Many people are of the belief that Algebra isn't used in "real life". I beg to differ. I use math and algebra all the time here at home, and coming from a medical profession I couldn't have made it one DAY in work without higher math. Seeing that Colleen hopes to enter the medical profession in a mere 4 or 5 years, treating animals, she is going to NEED to know how to do algebra. It is impossible to do chemistry without a solid knowledge of algebra. It is impossible to figure out dosages and treatments, or even program IV pumps, if you can not figure out WHAT equations to use and how to operate them. Colleen hopes to one day run her own no-kill animal shelter, similar to the one she currently works at. Even if she fulfills that dream, it will be helpful to her to have a basic animal medicine background, and running a non-profit organization takes quite a bit of math skills in and of itself. Being a vet tech OR running a shelter, (or both) will require that she master higher levels of math.
That being said, today we begin 9th grade math, aka Algebra I. I'm a math geek. (and history geek, and geography geek, and literature geek, and writing geek....apparently I'm just a geek period. ) Colleen, on the other hand, has grown frustrated and bored with math. She doesn't understand it. She can DO it, but she doesn't know WHY she must do it, and she is so bored with it that she doesn't CARE about doing her best, most careful work.
I have now had Jacob's Elementary Algebra in my hands for 3 weeks.
I have purused it fairly thoroughly. I have today set aside to simply go through the introduction together. Mr. Jacobs has some really cool algebra puzzles to introduce his book, and all 3 of us will be working through them. Yes, Emily can, and in fact, is needed, to help do these puzzles. They are fun. They are interesting. I THINK even normal people that AREN'T math geeks would agree with that. Spending an hour or two doing these puzzles is important, not only to catch Colleen's interest, but so that she can see how differently Jacob's Algebra is written, and how it is a complete change from Saxon Math. She might be lost if I just hand her the book, and say, "Ok, do Lesson 1." And I really like that he begins every, single lesson with a "real life" example of algebra being used.
I have a few other things I'd LIKE to get to today. We have just a few lessons left in a couple of subjects that we need to finish before each girl is "officially" promoted to their next grade. We have another few subjects I would, ideally, like to also begin today. And I have a LOT of curriculum to still order, and would like to at least get started on getting to that. But if we do nothing today but begin Algebra I, that is fine by me. That is all I have scheduled for SURE today. I don't want algebra to be just another thing to cross off for the day. My girls are fine on their required number of school days, and they are both basically ahead of where they would be if they were in public school, and we are all 3 having trouble getting out of our nice break mode, and back into school mode.
We had a very nice break, accomplished a lot of extra cleaning, sorting, relaxing, game-playing, shopping, and Colleen worked many extra hours/days at the shelter the past 3 weeks. Winter still has a few months to go, before they can be back outside enjoying play time and softball, and this is the best time for us to get lots of schooling done. We don't have to do it all at once, though. We are very blessed to have plenty of time to TAKE our time. I am excited to begin our new school year! : )
No comments:
Post a Comment