoys doing her math outside when it’s nice out and in her room when it’s not.

Enjoying the outdoors

Not to be outdone little Isaac proclaimed, “I can do a math page in under a minute”. We may never know what the actual times are but we do know that they have fun and enjoy plenty of sibling competition.

In response to Isaac’s grand math page claim Beth told me a story about Isaac and his math pages, “One day I went through and Isaac was doing his skip counting facts, he had put down, “6_12_18_24_B_D” so I asked him, ‘why do you have the B and the D there?’ and he said, ‘well Mr. Demme said if you don’t know the number then just put in a letter’” If you ever meet Isaac you will agree with me when I say that Beth definitely has her hands full with keeping track of him.


Where on decimal street does this house belong?

I asked Beth about using Math-U-See with her now graduated kids and she said, “We’ve worked from the original yellow book (Foundations) all the way up, Annie’s gone through Trigonometry. Mikey graduated this year and has finished Algebra 2 but he is going to do the rest of the books next year and not go to college so when he takes the AP test he can do as best as he can. It’s a cheap way to get a good background in Math”


Beth, Emily, Chris, Becky and Isaac in front of their house

Many thanks to the Novaks for letting me take a peek into the real life adventure of a homeschool family.

If you would like to be a featured user on the Math-U-See blog please e-mail me at ethan@mathusee.com

If you think you are a better block architect than Isaac and would like a picture of your block creation on the blog email me at ethan@mathusee.com

in User Highlights. 0 Comments

News Bits

written by
ethan
at June 9, 2006

While reading the news today I found this interesting article in the Smoky Mountain Sentinel

the article is titled, “Math Moves Speed Skating Star” and is an interview with Apolo Anton Ohno. Ohno is an Olympic speed skater who is promoting the MathMovesU program and talks to middle school students about math, how it can be fun and be useful even in a vocation like speed skating.

The Sentinel’s Time For Kids reporter India asked these questions,

How do you use math in speed skating?

OHNO: We use it every day. Counting laps, counting speed and distance, calculating angles. A lot of angles are being used in speed skating to see what’s the fastest way to skate. Math is used just about every single day.

Do you enjoy math?

OHNO: I do. For me, I’m one of those guys that has to do math every day for me to be really good at it. Sometimes when I take a break, I start to fade a little bit, but I think math is an important part of every career.

To read the rest of the article from the Smoky Mountain Sentinel click here

If you have any Math related news e-mail me ethan@mathusee.com

in News Bits. 1 Comment

Drill Sheets!

written by
ethan
at June 8, 2006

Ever need just a few more practice problem? Look no further, we now have ONLINE DRILL SHEETS!!!
Fully customizable math drill sheets that you can use, just enter what subject, addition, multiplication etc. then enter which number sets you need, click start and off you go. 20 problems will be randomly generated and all you have to do is enter the correct answer and hit enter. If you answer incorrectly a pop up will show you the correct answer. After the 20 questions are up it will tell you how many you got right and how fast it took you to complete the drill.

Click here to visit the online drill page and try it out for yourself.
To see a list of all the online tools click here.

in Website Features. 0 Comments