Does math have to get boring during the teen years?

It's time for another "Homeschool High School Carnival" topic.  I'm excited!  I really enjoy maths, but I'm not claiming to be an expert by any means.  I just like playing with numbers and trying to make sense of it.

I also enjoy teaching my children math, especially if it's about pulling together manipulatives or finding a really interesting story that involves a math concept.  If the children don't understand a concept, I run through all the saved links I have on teaching through living books ... and then do the same when they DO understand the concept so they can see it applied to other situations.

The topic for discussion is:

Math in High School.... What does your highschoolers math program look like?  What influenced your choices/selection?

Our High School math program has taken a few turns over the past two years.  Maestro finished the Singapore Math primary series, then we moved to the New Syllabus Math.  The way it was set out was very different, and I had to spend a fair bit of time explaining the work to him.  We started off with some pretty interesting problem solving, which then lead us to Pascal's Triangle and the Fibonacci sequence.  We'd never covered this before, so I found some things to take us along that path a bit. You can see what I did on this previous post: What's All This About Fibonacci? 

Somewhere further along in the book, Maestro expressed some frustration about not being able to work through the material alone.  This is when we decided to try out a program called Math-U-See, where there are instructional dvds (intended for the teacher), and manipulatives not too unlike what we've already used.  He started in Pre-Algebra and swiftly worked through that and Algebra I, then into Geometry.  It's worked because he likes to be independent and can work at a reasonably fast pace.  If he grasps the new concept after working on the first page of problems, he goes straight to the review pages, which goes through all work done to that point, and including some of the new material.

If you'd like to see this wonderful video, please go HERE.

So far, this has been working for us.  However, I want to make it a little more interesting as we head into our next couple of years of homeschooling.  I want to have both the children start keeping math journals, similar to this and this.  These ideas came to my attention a little while ago and I thought it was so well done, I'd wished I'd done it sooner.  They'll keep a notebook and write down what they know about already, but then also take notes on what they need to master with my help.  They can then draw a diagram, or make a little flap book (for example), or something creative to show HOW they would solve the problem.  We already have a math dictionary, but they're not using it.  So .. why not start making their own?  This should end up being a great resource, especially if they homeschool THEIR children.

So, I'm guessing you can tell that I want to make sure the children know the material well, but I still want to give them a broad path of experiences with math so they see it as fun, as ways of explaining the world around them, and applied in a variety of situations in the real world.

What else have we been using?  There are a variety of things here, so I'll make a list.

• We have a small collection of dvds from The Teaching Company (also known as The Great Courses).   We have started to watch The Joy of Mathematics, and also have a copy of Algebra I from a friend.  

• Life of Fred books were quickly read through to Algebra, but again, Maestro is happy to continue using Math-U-See instead.  I mention these books as some others may find they are something that could be useful in their homeschool.  They do go through to Calculus, but we didn't use them that far.

• As an additional resource to play with Geometry programming, I purchased the Geometer's Sketchpad.  (If this interests you, check the Homeschool Co-op for their occassional special purchase price.)

• Some saved You Tube examples of math in real life, along with those with a great sense of humour, to inspire some creativity.  I especially enjoy this one about Doodling in Math Class:

and the beautiful video called "Nature by Numbers" on Vimeo.  Actually, I've saved a heap of similar videos and all sorts of links on my Pinterest Maths page (wow .. I'm LOVING Pinterest and how it leads you to so many shared ideas!)

There are many options open to making math fun right through the upper levels, but I know it's still my job to help keep that fire burning by presenting new ideas.  The most difficult part is finding the time to do the homework and then figuring out where and when to use it.  At the moment I'm using post-it notes to scrawl down the webpage address and what to check out there, then sticking them onto the math page Maestro will find it relevant to.  I've also started bookmarking the pages into an internet folder that's just for him.  I'll probably get this right by the time he's finished high school and well into tertiary studies, but at least I'm able to have some fun with him on this now.  It's the only way I can, since he's so independent!

Please jump over to the Carnival, being hosted by Fisher Academy International, on December 3rd, 2012.  Other homeschoolers will add their wealth of knowledge too .. which I'm looking forward to!  I need as much inspiration as I can get!!!

Until next post!

Catherine