Why do we use theUniversity of Chicago’s School Mathematics Project (Chicago Math) at Aim Academy Online? Our math teachers have concluded, it’s the best program we’ve found to prepare students for 21st century, college-level mathematics—whether students are heading into the humanities, social sciences, or hard sciences (e.g., engineering and chemistry).
Developed by one of the nation’s highest ranked mathematics department, the program is backed by decades of research and has undergone rigorous field testing and refinement.
Some of the advantages we’ve found in the Chicago Math program include:
A focus on teaching students to solve real world problems through mathematics.
Students learning to think logically and defend their reasoning.
A foundation for algebra is laid in middle school, giving students a leg up before starting a formal algebra course.
Statistics is incorporated throughout the curriculum (a must have skill missing from older math programs.)
Use of current technologies incorporated throughout, including graphing calculators and Internet applications.
AAO now offers all of the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) math courses starting with middle school. Additionally,Delta Math is included in the cost of all Aim Academy math classes. This highly rated online math practice solution gives students unlimited practice problems, immediate feedback, and an individualized progression based on their strengths and weaknesses.
After completing this sequence of courses, students will be well-prepared for our AP Precalculus, AP statistics, math classes and the math portions of the ACT and SAT college entrance exams.
Use this planning grid to map out a high school homeschool program that ticks all the boxes.
I learned a nifty strategy from my kids’ math program one year: Work backwards. Since then, it’s become a life mantra. Want to end up in a happy career? Start at the end and figure out each of the necessary preceding steps along the way, one by one. Want to end up with a college-ready senior? Plan the senior year first, then the junior year, and so forth all the way back to 8th grade. This strategy will help you make sure you don’t skip something important and ensure you allow adequate time for the priorities.
Your high school plan will get revised many times, but keeping the current draft front and center will help you and your collegebound kid say no to opportunities not on the pathway. (A common pitfall is trying to do too many things during high school instead of a few things really well.)
My vivid memories from elementary school are the days we got tests back. As the teacher walked slowly around the room, we all tried to catch a glimpse of her face as she carefully put the tests face down on our desks. Fear of failure was the overwhelming emotion we felt as we quickly flipped the test over and glanced at the first page, looking just long enough to see the grade written in red marker. Of course, we didn’t want anyone else to see the grade, just in case it was bad. “Bad,” that was the operative word. If the grade was low, then it meant I was dumb or at the very least not smart enough to earn a good grade in that subject. Of all of the adjectives associated with failure, “bad” was the most profound. Even our parents knew that failure was bad.
But then I grew older and I learned that important, intelligent people like Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and athletes like John McEnroe (the tennis player who won the most matches in his career) all experienced significant failures. The word “failure” took on a new meaning. It became something that could happen to successful, intelligent people.
In recent years failure has taken on a more positive meaning. Researchers now know failure is something humans can learn from—it is considered a key path to healthy intellectual growth. In the words of growth mindset icon Carol Dweck, “Learning how to cope with failure can lead to humility, adaptation, and resiliency.”
But I have to ask myself, if failure is so important, then what happens to those of us who fear failure? And what happens to our children, influenced by our fears. Recent research into the concept of failure has shown that many of us who fear failure also have what is known as a fixed mindset. We see our failures as indicators that we don’t have what it takes to succeed. The other view, as identified by psychologist Carol Dweck, is a growth mindset. We see failure as a chance for growth, where learning can be enhanced.
Two sides of the same coin, summed up by Winston Churchill in his quote, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Yes, according to this view failure is something positive and those of us from the fixed mindset generation must not only accept but even embrace the new definition. Even the biological evidence supports the finding that having a growth mindset is beneficial. Measuring brain waves at the Moser Psychophysiology Lab, Hans Schroder has observed that those who focus on trying to figure out a mistake, rather than fearfully avoiding it, quickly improve on tasks that require accuracy. According to Schroder, glossing over mistakes or shying away from them undermine our growth potential.
As homeschool parents, we can help our children view mistakes and failures in a new, more positive light. West Point Academy strategist Richard Bard suggests using an Action Review Approach. This includes asking the following question about a failure:
What actually happened?
What are three things that could have gone better?
What are three things that I did well?
Helping kids identify and evaluate failure, rather than fearing it, will improve their character, intellectual growth, and psychological well-being.
Bonnie Gonzalez has 36 years of experience as a licensed counselor and is passionate about helping families apply the latest research in their home schools. She teaches Introduction to Psychology, Intro to Sociology, and a series of mini-courses related to a positive psychology. See her classes here.
References
Hans S. Schroder, Megan E. Fisher, Yanli Lin, Sharon L. Lo, Judith H. Danovitch, Jason S. Moser. Neural evidence for enhanced attention to mistakes among school-aged children with a growth mindset. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2017; 24: 42 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.01.00
Aim Academy offers both full year and seven week long math courses. You can find them all here.
Kathryn (Bell) Gomes was homeschooled herself and found that she was grossly unprepared for college-level mathematics. She now teaches homeschooled students math online so that they can avoid her mistakes. This fall she is teaching a live section of her SAT Math Prep course. Kathryn is the author of Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Mathematics elementary curriculum.
“Getting a college scholarship is your new summer job.”
These words spoken by my mom (Debra Bell) shaped my four years of high school and eventually landed me a full tuition scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh. She believed I could earn more money by developing a stellar transcript than by working a minimum wage job. . . and she was right.
You can design a high school plan that uniquely positions you to win a free (or almost free) ride to school. Here are the top three things you need to do to make that happen:
Ace the SATs. The new SAT is harder but it is easier to prepare for. You can take an SAT prep course or just work your way through all the free material on Khan Academy. But whatever you do, make sure you give yourself at least 6 weeks to prepare. A score of 700 or higher turns heads and pushes your application into the right pile.
Plan for letters of recommendation. Someone other than mom must validate your education, especially if you are home schooled. You can have a transcript full of honors classes but without an outside expert adding a stamp of approval the admissions board might question the level of rigor. The ideal candidate to write a letter of recommendation is someone with a PhD or an expert in your future field. If that fails, choose someone who is professionally accomplished or who has a connection at the school you are applying to. When you ask for the letter, type up a list of your achievements or things you’d like them to reference. And don’t forget to send a thank-you note afterwards.
Study your school. Every college and university is unique. I poured over Pitt’s website and memorized their core values. I knew what type of student body they were trying to foster. That information influenced my admissions essays and helped me on my interview. As soon as you know what school (or schools) you might be interested in, start tailoring your high school program to fit their vision.
There are thousands and thousands of scholarship dollars out there just waiting to be claimed. In the end, working on all those applications ends up being a very high paying summer job.
As a professional counselor, teacher, anhttp://debrabell.com/product/secrets-of-success-getting-things-done-for-teens/d former homeschool parent, I want to give you some information which will help you to navigate the emotional angst that often comes with homeschooling teens.
Teenage Angst and the Brain
As a homeschooling parent, you have been the market leader in the field of parenting – an expert at understanding the personality and learning style of your children. But now at the onset of adolescence, “the times they are a changing.” Teens are a “different animal” and it’s a “whole new ballgame.” From both a psychological and parenting perspective we have many theories about why our kids are suddenly risk takers, judgement-impaired, contrary, and unpredictable. For years we’ve heard that teen behavior is a result of early childhood experiences, peer pressure, hormones, and sometimes bad parenting. But the latest research suggests another cause—structural changes in a teenager’s brain may largely be to blame for the chaos.
Without going into a lot of technical terminology, recent studies have discovered that the brain does the bulk of it’s maturing between the ages of 12 and 20 (and in boys this may even extend into the mid 20’s). The prefrontal cortex, where most of our ability to calm our emotions and make rational decisions occurs is the slowest part of the brain to develop. So, yes, there may be a reason for the irrational behavior you are seeing in your adolescent son or daughter.
Wiring Through Homeschooling
Okay, so what does this mean to you, as the homeschooling parent of this wildly emotional, and often irrational, growing teen? First, there is some good news. Positive things such as sports, music, school achievement, and responsibility can be “wired” into that changing adolescent brain, by you as the parent and teacher. There is lots of room for change and second chances abound during this prefrontal expansion. The bad news is that if those teen years are filled with anger and alienation, these characteristics may too, get “set in stone.” Adolescence is an important time, and you have the ability to guide your teen through this time.
My caution to you is this: in this time of unpresedented brain development, many new and unpredictable thoughts and behaviors can arise. Often emotions and actions can outrun judgement capabilities, just like they did in early childhood. Teens find it difficult to process emotions such as anger and fear; and their behavior in the midst of this emotional turmoil, can be maddening. But remember, this behavior is not a character flaw, but rather simply a function of some confused wiring in the brain, which will eventually straighten out. The goal is to respond to this behavior with responses which will allow the teen to become well-adjusted. Remember the impulsiveness and risk-taking behavior are critical to growing up into an adult.
(Thanks to Michael J. Bradley in his book, Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy, Loving Your Kid Without Losing YourMind, for some of the scientific content in this article. Photo credit: Affen Ajlfe)
