Old Dogs, New Math: homework help for puzzled parents
Many thanks to The Experiment Publishing for sending me this book to review and offering to give a book away to one lucky reader!
Now onto the juicy bits…
I was a bit worried at first, but very curious. Math is NOT my strong point. And, following the principles of unschooling, I pretty much let my kids try to figure out a lot of stuff on their own after pointing them in the right direction. Plus, my husband is a whiz at math. So I manage to avoid a lot of painful questions by directing them to their father. But there are times when they ask me questions and I try to answer. They don’t know that I am struggling, but it is awkward and frustrating for me.
I was pleased to discover that this book was VERY easy to read. I mean, it was like reading a joke book or a choose-your-own-adventure book. Really easy. I was surprised. They made my difficulties seem rather brainless with simple explanations and examples. There are even little puzzles and games.
And what’s really fun for educational geeks like me… they explain how things used to be taught, how they are taught now, why teaching methods have changed, and why those changes make it difficult for parents to help their kids.
They also have test questions with real life kid answers and point out facts that help you discover how the kid got the answer (Nothing trickier for the parent than trying to figure out how and why the answer the kid came up with the wrong answer!)
My teenager even started reading it. He didn’t get very far because I kept hiding the book from him. (Oops) But he keeps bugging me for it. So that’s a pretty good sign too.
It is broken down into nice little sections:
Preparation – this is mostly for the parents covering such painful topics as “how do I overcome my own fear of math?” to “why do they do it differently these days?” as well as everyday tools that can be used for math education and an approximate grade/age guideline for math education in schools.
Arithmetic–And How It Has Changed – this goes into basic mathematics. There are nice simple to understand explanations, examples, and pictures, and even games to play.
Beyond Arithmetic – now we start getting into fractions and decimals and a little bit of geometry.
Questions and Answers – this not only has the answers to the puzzles that they give you throughout the book, but it also covers questions your kids will encounter throughout their schooling along with the answers (with or without a calculator). The best thing is they explain HOW to get the correct answer (and if there is more than one way to come to the correct answer they show that too).
And finally – of course there is a glossary and index and stuff.
Now, the big test. My daughter asks me the question “How old where you when I was 3?” So I pull out this handy little book and launch into an explanation of number lines and stuff. Not sure how much it helped her, but I sure felt a lot more confident.
Sure Math and fun didn’t seem to go together for me either. But let’s face it, math is a reality of school life. And we all want to help our kids to succeed. How can we help them if we don’t know how to play? This book makes that math nightmare less scary and much more fun.
And now for the give away!
The Experiment has agreed to send out a book to one of my readers. So how do you get one?
1. Mention this contest in your blog/tweet/Facebook status/forum. (Please don’t spam forums and groups. Only post on a forum or group if it is allowed and you are a regular member.)
2. Leave a comment on this post with a valid email address and a link to your posting. Please use a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.
3. Comments must be received by Sunday December 12, 2010 at midnight CST. Anyone who comments more than 3 times forfeits their chances. The winner will be selected by random drawing and announced on Thursday December 16, 2010.
Tags: Book Review, contest, education, free, give-away, help, home school, Home Schooling, homework help, homework help for puzzled parents, learning, math, math help, math questions, Mike Askew, old dogs new math, Rob Eastaway
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