Monday, December 21, 2009

Help Your Child Excel in Math ~ Margaret Berge & Philip Gibbons

Three thumbs down.  Yes, three.  After reading this I feel like a complete moron, and so I'm turning down three thumbs.  Take that Berge and Gibbons!

I don't know why I'm linking this.  Perhaps, if I didn't homeschool I could've liked this book more, but the patronizing attitude, coupled with "check with your student's teacher" was really too much for me.  There is no picture, because I can't find one to link.

There are some interesting little games to play and things.  They list, and explain in painstaking detail how to teach, concepts like near-far, greater-less, tall-short, etc.  For parents of preschoolers, that is very useful, especially if you haven't been able to find a list online.

I think their levels are very wrong.  They don't recommend teaching counting to ten until first grade.  The book was published in 1992, but I really can't believe that things have changed that much.  There's more along those lines (I'm not sure they believe any parent capable of simple math), but no sense in listing it all.

If you're willing to wade through text that seems to discount the notion of any parent teaching anything at a school level, then there are a few good ideas in here.  Ignore the levels, they're rediculously low.  If you want to rage against people that do not believe in the worth of homeschooling, don't touch this book with a ten foot pole.

No comments:

Post a Comment