Colorado ho!
Well, moving to Colorado has been great for us. The homeschool community here in Greeley and the Northern Colorado area is large and we've been joining in some of the fun. It has been nice. I looked up and joined the group a month before we moved to try to get to know the members ahead of our arrival. I think knowing that there were kids around his same age, who enjoyed the same things, just waiting to meet him here, made the transition easier for Nick. He even played Minecraft online with some of the kids before we moved.
The available resources (i.e., things to do for bored kids) are tremendous as well. We've been to several very nice restaurants (one that is completely based on fondue eating where we ordered a bowl of chocolate first and then dinner), a couple of sports games (the Harlem Globetrotters and a University of Northern Colorado hockey game), several downtown events, and have enjoyed what the local recreation department has available (rock climbing and swimming mainly but we are looking at the archery lessons).
We've learned there is a lot more educational opportunities available to us through the homeschool group and other new friends as well. We've learned about classes available to homeschoolers through the public school system as well as some charter schools. Some of the classes, including game design, sound very exciting and we are looking forward to starting those. There are several art classes as well that I know Nick will enjoy.
On to the challenges
So, those are the exciting parts.
The challenges started with the extra workload we've piled on since this is high school. Nick was having a hard time adapting from our previously, mostly unschooling style to paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. Practice makes perfect, we keep saying.
I really, really, really hated doing that to him but we've explained to him many times that a game designer requires loads of math. To help him understand, we sat and did research on how math is used in game design and 3D design. I've told him that I use Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry on a daily basis as an artist, but he needed to hear that from other artists because sometimes Mom is wrong. It's true that I am sometimes wrong, but this time I wasn't. They even said a little calculus wouldn't hurt either.
Nick is also having to get used to a new teacher. His dad is being a tremendous help by teaching the math. Of course, he has a different style, so they are getting used to each other and their own learning and teaching styles.
And to make the situation more difficult, the Math-U-See that we bought isn't as helpful as we hoped. I had heard wonderful things from other homeschool parents about it and how it helped their children who learn best visually and kinesthetically. But none of those parents had made it to higher levels of math yet. The main reason I bought the program was to provide that different way of learning, but we are finding the manipulatives aren't used much. Also, the student text we got has very little and sometimes NO explanation on how to work the types of problems he's encountering in each lesson.
The parent book and DVD are somewhat helpful (though Nick finds the DVD lectures boring), and even without those, Nick's dad is able to work through Algebra I with Nick easily, and would be able to do geometry, Algebra II and trigonometry without much outside guidance. But we were hoping to have Nick learn how to work independently, as he will eventually need to do in college. The student text is basically just a bunch of practice pages. Practice pages are fine and definitely important in order to make sure Nick masters each type of problem, but we need something more.
That's where being a part of a homeschool group came in very handy! I sent a message out to the group requesting suggestions for higher level math. I got a couple of responses that I think we'll be quite happy with:
- Life of Fred is a book series that provides math in the form of a narrative. It goes all the way up to calculus, statistics and linear algebra. I have used story form before to try to get Nick to see why we use or how to solve certain kinds of math problems, so this may work for him. Some of the other homeschool parents hate it and some love it, so I'll be checking it out of the library first before I buy anything. I have heard from most parents, however, that it can only be used as a supplement. So we'll still need practice pages.
- The program that really caught my eye because it was described as working great with visual learners is Teaching Textbooks. I watched their demo online and it is definitely more involved than Math-U-See. The student text has the explanation we are looking for and there are DVDs providing a lecture on how to solve the problem types. After the student works through the practice problems in the text, they can then go to the solution DVD to see how to work the ones they missed. Every problem is written out and worked out right in front of their eyes.
There were other textbook choices provided: Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding by Harold R. Jacobs and Algebra and Trigonometry: Functions and Applications by Paul A. Foerster, but I really like the idea of having something presented more visually or in story form.
Bringing it home
Other challenges we've encountered include additional chores, general teenage drama (though he's not nearly as bad as I was, so I'm thrilled), and not getting to see his old friends from Nevada as much (or play online with them as often).
Overall, though, when we ask Nick how he's enjoying Colorado and the changes, he tells us things are good. He enjoys the additional activities available and the additional time he gets to spend with his dad. He's teaching his dad some of his favorite video games and his dad is teaching him about sports (and math). Nick tells his friends in Nevada that he's making good friends here. We both enjoy the closer shopping and can't wait to go back to the fondue restaurant.
I'd say that despite the challenges, we are quite happy with the changes.
