Khan Academy - Math help

Sal Khan has created a site that plays on kids desire / addiction to play video games :) and a parents desire to see their child actually learn and understand Math.

As they say on their site...
          "With a library of over 2,600 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 218 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your  own pace."

 First thing I did was to set the kids up with student accounts which will track their progress and give levels of proficiency in each category of math.  Then I made myself a coach account which allows me to keep track of both kids and how they were doing.

The exercises begin with very simple concepts.  The kids would start at the first level solving equations.  It took about ten problems for the site to determine if they were "proficient" at that concept or not and then the site would advance them to the next concept.  The kids went through several levels very quickly as the site was basically assessing what their needs were. (Remind you we're talking about a 7th and 9th grader here)   Happy kids:  lots of levels, points gained, and trophies earned.  Then that leveled off... slightly disappointed kids...and the real work and learning began.

What I like about the site:    the kids learned what they needed to learn.   Unlike a text book where you start at chapter 1 and work your way through... this site focuses on concepts, starting at basic levels and then progressing on only as the kids master the basics.  My two older kids came out of the public system and their math education had holes everywhere.  Khan has helped to fill in the holes, reinforced what needed shoring up, and refreshed what they already did know.

What I didn't like about the site:  the "positive reinforcement bar" at the top of the page which would fill up as they successfully solved equations would empty at a disproportionate rate when they answered a question wrong.  This led to very frustrated  math students.

All in all though, Khan Academy really helped us this past year.  We had no access to the next level of math text books that we would have needed and Khan Academy kept us going in Math.   For that I am extremely grateful!

http://www.khanacademy.org/

on a budget?

     If you are homeschooling on a tight budget, as I am, then I have to tell you about my favorite website...  www.homeschoolshare.com   It is a wonderful site that specializes in literature based lapbooks and unit studies.  AND IT IS ALL FREE!!! 

     If you are new to homeschooling then that previous sentence probably sounded like I was speaking Greek...  Let me take it from the beginning...

     "Homeschool Share" is a site created by Homeschooling moms who share all of their wonderful wisdom and insight with you (for free - no hidden fees or user membership dues... well I suppose you could argue its not totally free because you have your own printer expenses of ink and paper and you also need to buy file folders and gluesticks - but on their end it's free).

     "Literature based" means simply that you pick a story from their list (and they have a list that goes from PreK through middle-school and beyond), get the book (from your own shelf or the library), download the packet of information they have prepared and do the lessons.  Generally it takes about one week to accomplish.

     "Lapbooks" and "Unit Studies" are two ways of learning and preserving the lessons learned.  "Lapbooks" are basically file folders that you refold and glue all these little mini snippets of information into.  "Lapbooks" can be used with just one story or combined with a "unit study".  "Unit Studies" are based more on one topic and use two or more stories on that subject, with the "lapbook" as the method of recording all the lessons learned.
 
    Within each story you read or "unit study" you do, many different elements of education are covered from science, history, writing, handwriting, and practical math.  They also include links to other sites with correlating material, maybe coloring pages and games or recipes and even videos. 
     
     The following pictures are of one that my kids did together on Volcanos.   It is from their website and it is a combined "unit study" with a  "lapbook".

the cover

this lapbook used 2 file folders

 

we also used a "flap" that we taped on for the extra information.

      I used this one with all 4 of my kids.  The little ones listened to the story and enjoyed coloring in pieces, while the older 2 acted as "secretaries" and recorded all of the answers.  Everybody helped glue things in place.   Sometimes we will do one lapbook altogether.  Other times they will do individual lapbooks.  Later on they really love to go back over their lapbooks and remember the fun things they learned.

     I really encourage you to check out their website and to give lapbooking a try!