Abigail's Homeschool (Poverty Style)

[Dysfundamental]

Is Seton a Catholic curriculum? Elizabeth Ann Seton was a very famous nun in this area who I believe was tracked for sainthood, she may even have been granted sainthood.

Yes. It was created by people who felt that actual Catholic schools of the present aren't religious enough. The curriculum elements I've seen remind me of the schoolbooks and assignments my aunt saved from the convent school she and my mum attended in the 1940s (which was considered very strict and old-fashioned at the time).

That said, it does seem to be a solid curriculum in terms of skills. On the other hand, my nephew goes to an ebil public school and reads/spells at an equally high level, and gets to write stories about astronauts and dragons rather than the feast of Pentecost.

Seton was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1975. She was added to the Episcopal Church calendar of saints in 2009---that's more of a process of recognition for exceptional good works than for certifying miracles, though. Seton's achievements, both in her earlier life as a wealthy wife and mother devoted to active philanthropy, and in her later life as a nun engaged in creating educational opportunities for low-income and orphaned children, are truly impressive.

[dawbs]

IMO, knowing that it's 8+8+8+8...whatever is *more* valuable to the fundamentals of understanding math than being able to instantly come up with the number--and if you end up using math often, you'll learn that 7X7 is 49 because you do it a gazillion times per day (and, in defense of that methodology--I just typed 7X7 is 49...and then went "wait, is it 49?...7*5 is 35, 7*2 is 14, 35 plus 14 is 49...okay, good, it's 49")

But what AuntCloud just mentioned is actually something I was talking with a remedial math instructor about this morning. That part of learning to understand numbers is key.

The instructor's story problem example..."there is 5% sales tax on auto purchases. You buy a car for $30,000. How much do you pay for the car plus tax."

His frustration wasn't that the students failed to get 5% of 30,000...it's that he had SEVERAL people determine that the tax was $1,500...and then subtract that amount from the subtotal. So the answer they gave on their final was $28,500.

That these students are failing to grasp the nuance of the story problem and realize that 28,500<30,000 is a bigger problem than the students who calculated the tax wrong (and came up with $33,000 as their total).

The students who said $28,500 are missing the logic of the numbers.

The students who said $33,000 are miscalculating their math.

Both are wrong answers, but the latter is much more 'fixable' with a calculator!

He gave me a few other examples in the discussion but I got distracted by something sparkly in the room that didn't have to do with math, so I've already forgotten them.