Latest Updates! (Summer 2024)
We have so many things to tell you, so we created this page to keep you posted with our latest news!
Parent Planning Session with Aurora
Whether you are a new or continuing member, I highly encourage you to join me for the special live session "Getting Organized with Aurora" session on Aug 15, 2024 at 9am Pacific 12pm Eastern). I’ll be emailing out a link to all families and a reminder just before it starts.
Teaching Schedule Changes
We are changing how often we teach live math classes each week. For the past two years, we've taught four live classes every week. This year we're teaching FIVE!
There will be three live classes for the lower grade 4-6th level, and two live classes for the upper grades 7-8th level.
Here’s the FALL schedule (all times are in Pacific):
- 4th Grade Fractions: Mondays 8am (Aurora)
- 5th Grade Decimals: Mondays 8:30am (Aurora)
- 6th Grade Percent: Mondays 9am (Aurora)
- Algebra 1: Wednesdays 2pm (Doug)
- Geometry (Grades 7-8th): Thursdays 2pm (Doug)
Pace of Live Classes is SLOWER
For the past two years, we’ve taught an accelerated schedule so we could have 5 years of content available for you to access as quickly as possible (e.g., we taught a full year of Algebra 1 in only 7 weeks in our live sessions!).
Now that the content is published, we are going back through it much more slowly and at a pace that students can keep up with when it comes to completing their assignments.
We are going to release a new section of the website that will have daily lesson plans and homework assignments that students can go through at their own pace or follow along with the live class schedule, and we will post the live classes from each week to this new section so it’s clear and easy to follow.
If you find the pace is not quite right with the live class schedule, feel free to use the recordings to go at a pace that is right for your student.
Shorter Live Math Classes & Organized Assignments
Instead of live math classes for 2.5 hours straight (No kidding! And yes, students were really on for that long...), we're splitting them into separate sessions.
Math classes are 30 min for Grades 4-6th and 45-60 minutes for Grades 7-8th.
Each day is has a lesson plan on its own page. Students will work on their math assignment for the day right after the teacher-led math class.
For the rest of the week, students may watch recordings of teacher-led math classes if they need to for extra time with the teacher doing additional sample problems.
Every day, there will be a new web page with a video and the daily math assignment, four days every week. (This will lead kids through the program more easily and independently.)
No more pages of 50 videos and 120 pages to complete all in one session!
Students can doing either all recorded (asynchronous) or a bit of a mix (synchronous) when they follow the live schedule.
Every live class with a teacher will be recorded and posted to new website in the appropriate section, so you can watch anytime.
New Daily Lessons Help Students Work More Independently
We will be publishing a new section of the math site that will have the same content but organized into smaller, more bite-sized pieces.
Students will be able to go through their daily lessons with a new homework assignment each day, track their progress (tracking for each student), and there will be a parent portal dashboard so parents can see what’s completed and where they are in the program.
This new part of the website will be built over the course of the year, with new content added each week that will follow the live class schedule for each grade level.
We will continue to maintain the original website for families that prefer the original format. Both will have the same information, just organized differently.
Our goal is to have students be much more independent when working through their daily lessons.
Study Hall is Back
We are going to continue to offer our small group private tutoring with Leah! When you sign up for this add-on option, you'll get a private zoom link to connect for an hour, one per week.
We will let you know the date and time for the Study Hall as soon as Leah knows her own schedule (she's enrolled in graduate courses and will let us know when she knows her schedule and availability).
HINT: If you sign up for Study Hall and find that the times don't work for you, let us know and we'll issue a refund for the Study Hall option.
Final Review for Grades 4-6th
Parents have requested a final review for students moving from the Lower Level (Grades 4-6th) to the Upper Level (Grades 7-8th), and we're happy to announce it's here! Click to go to the Lower Level Review here.
Final Review for Grades 7-8th
Parents have requested a final review for the entire program, and we're happy to announce it's here! Click to go to the Upper Level Review here.
Quick Assessment
If you have no idea where to start, we now have a quick assessment that will put you in the right ballpark.
Once you know which unit of the program to start with, use the 2-page test at the end of the workbooks to figure out how far in to start in that unit.
Math Progression
Once you know where you are on the map, it's important to know where you are headed. This document is for parents that want to know what the path looks like through the math course. It also looks ahead so you can see what the math class sequence is in high school and beyond. Click to download the Math Progression.
Academic Planner 2024-25
Be sure to download the new planner for the upcoming year!
Click to download the Academic Planner.
There's a lot of content in the Academic Planner. If you'd rather skip it and just have me teach for you, you absolutely can. Parents often use this approach if they're already overwhelmed with other areas of life. I am happy to help!
You do need to help me out a little to get started.
The first thing you need to do is decide where your student is currently at with their math skills (use the Quick Math Level Assessment).
Next, select the area of math and start with a teacher-led math lesson. After the lesson ends, there is a homework assignment your student will work on.
Students work in an area of math that starts with the workbook, then include activities, games, puzzles, challenges and finishes up with a study review and unit test.
Grade Level Guides
What should my student know by 5th grade? What are the math assignments for this week? What areas of math should I be covering this year? All of this and more are outlined in the brand new Grade Level Guides!
Live Classes teach both Spiral and Mastery Approaches
In the live classes, we will be teaching a blend of both spiral and mastery approaches, which means it is not an exact match with the sample lesson plans we provide in the Grade Level Guides.
Instead, we have put together our own set of lesson plans you can use along with the syllabus for the year.
