Archive for the 'News Bits' Category

Using Math-U-See for Special Needs Learners

The Old Schoolhouse magazine has an special learners e-newsletter and quite a few readers shared how they use Math-U-See to teach their special learners.

 

What works for us is Math U See. For some reason she can understand a problem when she can see it worked out with the blocks. And she likes it! -Karen

My only daughter was severely dyslexic until about the age of 14. Though I had an older son who did fine with standard curriculum, I switched to Math U See for her and the younger children. Math U See is hands-on and encourages the student to use all learning avenues. We have found that it helps our children to understand and “see” math. When learning a new concept, we watch a video lesson; then, we use our hands to build the problem. We say the problem aloud and then write it on paper. We are involving all our senses, which is key for students to understand and “see” how math works. Even children without learning disabilities benefit from using all their senses or learning avenues. - Ladonna

About 6 months ago we started using Math U See. It is a fabulous program! My son knew none of his math facts when I began homeschooling him in January. He has learned almost all of his addition and subtraction facts 0-9 since February. My daughter has also learned her math facts quickly with this program. I would highly recommend Math-U-See to anyone,including those homeschool kids with special needs such as Autism, ADHD, and Dyslexia.

- Stephanie

Read the full post.

Florida Home Education Week

I was reading your blogs today and read a good one at Color Me Pink. 

For the second year in a row, Governor Crist has declared a Home Education Week. March 30-April 6, 2008 is Florida Home Education Week. You can view his declaration here. You know what I love best about this? Our 5th anniversary of homeschooling coincides with Home Education week! March 31, 2003 is our official homeschool starting date. We’re so avant-garde!

Read the full post here.

 Home Education Week

Click here to read the full proclamation

 

It’s neat to see home education recognized for it’s contributions to the great state of Florida.

Rep Convention fall 2007

In a few days all the Math-U-See reps (i.e. the people you see at home school fairs and talk to on the phone) will be gathering in Colorado to meet and discuss a variety of things.

Some of the topics will be…

  • How we can better serve the Math-U-See family (that means you)
  • New ideas to better teach math
  • The latest news
  • Business stuff

The rest is top secret ;-)

And we will also be hanging out and having fun, I’ll post up some pictures when I get back.

Our last MUS family photo

*************************************

Here is where you come in.

If you…

  • Have any comments for the reps
  • Have a topic that you think we should address
  • Have an idea for Math-U-See

leave a comment or email me ethan@mathusee.com and we will talk about it.

We would love to hear from you :-)

2008 Practical Homeschooling Reader Awards

Math-U-See has been nominated for all 5 math categories in the 2008 Practical Homeschooling reader awards.

  1. Elementary Math
  2. Geometry
  3. Algebra
  4. Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus
  5. Math Drill (MUS Drill Sheets)

Last year Math-U-See was voted #1 in every category.  Let’s see if we can do it two years in a row :-)

Click here and go cast your ballot 

All ballots must be completed and received before November 15, 2007

Oh and they are giving away a prize! A copy of Ussher’s The Annals of the World.

Vote now 

Math-UK-See

A few days ago my dad returned from the U.K. where he had (among other things) given a Math-U-See demonstration to a group of homeschoolers in the United Kingdom. He also met with our new U.K. representative Deborah Jenkins. You may know her from her blog which I posted a portion of here.

Here are some pictures.

UK Bloggers
A live Demme-stration :-)

Several of the attendees knew each other via each other’s blogs and this was the first time they had met in person.

UK Bloggers
If you are in this picture leave a comment :-)

UK Bloggers
Steve and Deborah

For all you homeschoolers in the United Kingdom here is how you can get in touch with Math-U-See in the UK

Deborah Jenkins
Phone: 07788-888-032
30 Broomfield Lane
Mattersey Thorpe
South Yorkshire
DN10 5EJ
blog

Welcome Deborah and congrats on being the first Math-U-See representative blogger :-)

And if you want to read Steve’s report of the trip click here

Math-U-See Sweeps Awards!

Each year, the Practical Homeschooling magazine features the Reader Awards. Awards are based on a survey where the readers rated homeschool curriculum on a 1-10 scale for product quality.

Math-U-See
has won many of these awards in the past and this year, we won awards in EVERY category we were entered in. Without further ado here are the award categories.

Elementary Math
First Place – Math-U-See Elementary math modules

Geometry
First Place
– Math-U-See Geometry

Algebra
First Place
– Math-U-See Algebra 1&2

Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus
First Place
– Math-U-See Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry

Math Drill
First Place
– Math-U-See Drill Sheets

Also in the latest issue of Practical Homeschooling you will find an interview with Steve Demme (a.k.a my dad) giving a history and overview of Math-U-See.
So thanks for voting Math-U-See as the #1 Homeschool Math program. It’s great to get feedback letting us know that we are on the right track.

To see other awards that Math-U-See has recieved click here.

Math News

I recently found this article in the Seattle Times.

The article highlights the new “Curriculum Focal Points” introduced in 2006 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). This article points out the change in direction by saying, “The council’s advice is striking because in 1989 it touched off the so-called math wars by promoting open-ended problem-solving over drilling. Back then, it recommended that students as young as those in kindergarten use calculators in class.”

The new “Curriculum Focal Points” focus on mastering basic math skills. Here is what the article had to say:

“According to their report, ‘Curriculum Focal Points,’ which is subtitled ‘A Quest for Coherence,’ students, by second grade, should ‘develop quick recall of basic addition facts and related subtraction facts.’ By fourth grade, the report says, students should be fluent with ‘multiplication and division facts’ and should start working with decimals and fractions. By fifth grade, they should know the ’standard algorithm’ for division — in other words, long division — and should start adding and subtracting decimals and fractions. By sixth grade, students should be moving on to multiplication and division of fractions and decimals. By seventh and eighth grades, they should use algebra to solve linear equations.”

To read the full article click here.

I found the article fascinating because the “new” focal points were the same ones that my math teacher focused on when I learned math. In 1989 when the so-called “fuzzy math” was introduced I was being taught at home using Math-U-See which I didn’t find “fuzzy” at all :-) Let’s take a look at Math-U-See’s “focal points.”

Alpha & Beta - Addition & Subtraction

Gamma & Delta - Multiplication & Division

Epsilon & Zeta - Fractions, Decimals & Percents

Pre-Algebra & Algebra - Solving for the unknown etc.

To see the full curriculum sequence click here.
I just found the correlation to be interesting. Math-U-See’s method for teaching math for over 15 years is what the NCTM is just now reccommending.

What do you think?