SO WHAT SHOULD I DO EVERY DAY?
1.
(approx 10
min) Do some review problems. With
your parent or other teaching adult, choose 2 or 3 problems
from the past sections, like one of from yesterday, one from
or 3 days ago, one from a week or more ago. Choose
things that were hard for you or that were to forget, so
your brain can be reminded about them, and then there will
be a better chance you’ll learn them really well and get
them right if you see them on a test.
2.
(approx 10
to 30 min) Parent or other teaching
adult now teaches you the lesson.
NOTE:
PARENTS of middle school and elementary students are
required to teach at home. Students at 8th grade and
below seldom are able to teach themselves the equations and
graphs that make up much of Algebra, so they need someone
teaching them daily. Students, if you can learn
Algebra on your own, that’s OK, but it’s not easy, and it’s
more important to learn this math well than it is to prove
that you can do it yourself—because if you can’t do it
yourself and don’t get help, you’re going to have big
problems in math. For learning the lesson, focus
on the concept being taught. Pay
really close to each example, what is being asked to get,
how it’s worked out step-by-step, why each step happens
(this is vital!), what the new steps are that are new to
you because of this lesson….and why that new step or steps
are being done. Also focus on the formatting
of the final answer. Is it supposed to be x
= , or just a number, or is there a measurement
with it?
4. (approx 15 to 45 min) Do the practice problems. Do every problem for the day’s section as listed in part 3 on the first page of this cover sheet. Make sure you (1) write out the problem, (2) write out each step in the problem, (3) circle or box your answers.
5. (combined with doing the problems) Check your answers and the correct steps.
a. After you do even just a few problems, check your answers using the answers provided in the back of the textbook. NOTE: The answers for the CA Standards Check problems that follow each example are in a different section in the back of the textbook from the answers for Standards Practice problems. It might be helpful for you to put a couple of bookmarks or post-it-notes at the answer sections in the textbook.
b. If you cannot figure out why you are wrong on a problem, then go to hotmath.com to see the correct steps (Standards Practice problems only). This is one of the best things to help you learn the little details about how to do the problems correctly. You can add things you learn here to your notes.