Denver on a Budget (with kids!)

Our most recent road trip took us through Colorado. While we splurged on a few unique activities, our pockets aren’t bottomless. Thankfully, Denver came through as a great place to explore without breaking the bank. I hope you find some of these suggestions and reviews to be helpful!

We didn’t end up visiting the capitol, but that’s one more place you could tour for free during the week.

Review of Elements of Mathematics: Foundations

About two years ago, Peatie hit a wall in math. He had been using and enjoying Art of Problem Solving materials for years, completing Beast Academy 3-5 and (to my surprise) enjoying the hefty tome that is AoPS PreAlgebra. But partway through the Intro to Algebra book, something just wasn’t clicking: some chapters he could breeze through with ease, while others just didn’t seem to make sense for him.

Of course, I did what any sane homeschooling parent would do: I panicked. Peatie has loved math since the time he first discovered that he could count his fingers, and back in kindergarten he was clear enough on his preferences to inform me, “I want HARD math, Mommy!” In fact, math is one of the few areas in his life where he seems to thrive on challenge–but he was no longer thriving with the challenge of Art of Problem Solving, and my math skills were too rusty to be of much help. But the general consensus of everyone on the internet is that if you want your kid to have the best, most challenging math, AoPS is the way to go. I was clearly failing my child!

In the midst of this weeks-long panic, I somehow ran across a mention of the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) and their challenging middle school curricula, Elements of Mathematics: Foundations. I could find very little information about the course, but what little I found seemed promising. Noting that the first course (of 18, intended to cover a three-year period) was offered for free, I thought I’d let Peatie try it out. He loved it!

Here’s a sample screenshot from somewhere in the middle of the second year of material, just so you can get an idea of the format of the program.

For the past two years now, Peatie has been working through EMF courses. Since I still rarely see these mentioned online, I thought maybe someone would benefit from a review of them.

EMF consists of 18 courses of varying lengths, intended to take a middle school student through what’s traditionally considered Prealgebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, and Precalculus over the course of three years.

There are a few downsides to this curricula:

1. While there are in-person classes for those local to IMACS, most of the world would be accessing these classes via the internet. You need a reliable internet connection with speed adequate for downloading the videos in order to do this course. If your internet goes down, you’re outta luck.
2. The symbols and terminology used in this program are so vastly different than those in traditional math classes that parents will likely be able to offer very little help if their student is stuck. Sometimes my son simply needs me to stand in the room as a sounding board, and sometimes I can offer suggestions like, “Why don’t you start over? There’s a chance you made a mistake that you aren’t noticing.” Other than that, I’m not much use. There is a help forum available, and many questions have a little “?” icon with past students’ questions and the suggestions offered to them, but some kids might find this to be too little direct assistance if they’re used to a solution manual or the possibility of parent assistance.
3. Because this program is so different from others, there’s no way to start midway through the program. Every student must start from the very first course. This caused me some hesitation: Peatie had already completed a very solid Prealgebra course and was most of the way through what would be considered Algebra 1. It felt like I would be consigning him to repeat old material and generally slowing his progress by having him start over. I eventually came to my senses, reminding myself that education isn’t a race and it would be far better for him to repeat material and know it very well than to rush ahead just so he could complete Calculus as a high school freshman (and why?). For all my agonizing, he had no complaints about what he was doing. Despite the fact that the first courses he was taking were part of a “Pre-Algebra Plus Course Pack,” the approach and scope were so vastly different from what he’d been doing (with titles like “Operational Systems,” “Ordered n-Tuples,” and “Number Theory”) that it didn’t feel at all like repetition.
4. The pacing for this program is a challenge. Though you know how many courses they expect you to complete in a traditional school year, some courses are much longer or more complex than others, so being halfway through the courses might not mean that you’re halfway through the curriculum. For the first year, IMACS offers a week-by-week progress guide to help the students pace themselves. After that, however, there’s no more guidance offered. While I realize that it’s wonderful to work at your own pace, it’s nice to have some idea how long the course creators expect the material to take. Particularly since my son is a slow worker who is easily side-tracked by his ADHD, it’s nice to have a goal to help him stay on track (and give me an idea whether those three pages took him all week because the problems were especially hard or because he got distracted by the graphing process).
5. It’s not inexpensive. Currently the courses are listed at $60 apiece, which adds up in a hurry; HOWEVER, you can save a lot by buying a “Course Pack,” which bundles all the courses for one year into a single purchase. (The first year, made of Courses 1-9, rings up at $360, while the next two years are around $250 each.) That said, if you’re considering getting instructional help for AoPS, even their self-paced courses are $460 per semester–not including textbooks–at which point $350 per year doesn’t sound so bad.

Those were the drawbacks: now for the positives of EMF.

1. It’s less expensive than many of the alternatives. I researched online AoPS instruction, both from AoPS itself and from other providers, and I couldn’t find classes from institutions I’d heard of for less than $800/year. (I did find an obscure provider offering $25/month classes, but I was concerned about paying $200–plus the cost of the book–for an instructor I knew nothing about.) Local math tutors offered services starting at $25/hour. Again, even $350 sounded like a bargain compared to the alternatives.
2. It’s challenging. My son is thriving because EMF is stretching him to think of math in new ways, and he’s loving it. Though AoPS is an excellent program, it’s not the only amazing program out there.
3. It’s fun. While EMF has a lot of text, similar to AoPS, there are also silly little videos (okay, mostly audio) featuring students and a professor discussing the concepts that are being taught. My son enjoys the humor these characters add to the learning process, and he gets a kick out of the fact that he can “level up” as he learns. In addition, EMF sprinkles in silly problems (similar to AoPS) and offers interactive elements so you can better visualize the math you’re doing. (The one downside: sometimes my ADHD son gets so into testing different things with these interactive models that he completely loses track of time.)
4. Remember how I mentioned that I couldn’t really help my son with math because the symbols and terminology are so different? While that’s a drawback, it’s also a positive. Because he can’t expect me to rush over and clarify, Peatie has had to become a little more independent. For a child who loves my apron strings, this has been great. He’s learned to re-read confusing passages, look up terms in the index, re-work incorrect problems, and check out the help forum–all skills that will serve him well as he faces challenging courses in the future. And the fact that he’s experienced success in problem-solving has bolstered his confidence that he can do this on his own.
5. It seems to be effectively developing his understanding of math. I have my kids take a standardized test each year to make sure they’re comfortable with the format of major tests and give me information about their strengths and weaknesses. Last year I had Peatie take the MAP Algebra 1 test, figuring that even though he was still finishing Pre-Algebra in EMF, he’d already taken most of Algebra 1 through AoPS. This year I was scratching my head at what to do: I didn’t feel like he should re-take the Algebra 1 test that he’d done well on, but he technically hadn’t completed the Algebra 1 material in EMF and hadn’t even touched on Geometry yet. In the end, I signed him up for Algebra 2 and told him to do his best and not worry about it. He scored in the 98th percentile on the test, despite technically still being in the middle of Algebra 1.

Well, that’s all that I can think of for now. I hope that this report is helpful to someone else who is looking for a challenging math alternative to AoPS.

Family Book Club 2021-2022: Traveling Through World History

We continued our weekly family book club this year to keep exposing the kids to books they might not otherwise choose to read, and I once again worked to find books that (sort of) matched what we were studying in history and worked well for all three of my kids as far as interest/length/content were concerned. (This year they were in 7th, 6th, and 4th grades by age.)

This year we did a world history overview, so I tried to find books from all over the world in all different periods of history. I browsed book lists and read reviews and tried to find stories that were reasonably authentic and hadn’t aged poorly if they were older books. Some eras in history and parts of the world don’t have as many stories available, so that made for an interesting family conversation, as well. Since I had such a long list, a few of these turned into family read-alouds instead of book club books. Here are the books we read this year and our general opinion of them:

Homeschooling: There Is No One Right Way

“We want our children to learn independence and responsibility.  By age seven, they were each required to develop and execute a business plan so they could begin to earn money that they could then use to practice money management skills.”

“We want our children to learn compassion.  We took in a family that was homeless, and they lived with us for nearly a year.  We make it a priority to seek out those who need support, and we often campaign to raise money to help individuals and families that are in need.”

“We want our kids to have a rigorous education that prepares them for whatever they decide to do as adults.  We choose our curriculum very carefully, ensuring that we cover all subject areas thoroughly, and we always demand excellence from the kids, whether in academics or extracurriculars.  We want them to reach their full potential.”

“We want our daughter to develop healthy habits.  We make sure she’s engaged in some sort of athletic activity for at least thirty minutes a day, and we encourage her to play at least one sport each season.  And of course we definitely emphasize healthy eating: we never eat fast food, and we buy only organic food for our home.”

“We want to encourage our children’s personal passions, letting them take the lead in their educational experience.  In today’s society, creative thinking and the ability to problem-solve are key factors to success, and traditional school methods are not the best way to develop those skills; instead, we entrust the kids with taking responsibility for their own education, with us as partners rather than dictators.”

These are paraphrased, but all of these are sentiments that have been expressed to me in conversation with other homeschoolers.  They reflect different priorities and choices, but all of them have one thing in common: they come from parents who clearly love their children and have given thought to the values they wish to prioritize in their home.

Homeschooling is a bit like Common Core math: there are many legitimate ways to go about solving a problem.  Unlike Common Core math, you you aren’t required to try them all!  There is no one right way to homeschool.  The right way for your family will have much to do with your family’s personality and priorities–and that’s a good thing.  Society will be stronger for having many people with different priorities and strengths.  So admire your friends for following their passions while you play to your own strengths.  Don’t worry about whether your methods look the same, worry about the end result: you’re all aiming to raise kids who turn out to be well-adjusted and responsible members of society, whatever their specific passion may be.

2021-2022 Curriculum

I can’t believe that it’s this time of year already! I feel like this past year, insane and limited as it was, flew by. I’ve had a hard time choosing curriculum for this coming year: I want it to be rigorous since my older two are in middle school, but I still want them to enjoy learning. Add to that the fact that I’m not sure what extracurriculars are going to be available to us because of the ever-changing nature of this pandemic, and I’m not sure how much at-home vs. on-the-go time to plan on. But I’ve done my best, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

A Different Perspective on Chores

The other day as she was getting out the vacuum, Goobie said to me, “I bet you’re glad you had kids so we can help you clean, right, Mom?” While it is lovely that my children are old enough to make significant contributions to the household chores, “helping me clean” (shockingly) is not actually at the top of the list of reasons why I had children–let alone why I assign my kids to do chores. So why do I see chores as a valuable necessity for kids? I believe that having regular household chores does the following:

• Teaches life skills.
• Teaches responsibility.
• Contributes to the family’s feeling of team spirit and each individual’s sense of pride in the home.

Why is it that kids are most excited about helping to clean when they’re least competent at it–or when it’s not required of them?

Though I think chores are important, I’ve sometimes struggled with the execution of that principle. When my kids were very small, I made them chore charts: a little slider to move from “To Do” to “Done!” to show that they had remembered to clear their dishes, put their laundry down the chute, and pick up their toys before bed. But after their initial excitement, I found that I was forever having to remind them to do their chores, and often I found it easier to pick up the dirty clothing myself than to get their attention, indicate what needed doing, and endure the whining while they did it. Making sure your kids actually do their chores takes work!

Eventually, those basic chores became second nature, and I felt the kids were ready to learn more ways to contribute to the family, but I again struggled with execution. Should chores happen daily or weekly? Should each child be assigned one set of chores, or should they be allowed to choose from a list? Should chores be done at a certain time, or should the kids have the freedom to choose when to do them? After several false starts, we’ve settled on a system that has now served our family well for several years. While it now needs some expanding so they learn new, more complicated skills, here’s what has worked for us.

Family Book Club 2020-2021: The Flavor of the U.S. for Middle Grades

To be honest, I’ve never loved the idea of teaching a “Literature” class.  I’ve done it as a brick-and-mortar school teacher, since it was required of me, but I always felt a bit as if I was killing the story for everyone by asking them to analyze every aspect of every chapter as they went.  There’s definitely a place for literary analysis, but I don’t think it should hinder that first-read-through enjoyment.

Up until this year in our homeschool, I haven’t had any required reading.  I’ve wanted my kids to read for enjoyment and to grow naturally as readers–and subsequently, as writers and thinkers, since reading teaches you to write and expands your world.  There were long stretches of time when one or another of my kids didn’t do much reading at all.  Though if I’m being fair, that’s not strictly true: they simply weren’t reading formally.  They’d obsess over video game Wiki pages, write notes to their siblings and read the responses, browse magazines I’d left open on the counter, reminisce by reading through a long-loved picture book, or giggle up a storm at one of the cartoon anthologies my husband and I have from days of yore.  So they were reading, but I bit my fingernails wondering if they were doing enough.  You know how that goes?

At this point, my twelve-year-old is re-reading the Septimus Heap series at top speed, having recently read through every Rick Riordan book ever written. My eleven-year-old has transitioned from a Rick Riordan obsession to a memoir/biography obsession.  My nine-year-old is still in the eclectic reading phase: he’ll pore over military encyclopedias, read Calvin & Hobbes until he’s practically got the anthology memorized, devour elementary nonfiction on topics that fascinate him, and make his way through picture books of the long-and-difficult variety.  Most importantly to me, all three of my kids see reading as something they enjoy and pursue of their own volition.

Here are some of the books we read this past year. (A couple more were borrowed from friends or are currently loaned out to others.)

This past year, however, I decided it was time to help them stretch beyond the bounds of their natural inclinations.  There are SO MANY good books out there that my kids weren’t reading: either the cover art wasn’t exciting, the genre didn’t appeal, or the text looked too intimidating.  Thus, the Family Book Club was born.  Okay, okay, so ‘Love isn’t participating since we meet while he’s working, but hey, ⅘ isn’t bad, right?

The Fun Friday Factor

As our school year started several years ago, I found our calendar swamped with fun activities.  Hikes, homeschool day at the zoo, special events at museums, tickets to a play…  Almost every Friday was booked with some activity or another.

Rather than trying to adjust my lesson plans to accommodate the occasional Friday at home, I decided to plan on four-day work weeks.  Any Friday that we were at home would be deemed a Fun Friday, a day for hauling out educational games, watching School House Rock or viewing favorite YouTube videos again (Periodic Table song, anyone?), working on puzzles, writing stories, playing math games on the computer or tablet, and accomplishing all those fun-but-time-consuming projects that never seem to fit into the regular work week.

Can you guess what day is my kids’ favorite weekday?  Everyone loves Fun Friday, and they enjoy it whether we’re on a field trip with friends (ah, those were the days!) or staying home and doing those bonus activities they treasure so much.  Now that they’re older, Fun Friday has morphed into something a little less playful, but it has kept its original feel.

I Laid an Egg on Aunt Ruth’s Head: Language Arts Curriculum Review

I Laid an Egg on Aunt Ruth’s Head: Conquering English and Its Ruthless Ways is the best language arts program you’ve never heard of. Featuring rollicking tales of the narrator and his wacky Great-Aunt Ruth, author Joel Schnoor manages to make the nit-picky details of the English language both engaging and memorable.

Aunt Ruth is surprisingly effective for grammar instruction. Read on for more information.

Rex Barks vs. Drawing Sentences: Curriculum Review for Sentence Diagramming Resources

My kids have studied their parts of speech year after year (albeit with different curricula each time), so I wanted to do something different than they’ve been doing. I had loved doing sentence diagrams as a kid, and I thought my kids might like it, as well. Goobie loves puzzles and organizing, and I’ve read that diagramming appeals to mathy types as well, which Peatie certainly is. Besides, I found it helpful to be able to visualize how sentences fit together, which helped me especially when reading very dense college-level texts.

I did quite a bit of searching online and rejected numerous options due to being too simplistic, not offering enough explanation or practice, or being awfully short for the price charged. I narrowed it down to Rex Barks: Diagramming Sentences Made Easy and Drawing Sentences: A Guide to Diagramming. Both books were roughly $30 on Amazon. Since Rex Barks offered a view of some inside pages, I initially decided to try it instead of Drawing Sentences, which had no “see inside” feature.

These are the two sentence diagramming books we tried using this year. Read on for our thoughts on each of them.