Sunday, June 6, 2010

Highschool (and Middleschool) Geometry

I never really did get high school geometry -- I could do it, I got an A, but proving things that have already been proven just for the sake of proving them is really not in my personality.

My son is part way through Algebra 1 and it's time to start thinking about Geometry options for him. Not sure how well he'll do. Though he's much more right brained than I am, and he thinks much more spatially than I do, his analytical skills (& motivation) are not nearly as strong as mine. I think I need to look at several approaches.

This is a great article about Geometry, brain development, and introducing concepts early by Home School Math. It discusses the 5 Van Hiele Levels of geometric understanding that is necessary to successfully get to the understanding of proofs:
http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/geometry.php. Might be worth introducing some of those concepts early!

Middleschool Geometry recommendations to cover basic levels of geometric understanding in a more visual age-appropriate way:

Some online geometry tools:




High School Geometry

One of the most common high school geometry texts is Jacobs. 
  • A review from PA Homeschoolers suggests Jacobs is more for right brained learners than is Saxon, with more visual descriptions, etc. 
  • In the reviews on Amazon, there is apparently a big difference between the 2nd and 3rd editions, with the 3rd edition being better (click here)
The people from Key Curriculm Press have a "Discovering Geometry" book that approaches things from more of a discovery/conceptual method.  Not great reviews on Amazon but the Table of Contents looks like an interesting approach to it.

Carnegie Learning (part of Carnegie Mellon for high school math programs) has a Geometry book with online supplement.  It looks easy to use with good reasoning.  One interesting thing I hadn't realized until going through all these options is that there are no proofs.  Is the point of high school geometry and understanding of geometrical thinking or of understanding how to do formal proofs or....?

Teaching Textbooks Geometry is another option -- it does add in proofs.  My problem is that for Algebra I and II, I don't think that Teaching Textbooks covers enough.  Not sure about Geometry.

(Thinkwell doesn't have Geometry, ChalkDust is $354! VideoText is another option but I've heard some unhappy reviews of its algebra from some people -- not sure learning styles)