Review: Ray's Arithmetic

Several years ago, an email circulated that contained the 8th grade final exam used in Saline County, Kansas in 1895. You can find a copy here. The point was to show that the education a child received over a hundred years ago was very different than the standard education of today. While some areas of our education system have made great advances, I'm not convinced that is the case across the board.

If you have interest in how subjects were taught in the frontier years and emulating that in your homeschool, you may consider exploring Dollar Homeschool. Dollar Homeschool has compiled a full curriculum, Eclectic Education Series (EES), of the very texts and materials used in America from roughly 1865-1915. Portions of the EES series are also available individually, Ray's Arithmetic being one of them. For review, I received the full Ray's Arithmetic series in a PDF format.

Ray's Arithmetic includes 38 titles, which includes 12 core textbooks, answer keys, and teacher guides covering K-12. Also included are extracurricular and interesting math related topics, such as Survey and Navigation and Astronomy. For a full list, click here.

The approach of Ray's Arithmetic is that students first learn concepts verbally. Is not until students fully understand the concepts that they express in written form. As to be expected with this approach, there are many word problems. Students who don't understand the concepts and instead are following steps will have much difficulty solving word problems; their heavy inclusion in this program certainly is a bonus. Ray's makes sure that students know the practical application of the math they are learning.

Emphasis is placed on spending as long as needed until concepts are fully mastered. With this curriculum, a stone at a time is laid in the foundation, slowly building on each. In addition, the curriculum, used during a time when schools weren't readily available and parents didn't have spare hours to teach, is designed for students to be independent in their learning.

When I first received this product, I was a bit overwhelmed. I would recommend starting with the Method of Manuals and A Manual of Arithmetic, which will give you an overview of the curriculum and approach. The quality of the scanned pages was not an issue, with the exception of an occasional illustration. Since the scans are formatted as images, you can't jump to sections within a text from an index. Scrolling through the document is necessary, which didn't help my aversion of digital products of this magnitude. However, the titles are indexed nicely according to level of difficulty, making finding a particular text simple.

Click here for more sample pages.
The Ray's CD is designed to be a printing curriculum. The titles range in size from 100 - 400 pages and you certainly wouldn't want to print all the titles at once! Print what you need or have your child read the text from the computer.

If I were just starting out homeschooling with young children, I can see using Ray's in the early years, especially if I were on a budget. The method seems to be a solid approach resulting in full understanding of the subject rather than memorization of steps or facts. Jumping in to this program would be more difficult with an older child, though there are suggestions for proper placement in the Welcome file of the CD.

While these titles are available on public domain, finding and downloading them all may be a bit of a time investment. Dollar Homeschool provides a service by doing the work for you. The other value added feature is that they have removed the answers next to the problems commonly found in other copies for the student texts. This way your student can work directly from the text and not have the answers provided. The books with answers in them are also provided, but are referred to as the "Teacher Editions".

Ray's Arithmetic on CD costs $59. Visit Dollar Homeschool to learn more about Ray's Arithmetic and other products available. All Dollar Homeschool products come with a 30-day unconditional guarantee and a full refund if you are not 100% satisfied.

Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew's blog to read more reviews on this product and others.

Disclaimer: This review was provided as a result in my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew in exchange for my honest review. I strive to give a balanced overview of each product, detailing my opinion of both pros and cons and how the product worked for my family. What works for one family may not work for another. I encourage you to read reviews of other Crew members and research sufficiently to determine if any product will be a benefit to your homeschool.

New Website for Grapevine Studies

Grapevine Studies is launching a new website, http://www.grapevinestudies.com/. I reviewed their Level 5 Old Testament Overview earlier in the year. You can read the review here. Many of the products are being offered at sale prices through the end of February. The Level 5 PDF version is currently $14.50 (reg $28.95).

Fit Mommy - Week 5

This is my weekly check-in for Fit Mommy, hosted by Denise over at Got Chai?

The top 10 things I learned this week:

10. When Godiva is gone, Palmers will suffice.
9. Watching the Super Bowl is more fun with food.
8. Sometimes, you just need to put the scale away.
7. It is possible to like one virtual trainer over another.
6. A good workout using the Wii really can happen.
5. Virtual waterskiing is almost like virtual inline skating.
4. I know *exactly* where my hamstrings are located.
3. Prolonged exposure to cold weather increases your BMR
2. Walking in deep snow is quite a workout.
1. What took 3 years to happen, can't be undone in weeks.

It wasn't a great week nutritionally - again. I've come to terms that I just like to eat. I mean, I really enjoy food. Who doesn't? This past week has been difficult though. I've been craving all kinds of goodies and have had zero will power. The Godiva is GONE and no longer haunts me. I did find an Palmer chocolate Santa left over from Christmas. It wasn't nearly as good as the Godiva. Can you tell I have a problem with chocolate?

Part of the issue is the weekends. We've been going out to breakfast regularly after church. In addition, our family watched the Super Bowl and had snacks for the occasion. My hubby, after all, is not on the Fit Mommy page and wasn't hip on munching on carrot sticks.

So while it wasn't really a terrible week, I don't think it was a "Fit Mommy approved" week nutritionally. I really didn't modify anything. I did have a piece of fruit every day for breakfast and stayed on my low-fat chai. I'll guess I'll have to claim those two things as there is nothing else!

To no surprise, I haven't lost any weight. I actually didn't step on the scale after the weekend. It seems it doesn't matter what I do, the weight just stays the same. I've decided not to check the scale for awhile since I'm not really making drastic changes nutritionally. I know with continued exercise and even with cutting snacks here and there, eventually some will come off.

As far as exercise, I did much better. I didn't work out Monday because I was feeling ill. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the junk I put in my body the day before. Umm...yeah. On Tuesday, I decided to go to the second EA Active program, not so creatively titled EA Active: More Workouts. Wow. How inspiring. I felt like I wasn't getting much with the first program. More Workouts actually did give me a decent workout. I was even a bit sore the next day.

Where the first program is obsessed with lunges, this one has a fixation on squats. By the end of the week, I knew exactly where every thread of muscle in my hamstrings is located. It also incorporates a warm-up and cool-down with stretches, which I like. There is no inline skating (whew!), but instead there is water skiing which is amazingly similar in requirements. I stink at water sports in real life and the virtual world is no different. However, I think the programmers figured out that constantly being told to focus isn't really encouraging. The trainer tells me I'm doing great, no matter how terrible I'm doing. My Mii even performs tricks off the ramp as long as I actually make it to the ramp. I used the new program every day, Tuesday - Friday. I even worked on one of my "rest" days for the program. I feel pretty good about that.

I also took the kids sledding this week and was surprised at what a workout it can be walking through deep snow. I probably should have gone down the hill a few times simply so I'd have to come back up, but I wasn't really in the sledding mood. I was freezing and the snow was powdering, flying in the faces of sledders all the way down! Then it dawned on me. Perhaps I'm burning more calories simply by being outside in the cold. Could it be true? Well, sort of. Not enough to claim the right to eat a chocolate Santa though.

Next week I'll work on getting back on track with the nutrition. I need to start regularly taking my vitamins and plan to add that in as a goal this week. Now if I could just get some chocolate-flavored vitamins...

A Snow Day for Our Homeschool!

My son has what the family affectionately called "the list". There are a number of items on the list at any given time, but he'll fixate on whatever is at the top until the "box" is checked. Lately, going sledding has been at the top of the list. Normally, that wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish during the winter in Michigan. Unfortunately, we haven't had much snow since before the holidays. For weeks blotches of dead grass have been visible on our lawn. It definitely hasn't been good sledding weather.

Then came this Wednesday. I think it was the biggest snowfall we've had all year. Both our 3-hour art class and evening AWANA program were canceled. I was hoping to use the time to catch up on a bit of school work, but the list called. I tried to convince my son that today would be a better day. Yesterday the local schools were closed and I knew the sledding hills would be crowded. Today, with all the kids back in school, they would have the hills to themselves. It didn't matter. The. Box. Must. Be. Checked.

So, we hit the hills at the nearby metropark. It was packed with kids riding their sleds down the still powdery hills. My son didn't care if there were crowds. He was finally getting his sledding box checked.

We ran into some friends who shared a few runs down the hills. They then retrieved their toboggan and took a trip down the toboggan run a few times. Unlike the other hills, the run was completely empty! Then, the group spotted a large snowbank and ditched the sleds for awhile to build a snow cave. My daughter, who is constantly complaining about how short she is, insisted I take this picture that makes her look extremely tall with the help of a friend.
Just before I was able to take a group picture with the kids inside the structure, it collapsed. We managed to get a group picture anyhow.
After arriving home and making hot chocolate, there wasn't much left of the day to get to that school work I had hoped to get in. The school work can wait for a change. Sledding was more important this time.

Wordless Wednesday: Little Bro Seeking Attention

View more posts from Wordless Wednesday at the Wordless Wednesday HQ

Applications Being Accepted for the 2010-11 TOS Crew

Are you interested in becoming part of the TOS Crew? Applications are now being accepted for the next Crew. You can read all the details on how to apply here.

If you love to try new products and share your findings with others, I highly recommend you apply! If you have any questions about what it is like being part of the Crew, please feel free to leave a comment and ask!

Part 4: A True Evaluation

How do I know my kids are keeping up with peers?

I spent quite a bit of time with Part 1, Part 2 , and Part 3 on how to answer this question numerically using outside evaluation. However, I do not want to mislead you. I do not believe testing is the best approach to this question. It may put the unsure parent at ease, quiet suspicious relatives, or otherwise provide something quantitative to outsiders. Outsiders, who do not know your homeschool nor your children, understand numbers. You, however, know your child and can go much farther than a number. Today I'd like to explore a different perspective.

It is hard not to look at how our kids are doing compared to others. Standardized testing does answer the question that my children are at least as well off academically at home as those in public school. Even though academic reasons were one of the first things that pushed me into homeschooling (and I say pushed, because it wasn't my original intention), it isn't the only reason we continue to homeschool. For me, using standardized testing hardly puts a dent in the answer to how my kids are doing.

Rather than zoom in on academics, the question of how my children are doing is answered best by looking at the bigger picture. How is this child doing compared not to others, but to themselves? I sometimes like to play a "what if" game. "What if" my child went to public school? What would be their focus? How would that change how their strengths and weaknesses play out? "What if" my child attended a great private school and I worked outside of the home in order to pay for it? The impact would be much more than academics. There is always a trade off with choices. What are those trade-offs with each situation for each individual child?

For example, I have a bright child that struggles with writing. Compared to peers, whether public schooled or homeschooled, he is behind in spelling and composition. If he were in school, I highly doubt he would get the one-on-one instruction he needs in this area. A teacher with 30 students in the classroom would not be able to take the time to move beyond written output for evaluation. Furthermore, because he is great at compensating for his weaknesses, he'd likely be written off as an average or below-average student. The end result would likely be a child that both falls through the cracks and remains unchallenged. Even though he is currently still behind his peers in this area, he is much farther ahead than if he attended the local school. I fully expect that with time, writing is not going to be an issue.

My other child excels in all subjects. She'd do well academically, but at what cost? She, too, would not be challenged; schools often are not open to acceleration. What, exactly, would she be doing with all of her free time while she waited for the rest of the class? Getting into trouble? Be bored out of her mind? And upon graduation, would this child truly know how to learn and strive towards goals, having never really had to work for an A?

When I look at what my children would be as public schooled children, I have no doubt that they are better off at home academically. In addition, I believe that the academic structure of public schools would make them fall behind in a more important area - character. Let's face it, teachers often have no choice but to shoot for the middle and teach to the test. It isn't their fault, but the nature of the system. However, if a child does not have their academic needs met because they do not fall within the box, they are less likely to learn to learn in a way that works for them.

Socially, my children would have been completely different children had they not been homeschooled. The very thought that homeschooled children are at a disadvantage socially completely humors me. Because of a more flexible schedule, they get to experience more. My children have been able to build strong friendships year-to-year. In school, friendships often come and go based on who is in your class that year. They have both developed friendships outside of their age group.

My daughter was recently involved in a theater production, that a regular school schedule would not have allowed, and was the only one on the cast younger than the age of 24. Yet, she was able to become friends and make connections with all the adults in the performance. My son was deathly shy when he was younger. If he had been in school, I honestly don't think he would have managed well. Homeschooling has allowed him to grow and mature at his own pace. He is by no means shy anymore. More importantly, their friendship as brother and sister is much stronger than it would ever be if they went to school. The ability to maintain solid relationships with others is more important than academics.

My children don't see others as a grade or an age. They see them as people. I tend to chuckle when adults tell me my children are articulate. What they really mean is that they can look them in the eye and have conversation with them. A true test of how your children are doing socially is how they interact with others, not how much they know about pop culture or the latest fashions. My children may be behind in the latter compared to their peers, but they are far ahead when it comes to social skills that will matter as an adult.

To determine if my children are keeping up with their peers, I do not compare them as children, but as how I see them as future adults. Are they learning now what it takes to be a responsible adult in all areas? It is all a process, and I'm more interested in the end result than the current stats. How will they compare when they have graduated from our homeschool? Will they have learned how to learn? Will they have character? Will they be able to carry on relationships? There is no paper test nor evaluation to answer these questions. The results will not be realized for many years.

The best way for me to answer the question, "How do I know if my kids are keeping up with their peers?" is to redefine their peers. I make their peers the person they can potentially be. In the end, I care only about how they are doing against the standards that God has set out for them. This may mean an occasional examination of various areas, including academically and socially, but not to see if they are keeping up with peers. The goal isn't to keep up with peers, but rather to become the person that God would have them to be.

Other posts in this series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3